Wagon-Cooks

COMMONWEALTH (British Commonwealth of Nations)

In London, men of the city communed over a tale last week. They thought of it, in essence, as of a temperance milk shake poured upon a table-fountain sizzling with champagne. The spirit of the milk shake is a British Knight of Grace of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. One of the two genii of the fountain is a fabulously shrewd and rich international night club man. The Knight of Grace is Chairman Frank Henry Cook of the Board of Thomas Cook & Son, Ltd., famed world-wide tourist agents. The genii control La Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et des Grands Express Europeens, which, however, one calls "Wagons-Lits," ("Vagon-Lee"), and everyone knows to be the firm which owns all the sleeping cars on the Continent.* Last week "Wagon-Lits" absorbed "Cooks'," as of Nov. 1, 1927. Why was that like milk shake into champagne?

Milk was a favorite beverage of that earnest temperance reformer, the late Thomas Cook (1808-1892). He became a travel agent through promoting excursions to temperance meetings, circa 1841; but his field became international and finally circumnavigatory when he organized the first world tour for tourists in 1872. Perhaps his proudest moment came when Thomas Cook & Son exclusively arranged the transport of that British army which sailed up the Nile to relieve General Gordon at Khartoum (1884). Since then "Cooks' " has stood in travel service for something equivalent to "Sterling." Today the Chairman of "Cooks'," a Knight of Grace, has not strayed so far from temperance as to scorn milk--either shaken or with crackers before bed.

Champagne, although far from being the favorite beverage of Wagons-Lits Chairman Davison Dalziel, Baron Dalziel (pronounced Dee-el) of Wooler, figures indispensably in the diet of Lord Dalziel's shrewdly machinating colleague in the management of Wagons-Lits, Captain Jefferson Davis. Cohn, financial adventurer who has ventured to invest heavily in Wagons-Lits stock.

Of Captain Cohn no one will ever write the true biography. Presumably untrue is the tale that he got his stake in life through pocketing by agreement 40% of all he could wheedle from the late eccentric Baron Michelham in the interest of the estranged Baroness, Aimee Geraldine, nee Bradshaw. Today Captain Cohn, a fat, unctuous personage with a great mane of blond hair, is to be seen, sleekly appareled and carrying a lady's parasol to shield his eyes, at every major race meeting in Europe. Frequently, very frequently, his horses win. His Sir Galahad distanced Epinard in a match race for private stakes.

At London, Wagons-Lits Chairman Baron Dalziel announced that "while actually controlling Cooks' " he will sit as vice-chairman of Cooks' board under the continued chairmanship of Frank Henry Cook, Knight of Grace.

Thus each of the merged corporations will retain its identity, good will, and hugely renowned good name. The good name of Wagons-Lits was assured from the first by that of its Belgian founder, M. Georges Nagelmackers of Brussels and Liege. He had visited the U. S. in the '60s and confessed himself "frappe" (struck) by "les services de wagons-lits" already operating there. Returning to Belgium, he enlisted the financial aid of such potent backers as the late King Leopold II (of Belgian Congo infamy) and founded the original Wagons-Lits firm in 1873. Previously he had begun and he continued all his life negotiations with the states of Europe, touching the installation and operation on their lines of his sleeping cars.

In 1905 M. Georges Nagelmackers died, after exemplifying all his life his motto: "Our work is only commencing." From 1903 onward Mr. Davison Dalziel had been a member of the board and an intimate of M. Nagelmackers. He, now Baron Dalziel, is thus Chairman of the Board of Wagons-Lits by a definite right of succession. His proudest boast is that the Armistice was signed in Wagons-Lits car No. 2419.

Later upon the scene came fat but foppish Captain Cohn. He has turned his hundreds of pounds into thousands and his thousands into millions by a series of wily maneuvers which have enabled him to get control of a huge, commanding bloc of Wagons-Lits securities. Shrewd, unctuous, Captain Cohn is not, however, the man to be satisfied with mere control. He is planning an amazing, manipulative coup. Last month he and Lord Dalziel visited Manhattan and quietly applied to list the shares of Wagons-Lits upon the New York Stock Exchange. If that listing is granted, they are reported to plan nothing less than the sale of both Wagons-Lits and "Cooks' " to U. S. investors. Their own holdings were acquired at a price far below the present high value of the shares. Thus, if the U. S. market proves receptive, they can sell at a profit not huge but fabulous.

Not only that, but in London British patriots began to suspect that a U. S. corporation might join the Cooks-Wagons-Lits merger. Of these possibilities Captain Cohn naturally said not a word last week. Instead he expanded on the immediate benefits of merging "Cooks' " into Wagons-Lits. With a bland contented air, Captain Cohn said:

"Through this merger, we expect our profits to increase between -L-400,000 and -L-500,000, and to effect the savings of another -L-400,000 to -L-500,000 through elimination of duplication."

That sentence was rich reading and spiced bait for U. S. investors who may soon call up their brokers, crying: "Buy Wagons-Lits!"

*Except those few owned by the German and other state railways.