Richard Aregood, former editor for the Newark Star Ledger and Philadelphia Daily News, now-turned freelancer writer, wrote:

“Some years back, I was one of many Knight-Ridder editors gathered to hear our CEO, Alvah Chapman, speak on the future at an annual editors’ meeting held literally in the shadow of the Spruce Goose, Howard Hughes’s amphibious folly… He told us all we should do “more with less”, illustrating with a bewildering rap about cannonballs and grains of sand. The budget cuts accelerated.”