Latest / X Minus One | Old Time Radio / The Snowball Effect [episode 64], Broadcast 8/14/1956

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The Snowball Effect [episode 64], Broadcast 8/14/1956 · X Minus One | Old Time Radio

0:00
Speaker 1: In just a moment X minus one. But first.
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Speaker 2: You were listening to the distinctive style of Claude Thornhill,
0:11
Speaker 2: one of today's top musicians and bandleaders. It's popular music
0:14
Speaker 2: with all the beauty of a classical symphony. And there
0:17
Speaker 2: are more fine arrangements by Claude Thornhill all this week
0:19
Speaker 2: when he makes his appearance on NBC Bandstand. In addition,
0:23
Speaker 2: you're treated to the inimitable beat and rhythm of master
0:25
Speaker 2: jazz man Lionel Hampton. Join MC's Burt Parks and Dick
0:29
Speaker 2: Kyms all this week on NBC Bandstand, and.
0:35
Speaker 1: I'll stay tuned for X minus one on NBC.
0:43
Speaker 3: Come down for Blast Off X minus five, four three
0:49
Speaker 3: two X minus one. Fire from the far horizons of
1:20
Speaker 3: the Unknown come transcribed tales of new dimensions in time
1:24
Speaker 3: and space. These are stories of the future adventures in
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Speaker 3: which you'll live in a million, could be years, on
1:31
Speaker 3: a thousand, maybe worlds. The National Broadcasting Company, in cooperation
1:35
Speaker 3: with Galaxies Science Fiction Magazine presents.
1:39
Speaker 2: HE minus one.
1:53
Speaker 4: The Night Story The Snowball Effect by Catherine McLean. I
2:08
Speaker 4: took over the University of the time of crisis. One
2:10
Speaker 4: thing we had been placed on probation by the conference
2:13
Speaker 4: for overpaying football players by one hundred percent, and one
2:16
Speaker 4: half of the varsity was penalized the year's eligibility. On
2:20
Speaker 4: top of that, I was called in by mister Harvey J.
2:22
Speaker 1: Glover of the Board of Trustees.
2:25
Speaker 4: We had lunch at twenty one on his expense account,
2:28
Speaker 4: and after the Napoleon brandy he lowered the boom.
2:32
Speaker 5: Like Halloway, the university is in crisis.
2:34
Speaker 4: I know, mister Groverer, I know, but I'm assured that
2:37
Speaker 4: our scouts have turned up several likely zinc miners in Colorado.
2:41
Speaker 4: You can assure the board that we'll have a line
2:43
Speaker 4: to reckon with next season.
2:44
Speaker 5: I'm not talking about football. There are other things at
2:47
Speaker 5: the university, I'm told of course. Of course, Halloway, as
2:50
Speaker 5: president of the university, you've taken on a grave responsibility.
2:53
Speaker 1: I know, I know.
2:53
Speaker 5: I don't mind telling you. The board has been gravely concerned.
2:56
Speaker 5: The number one problem facing us is academic freedom. It
3:00
Speaker 5: is you're down tooting. We want every academic department free
3:03
Speaker 5: from debt running in the black.
3:05
Speaker 1: Is that clear academic freedom? Huh?
3:08
Speaker 5: I see any faculty that can support itself by Grant's bequests,
3:12
Speaker 5: corporation or government contracts out, all of them down to
3:15
Speaker 5: the last assistant instructor. Look all away, I'll put this
3:18
Speaker 5: to you straight. Most of the board was against hiing view.
3:21
Speaker 5: They had a bright young plant manager from General Products
3:24
Speaker 5: they said could show a profit from a candy store
3:25
Speaker 5: in the Mahabi desert.
3:27
Speaker 1: But I stood up for you. Why, thank you, sir?
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Speaker 5: I told them the president of university has got to
3:32
Speaker 5: be at least a high school graduate, or it doesn't
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Speaker 5: look good. You know you did graduate from high school inion.
