private static Scanner makeScanner(File file) {
		FileReader reader;
		try { // the file may or may not exist at this point
			reader = new FileReader(file);
		} catch (FileNotFoundException fnf_exception) {
			// WE WILL PROBABLY WANT TO INTEGRATE THIS INTO THE GUI
			// Print the name of the missing file:
			localError(fnf_exception.getMessage());
			return null;
		} catch (Exception ex) {
			localError("unknown problem creating FileReader for \"" + file
					+ "\": " + ex.getMessage());
			return null;
		}
		// create Scanner to read easily from the input files:
		Scanner s = new Scanner(new BufferedReader(reader));
		s.useLocale(Locale.US); // tell the scanner that numbers in the input
								// are formatted with decimal points, not
								// commas, etc.
		return s;
	}