SIGNING of a "no-raiding" pact this week by the C.I.O. and the A.F.L. presidents does not necessarily mean union peace. C.I.O. chieftains have agreed to sign on the condition that their opposite numbers in the A.F.L. sign also. In many cases this means Dave Beck and his big (1,000,000 members) Teamsters Union. But Beck has no intention of signing in a hurry, may never sign.

FIRST new offshore oil field to be tapped since the tidelands were turned over to the states has been found at Newport Beach, near Los Angeles. Humble Oil & Refining Co. and Monterey Oil Co. have brought in their first well in this field, 1,200 ft. offshore and 4,445 ft. down, are pumping 250 barrels a day.

FROM now on stockholders will be able to trade on the New York Stock Exchange three more days a year. The Board of Governors has voted to stay open on Lincoln's Birthday, Columbus Day, and Armistice Day for the first time in decades.

F.H Peavey & Co. of Minneapolis, a top U.S. grain-storage and flour firm, surprised the industry by advertising to buy control of a big producing company. In newspaper ads, Peavey announced that it would pay $36 a share (v. $20.12 1/2 market price) for 165,000 shares (about 70%) of the outstanding common stock of Russell-Miller Milling Co., fourth biggest flour producer. If the deal goes through, Peavey will become the third largest U.S. flour firm, topped only by General Mills and Pillsbury Mills.

BRITAIN'S English Electric Co. Ltd., designers and manufacturers of the twin-jet Canberra bomber being built under license in the U.S. by Glenn L. Martin Co., landed its second big U.S. hydroelectric contract in a year. The company, which previously won an order for transformers for the Chief Joseph Dam in Washington, underbid four U.S. firms for two generators for the new Mc-Nary Dam on the Columbia River. The bid: $3,651,476, some $600,000 under that of the nearest U.S. competitor, General Electric.

CANADIAN-U.S. trade will probably hit an alltime high this year with $4.3 billion worth of goods already exchanged in the first nine months of 1953. Exports to Canada are up $246 million (to $2.5 billion), imports up $104 million (to $1.8 billion) over the same period in 1952.

GUIDED missiles in the U.S. are ten years behind the rest of the world, says Lieut. General William E. Kepner, a World War II air commander and now executive vice president of Bell Aircraft Corp. "The designs for our guided-missile systems were on German drafting boards at least ten years ago. They have also been on Russian drafting boards. We are hurrying to catch up, and I hope we can."

GENERAL Shoe Corp. of Nashville, Tenn., which sold $111 million worth of shoes last year, has entered the high-priced women's field by buying Manhattan's $10 million I. Miller & Sons, Inc. The deal: an exchange of General Shoe stock for I. Miller stock. I. Miller will continue to operate as a separate company.

PAN American World Airways will start regular tourist flights from the Midwest to Europe next year with biweekly service from Chicago and Detroit to London, weekly flights from the two cities to Copenhagen, Stockholm, Hamburg. Pan American has had CAB permission for such flights for years, but only now thinks there is enough traffic to make regular service profitable.

DEFENSE Secretary Charles E. Wilson has changed his mind about how much the armed forces can compete with private business. Though he recently said that it was all right for the services to process their own iron and steel scrap, he has issued a new directive telling them to stop all business activity that private firms can do just as well.

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