Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-08-29
Avery, sc, Prepares to Fight
WoIfsonls Bid for Wards
Mail Order Firms
Chief Has OutIusted
Numerous Rivals
BY the Asseeioisd Press

L
rior at an age when most men
long have vanished from the
arena, girded today for the
toughest business fight Of his
life.
A business rival scarcely more
than half his age, 42-year-old
Louis E. Wolfson, threw down
the gauntlet Thursday.
Mr.. Wolfson, a Florida junk
dealer who now heads companies
with 5000 million in assets, an
nounced he will attempt to
wrest from Mr.. Avery control of
Montgomery Ward & Co.. multi
million dollar Chicago mail or
der firm.
The proxy fight to win stock
holders backing at Wards an
nual meeting next April in Chi
cago promises to rival in magni-
tude the struggle in which Robert
r. Young gained control of the
New York Central Railroad,
Never Ran from Fight.
The taciturn 80-year-old Mr..
Avery, who comes up for re-
election as a director at the
April meeting, declined to COM
ment, but an aide remarked:
You never saw Avery run away
from fight"
Mr.. Avery, during his 23-year
reign as chairman of Wards, has
had big fights and little fights
from a bitter legal wrangle
with the Federal Government
down to tiffs with underlings
and stockholders.
He gained Nationwide atten-
ton during World War II when
he stubbornly resisted Govern
ment efforts to take over his
huge Chicago plant for his fail
ure to comply with a War Labor
Board decision.
He wouldn't bulge an inch on
his stand or surrender possession
Of his Office until two soldiers
carried him from the plant and
plunked him down on the side
walk in front of the main en-
trance.
Outlasted Four Presidents.
Tough. determined and canny,
as board chairman he has out
lasted four Ward presidents and
more than 40 vice presidents who.
resigned or were fired, mostly
because Of differences over his
management policies.
Mr.. Avery is a lanky, good
looking, grey-haired man who
wears expensive clothes and
wears them well. He is suave
and speaks with self-assurance.
At stockholders meetings, he dis
plays quickness at repartee and
wry sense of humor. And on
all company matters Mr.. Avery
considers important, he gets his
way.
He has bucked the j. P. Mors
gan interests and forced them
out Of Ward directorships. Some
Of Montgomery Wards biggest
stockholders have tried to fight
him. to no avail.
Some Chicago financiers con-
tend that even if the odds
should go strongly against Mr.,
Avery in the current fight. Mr..
Wolfson would need at least two
years of unbroken success to
shove him out of the picture.
Avery Could Keep Majority.
They advance this possibility:
Only three members Of the
nine-man board come UP for
election each year. The Avery
interests. by concentrating all
their cumulative votes on him
even at the expense of losing the
other two directorships, could
assure Mr.. Avery Of reelection
and with the majority Of the
board still on his side.
Other f1nanciers, however, ad-
vance the possibility that the
present Ward board. with five or
more members IS years or more
old, would "fall apart" under a
concentrated attack by the
Wolfson forces.
Mr.. Avery's tiffs with his sub
ordinates and some stockholders
have been blamed principally
on his tight exercise Of author
ity in the day-to day operation
of the business and his expecta-
ton Of a business downturn.
Policies Contrasted.
While Wards was operating
along conservative lines. piling
up $293 million currently in cash
and Government securities
against no debts. the rival Sears,
Roebuck & Co. followed a Wig
orous expansion policy and
pulled away in sales and profits.
The last annual report on
January 81 showed the value Of
Wards property and equipment
was carried on the books at $33
million, compared with $44 mil
lion 10 years earlier. During the
same period the value of Sears
plants jumped from 500 to $211
million.
Wards sales increased from
1921 million in 1945 to 1899 mil
lion last year. They passed the
81 billion mark from 1948
through 1858. Sears sales in the
same period jumped from 1899
million to 5000, 000, 900.
Sears profit in the eight years
since the end of World War II
rose 229 per cent, while Wards
were UP only 81 per cent.
Ward Dividends Increased.
However, Wards paid stock
holders q larger cash dividend
each year since 1945. Wards
1 - u = = r. n .