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We have taken an awful licking from Electro-Motive recently - B&O gave them 25 switchers and none to Alco; in fact Alco didn't even know about it until the business had been placed. Now we hear Atlantic Coast Line has bought 27 2000 HP road units - none to Alco. If this keeps up it will take some drastic handling or we'll have to get out of that business.

This evening the Colonel and I dropped into Hamot Hospital to say hello to Walt Scarborough and found Maybelle, the banker, and a Mr. Harman all there! Maybelle looked terrible! - sloppy, worn out, unattractive - even sweaty! I was shocked. She took our arrival as an excuse to leave, and when we came out 15 minutes later, she was waiting in her car outside - presumably for the banker - finally however, she drove off before he came out. Walt had an incipient hernia that disqualified him from Army duty - he seems to be getting ready to take an active part in Army duty of some sort. We suspect Charlie Reed may be contemplating the same thing.

Sitting at home tonight, I noticed the Colonel reading something about Social Security and I asked if he came under that. I certainly touched on a very sensitive spot because he launched forth in a tirade about the unfairness of everything, his worries about winding up in the poorhouse, etc. and when I tried to make light of the situation, he got so mad [[strikethrough]] e [[/strikethrough]] he threw a book on the floor and launched out on a more heated tirade than before. I doubt if he is in as bad shape as he makes out. He always was a pessimist.