COMET CRASH mystery has finally been solved by British scientists, though Planemaker De Havilland will not announce the findings until the inquiry is formally completed next month. Rumored cause: the intense pressures of high-speed, high-altitude flight caused the metal in the fuselage to "fatigue" and the planes split open in midair, killing 99.

SWITZERLAND may become the first nation to return to a partial gold standard. With more gold than is needed to back their currency 100%, the prosperous Swiss will experiment by minting gold francs in 25 fr. ($5.83) and 50 fr. ($11.66) denominations, will start off by issuing 50 to 100 million francs worth of gold coins.

ELECTRONICS SALES, now at the $8.4 billion mark, will climb to $12 billion annually by 1957, predicted R.C.A. President Frank M. Folsom.

FORD DIVIDENDS in the family-owned company were boosted from $10 per share in 1952 to $15 in 1953. The Ford Foundation, which owns 3,089,908 shares of nonvoting stock (the family owns some 370,000, including all voting stock), reported that its dividends were boosted $16 million over 1952 to a total of $46 million. Estimated Ford earnings for 1954: $200 million, a 14% jump over 1953 and equal to about $58 per share.

FILTER-TIP WAR is still heating up. P. Lorillard Co.'s Old Gold will soon be marketed in a new king-size, filter-tip version, the first time one of the "Big Six" brands has come out with a filter. Other big names may have to follow soon, since filter-tips have climbed from 3% to 8% of the market in the first six months of 1954, are expected to hit 12% by the end of the year.

EASY-CREDIT policy of Treasury Secretary George Humphrey will continue, at least until after the November elections. To raise $4 billion for year-end expenses, Humphrey has just floated a new series of short-term bonds (31 months) with an interest rate of 1 5/8%, the lowest rate for such an issue in ten years.

JAPAN'S SHIPBUILDERS are grabbing off choice U.S. orders. Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. will build two of the world's largest tankers (both 45,000 tons), for the Tide Water Associated Oil Co., have them ready for delivery within 18 months. Cost: about $5,000,000 apiece, about half the price in U.S. yards.

RAILROAD v. TRUCK battle for freight business will soon be on a more even footing. The Interstate Commerce Commission ruled that current truck rates on less than carload lots throughout the East and Midwest are too low and constitute "destructive competition." ICC has ordered the truckers to boost rates from 16-c- to 33-c- per 100 Ibs. to bring them closer into line with railroad charges.

COAL MINING, in a bad slump, will get a boost from Harold Stassen's Foreign Operations Administration. FOA has ordered $150 million (10 million tons) worth of soft coal from U.S. mines to be shipped abroad as part of the foreign-aid program. But the chronically ailing coal operators consider this a mere aspirin tablet--only one week's work for the industry that already has an inventory of 80 million tons above ground.

PRESSED STEEL Car Co., which got out of the railroad business last spring to make oil-well equipment, prefabricated houses, auto and aircraft parts (1953 sales: $95 million), will now expand with a new machine-tool business. Pressed Steel has just bought Chicago's Clearing Machine Corp. (1953 sales: $24 million) for about $10 million.

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