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MAG

DRAFT OF A LETTER TO THE COUNCIL CHAIRMAN TO BE SENT OUT AT THE SAME TIME AS THE FOLLOW-UP TO MEMBERS 

The Retirement Committee needs your cooperation in getting one hundred per cent returns on the questionaire which was sent out to Members a month ago. The membership response has been very substantial as is indicated in the follow-up letter which has just been sent out to those who did not respond to the first request. 

That some Members will fail to respond to the request is, of course, inevitable, particularly among those who have not been active pilots for some time. But it is of the utmost importance that those pilots who are now active execute the forms and give the information which is called for. 

There is enclosed a list of the Members of your Council who have not yet filled in the questionaire. We ask that, if it is at all possible, you have a personal talk with these Members and impress upon them the great importance of giving us the necessary information. If it would make it any easier for you we see no reason why you might not arrange to meet those who did not respond in groups rather than individually. Whatever the method which seems to be appropriate, it is urgent that these returns get in.

We hope to have all the basic information necessary to support our case before Congress in final form by around the first of the year. After the questionaires are in, they must be coded, punched, tabulated, a large volume of calculations made, and many tables set up, after which the presentation to Congress must be written. This cannot be done over night. If it is to be done in the way in which we must have it, it will take weeks. We therefore cannot use the information received at headquarters after October 15 and we have fixed that as the cut-off date for using information from questionaires. We will be able to piece out some information from headquarters' records but, as you know, headquarters has had no occasion in times past to make records of compensation, marital status, and dependents. 

Question 14-b was erroneously omitted in many cases. The question was intended to bring out the date of birth of the wife of every married Member, no matter whether that Member was separated or not. If might have been better for the question to have read simply: "b. If married, date of birth of wife." Please note this in any conversations you have with Members, so that they will be sure to answer the question correctly. 

We have no hesitancy in asking you to put a good deal of time on this because it is in the interest of all of us that the Retirement Committee job be done expeditiously and completely.