COMMENT ⊗   VALID 00003 PAGES
C REC  PAGE   DESCRIPTION
C00001 00001
C00002 00002	%\magnification=\magstephalf
C00009 00003
C00031 ENDMK
C⊗;
%\magnification=\magstephalf
%\magnification=\magstep2
\magnification=\magstep1
\font\smallheadfont=amr8 
\font\largeheadfont=amdunh10 
%\font\ninerm=amr9 
\font\seal=stan70
\font\Dunh=amdunh10
\def\today{\ifcase\month\or
  January\or February\or March\or April\or May\or June\or
  July\or August\or September\or October\or November\or December\fi
  \space\number\day, \number\year}

\raggedbottom
\interlinepenalty=1000
\hsize=6.25truein
%\voffset=24pt
%\advance\vsize by-\voffset
\parindent=0pt
\parskip=0pt
\nopagenumbers
\footline={\ifnum\pageno>1
  \smallheadfont \addressee\hfil\today\qquad \folio
  \else\hfil\fi}

\def\beginlinemode{\endmode
  \begingroup\obeylines\def\endmode{\par\endgroup}}
\def\beginparmode{\endmode
  \begingroup\parskip=\medskipamount \def\endmode{\par\endgroup}}
\let\endmode=\par
\def\endletter{\endmode\vfill\supereject}

\newdimen\longindentation \longindentation=4truein
\newbox\theaddress
\def\address{\beginlinemode\getaddress}
{\obeylines\gdef\getaddress #1
  #2
  {#1\gdef\addressee{#2}%
    \global\setbox\theaddress=\vbox\bgroup\raggedright%
     \hsize=3.25truein\everypar{\hangindent2em}#2
%    \hsize=\longindentation \everypar{\hangindent2em}#2
    \def\endmode{\egroup\endgroup \copy\theaddress \bigskip}}}

\def\body{\beginparmode}
\def\annotations{\beginlinemode\def\par{\endgraf\nobreak}\obeylines\par}
\def\ps{\beginparmode\nobreak
  \interlinepenalty5000\def\par{\endgraf\penalty5000}}

\def\up#1{\leavevmode \raise.16ex\hbox{#1}}

\def\personal{\pageno=1
  \def\sendingaddress{Arthur L. Samuel\par
    The Sequoias\par
    501 Portola Road, box 8214\par
    Portola Valley, CA 94025\par
    \up[415\up]\thinspace 424-4233\par}
  \def\returnaddress{Arthur L. Samuel\par
    The Sequoias\par
    501 Portola Road, box 8214\par
    Portola Valley, CA 94025 USA}
\centerline{Arthur L. Samuel}
\centerline{The Sequoias}
\centerline{501 Portola Rd. box 8214}
\centerline{Portola Valley, CA 94025}
    \bigskip\bigskip\hfill\today\bigskip}

\def\pool{\pageno=1
  \def\returnaddress{The Swimming  Pool Committee\par
    The Sequoias\par
    501 Portola Road\par
    Portola Valley, CA 94025 USA}
\centerline{The Sequoias Swimming Pool Committee}
\centerline{The Sequoias}
\centerline{501 Portola Rd.}
\centerline{Portola Valley, CA 94025}
    \bigskip\bigskip\hfill\today\bigskip}

\def\stanford{\pageno=1
  \def\returnaddress{Arthur L.~Samuel\par
    Computer Science Department\par
    Stanford University\par
    Stanford CA 94305 USA}
{\null\vskip-10pt
\vbox{\hskip-50pt$\vcenter{\rlap{\seal T}}$\hskip48pt}
\vbox{\null\vskip-66pt\Dunh\parskip=0pt\baselineskip=18pt\obeylines\obeyspaces
   Computer Science Department\par
   Stanford University\par
   Stanford, California 94305}}
    \bigskip\bigskip\hfill\today\bigskip}

