Word: expression
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Gang. There are few U.S. companies of comparable size and complexity that are still run by one man, as Reed runs American Express. From the company's managers all over the world, cables and detailed monthly reports all flow directly to Reed in New York. He is constantly mulling ways to expand and improve the company's business. He seldom goes to bed before 2 a.m., frequently wakes up in the night to scrawl notes on the pad beside...
...when Reed arrives in his grey-carpeted office on the twelfth floor of the marble-pillared American Express Building at 65 Broadway, he plunges straight into dictation. By the time the vice presidents arrive-no later than 9 a.m. if they want to avoid Reed's wrath -a drift of yellow memos has usually settled over their desks. Even on trips by car or train, Reed pores through his briefcase, dictating to a secretary...
...hard-plugging student and star footballer in high school. He won a scholarship to Princeton, but had to drop out when his father lost his job. He got an accounting job by day, went to Philadelphia's Wharton School at night. At 29, he went to American Express as assistant to the comptroller, rose through the ranks, until in 1944 he became president...
...Great Invention. When American Express was formed 106 years ago, out of a merger between three eastern companies, its founders had no thought of handling anything but freight and money. Co-Founder Henry Wells in 1841 had pioneered express service from Manhattan to Buffalo, later began New York-Buffalo mail service by printing orange stamps and carrying letters for 6? v. .the 25? Government postal rate. As a result, the U.S. Post Office set up a nationwide 3? postage in 1848. American Express helped build its freight business by introducing C.O.D. shipments, but the most important American Express invention...
Trippers' Triumph. From the outset, U.S. tourists eagerly bought the checks. President Fargo stubbornly resisted any more truck with tourists, even though American Express had a chain of import offices in Europe. "I will not," he growled, "have gangs of trippers starting off in charabancs from in front of our offices the way they do from Thomas Cook's. We will cash their traveler's checks and give them free advice. That's all." Inevitably, the trippers triumphed...