Viewing page 382 of 421

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

about – 37 mm gun mounts and ball type machine gun mounts for the new tanks – 400 or more of them. So I sent St. L. a night letter to get after that if it sounded interesting to him.

While we were talking to Housberg, the 8" rwy. gun mount man, something significant happened. White asked Housberg, "Is 8" the diameter of the bore of the gun?" He said "yes" and even I would've shuddered to ask such a puerile question and if I had, would have worried for weeks about it. But White, who should know this stuff from A to Z, asked it! Why ever worry again about a silly question asked!

When we got back to the office about 4:15 PM, Erie had been trying to get me. It was Whitey who wanted to know if I knew the mess the 8" rwy. mount job was in when I left. I told him no, what was wrong? He said they had been pestering him all day. Emmett wanted to add 10% to the price St. L. and I agreed on, and Burrows wanted to add another 20%, and Niven wanted something else and he was so damned disgusted he didn't know what to do but say "To hell with the job" – we'd never get it if they did all that. He said Ernie Shank was going to Sch'dy tonight to "pacify" Burrows and would I be there tomorrow to help him. I said I wasn't through here yet but would if he said so. He said no, stay here this time - he didn't care much now what happened to the job, they had messed it up so. When I left, I thought Emmet would see the light and the price we set up would go through at least to Schenectady.