Word: johnstons
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Neither is subtle, complex or daring. Whitney is a well-read man who likes to lace his speeches with literary allusions. Johnston (nobody calls him Al) is a plain, blunt man who almost never makes a speech, puts on a front of gruff irascibility...
...brotherhoods, forged in the fires and blood of the 1877 rail strikes (see cut), now are rich, conservative, and strictly disciplined. Whitney and Johnston typify the transition. Each is a proud, rugged individualist who rules his tight little empire with strong hands, who has settled himself at the top of his union heap by keeping a strong thumb on the opposition...
...Banker." Even though his Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers is the aristocrat of rail unions, stocky Alvanley Johnston is not the aristocrat of rail union leaders. Except for blunders which almost wrecked it, his 21-year career at the top has been notable for stodgy conservatism and heavy-handed secrecy...
...Johnston, onetime callboy, engine wiper, fireman and engineer on the Great Northern, had been a B. of L.E. official 16 years when he became its Grand Chief Engineer (a title he loves to roll on his tongue) in 1925. Besides the title, he also inherited the union's sour financial ventures-notably a bank and a $15,000,000 burst bubble in Florida real estate. His inaugural address: "I am no banker...
...Johnston was indicted along with Standard's slick C. Stirling Smith for juggling B. of L.E. collateral of doubtful value to window-dress Standard's shakiness. The Grand Chief Engineer had to admit on the witness stand that, as president of the predecessor bank, he had borrowed some of its funds for stockmarket speculations-at a $36,000 loss to the bank. Along with Smith, previously convicted as an embezzler, Johnston was found guilty of misapplying funds and making false entries. An Ohio appellate court tossed out the Johnston conviction as against the weight of evidence, granted...