<TABLE>
FORM 13F INFORMATION TABLE
VALUE SHARES/ SH/ PUT/ INVSTMT OTHER VOTING AUTHORITY
NAME OF ISSUER TITLE OF CLASS CUSIP (x$1000) PRN AMT PRN CALL DSCRETN MANAGERS SOLE SHARED NONE
------------------------------ ---------------- --------- -------- -------- --- ---- ------- ------------ -------- -------- --------
<S> <C> <C> <C> <C> <C> <C> <C> <C> <C> <C> <C>
A.M. Castle COM 148411101 613 50000.00 SH DEFINED 01 50000.00
AC Nielsen Corp. COM 004833109 11382 481762.00SH DEFINED 01 481762.00
AFLAC, Inc. COM 001055102 410 5852.92 SH DEFINED 01 5852.92
Abbott Labs COM 002824100 2050 39991.00 SH DEFINED 01 39991.00
Alcatel ADS COM 013904305 10280 184183.00SH DEFINED 01 184183.00
Ambac Financial Group COM 023139108 1153 16000.00 SH DEFINED 01 16000.00
America Online COM 02364j104 1595 32500.00 SH DEFINED 01 32500.00
American Int'l Group COM 026874107 5571 56995.00 SH DEFINED 01 56995.00
American Power Conversion Corp COM 029066107 7404 604433.00SH DEFINED 01 604433.00
Andrew Corp COM 034425108 949 42900.00 SH DEFINED 01 42900.00
Apple Computer COM 037833100 270 14000.00 SH DEFINED 01 14000.00
Applied Power COM 038225108 174 45000.00 SH DEFINED 01 45000.00
Baldwin & Lyons - Class A COM 057755100 675 35550.00 SH DEFINED 01 35550.00
Bank Amer Corp COM 060505104 702 14800.66 SH DEFINED 01 14800.66
Belo (A.H.) COM 080555105 11260 629950.00SH DEFINED 01 629950.00
Borders Group Inc. COM 099709107 1687 133000.00SH DEFINED 01 133000.00
Boston Scientific COM 101137107 2636 177200.00SH DEFINED 01 177200.00
Bristol-Myers Squibb COM 110122108 280 4600.00 SH DEFINED 01 4600.00
Brunswick Corp COM 117043109 284 15500.00 SH DEFINED 01 15500.00
CD&L Inc COM 14983Y107 26 42200.00 SH DEFINED 01 42200.00
CNF Transportation COM 12612w104 16408 568257.00SH DEFINED 01 568257.00
CTS Corp. COM 126501105 2455 57500.00 SH DEFINED 01 57500.00
CVS Corp COM 585745102 8560 150842.00SH DEFINED 01 150842.00
Capital Trust - MD Class A COM 14052H100 1828 411950.00SH DEFINED 01 411950.00
Carnival Corp. COM 143658102 1625 75800.00 SH DEFINED 01 75800.00
Catalina Marketing COM 148867104 329 8600.00 SH DEFINED 01 8600.00
Champion Enterprises COM 158496109 34 10000.00 SH DEFINED 01 10000.00
Comdisco, Inc. COM 200336105 839 61300.00 SH DEFINED 01 61300.00
Commercial Metals Company COM 201723103 354 14059.00 SH DEFINED 01 14059.00
Compaq Computer Corp COM 204493100 2053 81348.00 SH DEFINED 01 81348.00
Corning, Inc. COM 219350105 1683 28530.00 SH DEFINED 01 28530.00
Danielson Holding COM 236274106 1207 311500.00SH DEFINED 01 311500.00
Dean Foods Company COM 242361103 11009 335500.00SH DEFINED 01 335500.00
Diebold Inc. COM 253651103 2031 67700.00 SH DEFINED 01 67700.00
Disney COM 254687106 1203 39522.00 SH DEFINED 01 39522.00
Dynamex COM 26784F103 870 580300.00SH DEFINED 01 580300.00
E-Stamp Corporation COM 269154100 30 60621.00 SH DEFINED 01 60621.00
EMC Corp COM 268648102 1230 15600.00 SH DEFINED 01 15600.00
Edwards Lifesciences COM 28176e108 3717 259700.00SH DEFINED 01 259700.00
