Dear

　　This has been a difficult year for the Chambers Corporation. I am sure that you all know that the loss of our three contracts with the United States Air Force， due to the cut-back in defense appropriations， hurt us substantially.

　　In July，  we had a major decision to make.  The question we were faced with was whether to let some of our employees go，or to explore all other possible avenues of cost reduction，keeping everyone's job intact.  We chose the latter course. Unfortunately， one of the policies we were forced to eliminate for this year， was our annual Christmas bonus to each of our employees.

　　This will be the first year since 1976 that we will be unable to thank you in this special manner for your hard work， loyalty and faithfulness.  We are all hoping that 1986 will be a prosperous year and that we will be able to reinstate our traditional Christmas bonus policy.