PERSONAL FILE

sb Executives have been cut down like cornstalks lately at J. I. Case Co., Wisconsin's debt-ridden farm-implement manufacturer, which has lost two presidents and $72 million in the past two years. Last week, after a nine-month talent hunt, the board (and worried bankers) picked a new president: Merritt D. Hill, 59, who showed rare energy and chilly efficiency in building Ford's tractor division from a one-horse producer of utility tractors to a full-line implement manufacturer before retiring as a Ford vice president this month. His job now is to wipe out Case's $118 million bank debt, shine up a corporate reputation that was tarnished when onetime (1957-60) Case Boss Marc Rojtman flooded dealer showrooms with highly touted but insufficiently engineered farm machines.

sb Peace seemed likely to break out between the Chrysler Corp. and Proxy Battler Sol A. Dann, 58, the feisty Detroit lawyer who, as a stockholder (5,100 shares), has been harrying management for three years. In return for indefinite postponement of Chrysler's $30 million libel suit against him, Dann proposes to abandon his own suits against a clutch of former Chrysler executives and suppliers for alleged collusion to overcharge the company on parts.

His new amiability stems from confidence in new Chrysler Chairman George Love. Says Dann: "Where there's Love, there's hope . . . The future looks good for Chrysler."

sb Putting most of its money into vending machines, the Universal Match Corp. of St. Louis hit the jackpot when the machine market soared, only to see profits plunge 63% to $2.3 million last year under the pressure of heavy competition and development costs.

Looking for a vending expert to help it out, Universal last week named as president Thomas Donahue, 44, an 18-year vending veteran who rose from accountant to executive vice president of National Vendors, Inc., a Universal subsidiary, but left in 1960 to help organize United Servomation Corp. The change was protested by Universal's strong-minded outgoing President John L. Wilson, 59, who stays on as chairman. But Bachelor Tom Donahue was the choice of Controlling Stockholder Frank Prince, 74.

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