Personnel

Last week the following were news: In a first-class fighting vessel there are three complete and parallel communication systems. If one is disrupted in battle, another immediately goes into service. In the U. S. also there are three communication systems--two telegraph companies and, for all practical purposes, one telephone company. Last winter Western Union upped a retired British rear admiral named Charles Penrose Rushton Coode to vice president in charge of European operations. Last week not Postal Telegraph but a sister subsidiary in its International Telephone & Telegraph System made a retiring U. S. admiral its active head. Mackay Radio & Telegraph an nounced that on July 1 Rear Admiral Luke McNamee will become president, succeeding pink-cheeked Clarence Hungerford Mackay who will assume the chairmanship. Now 63 and head of the Naval War College at Newport, R. I.. Admiral McNamee is regarded as the handsomest admiral in the Navy. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1892, served on the U. S. S. Princeton in the Spanish American War, as a staff officer in the World War. Since then he has held many a sonorous title of high command: Director of Naval Intelligence, Naval Attache at the American Embassy, Commander of Destroyer Squadrons in the Battle Fleet, Director of Fleet Training, Vice Admiral in Command of Battleships, Admiral in Command of the Battle Force. The grandsons of Adam Gimbel Bavarian Jew who set up as storekeeper in Vincennes, Ind. in 1842, now control one of the largest department store chains in the U. S. Gimbel Brothers. Inc. has stores in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Milwaukee and three in Manhattan. Even in 1932 Gimbel's could afford to lose $4,000,000. The three Manhattan stores are Saks 34th Street, which cultivates the masses, Saks Fifth Avenue, which cultivates the classes, and Gimbel's which cultivates a rivalry with its neighbor, Macy's.

Saks Fifth Avenue has long been a leader in swank merchandising, and its modernistic window dressing is a model for all alert storekeepers. Chief credit for the Saks' smartness is usually given to Herbert L. Redman, onetime printer's apprentice who emigrated from Great Britain at 20. Last week, haying titillated the classes for some ten years. Storekeeper Redman went downtown to see if he could excite the masses as managing director of Saks 34th Street. Back in Manhattan last week after a six-month trip around the world was Bernard E. ("Ben") Smith, gay, hard-bitten speculator whose low opinion of high-priced stocks was an early Depression legend. Reports quickly spread that Ben Smith was buying this or selling that, but it was soon learned that Ben Smith had acquired a new interest on his junket. In India he had learned much about shellac, had become convinced that the outlook for shellac was bright indeed. Last week it was learned that Ben Smith thought it would be a fine idea if a shellac futures market were established in Manhattan, similar to the one in London.

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