Elan Corp COM 284131208 3702 76726.00 SH DEFINED 01 76726.00
Electro Scientific Industries COM 285229100 305 10000.00 SH DEFINED 01 10000.00
Exxon-Mobil Corp COM 30231g102 599 6661.18 SH DEFINED 01 6661.18
FPL Group COM 302571104 264 4000.00 SH DEFINED 01 4000.00
Furniture Brands Intl. COM 360921100 983 61200.00 SH DEFINED 01 61200.00
Gartner Group Class B COM 366651206 1551 185200.00SH DEFINED 01 185200.00
General Electric COM 369604103 7477 145356.00SH DEFINED 01 145356.00
Guidant Corporation COM 401698105 3717 68198.00 SH DEFINED 01 68198.00
H&R Block COM 093671105 994 30000.00 SH DEFINED 01 30000.00
Harcourt General COM 41163G101 3644 66200.00 SH DEFINED 01 66200.00
Harris Corp. COM 413875105 6834 225000.00SH DEFINED 01 225000.00
Home Depot, Inc. COM 437076102 299 8000.00 SH DEFINED 01 8000.00
Houghton Mifflin COM 441560109 12252 318223.17SH DEFINED 01 318223.17
IMS Health, Inc. COM 449934108 1032 43000.00 SH DEFINED 01 43000.00
Illinois Tool Works COM 452308109 674 11615.00 SH DEFINED 01 11615.00
Information Resources COM 456905108 714 173000.00SH DEFINED 01 173000.00
Ingram Micro A COM 457153104 443 28000.00 SH DEFINED 01 28000.00
Int'l Business Machines COM 459200101 4664 47870.00 SH DEFINED 01 47870.00
KeySpan Corp COM 49337w100 2753 80100.00 SH DEFINED 01 80100.00
Legato Systems COM 524651106 1817 180600.00SH DEFINED 01 180600.00
Leggett & Platt COM 524660107 1211 75100.00 SH DEFINED 01 75100.00
Liberty Media Group - Class A COM 87924v507 4736 299486.00SH DEFINED 01 299486.00
Magna Entertainment Inc COM 559111075 860 156300.00SH DEFINED 01 156300.00
Magna International COM 559222401 10115 235243.00SH DEFINED 01 235243.00
Mallon Resources COM 561240201 1088 200000.00SH DEFINED 01 200000.00
Manpower, Inc. COM 56418h100 2137 66391.00 SH DEFINED 01 66391.00
Mattel COM 577081102 14329 1037400.00SH DEFINED 01 1037400.00
McKesson HBOC COM 58155q103 4835 143000.00SH DEFINED 01 143000.00
Mellon Financial Corp COM 58551a108 2059 43700.00 SH DEFINED 01 43700.00
Mentor Graphics COM 587200106 4733 199800.00SH DEFINED 01 199800.00
Merck & Co. COM 589331107 667 7460.00 SH DEFINED 01 7460.00
Microsoft COM 594918104 1694 25501.00 SH DEFINED 01 25501.00
Miller Industries COM 600551105 23 25900.00 SH DEFINED 01 25900.00
Minnesota Mining & Manufacturi COM 604059105 569 6000.00 SH DEFINED 01 6000.00
Molex, Inc. - Class A COM 608554200 2250 68826.00 SH DEFINED 01 68826.00
Motorola COM 620076109 404 17700.00 SH DEFINED 01 17700.00
Navigant Consulting COM 63935n107 1541 425000.00SH DEFINED 01 425000.00
New York Times COM 650111107 3969 108000.00SH DEFINED 01 108000.00
Newell Rubbermaid COM 651229106 8242 416000.00SH DEFINED 01 416000.00
Northern Trust Corp COM 665859104 753 8740.00 SH DEFINED 01 8740.00
Nutraceutical Int'l COM 67060Y101 775 310000.00SH DEFINED 01 310000.00
Oracle Corp COM 68389X105 346 14000.00 SH DEFINED 01 14000.00
Pfizer, Inc. COM 717081103 693 16425.00 SH DEFINED 01 16425.00
Pico Holdings COM 693366205 675 61400.00 SH DEFINED 01 61400.00
