Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-04
LEGGE WILL LEND
BRAINS TO RELIEF
Industrial Leaders Results
Fit Him for Great
Farm Task.
BY ROYAL r. MUNGER,

0pCSLaA NSAACopOhdCAO Va 4LC Ot0As
CHICAGO, July 4 (NANA.).-The
appointment Of Alexander Legge, preSi-
dent of the International Harvester Co.,
as a member Of the Federal Farm Board
has not been followed by an announce
ment regarding the policy to be pursued.
No statement will be made, If the pro-
cedure keeps to the lines of Mr.. Legge's
habitual practice.
Instead, the country will awake some
morning to find farm relief an estab-
nshed fact. For Alexander Legge
result-getter par-excellence, head of
the 100000, 900 farm machinery con-
Germ that is the biggest of its kind in
the world, did not win his dominating
position by good looks or flowery oratory.
Possesses Air of Strength.
Although he is well over 60 years of
age, there is an air of strength and
sound muscle In his appearance. Other
interviewerS have said that he stands
more than 6 feet inches. I was more
interested in the way he seemed to
have preserved in some measure the
lean buckskin quality usually associated
with men who have continued to live
in the open.
Although the president Of Interna-
being a hard man to see and a still
harder man to get to talk, neither char
acteristic seemed in evidence when I
was ushered into his office one day
when a Government appointment had
not even been thought possibility.
What questions do you wish to ask
Mr.. Legge?" asked his secretary. AS
one who fulfills his duty by saving the
time of his chief.
But Mr.. Legge waved the interpola-
ton aside. He was lounging back in
his Office chair, with half-shut eyes, his
bread shoulders seeming to fill half the
room.
This isn't a matter for questions"
he said, with smile. We're just get
ting acquainted"
Like Chatting With Neighbor.
And he went on, in the quietly mod
est fashion Of one chatting with q
neighbor across q boundary fence, to
talk Of many matters in both farming
and finance. OF his own achievements
he said little and there was a quiet
force, an inevitability of purpose, which
made even q hardened news-gatherer
reluctant to press the topic.
So it is less from the words Of Alex
ander Legge than from his friends and
that we must outline the
achievements Of man whose mind Is
largely self-taught, whose business Sa-
yacity Is unqueStioned, and who on pure
is said to have power Of
rivaled by no man-either
savant or business executive-in han
ding agricultural questions.
Let us say first, as a basis on which
20 build true impression, that Mr..
Legge is absolutely sincere. Trickery
has never been his game, any more than
,ratory or glowing promises. In the
he International Harvester as a col
ector Of farmers notes in the country
around Omaha, Nebr., he succeeded be-
cause he meant just what he said. He
iidn't say much, even in those days,
out people usually looked him over care
fully and decided, as he himself would
nave decided in their places, to pay
heir honest debts and 60 ahead.
Made Home Into Club.
His wife died in August, 1924, and
the beautiful 53-aere estate, near Hins-
dale, which he had laid out with gar
dens, orchards and greenhouses as a
country home, he gave in her memory
as club for the woman employees Of
the corporation.
Farmers will not forget for years the
sort of courage Mr.. Legge showed over
three years ago when he came to the
conclusion that corn prices were UNI
low. Instead of empty talk
ing, or specializing for his own benefit,
he plunged into another venture, quite
port. He notified harvester dealers to
begin at once accepting No. 2 corn on
q scale Of 81 al bushel, Chicago, as pay
ment for farm implements. No other
would have dared to COM
NIT his company to such an innovation,
In view of the fact that
corn prices were sagging far under that
level.
"Any survey Of the present or future
Of course be based on the situation and
of the American farmer" he
said, in speaking of conditions then.
At the same time that he was backing
his faith In the future Of corn and say
ing vigorously that the 1925-26 depres-
sion would pass, Mr.. Legge continued
to urge Government measures for farm
"But the foregoing statements" he
said in 1926, ARE not intended In any
way as arguments against any sound
and practical plan that Congress may
adopt looking to Government assistance
for American growers of corn and other
grains to stabilize their market"
He Understands Backgrounds.
If past actions a. head of the Har-
yester Co. are any criterion Of siita-
bility for q position on the Hoover farm
board, the instances which could be
given of Mr.. Legge's fitness are almost
limitless.
one spring, when there were reports
that seed had failed TO terminate in the
Northwest, because Of wet weather the
Autumn before, Mr.. Legge arranged for
the manufacture and distribution of an
number of seed boxes In
which the seed could be tested before
planting.
what makes this man q leader? I
as we talked in the big plain
ONCE high over Michigan Boulevard.
While he does not settle more questions
than another man In the same position,
he settles each question with o full UNI