Back to the Farm

"All business is essentially the same ... As long as you keep your eyes open, know what's going on and keep your nose clean, you get along all right." On such a homemade maxim, big (6 ft. 1 in.) Emil Schram has gotten along fine. He was a successful farmer, irrigation expert and president of RFC when he became president of the New York Stock Exchange in 1941.

At the time, Wall Street was suffering its worst trading slump in 23 years. Many brokers thought it was caused by too much federal regulation, and felt that a New Dealer like Schram could ease the controls. Schram was convinced that the public, still remembering the '29 crash, had to be sold the idea that Wall Streeters were not a pack of wolves who lived on lambs.

To help sell the Street, Schram stumped the U.S. His plain, corn-fed manner convinced many a U.S. citizen that the stock market was a good place to invest money. Schram campaigned to cut the tax on odd-lot transactions (mainly for the benefit of small investors), helped persuade Congress to write a more liberal capital-gains tax law.

Schram met plenty of opposition from old-line brokers who scoffed at his $500,000-a-year advertising budget, sniped at his $100,000-a-year salary. As late as last November, a group of floor traders tried to cut down his authority, give some of his powers back to Exchange-member committees. Schram quelled the revolt by pointing out that it was just this "old, discredited committee system" which had given Wall Street its bad name. A month later, 56-year-old Emil Schram was struck down by a heart attack.

Last, week he said he would submit his resignation on Sept. 14 as president of the Stock Exchange. "I feel fine and I want to stay that way," he explained. Schram may continue as an adviser to the Exchange at $25,000 a year, but he will spend most of his time running his two farms in Indiana and Illinois (total acreage: 2,200). This month, Stock Exchange Chairman Robert P. Boylan will appoint a committee of Stock Exchange members to look for a new president.

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