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function in the three geographic districts that then comprised of Ar-
amco’s operations. These men were, in some cases, smart fellows who
simply needed more training in job evaluation and wage administration.
Some of the others were former craftsmen who had migrated into the
work and really lacked much potential.

I was soon installed as Bela’s #2. Our problem at the time was
not in reducing the amount of American employees, but how to keep
them. Construction was halted and every plane leaving Arabia was load-
ed with Bechtel construction personnel or by Aramco Americans who
had resigned. Turnover at that time was substantial. In order to decide
numbers of Saudi employees to be retained, we brought the heads of the
Organization and Cost Control groups from the three districts and de-
veloped data as to the workload of the same function in each of the three
districts. We then compared the numbers of personnel and decided that
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Management accepted this. Attrition among Saudi employees was sub-
stantial. By combining the attrition and transfer of employees from one
function to another, we were able to meet the new manpower targets.

You must recognize the problem Aramco faced in manning the
operation. From its very beginning the company had committed itself
to the training and development of Saudi employees. At that time, there
were no schools in the entire province. In visiting the local communi-
ties, you found that there was no water system (everyone had to go to
a common well), no sewer system and electric power was unknown.
There were no paved streets or sidewalks. Houses might be built of date
palm fronds or of a kind of coral rock several inches thick that was dug
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the carts pulled by the white donkeys, it struck me that these conditions
were like those in Palestine at the time Jesus Christ lived there.
In 1949, King Abdul Azziz ibn Saud had announced that “his
company” would hire 1,000 Palestinian refugees. Most of these lived
in Lebanon in refugee camps. Many people in company management
thought that the King’s magnanimous gesture could become an Aramco

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