%\def\makelabel{\endletter\hbox{\vrule
%    \vbox{\hrule \kern6truept
%      \hbox{\kern6truept\vbox to 3truein{\hsize=\longindentation
%          \smallheadfont\baselineskip9truept\returnaddress
%          \vfill\moveright 3truein\copy\theaddress\vfill}%
%        \kern6truept}\kern6truept\hrule}\vrule}
%  \vfill\eject}

\def\makelabel{\endletter\hbox%
{\vrule\vbox{\hrule \kern6truept
      \hbox{\kern6truept\vbox{\hsize=2truein
    \smallheadfont\baselineskip10truept\returnaddress}}\smallskip\hrule}\vrule}
\medskip
\hbox{\vrule\vbox{\hrule \kern6truept
      \hbox{\kern6truept\vbox{\hsize=3truein
     \copy\theaddress}}\smallskip\hrule}\vrule}\eject}

\def\als{\beginlinemode\nobreak\bigskip
\hskip4truein Sincerely yours,
    \nobreak\bigskip\bigskip\bigskip % space for signature
\hskip4truein Arthur L. Samuel
\bigskip}

\def\alsX{\beginlinemode\nobreak\bigskip
\hskip3truein With lots of love,
    \nobreak\bigskip\bigskip\bigskip % space for signature
\hskip4truein A.L.S.
\bigskip}

\def\fin{\makelabel\end}

\def\com{\beginlinemode\nobreak\bigskip
\hskip3.4truein The Swimming Pool Committee
    \nobreak\smallskip
\hskip3.9truein  Arthur Samuel, Chairman
    \nobreak\smallskip
\hskip3.9truein  Bill Beatty
    \nobreak\smallskip
\hskip3.9truein  Joe Beck
    \nobreak\smallskip
\hskip3.9truein  Paula Burr
    \nobreak\smallskip
\hskip3.9truein  Leslie Dobbins
    \nobreak\smallskip
\hskip3.9truein  Richard Ives
\smallskip}

\centerline{For deposit only}
\centerline{5200-01372 Bank of America}

\bye


\personal
\address
The Bank of New York
UIT Unitholder Relations 9T
P.O.Box 11227
Church Street Station
New York, NY 10249

\body
Gentlemen:

I would like to take advantage of your offer to consolidate my two
accounts with Mutual Investment Trust Fund, that is, if the offer applies
to my accounts, one now paid by you and the other paid by The Chase
Manhattan Bank.

The two accounts are:

$$\vbox {\halign{\hfill#\hfill&&\quad\hfil #\hfil\cr
units&	Account No.&	Description&	Paid by\cr
\noalign{\bigskip}
\tt 10&\tt 11232559-2&	4th California&	The Bank of New York\cr
\tt 40& ? & 32nd California& The Chase Manhattan Bank\cr
}}$$

There seems to be no difference between the addresses under which
these two accounts are held except for the use of the longer Zip code,
94025-7606 in your records. The checks for both accounts bear the same
record dates and the same payable dates, although Chase Manhatten are usually
somewhat more prompt in sending the checks then The Bank of New York.
Both accounts carry my correct identification number which is 091-09-8617.

\als
\fin


\personal
\address
Ms. Pamela Whitney
Rasearcher, Understanding Computers
Time-Life Books Inc.
777 Duke St.
Alexandra, Virginia 22314

\body
Dear Ms. Whitney:

My first comment about the ``Understanding Computers'' manuscript has to
do with the very first page and possibly the preceding page which you did
not send me.  

I am afraid that a wrong impression might be created regarding my part in
the entire University of Illinois computer project and regarding the
University's willingness to support the work. It is true that I had
trouble in getting support from the University for the purchase of a
computer. I had been able to get travel money to visit the Institute for
Advanced Studies at Princeton where John von Neumann was building a
computer and I had tried in vain to find some organization that would even
quote us a price for building us a computer similar to the one that the
group at Princeton was building.  We had estimated that it would cost us
\$90,000 to build a computer on our own.  For a while, the then Dean of
the graduate School had tabled a report that several of us had written and
the entire project was in limbo.

