Facts & Figures

Now You See If. ... Shipments of finished steel in the first six months of 1947 totaled 31,172,157 tons, more than the industry produced in any other comparable peacetime period, and almost as much as it turned out in all of 1939. Meanwhile, steel scrap prices, having climbed during the past three months to their highest level in 30 years, showed a sign of receding. In the key Pittsburgh area, the price of heavy melting scrap in one large sale dropped $2 a ton, down to $40. The widespread prospects of further drops from recent "fantastic" highs, said the weekly Iron Age, "gives steel producers hope that present steel price levels can be maintained."

Unforgivable Debt. The RFC bluntly rejected Henry Kaiser's plea that it write off $85 million of the $123 million it had loaned him during the war to build his Fontana (Calif.) steel plant. Kaiser had contended that the writeoff would be in line with the $162 million loss the Government took on the war surplus sale of its $200 million Geneva (Utah) plant. Said RFC: the situations were not at all similar. U.S. Steel bought Geneva -- Fontana's competitor--through open bidding long after the plant was built. But Kaiser himself built, operated and reaped the wartime profits from Fontana. Therefore, said the RFC, he had "no proper basis" for his plea.

Free v. Chosen Instruments. James M. Landis, chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board, predicted that U.S. airlines flying transatlantic routes (Pan American, T.W.A., American Overseas) would soon be showing profits on Atlantic operations exceeding the airmail subsidies they receive from the Government. Landis discounted the danger of harmful competition from foreign-government-sponsored lines, which might force the U.S. to name and back a "chosen instrument" of its own. "What scares me now," said he, "is that we won't get effective foreign competition." Three days later, President Truman's Air Coordinating Committee, of which Landis is a member, called for "continuation of competition among U.S. airlines in the international field."

Steamboat round the Bend. The Greene Line Steamers, Inc. announced that the 250-ft. steamer Delta Queen, which it bought last year from the U.S. Maritime Commission, will soon go into drydock in preparation for Mississippi River service. Launched in Glasgow in 1924, the steel-hulled Queen has served most of her time as a West Coast ferry. In her new role as one of the Mississippi's few extant sternwheelers, she will offer -air-conditioned accommodations for up to 200 passengers on trips between Cincinnati and New Orleans.

Dimmer. The Federal Power Commission somberly agreed with a forecast that the U.S. is due for a new electric light and power crisis. The margin between demand and capacity to produce is as narrow as it has ever been. Barely started on the greatest expansion program in its history, the industry expects the "tight squeeze" to last throughout next year and well into 1949.

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