  The application of pressure as well as the successive substitution of Ru with
Fe in the hidden order (HO) compound URu$_2$Si$_2$ leads to the formation of
the large moment antiferromagnetic phase (LMAFM). Here we have investigated the
substitution series URu$_{2-x}$Fe$_x$Si$_2$ with $x$ = 0.2 and 0.3 with
non-resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (NIXS) and 4$f$ core-level
photoelectron spectroscopy with hard x-rays (HAXPES). NIXS shows that the
substitution of Fe has no impact on the symmetry of the ground-state wave
function. In HAXPES we find no shift of spectral weight that would be
indicative for a change of the 5$f$-electron count. Consequently, changes in
the exchange interaction $\cal{J}$ due to substitution must be minor so that
the conjecture of chemical pressure seems unlikely. An alternative scenario is
discussed, namely the formation of long range magnetic order due the
substitution induced local enhancement of the magnetization in the vicinity of
the $f$-electron ions while the overall electronic structure remains unchanged.