However, by the time that I proposed writing a checker program, the new
Dean of the Graduate School, Louis Ridenour, had gotten the University to
appropiate \$110,000 for the project.  We had hired several new people and
I had started several graduate students on research projects toward the 
development of some of the necessary computer components. This was an entirely
new field and I and my students were later to get quite a few patents on some
of the work done during this period.

 It was because the early design work and this component development work
was progressing so slowly, and because the money was not lasting as long
as we had hoped, that I proposed building a small machine and of trying to
do something spectacular with it. This had little effect on the work actually
being done and there never was a `small computer that was never completed'.

Actually, my checker work took longer than I had assumed it would, since I
was new at programming, who wasn't, and since the programming had to be done
in octal without the aid of even an assembly language which had yet to be
invented. The programming job was also much more difficult than I had 
anticipated and I had to modify the code each time we changed the
projected computer commands. Added to all this, I was not free to devote
much time to the task, being the director of an Electron Devices
Laboratory and deeply involved with the design and development of new
electronic and magnetic devices for use in the new computer and, of
course, carrying a full teaching load in the Electrical Engineerimg
Department.

Incidentally, I was not `newly arrived' by this time, having joined the
faculty in the summer of 1946, and I was certainly less newly arrived than
most of the members of the project, since I had had a hand in hiring most
of them.

My interest in computers deepened and I decided in 1949 to leave the
University where the computer work had to take second place to teaching
demands and go with IBM where I could work full time on computers.

The University continued to work on the design new components and circuits
for a computer. It was successful in getting outside support without the
help of my checker program, and it was able to develop and build the
computer that became known as the `Illiac' and that was the first big
computer of the `von Neumann type' to be gotten into operation in the
United States.

The insert page 2 line 7 material is essentially correct, except tha I was
born in Emporia Kansas. I never heard of ``KOMING PLACE'' (is it a real
place or is this a copy editors space holding convention or a literary
allusion that I miss). I rather doubt if your readers will be interested
in the details regarding my missed PhD. If this is to be left in, perhaps
you should insert the word `earned' in the phrase, `though he lacked the
earned PhD thet was commonplace...'. I do have an honorary ScD.

The insert Page 4, Line 6 is, I think, quite misleading. In the first
place, it gives undue prominence to Cambridge University, although the
work of Wilkes at Cambridge did rank high and I therefore went there
frequently.  Actually, during a three year period when I spent roughly a
third of my time in Europe, I lectured at all of the major universities in
most of the major countries in western Europe, and at many governmental
and industrial laboratories and I was even invited to many industrial
laboratories.  I lectured on Computers in general and brought to Europe
the first detailed information on IBM's first large computer, the 701,
which every one wanted to hear about during that period.  I, of course,
also lectured on my checker program and this did give me entre'e to many
places.

I definitely object to the use of the expression ``valuable tips'' which
sounds like I was spying. I always made it perfectly clear that I worked
for IBM and that I was not after company secrets. Actually, most of the
worthwhile work on computers in Europe was being done at Univrsities and
it was being freely talked about. But it was one thing to hear about it
first hand and to actually see the experimental equipment, and quite
another thing to have to wait until the work was published.

I am quite at loss for the source of the statement ``but felt excluded by
what he perceived as clannishness among AI experts''.  I do not remember
ever making such a statement. There may be an element of truth to this
clannishness, although I am not even sure that there is, and I was never
excluded although I may not always have been a joiner. In any event,
publishing such a statement would certainly not be conducive toward
promoting better relations.  I am afraid that the part about my being sort
of a loner is certainly true, but I do not thing that anything is added to
your story by calling this fact to everyone's attention.  I do feel
strongly about the damage done by exaggerated optimism but I have always
objected to this ``bane of AI's existance'' and it is not something that
`over the years' I `began to object to'.  Why not say: ``Samuel has always
objected to what he labeled ...''.

