told him.

"We were on the plane from Oak Ridge, then," Fields declared. "We know
nothing about that."

"Well, are you going to take the responsibility for it, or aren't you?"
Leighton insisted.

Lyons, who had been toying with a small metal paperweight, rapped on the
table with it.

"Gentlemen," he interrupted. "We're trying to cover too many subjects at
once. I suggest that we confine ourselves, at the beginning, to the
question of the dismissal of these men, Burris and Koffler. If we find
that the I.F.A.W. has a legitimate grievance in what we may call the
Burris-Koffler question, we can settle that and then go on to these
other questions."

"I'm agreeable to that," Melroy said.

"So are we," Cronnin nodded.

"All right, then. Since the I.F.A.W. is the complaining party in this
question, perhaps you gentlemen should state the grounds for your
complaints."

Fields and Cronnin exchanged glances: Cronnin nodded to Fields and the
latter rose. The two employees in question, he stated, had been the
victims of discrimination and persecution because of union activities.
Koffler was the union shop-steward for the men employed by the Melroy
Engineering Corporation, and Burris had been active in bringing
complaints about unfair employment practices. Furthermore, it was the
opinion of the I.F.A.W. that the psychological tests imposed on their
members had been a fraudulent pretext for dismissing these two men, and,
in any case, the practice of compelling workers to submit to such tests
was insulting, degrading, and not a customary condition of employment.

With that, he sat down. Melroy was on his feet at once.

"I'll deny those statements, categorically and seriatim," he replied.
"They are based entirely upon misrepresentations made by the two men who
were disqualified by the tests and dropped from my payroll because of
being, in the words of my contract with your union, 'persons of unsound
mind, deficient intelligence and/or emotional instability.' What
happened is that your local official, Crandall, accepted everything they
told him uncritically, and you accepted everything Crandall told you, in
the same spirit.

"Before I go on," Melroy continued, turning to Lyons, "have I your
permission to let Dr. Rives explain about these tests, herself, and tell
how they were given and evaluated?"

* * * * *

Permission granted by Lyons, Doris Rives rose. At some length, she
explained the