Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1941-05-23

battle between Wall Street and the
Corn Belt,
there was a
Bankers Pick a prairie heal
Farmer to Lead ee,ist harmed
Slater who scolded the farmers for
their Incorporate talk about the New
York bankers, and said that when
the millennium came they would be
brothers again.
The evangelist might have been
locked up had he predicted that
within four or five decades the board
Of directors of the New York Stock
exchange would hire an Illinois
farmer, with no experience in Sc
curities dealing, to be- president Of
the exchange.
These things came to pass, in the
Rev. Mr.. Slater's scriptural par
lance. BY unanimous vote of the
board of governors, the $48 ,000-a-
year exchange job is offered to Emil
Schram, operator Of the Hartwell
Farms at Hillview, ILL.,, and head
of the Reconstruction Finance cor
written there is word from Washing
ton that Mr.. Schram will accept the
post.
The tall, baldish, urbane, deep
voiced Mr.. Schram has been es-
teemed in Washington for his BIZ
lingual accomplishments. 1t has
been noted that he can talk to New
Dealers and business men in their
own language.
Under the tutelage Of Jesse
Jones, who brought him into the
RFC, and whom he succeeded as
its head, he has served not only
as liaison between business and
government, but between agri-
cultural and industrial interests.
Shrewd onlo0kers in Wall Street
are Interpreting his call to the
big board as q protective meas
ure by the governors. The idea
is that he might be q shock alb
sorber as war tension brings
more government regulation.
OF the third generation of German
immigrants, Emil Schram finished
high school in Peru, Ind, and took
Job as a roustabout and handy
man in ]. o. Coles lumber and coal
yard.
BY the time he was twenty-one, he
was the bookkeeper for the business.
Several years later, his employer
took over 5000 acres of swamp land
his young bookkeeper the job of
draining and developing the large
tract of land.
Within few years, the yield from
the land was run up from 5000
Schram ProDes o ousneis y.
Expert in Work year, to l4O,-
OF Reclamation 49,, 49,
increases in proportion. Young Mr..
Schram acquired substantial inter-
est in the project, which became
the Hartwell Land trust. Twenty
tenant farmers have been on the
reclaimed land for more than Is
years.
Mr.. Schram's first contacts
with the federal government
came in later years as he be-
came active in community
drainage and reclamation prof.
ects, requiring federal co-opera-
ton. As chairman Of the board
Of directors Of the National
Drainage association, he had
dealings with the Hoover ad-
ministration, when the Illinois
river was messing up farm
lands in this vicinity, and loans
for food control and reclama-
ton were needed. The astute
Jesse Jones made him chairman
of the drainage, levee and IT.
risation division Of the RFC.
He later was swing man in va
rious government activities, includ-
inc the presidency of the Home and
Farm authority, iva subsidiary.
He made it pay. Recently Edward
r Stettinius drafted" him as as
sistant priorities administrator. to
allocate raw materials for defense
purposes.
Mr.. Schram is 48 years old, the
grandson of woodworker. He il
: Democrat, but he has never been
active in politics, and has never
been a candidate for ONCE.