Page 5 Line 3 replace `for many years' by `initially' in the corrected
text reading: ``As a result, the ability of the program was restricted,
initially, by Samuel's own limited knowledge and could play the game no
better than its creator''.  Some years were involved, not many, but this
was because some year elapsed between the time I started working on the
program and the time when I could get fairly unlimited access to a 701
computer to test the program in detail, and it was not long after I really
got working with a running program that I started to add learning to the
program and so was able to greatly improve the play.

I hope that this overlong harangue will be of some help.

\als

\fin



\address
Miss Alexa Knight
The Sequoias, Portola Valley
\body

Thank you for loaning me the 1-2-3 program material.

I spent some time reading the manual.  I did not touch the disks, both
because I believe that 1-2-3 will, unfortunately, be unsuited for the
Reasident's Council's needs and also because one must load a portion of
the operating system onto the disk before it is usable, just as required
by Visicalc. I was afraid that this would render the program unusable on
another computer, although I did not read the manual in enough detail to
be certain on this point. I just though it safer to do nothing.

1-2-3 is indeed considerably improved over Visicalc but in ways that
really do not make it very much more suitable for the Council's needs.

It now seems that the Council probably need some sort of data-base
program.  Unfortunately, all the ones that I know anything about are much
too complicated for casual use.  They are usually easy to use, once set
up, but the setting-up procedures can be quite messy.

\als

\fin

\personal
\address
Mr. Robert L. Hobson, Vice President
Endowment and Charitable Trust Services
Bank of America
P.O.Box 37121
San Francisco, CA 94137

\body

Dear Mr. Hobson:

I am sorry to have to bother you with the IRS matter that I called you
about this morning. It is quite possible that other contributors to the
same trust fund will have similar problems. I thought that you should know
about it.

As you suggest, I am enclosing copies of the information sent to me by the
IRS together with a copy of my letter to them.

\als

\fin


\personal
\address
Internal Revenue Service Center
Fresno, CA. 93888

\body

Gentlemen:

I am returning the first two pages of your letter dated 01/22/86 
with an explanation of my view of the situation with respect to my 1983 
tax return.  I would greatly appreciate hearing from you on this matter
at your earliest convenience as I will be leaving on a trip on February 25th
and I would like to get this matter settled before I leave.

While I made some of the mistakes that you report, I believe that the major
discrepency is, if fact, due to a misreading in your office of a
Schedule K-1 (form 1041) reporting \$8613 in income that was for
the fiscal year beginning 6-01-83 and ending 5-31-84 and that was, therefore,
reportable and, in fact, was reported by me on my 1984 tax return.  I am
enclosing a form from the Bank of America that supports this interpretation
for this first reporting of income from this newly established trust fund.

Apparently, this K-1 form, as submitted by the Northern California
Presbyterian Homes Inc. or by their agent, Bank of America, N.T. and S.A.
identification number 95-6785895, was mistakenly assumed by your office to
belong with my 1983 return, a natural enough mistake since a 1983 rather
than a 1984 year form was used for this reporting.  The form does contain
a typed statement to the effect that the return was for the fiscal year as
noted above, but this could easily have been overlooked.

It is my hope that this matter can be settled by a phone call so that I
will be able to get a check off without further delay for the amount that
I actually owe.

I can be reached during normal working hours on (415) 497-3330 or on
(415) 723-3330, and on (415) 851-2943 at other times.

\als

\fin


\personal
\address
Professor P. Masani
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA  15260
\body
Dear Professor Masani:

I am rushing to meet your deadline with the material that only reached me
on Wednesday.

Actually, everything seems to be in very good shape. The only corrections
that I might want to make are so trivial that I am disposed to ignore
them.  I really do not agree with the modern trend to use a minimum of
punctuation and I am happy to see that some badly needed commas were
actually added. These more than offset those that were removed.

So you can heave a sigh of relief and accept my portion as it now is.

\als
\annotations
enclosure: documents from your letter of June 26th.
\fin