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5055 Waterman Boulevard St.Louis, Missouri. April 9,1941. Dear Bill: Last night the employes of the Head Office and the three branches gave me a most wonderful dinner. The officers gave me an engraved watch which I can use with my dress clothes for it is very thin and light and what I considered a wonderful tribute in the way of a handsomely bound book containing the signatures of all the officers and employes of the Head Office and the branches, including the porters and maintenance men. It must have taken and great deal of time and trouble to prepare the book and get the signatures. As I have said before I rather believe that the anticipation of what you are going up against will be much worse than the reality. If you start in by saying that you know very little, have been doing an entirely different kind of work and they will have to be patient with you while you are learning I think that you will catch on fast and be able to do what ever is expected of you. War is like a very large business and in modern warfare what may be called the field office work is just as essential as fighting in the field. It is frequently harder to get men who are qualified to do this kind of work than to get those who can carry guns. Of course you have got to learn the military"lingo"and the differnt steps through which theorderpasses, just as you have to know the way ano r d e rcomes from a customer to the broker and from him to execution on the floor of the exchange. I was in contact with a Major recently who was in charge of a group sent here from different centers to get mechanical training. He said he had been retired for severl years and brought back to service and he said he was entirely out of touch with the way things should be done. I am sure you know a great deal more about the mechanics of money than he did. I feel that you can learn very fast by keeping your eyes open and asking questions and I do not think you have any reason to be afraid that you will not master any job given you. The work will be strange and I suspect hard at the first but I know that y o u will master things, You certainly know more about many things than a number of military men I have talked to. Military proceedure is what you willhave to learn. I think thatavisitby me after you have had a week or two in camp may be worth while and I will hold myself prepared to come whenerver you let me know that you think it desireable. I think, if you insist upon it the club would have to cancel your lease. You may not want to do this, but to hold a man responsible who has been called to military service I should Akaaan think would shame the house committee and bring reproach on them certainly from the general public. [Handwritten note: You are on the ground and whatever you decide about membership on Exchange I know will be alright & we can handle it. Lovingly, Dad
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