P: But you had never seen Gainesville?

R: No. I had never seen Gainesville. [Walter Matherly said], "I am going to be in
 Kansas City on such and such dates, interviewing, and if you can arrange to be there,
 I will interview you." Well, obviously, I arranged to be there. I remember going into
 the lobby of the old Muelbach Hotel. You just looked around. You could see this
 group of young men, and in those days it pretty much was all young men, all dressed
 up, and you kind of knew that they were all waiting for what I was waiting for. What
 would happen is, he would call down to the lobby and somebody would say, "Paging
 so and so," and we would go up. So I went up and interviewed with Dean Matherly,
 and we had a very good interview.

P: And you are meeting Matherly for the first time.

R: Could not help but like him, he was that kind of person. We talked about a lot of
 things and he said, "Well, I will let you know." Well, in a short period of time, I got
 a letter offering me a job to teach economics at the University of Florida.

P: How much were they offering you?

R: $3,500 to teach two semesters and one summer session.

P: They really paid well, even in those days.

R: I had written all of them and Franklin and Marshall [College] just wrote back and
 said, "We offer you a job." I am sure they did not have the choices. Well, Franklin
 and Marshall offered $2,700 for the two semesters. Duluth, Minnesota offered me
 a job. Now, they offered $3,900 for two semesters.

P: But then you figure the cold.

R: Yes. That really was [the difference]. So we accepted the Florida offer and were
 getting all organized to go when we got this telegram. The telegram said, "Do not
 come. The legislature has adjourned without taking action on the University's
 budget. Held up waiting approval of a sales tax. We will let you know something
 as soon as possible."

P: This is the Fuller Warren [governor of Florida 1949-1953] administration now.

R: That is right, the Fuller Warren administration, which I believe had two major things
 that were left undone. One was the sales tax and the other was ... I forget.

P: The cattle.

R: That is right, the fencing of cattle.



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