Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-07
LEGGE HITS BACK
AT HIS ACCUSERS
ReSentS Intimation He ODE
serted Ship" and Asserts
Farm Board Is Success.
BY the Associated Press.

| BY the Associated Press.
CHICAGO, April Alexander Legge,
having read his obituary in the
papers ever since he resigned as chair
man of the Federal Farm Board, is
! mad clear through"
launching his angular frame forward
and drumming on the glass top of his
| desk at the International Harvester Co.,
/ Mr. Legge inveighed against editorial
implications that he got out while the
! getting was good
Usually reporter-shy, for once he was
! glad to see a newspaper man and get
! this off my chest: Congress was
right in passing the agricultural mar
keting act. and the Federal Farm Board
is going strong"
"Since leaving the Farm Board I've
seen my obituaries in many news
papers," Legge said in the first inter
view since his resignation.
Resents Implication.
Most of them have been friendly to
me personally, but some of them sug-
gest that I am in the position of a rat
deserving sinking ship. In the first
place I resent the implication that
would desert the ship if it were sink
ing, and in the second place this boat
is not sinking-it is not even in dis
treSS "
Legge had been back at his old post
as president of the International Har-
vester Co, about one month. Back in
the swing of private life-which is
greatly preferred by this farm-born ex-
ecutive-he had at last found time to
look over some of the press comments
on his resignation and on the Farm
Board in general
They say the old man was smart
ne got out while the getting was good
They write about me as if l were dead"
Legge said with wry smile. You got
here at good time. I'm good and
mad"
Board Is Going Strong.
Il joined the board on the distinct
understanding that would only serve
through the organization period, the
appointment being for one year. Gen.
eral business conditions last Summer
made it seem advisable to carry on until
the board was more firmly established.
II Is now going concern and going
strong. Real progress is being made to-
ward improving the situation of agri-
culture
The Farm Boards basic job. said its
ex-chairman, is the organization of
farmers. The critics and others have
loSt sight of this fact when they con-
slider the sterilization and financing
operations" he said
They're hollering about the sideshow
and forgetting about the circus"
Although he considered it incidental
to the Farm Boards principal work,
Legge said he was certain the boards
Stabllizing operations in wheat and cot
ton in the extreme emergency CT last
October prevented a market collapse
that would have meant ruin to many
holders of grain and their creditors.
Action Prevented Disaster.
''The day this action was announced
was Black Monday for rural banking"
he said. "On that morning in the State
Of Arkansas alone 81 banks failed to
open their doors. Similar disaster
threatened many grain-growing sec
tons"
Legge agreed to the assumption that
that board would probably lose con-
siderable money because of the stabilfza-
ton operations. but he did not antici-
pate any serious difficulty in disposinp
OF the holdings. SURPRISES are gradu-
ally taken care of. whether they're scat
tered out or in the hands of one organi-
zation"
But whatever the ultimate cost of
the Farm Boards sterilization may be-"
he added. ''it will be small COMPARED
with the resultant benefits TO the farm
ers and to the country az whole"