The supervisor refreshed his memory from the records. He reported: "I don't have any adhesive man to work on it. Purchasing has half a dozen suppliers lined up--but none have any test data. I don't know when we'll get the time. We're on a priority program checking out these new, low-cost terminations." "Can't we certify the adhesive to some AIEE spec or something?" Eddie asked. "I don't know of any for sealing capacitors, Eddie. Not on the maintenance end, at least." "Maybe Purchasing can get a guarantee from one of the suppliers?" "For the hundred dollars of compound that's involved? What good would that do us?" Eddie thanked him and hung up. He signed the preliminary report. He turned to the next one. At 2:30 Forester came by and the two of them made their way between the jig-saw projections of maple and mahogany to the Conference Room. Fourteen men were involved in the conference, all from operating departments. They shuffled in over a five minute period, found seats, lit cigarettes, talked and joked with one another. When one of the assistants to the manager came in, they fell silent. "Gentlemen," he said, "I think I'd better get right to the point today. The Construction Program in the Valley has now used up two bond issues. The voters aren't going to approve a third one." He paused for effect then continued briskly: "I see by the morning's _Times_ that the mayor is appointing a watch-dog commission. I guess you all saw it, too. The Department of Water and Power of the City of Los Angeles is going to be badly--and I mean badly--in the red at the end of the fiscal year. "We're in hot water. "We do not seem to be getting through to the operating departments regarding the necessity for cost reduction. I have here last month's breakdown on the Bunker Hill substation 115 KV installation. Most of you have seen it already, I think. I had it sent around. Now--" The analysis continued for some ten minutes to conclude with an explosion: "We've got to impose a ten per cent across the board cut on operating expenses." One of the listeners, more alert than the rest, asked, "That go for salaries?" "For personnel making more than eight hundred dollars a month it does." There was a moment of shocked silence. "You can't make that stick," one of the supervisors said. "Half my best men will be out tomorrow looking for better offers--and finding them, too." "I'm just passing on what I was told." The men in the room shuffled and muttered under their breaths. "O.K., that's the way they want it," one of the supervisors said. "I've brought along the notices for the affected personnel. Please see they're distributed when you leave." After the meeting, Forester walked with Eddie back to his desk. "You be in tomorrow, Eddie?" "I guess I will, Les. I really don't know, yet." "I'd hate to lose you." "It's going to make it pretty rough. A man's fixed expenses don't come down."