Evening star., 1933-06-08
BY GRACE HENDRICK EUSTIS.

BY GRACE HENDRICK EUSTIS.
Prof. Adolph Augustus Berle, jr., now
assistant to the directors OF the Recon-
struction Finance Corporation, was the
man on President Roosevelt's cam
paign brain trust" who represented
the opinion of the young intellectual
economists.
The story of how he came to public
eminence reads like fiction. One eve
ming about a year ago, he and a
friend, Lewis Faulkner, were sitting IN
the Harvard Club in New York. Tney
were discussing the dangerous and rocky
trend of economic America. AS tine
evening wore on they became more ana
more engrossed in their speculations
and prophecies. Let us imagine that
you are Napoleon and am Mussolini,
said Mr.. Faulkner, and they decided
to gather together the opinions OF men
in whose judgment they had commence
and write out a program. TINS was
the beginning of the club called the
"Kaffee Klatch,' which met all over at
odd places, and the result was pam
phlet THE Nature of the Difficulties.
MoIey Attends Meetings.
In the meantime Prof. Moley sat in at
several of the meetings of the club ana
he was SO impressed by the discussions
and the pamphlet that he asked their
leading spirit, Mr.. Berle, who was
teaching finance and doing research
work at Columbia, If he would see
Gov. Roosevelt in Albany and talk
to him. This the young man did. with
the result that he became a member
of the brain trust" which gathered
data for Mr.. Roosevelt's campaign
speeches.
In Mr.. Berle's own words, he is a
"half professor" He is an active men,
ber of the law firm of Berle & Berle
and is a lecturer on corporation finance
at the Columbia Law School, with the
rank of associate professor. II a per-
son could be represented as depicting
continuous forward motion this de-
scription would fit him perfectly. He
is a short, slender man of 38, with an
upright carriage and a head set low
between his shoulders, like wrestler's.
He moves quickly, but not nervously,
When he talks he seems surcharged
with more ideas than can come out OF
one mouth at one time.
Native of Massachusetts,.
Mr.. Berle was born in Boston, Mass,
in 1895. His father is distinguished
clergyman and author. He was edu-
Gated in public schools in Boston and
was graduated from Harvard with an
A. B. degree when he was 18. This
was in 1918. In 1914 he got his A. M.
and in 1916 his LII. B. Then he prac-
ticed law in Justice Brandeis' Office in
Boston.
He enlisted as private in 1917 and
was later commissioned second lieu
tenant Of Infantry. During 1918 and
1919 he was detailed to the expert staff
of the American Commission to Nego-
tiate Peace at the treaty of Versailles,
but resigned in protest against that
treaty and demobilized as first lieu
tenant in the Reserve Corps.
Since then he has been in active law
practice in New York, with such side
activities as taking part in drafting
the land law for the Dominican Re
public and the Pueblo Indian land act
and the Ohio general corporation act
He was a special lecturer on finance at
the Harvard Business School from 1925
to 1928 and he is the author of Studies
in the Law of Corporation Finance
and the co-author with Gardiner Means
of "The Modern Corporation and Pri-
vate Property"
Helps Draft Railroad Bill.
Last Summer his schedule expanded
to serve as a member of the research
staff of Mr.. Roosevelt's campaign and
this Winter, before he was appointed
assistant to the director of the Recon-
strIction Finance Cornnration he was