In General

Memorable, last week, was the midyear statement of American Locomotive Co., made public by Chairman William Hartman Woodin, recent Smith convert. Net profits for the first six months of 1928 were $1,502,702, as against $2,485,784 in 1927. "Locomotive buying," said Chairman Woodin, "is at a low ebb."

Memorable for U. S. tourists in England was the declaration of Charles A. Penn, vice president of American Tobacco Co., that a factory will be built in England to manufacture American cigarets at low prices.

Memorable was the defense of the penny as a buying unit by Emile C. Schurmacher, managing editor of The Candy Gazette. Editor Schurmacher wrote to the New York Times: "There has been a steady increase in the sale of penny candy (red hots, all-day suckers, 'lickerish' shoe laces). . . . If there is anybody who is offsetting the younger generation's contempt for the penny as a medium of exchange, it is the penny candy manufacturer."

Memorable, probably, was the formation of three new corporations by potent International Telephone and Telegraph Co. Under the names of International Cables Corp., International Communications Corp., International Radio Corp., the new companies will operate telephone, telegraph and cable lines, wireless systems, television and telephoto transmission (much of which I. T. & T. already does). The object of ponderous incorporation, the functions of the different units, were not clarified by either of the Brothers Behn of I.T.&T.