July 24 Monday – Frederick J. Hall replied to Sam’s “I feel panicky” letter of July 8:

I have cut the help down in all departments to one-quarter what it was, and the financial troubles that we have been having kept me so occupied that I have not had time nor in fact have I thought of all the reports at all as there were so many other things infinitely more important to attend to [MTLTP 357n1].

Note: Hall also quoted Charles Ethan Davis, shop foreman for the Chicago construction of the typesetter, that “there is less than three weeks work on the machine.”