throwing miners out of work rather than pay the union scale. Stone refuted this, saying the unions had not renewed their agreement, but the mines were being worked on a cooperative plan. He said "We feel sure there are no better satisfied men employed anywhere than in the Coal River Collieries." Stone supported the radical Glenn E. Plumb plan for tripartite control of the railway industry by labor, capital and the public, and supported similar plans for other industries. In 1924 Stone was made president, with the grand chief engineer and two vice-presidents reporting to him. Stone died on 12 June 1925 of Bright's disease. At the time of Stone's death the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers had majority interests in enterprises with assets of approximately $150,000,000. Stone was succeeded by William B. Prenter. Around this time it was found that the union's finances were in much poorer shape than had been thought, and the executives decided to undertake risky projects in an attempt to recoup the losses before the problem became public, including developing a resort in Florida. Through mismanagement, these projects ran into difficulty. The problems became visible to the delegates at the June 1927 convention, and Prenter was replaced by Alvanley Johnston Johnston (1925–1950) Johnston scrapped the president and vice-president titles and headed the union as grand chief engineer. In 1934 Johnston was convicted of mishandling the funds of the failed Standard Trust Bank of Cleveland. The bank was partly owned by the BLE and he was the chairman. Johnston's conviction was overturned on appeal on the grounds that he was not aware of what was being done. In 1943, during World War II (1939-1945), the government seized the railroads. Johnston and Alexander F. Whitney, head of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, were made labor consultants. Johnston also represented the railroad union of the Combined War Labor Board. Towards the end of 1945 Johnston and the leaders of the other main railroad unions demanded pay increases and a 40-hour work week from the railroads, in line with other industries. Negotiations stalled in January 1946. Three of the unions were willing to suspend their demands, but Johnston and Whitney called a strike of the engineers and trainmen to start on 16 March 1946. The strike was delayed when President Truman set up a board to hear the grievances and make recommendations. After lengthy negotiations, union members voted to go