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Erie, Pa.
Tuesday, Oct. 18, 1938.
H.L. Andrews was here today with news of the settling of the New York Central order for 29 - 600HP diesels. Settlement: 9 to Alco with GE drive; 20 to Electro-Motive with [[underlined]] their [[/underlined]] electrical equipment. And therein lies the tale of how our Company has allowed itself to ^[[insertion]] be [[/insertion]] shoved into the semi-discard in a business that we pioneered and should dominate. Today we are next to licked in the field of Class I Railroad diesel-electric equipment, our best prospect being to get a fraction of a third of the business, with the mechanical business gone almost beyond recall. And today the once much reviled Electro-Motive Co. bids fair to win the railroads to its banner, not by strong arm methods, but by producing a good product at the lowest price in the industry. There is no question they have done a great job for the railroads in smashing down the price of diesel switchers, thereby booming the business and getting the lion's share. Their excuse for building their own electrical stuff is the claim that (GE) and (W) have held them up (probably true) and now they prove it by offering their own equipment, unqualifiedly guaranteed, at a lower price! We are in the shadows now and only by some masterful maneuver are we going to emerge ^[[insertion]] again [[/insertion]] into the limelight of this tremendous field. I sometimes wonder if "H.L." is not also in the shadow due to this and the U.P. debacle - the $2,000,000 almost certain flop! Somehow, I have never shared with others, the feeling Andy is the master mind some seem to think him, and as time goes on, I feel more and more that he isn't. I may be wrong, all wrong, and even the U.P. may prove a success and the beginning of a long and successful line of steam-electrics, but it doesn't look it at present. I 

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