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to his plant and re-erect them, getting them dirt cheap. Ed was a charming man and at the same time, just about as astute a business operator as ever comes down the pike. Dick Miller and I went out there during World War II and tried to outguess Ed in connection with a very involved mobile power plant job, at the request of the Defense Dept., and although we were sure we'd outmaneuvered him, forcing him to transfer some of the business to Erie, no business ever actually came. We never were able to find out just what he'd done but whatever it was, he'd done it like a sleight of hand trick. But not only was Ed a good business man, he was also a very good citizen and was highly thought of in St. Louis.

Nor was Ed's organization topheavy with excess personnel. He had a VP & GM named George Kippenberger. a short, heavy, middle-aged man who was busy with operations although my impression was that Meissner had his hand in everything most of the time. The shop superintendent was a middle-aged Kentuckian named Tom Branch, who was a virile, powerful, loud and profane man and a very good egg. The chief electrician was Elmer Henderson, a quiet, conscientious, capable man in his 40s whom I liked, as well as the electrician do-it guy named Wagner. The chief designer was a man named Bleikamp whom I never met. Nor did I come in contact with any of Meissner's sales people although he had a sales VP whose name I've forgotten. But I'd guess that Meissner's overhead was probably less than half of ours in Erie at the time. On the other hand, he ran an entirely different kind of show than we did.

In St. Louis, we'd stay at the Jefferson Hotel downtown although the Car Company was way out near the city limits and a long taxi ride. The car was completed, tested and shipped in August and I'll never forget the heat in St. Louis when we were out there during this period of a week or so. I recall clearly that it would be 95° outside the Jefferson at 7:30 a.m. when we'd emerge to take off for the plant. Nor was there any air-conditioning anywhere as I remember it. The nearest thing to it would be a big-bladed, horizontal, ceiling fan here and there. While we had a big apparatus sales office in St. Louis, and I assume I'd check in with them when I'd arrive in town, I don't recall anyone being assigned to accompany me to the Car Co. and I'd operate largely on my own in this respect. Our star transportation salesman in St. Louis at the time was an oldtimer named Otis Turner who specialized in transit stuff primarily and was famed as an entertainer. I never knew him very well because transit wasn't my line. But I enjoyed these trips and usually when I was there, Jim Chambers of I-R would be there also keeping an eye on things and Jim and I got along very well.

Jim must have had virtually unlimited expense account because he entertained lavishly and often in St. Louis and I in turn would carry some of the load because after all, he was [[underlined]] my [[/underlined]] customer. The only people who never entertained was St. Louis