3:38
Speaker 1: Oh yes, yes, and college too. I got my master's
3:40
Speaker 1: at Harvard and my doctorate.
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Speaker 5: Never mind, let's say, let's not go too far. Have
3:44
Speaker 5: you got this straight now?
3:45
Speaker 1: Oh?
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Speaker 4: Yes, yes, I've got to make a profit on the
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Speaker 4: candy store, I mean the university, that's right.
3:50
Speaker 5: Oh and halloway, yes, how many zinc miners did you say?
3:55
Speaker 1: We dug up?
4:01
Speaker 4: I started in with anthropology, astronomy, astrophysics, agriculture. Almost all
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Speaker 4: the departments could show a nice, healthy contract from the
4:09
Speaker 4: Department of Defense for research or.
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Speaker 1: From some corporation.
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Speaker 4: Even the classical wing came out okay, they were being
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Speaker 4: subsidized by a pride of Texas millionaires who thought it
4:19
Speaker 4: was cute to have original Greek and Latin tombstone set
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Speaker 4: in concrete on their patios. One fellow from Galveston gave
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Speaker 4: a classical barbecue featuring the swimming pool with pornographic marbles
4:30
Speaker 4: from Pompeii set around the scum gutter. I ran into
4:35
Speaker 4: my first problem when I got to sociology. Now, look,
4:38
Speaker 4: doctor Caswell, I'll be frank with you. I'm paid to
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Speaker 4: make sure this institution doesn't come out on the short end.
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Speaker 1: Of the stick. Well, that's a quaint expression.
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Speaker 4: I got it from mister Grover of the Board of Trustees,
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Speaker 4: so you can see this is no time for kidding ourselves.
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Speaker 4: Can sociology pull its own weight?
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Speaker 1: What is it? Sociology is the study of social institution, Now,
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Speaker 1: loves Caswell to the Board of Trustees.
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Speaker 4: Sociology sounds like socialism and nothing can sound worse than that.
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Speaker 1: Come on, now, what are you doing that's worth anything,
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Speaker 1: my dear sir, And don't wrinkle your nostrils at me. Caswell.
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Speaker 4: If you have allergies, take can and a histamy. If not,
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Speaker 4: just answer my question. This Department's analysis of institutional accretion
5:16
Speaker 4: by the use of open system mathematics has been recognized
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Speaker 4: as an outstanding and valuable contribution to Valuable and what way.
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Speaker 1: Well.
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Speaker 4: Since the depression, Washington has been using sociological studies of employment, labor,
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Speaker 4: and standards of living as a basis for its general policies. Please, professors,
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Speaker 4: stick to brass tax and leave Washington out of this.
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Speaker 4: What specifically has the work of this specific department done
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Speaker 4: that would make it as worthy to receive money?
5:40
Speaker 1: Essay a heart research fund.
5:42
Speaker 4: Fundamental research doesn't show immediate effects, doctor Holloway, but the
5:46
Speaker 4: value is recognized as well. All the other departments have
5:49
Speaker 4: managed to squeak by. You're the last one. Unless you
5:51
Speaker 4: can toe the mark, there'll be fourteen sociologists testing the
5:54
Speaker 4: institutional addiciency of unemployment insurance as an instrument of economic.
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Speaker 1: Policy as well. Knew I had him.
6:05
Speaker 4: Unless he could show me how his department could scratch
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Speaker 4: a buck together, I'd have to expunge his name from
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Speaker 4: the catalog and have him drummed out of the faculty club.
6:14
Speaker 4: I'd handed to him, though he glared from behind his
6:17
Speaker 4: pantsnaes and sliding into his lecture manner. He started his
6:21
Speaker 4: calm institutions organizations that is have certain tendencies built into
6:25
Speaker 4: the way they happen to have been organized, which caused
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Speaker 4: them to expand or contract without reference to the needs
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Speaker 4: they were founded to serve. I have developed a form
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Speaker 4: of socio mathematics to PLoP these factors and.
