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The following is quoted from Time-Life Book "This Fabulous Century," Volume IV:

When Franklin D. Roosevelt became the 32nd President of the United States, the country was scared, more scared than ever in its history. That very morning, March 4, 1933, every last bank in the nation had had to close its doors. The old leaders were ashen—faced. "I'm afraid," said the chairman of Bethlehem Steel, Charles Schwab, "every man is afraid."

I can't remember just when I went on four days a week but it was probably in February 1933. I can remember, however, very vividly the scene when I was informed of this. I was summoned to H. L. Andrews' office. Andy was standing at a table with two or three other men studying a large blueprint and as I entered the office, Andy turned briefly from the table and informed me that beginning the following Monday, I would be on four days. I don‘t recall that he did any more than just this--no condolences, no explanations--just cold turkey. That was Andy, terse and to the point. And I can remember my reply to him, word for word. Apparently wanting to come up with something dramatic which would match the seriousness of the occasion, I said, "okay. I can take it." And he said, "You can take it, eh." Someone with more words than Andy might have said instead, "I'm glad to have you say that." So that was that. I'd felt it was coming, so I wasn't shocked by it but I was deeply disturbed about the whole situation at last. In my diary under date of March 23, 1933, I wrote the following and I wrote it at the office:

For many of us in the GE organization, the present is a time of great dissatisfaction. with the stagnation of industry, our time is being cut and there are promises of even more cuts. At present I am working four days a week and earning approximately the same money I was making six months after I went with the Company in 1924. Three days a week is in the immediate offing. Some of the Department are still working five days a week if they happen to be on active lines. I am not. That is just my hard luck. Cash Davis admitted to me only the other day that based on salaries of others in the department with comparable service records to mine, I was underpaid. But they are tied hand and foot by the management, so there is no way of remedying such inequalities. One thing which could be done temporarily would be to let me work on something which would justify letting me work five days a week, but that isn't considered. And so I'm blandly told that I'm underpaid but there is "nothing that can be done about it." As Perk says, one could battle through this depression if there appeared to be much hope for the future, but H. L. Andrews told Perk he didn't expect us to be back to our [[underscore]]base pay[[/underscore]] before 1936. That is a far from