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met the Colonel, a grouchy acting old bird who puts most of it on I believe. The Colonel said he had a plan for a 50 ton tank and would we bid on making a [[underlined]] sample [[/underlined]] tank largely to our own detailed design with Gov't. assistance in working on the design - the bid, an estimating figure only plus estimated shipment, must be in his hands [[underlined]] Friday [[/underlined]] of this week. Remembering A.O. White's admonition to me last winter never to make even a verbal commitment under such circumstances as this, I was astounded to hear Emmet say, before anyone else could open his month, sure, we'd be glad to do it. I thought maybe Horn would say something but he didn't. I hated to repudiate Emmet or contradict him in front of the Colonel - so it went by that way and we sat down with Major Warver to go over the job - all they had was the equivalent of an outline drawing and some very vague instructions from which to work. But it did look like a golden opportunity to me to promote electric drive for heavy tanks - and I sincerely felt that was the best, perhaps only, way to do the job. The Colonel said Baldwin and Whiting already had submitted figures and Alco had been approached. And the Col told us - soft soap I suppose - that he wanted [[underlined]] us really [[/underlined]] to get the job. Of course, he said, in quantity he would have to buy on competitive bids but the fellow who built the pilot would have the inside track. We told him we were interested primarily in the electric drive and felt that was the way to do it. So Emmet went back to the office and I stayed to get all the details I could to