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Speaker 1: By comparing formulae, Is it all perfectly peer to you? Well,
6:49
Speaker 1: it wasn't to me either.
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Speaker 4: I grasped the idea that he could tell whether an
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Speaker 4: organization would get bigger or smaller, and why, And so
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Speaker 4: I ask him for proof.
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Speaker 1: Well, I could give you a demonstration six months.
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Speaker 4: All right, let's see, we've got a basketball team averaging
7:04
Speaker 4: seven feet that ought to keep the board busy till spring,
7:06
Speaker 4: and after that that bonus picture we stole from the
7:08
Speaker 4: Milwaukee Braves. All right, Caswell, you've got six months. I
7:18
Speaker 4: forgot about Caswell and sociology Department for a couple of days,
7:21
Speaker 4: while I went back to convincing semi litterate millionaires that
7:24
Speaker 4: they might as well leave a couple of millions to
7:25
Speaker 4: the university rather than have the federal snap it up
7:28
Speaker 4: in inheritance taxis. I was on to a real butte,
7:33
Speaker 4: a button manufacturer with a bad heart who could go
7:35
Speaker 4: any minute who wanted to endow a scholarship for needy
7:38
Speaker 4: and intellectually gifted lacrosse players. When Caswell came back to
7:42
Speaker 4: see me, we had lunch at the student cafeteria on
7:45
Speaker 4: my expense account, and he explained, ever.
7:49
Speaker 1: Hear of the feedback effects? Is it something to do
7:52
Speaker 1: with reducing overweight co eds?
7:53
Speaker 5: No?
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Speaker 4: No, it's a mathematical term. You might call it the
7:57
Speaker 4: snowball effect.
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Speaker 1: You mean like rolling a snowball downhill. That's right, it grows.
8:02
Speaker 1: Now here's the mathematical symbol. That's viral.
8:05
Speaker 4: That's the formula for the general growth process. Do you
8:08
Speaker 4: understand the equation right? No, It accounts for all sorts
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Speaker 4: of institutional growth, the Roman Empire, Alexander, the Masons, the
8:18
Speaker 4: spread of tobacco, anything.
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Speaker 1: You see.
8:21
Speaker 4: When the snowball becomes too heavy for the cohesion strength
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Speaker 4: of snow, it breaks apart. Now we've decided to run
8:28
Speaker 4: the test on an organization and make it grow according
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Speaker 4: to the formula. I see, you're going to use some
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Speaker 4: club or lodge or something as a guinea pig. If
8:37
Speaker 4: you could follow the equation, you'd see I've built a
8:39
Speaker 4: pattern of a cogent reason for the inns to drag
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Speaker 4: in new members from the outs, and an urgent factor
8:46
Speaker 4: to prevent anyone from resigning. That's this Greek symbol here
8:51
Speaker 4: Kappa for compulsion. I suggested a few changes in the
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Speaker 4: organization plan, and we finally worked out a setup that
9:02
Speaker 4: was nice and simple. We put our heads closer together
9:05
Speaker 4: and tried to pick the best place for a demonstration.
9:08
Speaker 4: It should be small enough to observe and yet large
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Speaker 4: enough to be statistically significant about the say New Jersey,
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Speaker 4: my sister lives there. Let's make it Watershaw. I have
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Speaker 4: some student sociological surveys of it already. We can pick
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Speaker 4: a suitable group from that. We've got to make this
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Speaker 4: an iron clad demonstration. We'll have to pick some little
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Speaker 4: two foot nothing club that nobody would ever expect to grow,
9:29
Speaker 4: some miserable, pathetic little organization. We found the perfect test
9:38
Speaker 4: guinea pig, the Watershow Wednesday night sewing circle. Caswell and
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Speaker 4: I drove over next Thursday night to a meeting. They
9:44
Speaker 4: always met Thursday night, except every once in a while
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Speaker 4: when the chair lady forgot to have her hair set,
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Speaker 4: in which case they met Friday.
