kscarbel2 Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 (Deepest regrets for not posting this last month)Alfred J. Brosseau, 67, Dies – Former Mack Trucks President1868 - September 24, 1936Alfred Joseph Brosseau of Greenwich, Connecticut, and a Michigan native, died last night at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, New York City after a long illness.As President of the Mack Trucks, Inc., Mack Brothers Motor Car Company, International Motor Company, The International Brunswick Motor Company, the Automobile Manufacturers Association and as officer or director in other corporations, he had achieved a prominent position in America’s auto industry.Mr. Brosseau led Mack Trucks from May 15, 1917 to September 23, 1936.In addition to serving as president of the International Motor Truck Corporation, Mr. Brosseau went on to serve as chairman of both the company’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee.He began his career holding several important posts with farm implement manufacturers.Prior to accepting the top post at the International Motor Truck Corporation, he had been vice president of the Detroit, Michigan-based Federal Motor Truck Company.Mr. Brosseau also was a trustee of the American Surety Company of New York and of the Equitable Trust Company of New York.. Quote Link to comment https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/42301-mack-remembrance-%E2%80%93-alfred-j-brosseau/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
kscarbel2 Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 Insight on one of Mack Trucks’ great leadersDuring the 1930s, Mack Trucks suffered two serious losses, the tragic death of chief engineer and vice president Alfred Fellows Masury aboard the ill-fated airship USS Akron in April 1933*, and the death of company president Alfred J. Brosseau in September 1936.In November 1916, supported by strong financials, the directors of the International Motor Company elected to reorganize the firm’s corporate structure. In support of this, Alfred Brosseau was chosen in May 1917 to head the company.It was the visionary Brosseau whose steady hand guided the progress of Mack Trucks through two boom and bust economic cycles.The steady expansion of the 1920’s and the insistence upon engineering excellence of all Mack products were, to a great degree, the result of Mr. Brosseau’s understanding and faith in the future of the highway transportation industry, and Mack Truck’s place in it.While overseeing the steady expansion of Mack Trucks, Mr. Brosseau also devoted time to problems affecting the overall automotive industry. He was at various times vice president of the Automobile Manufacturers Association, and represented the A.M.A., and its predecessor the N.A.C.C., on the board of directors of the United States Chamber of Commerce.Mr. Brosseau wrote numerous papers and articles on highway and transportation issues, and frequently testified before official and non-official bodies on behalf of the automotive industry.* http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/39563-mack-remembrance-alfred-fellows-masury/?hl=masury---------------------------------------------------------------------------Time Magazine / January 6, 1936From 1916, Mack Trucks was headed by Alfred J. Brosseau, whose lunch sometimes consisted of a large red apple and six glasses of water.He built up Mack's commanding position in the heavy truck market, and was official spokesman for America’s truckmakers as head of the Automobile Manufacturers Association's truck division.In 1925 under the leadership of Alfred Brosseau, Mack Trucks earnings reached $9.4 million (though sales reached $57 million in 1929), a figure not to be equaled until after World War II.The Brosseau Foundation, headed by Alfred J. Brosseau, President of Mack Trucks, and his wife Mrs. Grace H. Brosseau, was amongst the largest contributors of student aid to the University of Michigan in his former home state. At the time of Alfred’s death in 1936, the Brosseau Foundation had been made 2,531 loans to students amounting to $254, 387. 2 Quote Link to comment https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/42301-mack-remembrance-%E2%80%93-alfred-j-brosseau/#findComment-308378 Share on other sites More sharing options...
kscarbel2 Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 Mack Trucks annual reports during Alfred J. Brosseau’s tenure1926 - http://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/lippincott/corprpts/mack/mack1926.pdf1927 - http://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/lippincott/corprpts/mack/mack1927.pdf1928 - http://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/lippincott/corprpts/mack/mack1928.pdf1929 - http://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/lippincott/corprpts/mack/mack1929.pdf1930 - Unavailable1931 - http://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/lippincott/corprpts/mack/mack1931.pdf1932 - http://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/lippincott/corprpts/mack/mack1932.pdf1933 - http://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/lippincott/corprpts/mack/mack1933.pdf1934 - http://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/lippincott/corprpts/mack/mack1934.pdf1935 - http://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/lippincott/corprpts/mack/mack1935.pdf 1 Quote Link to comment https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/42301-mack-remembrance-%E2%80%93-alfred-j-brosseau/#findComment-308379 Share on other sites More sharing options...
