Pete - I suspect you are referring to omission of an empty can of Prince
Albert tobacco which served as a reverb/amplifier of "code".
Over the yrs I too have noticed, either in person or in photos, the usual
Pricne Albert which brings up a slightly off subject question - why always
Prince Albert when, in those days anyway, there were so many other brands of
tobacco in tins?
As for Louis Menk - apart from the demise of 4960/5632 which created the
Menk is a Fink pins plus the eventual "Chairman Mao" booklet, was he a good
mgr? Business historians have yet to write a definitive critique of his yrs
but here's my observations for what they are worth. He was an imposing
figure (6'5" or 6'6"), great wordsmith and always ready for a soundbite,
photo, etc - that's meant as a compli- ment because a CEO in a competitive
industry, fighting trucks, regula- tors, etc must be out front. But figures
don't lie as to his shifting of funds from MoW (look at Annual Reports) &
cuts in PR - being a non-RRer it was hard for him to understand why
something not directly tied to income was important. BN was a success as a
merger, especially compared to Penn-Central but is that a fair comparison?
NYC & PRR were both close to bankruptcy when they merged with income
plummeting & traffic diminishing. THey also were in a depressed rust-belt
area with other RR competition (CHessie/N&W). BN however was made up of 1
cash cow & 2 reasonably profitable long lines (esp. NP via its timber &
silver holdings) who's only RR competition in the entire northern 1/3 of the
country was the Milwaukee! They also had longhauls of TOFC, all those
grains & in an area with a growing industrial economy plus Wyoming coal
(that UP nearly took from them). Thus the argument can be made (& was in
the business press when Menk passed away a yr or 2 back) that perhaps the
praise for a successful merger wasn't deserved - i.e. how could it NOT be
successful? Penn-Central was 2 parallel RRs (forced to take on the bankrupt
New Haven) that never did shake off all the surplus track - it also came
about relatively suddenly with very little preparation whereas BN had its
roots back to Jim Hill and was close to a reality in "68. More time to
plan, no gun to their heads, still making money, a big chunk (CB&Q) NOT
parallel trackage & the remaining (GN/NP) turned into (in effect) a
doubletrack to take advantage of ruling grades plus downgrading of
maintenance for the underutilized portions. Also not stuck with a NH
(imagine if BN had to take on the ROCK!). Menk served one major purpose -
with BN stock going public (the Q portion having been a VERY closely held
stock), there needed to be short-term savings to make would be stockholders
happy - this Menk did. UP on the other hand, without its own line into
Chicago (not until MoPAc/C&NW came on board), kept its steam, kept its track
maintenance, etc and kept making as good or better return than BN. So was
Menk a great RR Pres or just in the right place @ the right time? I'd argue
C&NW's Jim Wolfe at the same time was a far better Pres - he inherited a
depreciating granger with no long haul except for whatever could be shared
with Rock/MIlw via UP @ Council Bluffs - a granger fighting BN(Q), etc.
Also NOT an operating person (an atty with roots on the Q as his Dad had
been Q's counsel) BUT one heck of a Washington lobbyist & smart enough to
put a good operating man (Jim Zito) in charge of running the RR (not that
Zito didn't have detractors). But Wolfe went to D.C., finagled Congress/FRA
to give 90% of the 4R money to C&NW (10% to Milw & none to Rock) - that
saved C&NW, rebuilt the Chi-Oma main & in turn meant more UP traffic &
eventual merger - if Milw had gotten the 90% or possibly even the Rock
(Inghram was a wheeler-dealer but lacked
Wolfe's finesse) the midwest would look a lot different today rail- wise.
So back to the Q - where would BN have been in "75 or even today if Menk had
not been Pres. of Q or BN but rather someone groomed via the ranks? The
overdue internal changes (computerization) would possibly have been further
delayed but beyond that who knows? Gerald Edgar
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