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Speaker 6: Well the girl girl, Lady Girl. We had business to
9:58
Speaker 6: conduct girls, please, Well, the regular.
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Speaker 7: Meeting is not called to ward.
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Speaker 6: Bernie's just a minute, dear, Well this e Bernie.
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Speaker 7: You're out of order.
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Speaker 1: Dear. It's not a.
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Speaker 6: Regular meeting, of course it is. It's Thursday, isn't it.
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Speaker 6: I distinctly remember when we had that special meeting on
10:14
Speaker 6: Tuesday for Toby's baby shower. We adjourned sign or die
10:18
Speaker 6: when she started to have pain.
10:19
Speaker 7: Goodness, it was false labor. That certainly doesn't count.
10:22
Speaker 6: But this meeting is just.
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Speaker 7: A continuation of the other one. Oh, how do you feel, Toby?
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Speaker 1: Fine?
10:28
Speaker 4: The loud breath?
10:29
Speaker 7: Did you try a little dried toast?
10:30
Speaker 6: Just before climbing the stud bernee? My doctor said to
10:33
Speaker 6: breathe deeply through my nose and to have henry.
10:35
Speaker 1: Time my shoes for me?
10:37
Speaker 6: Well, i'd like to see Alfred tie anything for me.
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Speaker 6: It's three years since I did get addressed that zipped
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Speaker 6: up the back, Adam, chairman, I rise to a point
10:46
Speaker 6: of order. My goodness, Helen, you don't have to be
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Speaker 6: a mater about it.
10:55
Speaker 1: That's the way.
10:56
Speaker 4: The meeting of the Watershaw's sewing circle went on long
11:00
Speaker 4: parliamentary battle. The point was finally carried that this was
11:03
Speaker 4: the tail end of a previously adjourned special meeting. At
11:06
Speaker 4: this point, the secretary, who had shorthand training, read the minutes.
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Speaker 6: It was moved by Harriet that a boat of confidence
11:13
Speaker 6: be registered in the administration of the club's business by Bernice.
11:17
Speaker 6: The motion was seconded by Elsie, who said she thought
11:20
Speaker 6: it was only fair because Bernice didn't even have an
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Speaker 6: unlimited phone and look at all the calls she had
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Speaker 6: to make on club business.
11:27
Speaker 7: The motion was amended by Joan.
11:29
Speaker 6: To include Bernice Callaway as well as Bernice Hacket, because
11:33
Speaker 6: with two Bernice's the whole thing would be confusing, and
11:36
Speaker 6: it didn't seem fair to discriminate between Bernice's because Bernice
11:40
Speaker 6: Callaway didn't have an unlimited phone either, and besides, her
11:43
Speaker 6: phone was way upstairs in the bedroom without even a
11:45
Speaker 6: kitchen extension. The motion was defeated because of the lack
11:50
Speaker 6: of a quorum.
11:56
Speaker 4: Finally, the new business of the meeting was reached and
11:59
Speaker 4: Bernice what's her name introduced Professor Caswell and myself as
12:02
Speaker 4: observing professors doing a survey of charitable institutions. After the
12:06
Speaker 4: business meeting, Brownie's sponge Cake and Apricot peekaboo.
12:11
Speaker 1: Cookies were served with coffee.
12:13
Speaker 4: Caswell and I drew the unlimited Beerneae Society. You see,
12:18
Speaker 4: missus Hackett, I've been making a few notes on a
12:20
Speaker 4: slightly modified constitution and by laws for your organization you have.
12:25
Speaker 4: You see, it all depends on having a competent and
12:28
Speaker 4: capable lady in charge.
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Speaker 7: Oh yes, yes.
12:32
Speaker 4: Frankly, this plan would be dangerous unless there was a
12:35
Speaker 4: woman of great character elected to the post of chair lady.
