SHOCK TREATMENT is being tried by federal mediators in the Westinghouse strike. After agreeing on a settlement formula, both sides insisted on so many stipulations that the mediators walked out on the negotiations to drive home the point that the 18-week strike is not the Government's problem; it can be settled only by union and management working for the benefit "of those 55,000 guys pegging around the sidewalks."

SHIPPING SUBSIDIES will be extended to U.S. lines using the St. Lawrence Seaway. To forestall a trade monopoly by foreign-flag freighters, whose costs are lower, the Maritime Administration has designated the seaway an essential trade route, is ready to spend some $8,000,000 annually to put U.S. shippers in an equal competitive position.

FLYING BUSINESSMEN continue to bring the light-plane industry record sales. In 1955, 4,434 single-and twin-engined planes worth $91 million were delivered, almost 60% more than in 1954.

PRIVATE BANKERS will take over some of Export-Import Bank's loans. