Americana

P: Fully armed and carrying a full load of fuel, the Air Force's brand-new F-86 set an unofficial world's speed record for level flight--669.75 m.p.h. The plane, a North American jet fighter with swept-back wings, was flown by Major Richard L. Johnson, 30, over a measured course at the National Air Races in Cleveland. The old record was 650.796 m.p.h. Speed of sound (at sea level): about 750 m.p.h.

P: Alice Coachman, 25, the Georgia Negro who won the women's Olympic high jump, received an enthusiastic, if well segregated, reception on her return to her native state. She rode in a parade of automobiles from Atlanta to her home in Albany, and crowds cheered along the way. In her home town, prominent citizens gathered on the stage of the auditorium, whites on the right, Negroes on the left, to pay her honor. Mayor James W. ("Taxi") Smith eulogized her in a short speech.

P: A New York supreme court justice upheld a city labor arbitration award giving bricklayers a wage of $27 for an eight-hour day.

P: After decades of marking its letters "Los Angeles, Hollywood Station," Hollywood finally got a postmark of its own.*

P: The Department of Commerce announced that the average income per person in the U.S. last year was $1,323--up $110 from 1946. Highest average among the 20 states which exceeded the national figure was Nevada's $1,842. New York was second with $1,781. Mississippi had the nation's lowest average, $659.

P: Six ancient Sioux held an oldtimers' reunion at South Dakota's Custer State Park. They were the last of the Indian band which had massacred Lieut. Colonel George A. Custer and 250 troopers of the 7th U.S. Cavalry at the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876. Now the buffalo were gone and the white man had taken their Black Hills. Said one irascible old brave: "I wish my people were strong enough to get them back."

P: The New York State Conservation Department fined two Manhattan milliners $50 apiece for displaying a 59-year-old hat adorned with bird of paradise feathers. They were cited under a law which prohibits commercial display of the plumage of certain wild birds.

P: University of Kansas sororities, permitted to spend only $125 for a four-day rushing program, began serving ice water at teas to cut down expenses.

P: A Holstein cow owned by Mrs. Ada Eliassen of Riegelsville, Pa. gave birth to five healthy calves--a great rarity.

P: The B.V.D. Corp. began manufacturing the masculine equivalent of the black lace nightgown--pajamas decorated with pictures of wolves.

* For less happy news of Hollywood, see CINEMA.

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