12:38
Speaker 4: Of course, you see, there are several ways of well
12:42
Speaker 4: influencing an electional that's why it's important that only the
12:45
Speaker 4: right people fully understand this.
12:48
Speaker 6: Oh, you're right, absolutely white. The organization was just floundering
12:53
Speaker 6: before the last election. Now can I see those plans, Professor,
12:57
Speaker 6: They sound like they're just what we need.
13:04
Speaker 4: Naturally, she was hooked as Caswell buttered her up. Her
13:07
Speaker 4: eyes began to gleam, and she studied the simple little
13:09
Speaker 4: bylaws and constitution the professor had drawn up, nodding happily
13:13
Speaker 4: as the classic beauty of the scheme Struckle meeting broke
13:17
Speaker 4: up when, after poor Brownie's and a wedge of butterscotch
13:20
Speaker 4: cashew angel food surprise, Toby started to have real labor pains.
13:24
Speaker 4: We found out later it was a nine and a
13:26
Speaker 4: half pound Roy Caswell and I left the meeting and
13:29
Speaker 4: stopped for a pizza and beer to get the taste
13:31
Speaker 4: of the paper cut peekaboo cookies out of our mouths.
13:36
Speaker 1: Well, there you are, doctor Holloway.
13:38
Speaker 4: They adopted our by laws with only one dissenting boat.
13:41
Speaker 4: I don't like that secretary. She's a spoiler, or was suspicious.
13:44
Speaker 4: My first wife was like that, don't worry. She hasn't
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Speaker 4: got a chance. That Bernice woman has clear sailing under
13:49
Speaker 4: my equations. It's rigged to favor an aggressive extrovert over
13:53
Speaker 4: the paranoidal personality. You're sure it'll work now, I'd stake
13:57
Speaker 4: my academic reputation on it.
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Speaker 1: You have. Don't worry, doctor Halloway.
14:01
Speaker 4: We've given that sewing circle more growth drives than the
14:04
Speaker 4: Roman Empire.
14:12
Speaker 1: We let the whole thing gel for a while.
14:14
Speaker 4: About four months later I shook loose from my schedule
14:16
Speaker 4: and doctor over to seek as well.
14:18
Speaker 1: He looked up.
14:19
Speaker 4: From a student paper on the correlation of Bermuda short
14:22
Speaker 4: seen at Madison Avenue in forty sixth Street, to the
14:25
Speaker 4: swing towards democratic candidates in the corn Belt. Ah, good
14:29
Speaker 4: morning doctor Halloway, Good morning cas Well.
14:31
Speaker 1: I just wanted you to know we hadn't forgotten you.
14:32
Speaker 4: And now about that sewing club business, I'm beginning to
14:34
Speaker 4: feel the suspense. Could I get an advance report on
14:37
Speaker 4: how it's coming? Well, I haven't been following it that closely.
14:40
Speaker 4: We're supposed to let it run the full six months
14:42
Speaker 4: and then check. But I'm curious. Could I get in
14:44
Speaker 4: touch with that woman? What's her name, Bernice something Hackett?
14:47
Speaker 4: Bernice Hackett? Would it change the results if we checked
14:50
Speaker 4: it now? Not in the slightest. If you want to
14:52
Speaker 4: graph the membership rise, it should be going up in
14:55
Speaker 4: a long curve, probably a doubling.
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Speaker 1: Ever so often. Well, if it's not rising, your fire.
15:00
Speaker 4: You know, if it's not rising, you won't have to
15:01
Speaker 4: fire me. I'll burn my books and shoot myself. I
15:10
Speaker 4: went back to my office and put in a call
15:11
Speaker 4: to water Show. Missus Hackett wasn't in. The maid informed
15:14
Speaker 4: me she was at the meeting. That sounded better. If
15:17
Speaker 4: the sewing circle was meeting on a Saturday, then maybe
15:19
Speaker 4: Caswell had a chance. But she wasn't going to a
15:22
Speaker 4: sewing circle meeting. There was another organization, the Civic Welfare League.
15:27
Speaker 4: I hung up the phone and thought about poor Caswell.
15:30
Speaker 4: If the sewing circle had really gone up the flu,
15:32
Speaker 4: he was on his way up with it. I decided
15:34
Speaker 4: to go over to Watershaw and check to give the
15:36
Speaker 4: poor old goat the benefit of the doubt. The meeting
15:41
Speaker 4: of the Welfare League was in the Nights of Columbus Building,
15:44
Speaker 4: a tremendous pile used for dozens of club meetings at
15:46
Speaker 4: a time.
15:47
Speaker 1: There was some kind of political rally going on. The
15:49
Speaker 1: main hall.
15:51
Speaker 4: Streets were jammed, and I figured I was going to
15:53
Speaker 4: have a tough time finding the little back room where.
15:55
Speaker 1: The Civic Welfare League was meeting.
15:59
Speaker 4: I figured they must be in a pretty bad way,
16:01
Speaker 4: trying to hold a meeting in competition with a brawl
16:03
Speaker 4: like the one in the main room.
16:06
Speaker 1: I'm looking for a small meeting, But here.
16:07
Speaker 6: You are membership application songs, sheet by laws and plans.
16:10
Speaker 1: Oh you don't understand, I don't want That's all.
16:12
Speaker 6: Right, you can keep it. It's a new membership, kid,
16:13
Speaker 6: everyone's supposed to have it.
16:15
Speaker 4: We've just printed up six thousand copies to make sure
16:17
Speaker 4: there'll be enough for this meeting. You don't understand, is
16:19
Speaker 4: I'm looking for the meeting of the Civic Welfarely this
16:21
Speaker 4: is it? No?
16:22
Speaker 1: No, I mean the one with.
16:23
Speaker 4: Missus Hackett, Bernice Hackett.
16:25
Speaker 6: Do you know her? Well, there she is up on
16:26
Speaker 6: the speaker's platform.
16:28
Speaker 8: And no, after the ushers have passed among you with
16:31
Speaker 8: membership planks, it is time to rededicate ourselves to the
16:36
Speaker 8: principles we stand for with the bright.
16:39
Speaker 4: And glowing future, the best people in the best planned
16:43
Speaker 4: town in the country, the duel of the United States.
16:48
Speaker 7: All we need is more members.
16:51
Speaker 8: Now get off there and recruit, recruit.
17:04
Speaker 4: I cornered Bernice Hackett at the speaker's table. She had
17:07
Speaker 4: a clear, sparkling look to her eye, and she was
17:09
Speaker 4: dressed in a trim gray suit with a towering feather
17:12
Speaker 4: on a small hat. A clutch of pretty junior ushers,
17:15
Speaker 4: all with goose pimples showing about strapless formals clustered about her.
17:20
Speaker 4: I managed to get to see her in the back
17:21
Speaker 4: room while the mayor was addressing the meeting.
17:25
Speaker 6: Well, hello, there, it's a pleasure to see you.
17:28
Speaker 1: What happened to the sewing circle.
17:30
Speaker 6: Oh it's just a little change, that's all, Helen. Yes,
17:33
Speaker 6: h send those wires out of the center in Washington.
17:35
Speaker 6: You can tell him we want his support on the
17:37
Speaker 6: slum clearance or else.
17:39
Speaker 1: Check.
17:40
Speaker 7: Now, let's see where were we.
17:41
Speaker 6: Oh, yes, we started growing by amalgamating with other small
17:45
Speaker 6: charity groups.
17:46
Speaker 7: Worked much more efficiently that way.
17:48
Speaker 6: Niece were running out of membership. Plank called the printy.
17:50
Speaker 6: He's got instructions to keep the type standing. Naturally, we
17:53
Speaker 6: had to change our name each time, but we've still
17:56
Speaker 6: got the same constitution and by laws.
17:58
Speaker 7: Are the ones you professors worked out.
