The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-01-06
NEA Service Writer

I WaShington-Chai Alexander
 Legge of the federal farm board has built up for himself an unquestioned
 reputation as the hardest-boiled guy
 among important government oi1i- | cials and it has been widely won-
 dered whether he wouldn't eventual ly qualify as the hardest-boiled guy in the United States.
 MT Legge has had such excellent luck in disarming his critics by | calling them liars or telling them | to go to hell, sometimes in those exact words and sometimes not, that some of the mere politicians nave been surprised that no one ever tried it before. Nevertheless, there is also q feeling that MT Legge may not be able to get away
 with it forever, especially if the farm situation even though prove.
 The first real comeback in kind which the chairman has had from anyone is the retort of John A. Simpson of Oklahoma, the new presi- dent of the Farmers Union which claims 500,000 members.
 l MT Legge directed the expression | l"unmitigated liar" at MT Simpson land MT Simpson has come down on Mir Legge with both feet, not only tossing a few bushels of raspberries
 at MT Legge but also proposing an investigation to determine whether
 their is more truth and merit in MT Legee or Mir Simpson. It seems that
 Mir Simpson is turning out to be a hard boiled guy himself and there | is q widespread hope of interesting l Idevelopments if he keeps right after l Mir Iegge'S scalp.
 l Lcggc Dciicd Committee | MT Legge got off to a flying start here when, after President Hoover drafted him from his $1O0, ,O00,-a Iyear International Harvester Job | he told the senators of the agricul- tural committee-in effect-that if
 they didn't like him they could go
 to the devil and he would go back to Chicago. That just about fab
 berga sted the senators, so accus-
 toned to appointees anxious for
 confirmation.
 Since that time MT Legge has
 shown more than a willingness to l fight all corners. He kicked up a great furore in Kansas when, in his
 campaign for wheat acreage reduc- ton, he likened the state or it's growers to a "hoS in q trough"
 And when couple of Kansas pub fishers assailed him he sent word that they could Ego to he'll
 | In a speech in New York state,
 he said higher wages for labor and 1 higher prices for manufactured ar
 ticles were laying heavy burdens on 1 farmers, stirring up angry protest 1 from President Green of the A. F. of l.. In the same speech he said farm relief couldn't come through Legislation. bringing another retort from Governor Roosevelt.
 i He has engaged in a long, defiant | combat with the organized grain trade, participated in a brief set-to with those who charged he had in- jured prohibition by lending money Ito growers of wine grapes, had
 minor arguments with producers or ganizations which didn't fall in with farm board theories and recently in | timated that certain farm board | critics in the senate were full or cheap "hot air
 "Rcgulatcd" Prices
 The Legge- Simpson clash centers on the rather startling charge that ! Mir Legge admitted to the senate agricultural committee in secret ses- sion that the farm board was de- | lliberately holding down the price or wheat and cotton. Senator Thomas, a committee member told Simpson that Legge had testified the board | had stopped the decline of wheat at I 69 cents and stopped its rise at 73. Simpson offers to prove that Legge said he wanted the price | of wheat kept low so it would be fed
 to hogs instead of corn, and that
 cotton prices should be kept at pres
 ent levels for the benefit of textile
 mills. That's the sort of thing that
 made Legge say anyone who said II was an 'unmitigated liar"
 You may have acquired some slight experience in shouting and believing liar at underlings while | you were head of the Harvester Trust" Simpson wrote, but l have driven mules and called hogs
 to the feed trough" Legge, he
 said. couldn't get away with dragging discussion of issues into
 the "gutter" or lower the argument
 to "the level of a bar-room brawl'
 Legge was also accused of trying to strut like a two-cent Mussolini," ," land Simpson demanded to know whether Legge would welcome an Iinvestigation of farm board market ling activities or "attempt 10 cover lup with barks. bellows and shouts
 Seek Investigation
 l There is some sentiment for lsuch m investigation ana more labout 1t probably will be heard from the caustIc MT Simpson. Senator Caraway says that Lcgge ltoid the agricultural committee the Iexact opposite of what he told the Iappropriations committee. hut no
 senator is supposed to disclose pub Iiiciy what is snid at n committeo's
 executive sessions. and t appears