kscarbel2 Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 The Traffic World - January 21, 1922THE MOTOR TRUCK has already become a necessary supplement to the railroad and will undoubtedly become more and more important to them as times go on, said Mr. [Alfred Joseph] Brosseau, president of the International Motor Co. [forerunner of Mack Trucks, Inc.] and secretary of the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce, in answer to the question, “Is Highway Transportation an Aid to the Railroads?” before a meeting of the Shippers’ Conference of Greater New York, held in the rooms of the Merchants’ Association, last week.Mr. Brosseau outlined the value of the motor truck as a method of helping the railroads get rid of some of their expensive and unremunerative short haul traffic, and went so far as to predict that in the coming business revival the motor truck would be the means of saving the railroads from government ownership.Touching upon the question of taxes, the speaker said that the motor truck had paid its share and that, in the opinion of men who were supposed to be familiar with the problem, the truck ought not to be taxed any more than the freight car.He said in part:“If you ask the question, ‘Did motor truck transportation over the highways help the railroads during the busy war years?’ I am sure the answer will be ‘Yes.’ Without the motor truck, transportation would have broken down utterly. Many industries would have been seriously embarrassed, and the country would have faced the possibility of hunger.No one who is at all well informed regarding traffic conditions during 1917-1920 will deny this. On the contrary, they will agree that the motor truck was a great help to the railroads during this period. It goes without saying it served the public also.As you all know, business has been poor for the last year and the railroads can now handle all the traffic that is offered. We are asked if the railroads are now helped by the motor truck. My answer is ‘yes,’ for business is going to be good in the near future, and when it is the railroads will again be unable to handle the traffic. We shall then have delayed shipments, embargoes, blockades and the truck will again save the situation for the railroads and for the public. It may also save the railroads from the fate they so narrowly escaped during the last traffic jam — permanent government ownership.If the motor truck is eliminated now and is not available when the next boom is upon us, the railroads will fall down so hard that government ownership advocates will have an excellent argument to prove that the government should take over the railroads. If it saves us from government ownership of the railroads, the motor truck will again have justified itself.I do not know the exact proportion of the existing terminal facilities needed to handle l.c.l [less-than-carload shipments by rail car, edit.] package freight moving less than 50 miles, but we are all sure that it is a very considerable part of the whole. It may be one-half, or one-quarter, but whatever it is, it should not be devoted to the handling of the non-profitable l.c.l package freight that can best be moved by motor trucks.And again, if the railroads were relieved of this n0n-profitable l.c.l. package freight, the terminals would then be ample to handle the long-distance freight. The railroads would not need $1,000,000,000 a year for additional terminal facilities and would have enough equipment to move all long distance freight, even during boom times. That is the answer to the question, “Is highway transport an aid to the railroads?’---------------------------------------------------------------------------“The forgotten man in transportation is the man who pays the freight.”Alfred Joseph BrosseauReference: The Forgotten Man in Transportation by Alfred Joseph BrosseauPublisher – National Automobile Chamber of Commerce (1933) 2 Quote Link to comment https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/42301-mack-remembrance-%E2%80%93-alfred-j-brosseau/#findComment-308380 Share on other sites More sharing options...
kscarbel2 Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 Publications by Alfred J. BrosseauHighways and the tax payer (1922)Is highway transport an aid to the railroads? (1922)Coordination of motor vehicle and electric railway service by electric railways (1924)Highways as a dividend paying public investment address given before the North Carolina Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, at Asheville, N.C., August 11th and 12th (1925)The field of the motor bus (1927)Highway finance: a discussion of methods used to expedite road improvement in the United States together with a study of the development of highway revenues under different conditions in four states (1929)The Forgotten Man in Transportation (1933) 2 Quote Link to comment https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/42301-mack-remembrance-%E2%80%93-alfred-j-brosseau/#findComment-308381 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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