Personnel

Patrick Edward ("Pull-Eighty-Cars") Crowley, resigned as president of New York Central lines, will be succeeded by Frederic Ely Williamson, president of Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, who will be succeeded by Ralph Budd, president of Great Northern Railway. This triple play among major railroads spelled the end of Mr. Crowley's leadership of Central, although he still remained a director. Ill health was given as the cause but Wall Street whispered that "Pat" Crowley had lost his fight with Central's bankers over Pennsylvania Railroad's desire for Nickel Plate trackage rights along Lake Erie (TIME, Oct. 12). Son of two Irish immigrants, with no schooling after the grammar grades, President Crowley followed the storybook route to success. His first job was in 1878 as messenger boy for the Erie. Telegrapher, station agent, train-despatcher all before 20, he rose to vice president of Central in 1916. Since 1924 he has been president. During the War he was Federal manager of the Central lines along with other eastern roads. At that time he demanded that one engine should pull 80 cars of freight. Hence his nickname, coined to his initials. Idolized by employes, he once issued an order to the entire payroll of 100,000 saying that any one who wanted to see him had only to make himself known at his office. Known as a "cinder railroader" he nevertheless does not chew, smoke or swear. "You can run a railroad without cussing," said he.

In the railroad world there is no well defined seniority ranking of the presidencies. Nor is there any well-defined ladder for a railroad president to climb from one major company to another. Within a big system there sometimes is a definite succession: In the case of Illinois Central the president is usually trained in the presidency of subsidiary Central of Georgia, although this was not true of the last Georgia Central president, John Jeremiah Pelley, who became head of New York, New Haven & Hartford.

Walter W. Head, past president of American Bankers Assn., was elected president of Morris Plan Corp. of America, succeeding Austin L. Babcock. Morris Plan Corp. has large stock holdings in all the Morris Plan banks, largest industrial banking system in the U. S. In the last 21 years these banks loaned $1,750,000,000 to 7,000,000 people, now do about $200,000,000 annual business with 800,000 customers.

Samuel Insull was barred from the directorate of The Alton Railroad by the Interstate Commerce Commission. Silas Hardy Sirawn was permitted to serve but the Commission refused Utilitarian Insull because he was chairman of Chicago & Illinois Midland Railroad, a competitor of The Alton.

Dr. Edwin Walter Kemmerer of Princeton, famed fiscal diagnostician, was named to represent Federal Reserve Bank of New York at a conference of South American central banks in Lima, Peru next month. Bolivia called the meeting to ponder the mutual fiscal problems of herself and Chile, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador. The central banks of all five countries were established on the advice of Dr. Kemmerer so his attendance was expected, but it is unusual for the Reserve to go out of its official family for its chief representative. Accompanying Dr. Kemmerer will be Allan Sproul and Eric F. Lamb, both of the foreign department of the Reserve Bank.

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