ProLogis COM 743410102 850 41600.00 SH DEFINED 01 41600.00
Qwest Communications Intl COM 749121109 221 5328.00 SH DEFINED 01 5328.00
Reader's Digest Class A COM 755267101 2610 66500.00 SH DEFINED 01 66500.00
Robotic Vision Systems, Inc. COM 771074101 1353 340976.00SH DEFINED 01 340976.00
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Facto COM 774678403 93 24400.00 SH DEFINED 01 24400.00
Rural Metro COM 781748108 264 95000.00 SH DEFINED 01 95000.00
SBC Communications, Inc. COM 78387g103 1509 26018.00 SH DEFINED 01 26018.00
Saks, Inc. COM 79377w108 6117 661250.00SH DEFINED 01 661250.00
Sara Lee COM 803111103 1618 74200.00 SH DEFINED 01 74200.00
Scientific Atlanta COM 808655104 239 4000.00 SH DEFINED 01 4000.00
Sensormatic Electronics COM 817265101 10415 555447.00SH DEFINED 01 555447.00
Sigma Aldrich COM 826552101 555 15000.00 SH DEFINED 01 15000.00
Snowball.Com COM 83335r107 60 45000.00 SH DEFINED 01 45000.00
Solectron Corp COM 834182107 2923 81900.00 SH DEFINED 01 81900.00
Southwest Airlines Company COM 844741108 1517 51200.00 SH DEFINED 01 51200.00
Sprint Corp - FON Group COM 852061100 5135 205400.00SH DEFINED 01 205400.00
Symbol Technologies COM 871508107 8169 210147.00SH DEFINED 01 210147.00
Tech Data Corp. COM 878237106 454 14000.00 SH DEFINED 01 14000.00
Teekay Shipping COM V89564104 285 7500.00 SH DEFINED 01 7500.00
Tellabs, Inc. COM 879664100 7993 149400.00SH DEFINED 01 149400.00
Thomas & Betts COM 884315102 771 52300.00 SH DEFINED 01 52300.00
True North Communications COM 897844106 3545 93754.00 SH DEFINED 01 93754.00
Tyler Technologies Inc. COM 902252105 400 200000.00SH DEFINED 01 200000.00
UniFirst COM 904708104 1485 154300.00SH DEFINED 01 154300.00
Unilever NV COM 904784709 1501 25900.00 SH DEFINED 01 25900.00
Unisys Corp COM 909214108 17813 1417950.00SH DEFINED 01 1417950.00
Viacom - Class B COM 925524308 3422 66762.00 SH DEFINED 01 66762.00
Wal-Mart Stores COM 931142103 2811 62030.00 SH DEFINED 01 62030.00
Walgreen COM 931422109 736 17150.00 SH DEFINED 01 17150.00
Wallace Computer Services COM 932270101 1966 130000.00SH DEFINED 01 130000.00
AFLAC, Inc. RET EQ 001055102 350 5000.00 SH DEFINED 01 5000.00
Abbott Labs RET EQ 002824100 308 6016.00 SH DEFINED 01 6016.00
Acorn Investment Trust - Commo RET EQ 004851101 256 13917.37 SH DEFINED 01 13917.37
Baxter International RET EQ 071813109 298 3600.00 SH DEFINED 01 3600.00
Dynamex RET EQ 26784F103 79 52960.00 SH DEFINED 01 52960.00
El Paso Natural Gas RET EQ 283677854 254 4200.00 SH DEFINED 01 4200.00
General Electric RET EQ 369604103 580 11268.00 SH DEFINED 01 11268.00
Pfizer, Inc. RET EQ 717081103 209 4950.00 SH DEFINED 01 4950.00
Pharmacia Corp RET EQ 71713u102 258 4500.00 SH DEFINED 01 4500.00
Procter & Gamble RET EQ 742718109 383 5300.00 SH DEFINED 01 5300.00
U.S. Realtel {RESTRICTED} RET EQ 902979103 79 32500.00 SH DEFINED 01 32500.00
Walgreen RET EQ 931422109 294 6848.00 SH DEFINED 01 6848.00
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