Hot War at Ward's

For the first time, tough old (81) Sewell Avery last week tore into Challenger Louis Wolfson in the proxy battle for control of Montgomery Ward & Co. Said Avery, in a letter to stockholders: "Wolfson...is not qualified to manage this great corporation in the best interests of the stockholders...His campaign is simply a financial venture for the benefit of his backers and himself."

Avery boasted of Ward's progress since he took control in 1931, pointing out that working capital rose from $79 million to $579 million, and that a total of $51 per share in common-stock dividends had been paid since 1936. But Avery also had some less cheerful news. For the year ending Jan. 31, sales sank from last year's $999 million to an estimated $884 million, profits from $6.12 to $5.16 per share.

Challenger Wolfson was not idle. In Manhattan's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Wolfson pressagents trotted out a new associate, Frank Leahy, ex-Notre Dame football coach. Leahy joined the Wolfson Montgomery Ward stockholders' committee because, he said, "I believe so wholeheartedly in Louis Wolfson." Leahy said that he owns about 1,000 Ward shares (paper value: $82,625), but seemed unsure about his job with Wolfson. Said he: "To be real honest with you, my duties haven't been defined."

Leahy, an old associate of Wolfson, profited when Wolfson and friends bought working control of Washington's Capital Transit Co. for $20 a share, took over the company's fat $7,000,000 surplus, and in four years paid themselves more than $30 a share in dividends. In 1950 Leahy owned 4,700 Capital Transit shares. He declined to say whether he still owns them, but if he does, he has made upwards of $150,000 in dividends and an estimated $100,000 more in paper profits. Later he became a partner with Sam and Cecil Wolfson (Louis' brothers) in an insurance brokerage firm.

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