18:00
Speaker 1: Then you've been growing.
18:01
Speaker 6: Oh dear, yeah, Vernice, what do we do about the
18:04
Speaker 6: town board of Aldermen. I explained to them they can't
18:07
Speaker 6: get in at a group rate. Each one will have
18:09
Speaker 6: to join separately.
18:10
Speaker 1: Check.
18:11
Speaker 7: Oh, yes, professor, we're growing.
18:13
Speaker 6: And growing and growing.
18:21
Speaker 4: I kept close watch on the sewing of the Civic
18:23
Speaker 4: Welfare League for the rest of the month. Evidently they'd
18:26
Speaker 4: swallowed up the real estate organization because they came out
18:29
Speaker 4: with a plan to attract new industries to town, and
18:31
Speaker 4: there was a gimmick splitting up the profits among club
18:33
Speaker 4: members only. It was the same provision Caswell built in
18:36
Speaker 4: to split up profits from does and fines but now
18:39
Speaker 4: it was operating in one hundred thousands. I grabbed the
18:42
Speaker 4: rise in membership, and it went up like the first
18:45
Speaker 4: rise in a roller coaster. I went over to Caswell's
18:47
Speaker 4: office to tell him the good news. Naturally, I knew
18:50
Speaker 4: the equations would work. Will don't be so calm about it.
18:53
Speaker 4: With a demonstration like this, I can get all kinds
18:55
Speaker 4: of grants and funds for the sociology department.
18:58
Speaker 1: You'll think it's snowing. My Naturally, I expected this. I
19:02
Speaker 1: haven't been following the test at all, but I was
19:04
Speaker 1: quite confident.
19:05
Speaker 4: I don't mind admitting I wasn't well. That organization sure
19:08
Speaker 4: blew up. Now let's see the formula for stopping it. Oh,
19:12
Speaker 4: I didn't complicate the organization with negatives. I wanted it
19:15
Speaker 4: to grow. It falls apart naturally when it stops growing
19:18
Speaker 4: for more than two months. You remember, we build into
19:21
Speaker 4: it the idea that the members know what happens if
19:24
Speaker 4: the membership stops growing. Why if I tried to stop
19:27
Speaker 4: it now, they'd cut my throat. Yeah, yeah, they sure
19:29
Speaker 4: were enthusiastic at that meeting. No, we'll just let it
19:32
Speaker 4: play out to the end of its tether and die
19:34
Speaker 4: of old a and when will that be Well, it
19:36
Speaker 4: can't grow past the female population of the town. There
19:39
Speaker 4: are only so many women in the Watershaw and some
19:41
Speaker 4: of them don't like sewing sewing.
19:44
Speaker 1: Caswell, what's the matter? Are you sick? You haven't been
19:48
Speaker 1: following the experiment? Why no? I told you. I haven't
19:51
Speaker 1: even thought about it since we started.
19:52
Speaker 4: Well, they wanted to expand and they weren't going to
19:55
Speaker 4: let sewings stand in their way. They went from general
19:57
Speaker 4: charity to social welfare schemes to something that's pretty close
20:00
Speaker 4: to an incorporated government. They're now filing an application to
20:04
Speaker 4: change their name to the Civic Property Pool and Social
20:07
Speaker 4: Dividend Membership Combine. Well, very interesting. I hadn't thought of that. Fascinating, doctor, Caswell.
20:16
Speaker 4: Tell me where where does the formula say it will stop? Oh?
20:21
Speaker 1: I shouldn't worry.
20:22
Speaker 4: It stops when you run out of people to join it.
20:24
Speaker 4: After all, there are only so many people in Watershaw.
20:26
Speaker 4: It's a pretty small town.
20:28
Speaker 1: Yes, yes it is, doctor. They've opened a branch office
20:33
Speaker 1: in New York.
20:40
Speaker 4: Caswell got up his slide rule then, and we went
20:43
Speaker 4: over the charts I had been keeping. He ran the
20:45
Speaker 4: results through the physics Department's new analog computer.
