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98

Washington, D.C.
Thursday, Aug. 27, 1942.

Mailed [[underline]] Babbie a birthday [[/underline]] note and a five dollar bill this morning and hope I can get home to see them all this weekend. I shouldn't go really but I still can't bear to disappoint the family; I know this is war and maybe later, I'll have to get harder about it. [[/underline]] Tomorrow Babbie is 14! [[/underline]] And I'm beginning to look older myself - around the eyes mostly. I can't seem to realize that [[underline]] I can't stay looking 25 forever.

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Today [[underline]] Charlie Creasser got Tom Evans [[/underline]] on the phone and [[underline]] Tom agreed to take 30 0-6-0's [[/underline]] for the first quarter, saying [[underline]] "The Army has to come first." [[/underline]] It is a gallant thing to say but I should think he would think twice of what it will mean to thirty other locomotives already scheduled in there for everybody and his brother and already months late. It will be an unholy mess to clean up and I hate to have to have any part of it on account of Evans feelings about G.E. I told Charlie as much and Marshall elaborated some on my position. So we shall have 50 at Vulcan, 25 at Davenport and 30 at Porter. None of them will make the schedules I feel sure but they will try hard. Vulcan is in the dog house with Seybold for some reason - "they make good locomotives but not enough of them" as Major McLeod puts it. Vulcan claims they fell down on the last order because it was built to Porter design and Evans didn't furnish drawings for 6 weeks while he started his own shop at once on sketches! [[close bracket]]

[[underline]] Sid Rapke, Civilian Supply, who is interested in the domestic locomotive program and who accompanied Carroll and Sag to Erie last June and took a shine to Maybelle, invited me to lunch today at the Raleigh to return some of the courtesy we showed him at Erie - and he really bought a lunch, cocktail, French hors d'oeuvres an all to the tune of almost $4. I rather like the guy although he is a