Tinplate Art posted:<snip> What especially disturbed me was his trophy head hunting which was very ego driven and his need to have the biggest and best "prize"! Those chapters were not pleasant reading! That kind of hunting is more frowned upon today than back in his day. <snip>
Ah, here lies the pitfall of applying one's personal "current morality" to historic figures. 
Many men of influence from Teddy Roosevelt on down big game hunted. Complementary to their hunting and fishing interests, both TR and ACG were naturalists interested in the preservation of the wilderness ... a predictiction that led directly to the formation of the national park system. Before WWII, the A. C. Gilbert Co. was larger than Lionel Corp. and AC was personally much richer than Cowen. It takes someone with a healthy ego to start, successfully run, and grow a large commercial firm. True then. True today.
Respectfully,
Bob
