71.   Earnings rose in part because the company cut costs following the First Interstate takeover.

72.   Enron touted a plan by Knight that would have allowed companies to cut energy deals in secret, but that plan was not adopted.

73.   Even a few timber workers, bitter about the closings, say that perhaps the companies cut too many trees.

74.   Earnings rose in part because the company cut costs following the First Interstate takeover, compared with the fourth quarter.

75.   Even as the company cuts costs, it plans to spend more to open stores and expand its distribution facilities.

76.   Environmentalists have charged that letting private companies cut timber on public lands has cost taxpayers millions of dollars and amounts to a subsidy for the timber industry.

77.   Executives also say the company has cut fixed costs in recent years and moved rapidly to idle plants.

78.   Federal law allows companies to cut their taxes when they engage in legitimate deals but not when tax savings are the sole purpose.

79.   Fierce competition is transforming the industry as companies cut costs, gobble up one another and reorganize the delivery of medical care.

80.   Finally, the various companies cut a deal, and Congress passed a bill.