The main publisher was Scott, Foresman and Co.
Now, they have quite a lot of small orders, all through the year. They are one of our biggest publishers. So it kept him busy filling mostly their orders, plus some of the smaller publishers. Possibly he filled some of Gregg Publishing Go. and others. But when he would run out of Scott, Foreman orders, he would pick up other orders that might have had several publishers' books on the same order.
Incidentally, not only Scott, Foresman orders were billed separately. There would be other publishers' orders on the same invoice.

Mr. Belin.

Well, perhaps you might explain to the Commission just what exactly the nature of your business is, and how an employee would go about filling orders.

Mr. Truly.

We are agents for a number of publishers. We furnish offices for those who desire them in Texas. And our business is shipping, inventorying, collecting, doing all the bookkeeping work for the various publishers' books.
Now, we have most of the publishers' stock is lined up alphabetically by titles or by stock numbers or code numbers, whichever determines that.
And the location of the books each publisher's books are to themselves. They are not mixed in with several other publishers on the various floors.
On the first floor we have bin stock, shelf stock, we fill a lot of small orders from.
And then in the basement the same.
The fifth and the sixth floor, and part of the seventh floor is overflow stock. It is reserve stock.
But the boys have to go to those floors all during the day to pick up stock and bring it to the first floor in order to process and complete the orders for the checker.

Mr. Dulles.

What would reserve stock mean?

Mr. Truly.

Actually it is not reserve stock--it is not surplus either. It is part of our stock. But we can carry a limited. amount only on the first floor where we do our shipping. So they may get an order for a hundred copies of a certain book and there may only be 10 or 15 or 20 on the shelf on the first floor. They will have to go upstairs and get a carton or two. And they replenish the first floor stock from that.
And many of our freight orders are filled entirely from our reserve stock. And they bring them to the first floor. All orders reach the first floor, where they are checked and processed and packed and shipped from that floor.

Mr. Belin.

Where, generally, are Scott, Foresman books kept?

Mr. Truly.

On the first floor and the sixth floor. We have a large quantity of their books on the sixth floor.

Mr. Belin.

And this is the area where Lee Harvey Oswald worked?

Mr. Truly.

That is right.

Mr. Belin.

That publisher?

Mr. Truly.

That publisher. He had occasion to go to the sixth floor quite a number of times every day, each day, after books.

Mr. Belin.

Now, when an order would come in, how would it get to the individual employee, so the employee would go out and pick out the books?

Mr. Truly.

The orders came into our office and were processed by our girls, priced and billed by the bill clerks, and then were sent down a little chute to the first floor, a little dumbwaiter, regardless of publisher.
The boys would take them off of this dumbwaiter and carry them over on to a little table near the checker stand.
Various ones would sort out the publishers--sort out the orders by publishers.
Scott, Foresman could be here, there would be a stock of Gregg and Southwestern over here, we have a number of small publishers, maybe we would group them altogether. And the boys usually know which particular orders they are supposed to fill from, because they-know the books, they can tell.
On each order it says, "SF" for Scott, Foresman on each invoice and so forth.

Mr. Belin.

Do they just pick up the piece of paper for the order and carry them around with them?

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