Prefabricated Duckling

By allotting $50 million to RFC for prefabricated housing last year, Congress expected to hatch out a number of new prefabricators. But RFC had already picked out one big egg, Lustron Corp., and hatched it (TIME, Nov. 25, 1946 et seq.). Though RFC knew that Lustron's steel houses had only a fair chance of survival in the housing market, RFC kept on feeding Lustron millions because it knew that otherwise Lustron would die. In two years, Lustron swallowed up $35.5 million.* Last week RFC lent Lustron another $2,000,000 to keep the company going through September, and then asked Congress what to do about its ugly duckling.

RFC's problem was that Lustron needed an additional $14.5 million. But with that, most of RFC's allotment would be spent, and even then Lustron's success was uncertain. If RFC refused the new loan, the $37.5 million lent was down the drain. While RFC waited for a suggestion from Congress, Lustron made some savings. It laid off 600 workers, partly because it had some 400 houses on hand and wanted to sell them before producing any more.

* Lustron got $10 million from the 1948 authorization and $25.5 million from other RFC funds, while 17 other prefabricators got an average of only $1,000,000 apiece from RFC.

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