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Key scientific developments have all been based on the principle of conservation of energy, says Jones. He believes that the organizational problems of the space age must be solved by a similar key—conservation of resources. And he cheers the Pentagon's new-found concern with fewer, multiple-purpose weapons and space devices. A sharp increase in the scant 40% of aerospace contracts now let through competitive bidding would, he contends, help remind both the military and the industry that money, too, is a resource to be conserved. Says he: "It is completely out of gear to say that a scientist strives for the best regardless of cost. Our job is to get simplified, less costly solutions to defense problems. Defense depends not only on the performance of each unit, but on the number of units that the Government can afford to put in the field."
Time for Thinking. Carrying his case for competition and cost-consciousness across the land, Jones in the past year logged 112,687 miles on commercial planes alone; he uses the flight time to catch up on his reading (currently: Protracted Conflict: A Challenging Study of Communist Strategy). When he is at home base, Jones's workday begins when he awakens at 6:30 a.m. In his ten-room, $150,000 ranch house, Jones starts each day simply by "lying in bed and just thinking for half an hour—it's a time when my objectivity is at its best." Then he plunges into a furious round of keep-fit exercises (25 pushups, 25 knee bends, ten laps in the pool), downs his standard breakfast (half a grapefruit, five strips of bacon, tea), slips into an Ivy League grey suit (sometimes flashing it up with his gold cuff links that are shaped like tiny T-38 jets), and pilots a company Cadillac to headquarters.
For the next eleven hours, Jones pores over contracts and proposals, fidgets through conferences—in conversation, he is a habitual shadowboxer, leg crosser and finger tapper—with a steady stream of generals, vice presidents, scientists and budgeteers. After hours, his social life is relaxed and seldom formal. Despite his appreciation of good food and wine, he eats and drinks sparingly. His house lacks a bomb shelter but boasts a wine vault.
What Price Discovery? Cost-conscious Tom Jones may be, but critics outside the industry outdo him in questioning increasingly the utility of the nonmilitary goals of his trade. Grumbling that the space race with Russia is a meaningless weight-lifting contest, they would rather spend money on schools or cancer research than on shooting the moon. The usual answer is that to be left behind in space is to risk survival. A secondary answer is that aerospace has already begun to pay unusual dividends, and promises more. Space probes in the last four years have taught scientists more about the nature of the universe than they had learned in the previous three centuries. Satellites now spot hurricanes, help to predict weather and may in time contribute to controlling it—a possibility with tremendous implications for every farmer, fisherman or merchant. Communications satellites, the first of which will be launched within the next year by A.T. & T. and RCA, will ultimately enable nations to see and speak with each other through the medium of global television.