ALFRED HOLLAND SMITH

BORN APRIL 26, 1863—DIED MARCH 8, 1924
PRESIDENT NEW YORK CENTRAL LINES 1914-1918 AND 1919-1924

At a meeting of the Board of Directors of The New York Central Railroad Company held
April 9, 1924, the following minute was adopted and directed to be entered upon the
records of the company and a copy engrossed, executed hy the officers of the company'
and sent to the family:

A LFRED H. SMITH, President of the New York Central Railroad System, had a
j\_ very remarkable and constructive career.    He began at the bottom and served in
every grade with eminent credit to himself and benefit to his employers.

Immediate mastery of the work entrusted to him was the characteristic of his life.
He delivered messages as a boy, or swung a pick as a member of the construction force,
or as foreman of the force organized his company and increased its efficiency, or as a
railway operator compelled order out of chaos, or as an executive secured the loyalty
and admiration of his staff and thousands of workers by his rare combination of personal
charm and complete control and performance of his responsibilities.

He solved difficult problems with an apparent ease that astonished his associates.
Every department of the great System over which he was president felt his masterful
control. His early contact and companionship with them gave him an understanding
and familiarity with the opinions, the aspirations, the wants and the grievances of the
track, the shop, the operating force and the traffic administration which were of infinite
value in averting difficulties, promoting loyalty and securing efficiency.

When the United States entered the Great War and took over the railroads, the
transportation situation upon which depended the movement of troops, the loading of
ships, and the supply of fuel and food for cities was so desperate that economic chaos
and anarchy were threatened. Mr. Smith was made Regional Director of the East, and
with a skill and coordination which amounted to genius relieved the congestion and
established orderly and normal movement of trains and relief of terminals.

When the Government returned the railroads to their owners, Mr. Smith so re¬
habilitated the several lines and established such harmony in the working of the System
that service to the public was restored and improved and every department of the road
brought to a very high degree of efficiency. His last work, a few hours before his death,
was completing an annual report which was the most favorable in the history of the
company.

The Canadian Government, recognizing his preeminent qualifications, invited him
to review the railroati situation, which was the cause of so much concern, and the services
which he rendered were of the highest importance and value.

Those who had interests in the railroads of Cuba, as a mark of especial recognititjn
of his ability in the grasping of situations such as confronted them, selected him to aid
them in modernizing the railroad systems of that Island and bringing them up to present
standards, a work which he had but recently undertaken.

Mr. Smith combined with tireless energy vision and imagination. He saw the
needs of the railway situation in general and the special requirements necessary for the
growth and development of the Port of New York. His death at the zenith of his
powers is a great loss to the country.

We, his associates, deplore the death of a devoted friend whose rare personal charm
endeared him to all.