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Archibald Angus McLeod
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| Name | Archibald Angus McLeod |
| Ortssitz | Philadelphia (Penns.) |
| Art des Unternehmens | Eisenbahndirektor |
| Anmerkungen | *1848. Präsident der "Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company". |
| Quellenangaben | [Philadelphia and popular Philadelphians (1891) 241] |
| Hinweise | [Philadelphia and popular Philadelphians (1891) 241]: Portrait |
| Zeit |
Ereignis |
| 1848 |
Geburt |
| 1886 |
Archibald Angus McLeod übernimmt die Leitung der "Philadelphia and Reading Railroad" |
Zeit = 1: Zeitpunkt unbekannt
| ZEIT | 1891 |
| THEMA | Biographie |
| TEXT | Among the men whose names shall adorn the chronicles of Philadelphia, Archibald Angus McLeod, President of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and Coal and Iron Companies, is no inconspicuous figure. Coming but a few years ago, almost unknown, into this most conservative of communities, he is now regarded as one of its foremost citizens. Entering but recently upon the stupendous task of saving from total ruin and disintegration the great interests of the Reading Railroad system , he hasso succeeded that he is now recognized as one of the ablest and most sagacious railway managers in the country. Mr. McLeod was born in the year 1848, and is consequently one of the youngest men who ever attained sovereignty among the rulers of the railroad world. After acquiring a fair academical education he fitted himself for the profession of his choice, that of civil engineering. His railroad career began before he had attained his majority, his first service being performed in the capacity of a rod-man upon the surveys of the then uncompleted Northern Pacific Railroad. His force of character, executive ability, and devotion to duty, so commended him to those with whom he was brought in contact, that he was rapidly advanced through the several gradations of the service until, in 1886, the management of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, then passing through the throes of a most desperate struggle for the continuance of its existence and the retention of its vast and valuable franchises, found Mr. McLeod occupying the responsible but comparatively inconspicuous position of General Manager of the Elmira, Cortlandt and Northern Railroad. He had, however, displayed such admirable qualities in the handling of men and affairs, that he was selected to lead the herculean effort about to be made for the Reading's rejuvenation. And right nobly did he justify the sagacity and faith of those who chose him for this great task. Possessing a physique of phenomenal vigor and endurance, sustained by an indomitable will and invincible courage, he threw himself into the fight for the life of a great corporation with a degree of energy and pertinacity which amazed those who watched the seemingly hopeless contest. His minute personal knowledge of practical railway construction and operation, was skilfully and unstintedly devoted to the institution of economies and reforms in the service, while the confidence which he inspired in the world of finance, won and held the support of the moneyed interests, without which Reading's reorganization had failed. Seeing that vast improvements, developments and extensions were necessarv to enable his corporation to claim and maintain the position in the country's transportation system to which it was rightfully entitled, Mr. McLeod directed his earliest efforts to the perfection of discipline, the enlargement of terminal facilities, the betterment of roadway and equipment, and, finally, as a resulting concomitant of these, the invasion of new fields and the acquisition of new traffic. How admirably he has succeeded is attested by the present splendid physical condition of the properties of these twin corporations; by their constantly improving financial standing; by their enormously increased earning powers, and by their prospects of future prosperity. That much of this is due to Mr. McLeod's powerful and magnetic personality cannot be doubted. On one day throttling a great and vindictive strike with armored and relentless grip, he is the next day as tender-hearted and sympathizing as a woman to some humble subordinate who approaches him with a story of suffering or injustice. His kindness in the treatment of employees has made the great army of workers under his command his willing and intelligent co-laborers, and this fact alone has played no small part in Reading's regeneration. Having done so much to better Philadelphia's transportation facilities and enhance her industrial and commercial importance; having perfected a new and great through line between the East and the South; opened a truly "Royal Route" to the sea, and extended the ramifications of his system in every direction, Mr. McLeod is now in Philadelphia's behalf reaching toward New York Bay on the one band, and to Pittsburg and the West on the other, with the culmination of his most notable achievement in view - the extension of his lines into the city's very centre by means of the Reading Terminal. For these, his manifold and successful labors for his city's good and his corporation's prosperity, he well deserves a place among Philadelphia's worthies. |
| QUELLE | [Philadelphia and popular Philadelphians (1891) 241] |
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