What they didn't have was profitable sales success with the gauges they were making.
That's an over simplification but I don't think far off the mark. Ansley had lost control by around 1910, for purely financial reasons (We don't need no stinkin' profits!) and his successors by 1928ish. I think it's fair to say that one reason for the high regard Foxes are held in today is the general level of quality in each Philadelphia gun, relative to their competition at the time of original sale.
They all had to compete at the various price levels and Fox was, in general, over building and under pricing.