20:48
Speaker 1: To check the results.
20:51
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, it checks well well now, allowing a certain
20:55
Speaker 4: lag of contagion from one nation to another, language and
20:58
Speaker 4: cultural barriers. You know, each total world population in twelve years,
21:03
Speaker 4: about one week after that, various isolated pockets of Australian bushmen,
21:07
Speaker 4: Tibetan's African pygmies will all be members. You mean only
21:12
Speaker 4: twelve years, give or take a week. Twelve years the
21:15
Speaker 4: whole world. Well, there is something to be said for
21:17
Speaker 4: a worldwide government. Many people are definitely in favor of it.
21:22
Speaker 1: But under Bernice Hackett, the whole world. You ask me
21:25
Speaker 1: for a demonstration, the equation work.
21:27
Speaker 4: But what happens when the whole world is organized and
21:30
Speaker 4: there are no new members? Well, two months after the
21:33
Speaker 4: organization stops growing, it collapses.
21:36
Speaker 1: It's built in the formula. Yes, But what happens then?
21:40
Speaker 1: Oh well, I haven't the faintest idea. I haven't carried
21:44
Speaker 1: the equations.
21:45
Speaker 4: That far has Well, whatever happens, I don't want anyone
21:49
Speaker 4: to ever pin this on me from now on, if
21:51
Speaker 4: anyone asks me, I never heard.
21:53
Speaker 1: Of watershawl Well, that was twelve years ago.
22:00
Speaker 4: I think Caswell and I are about the only men
22:02
Speaker 4: on Earth who don't hold membership cards in the United Terrestrials,
22:04
Speaker 4: Civic Welfare and International Property Pool, Bernice Hackett, Global Administrator,
22:09
Speaker 4: it's a race against time now. There hasn't been a
22:12
Speaker 4: new member in a week and a half, and Bernice
22:14
Speaker 4: is anxiously awaiting news from the first Mars Expeditionary Fleet.
22:18
Speaker 4: And as she says, if only they find life there,
22:21
Speaker 4: we need new members desperately. You have just heard X
22:29
Speaker 4: minus one, presented by the National Broadcasting Company in co
22:32
Speaker 4: operation with Galaxy Science Fiction magazine, which this month features
22:37
Speaker 4: The Stars My Destination, the first installment of a four
22:40
Speaker 4: part serial by Alfred Bester, a brilliant novel on teleportation
22:45
Speaker 4: in the world of the future. Galaxy Magazine on your
22:49
Speaker 4: new stand today tonight by transcription. X minus one has
22:53
Speaker 4: brought you The Snowball Effect, a story from the pages
22:56
Speaker 4: of Galaxy, written by Catherine mc lean and adapted for
22:59
Speaker 4: radio by Ernestoi. Featured in the cast were Ted Osborne,
23:03
Speaker 4: Wendell Holmes, Warren Parker, Audrey Blum, Mary Patten, Patsy O'Shea
23:09
Speaker 4: and Peggy.
23:09
Speaker 1: Allenby your announcer Fred Collins.
23:12
Speaker 4: X minus one was directed by Daniel Sutter and is
23:15
Speaker 4: an NBC Radio Network production. A thousands of hearts are
23:28
Speaker 4: being saved to day, and many persons with heart disease
23:30
Speaker 4: are learning how to live happier and more useful lives.
23:33
Speaker 4: The fact is most heart patients can keep on working,
23:36
Speaker 4: often at the same job. This progress is the result
23:40
Speaker 4: of intensive medical research, research which you support when you
23:43
Speaker 4: give to the Heart Fund, send a contribution now to
23:46
Speaker 4: your local heart association, are to Heart Care of your
23:49
Speaker 4: post office. When you help your Heart Fund, you help
23:52
Speaker 4: your heart Only. NBC Radio brings you the whole convention story.
23:57
Speaker 4: Listen tonight. Oooh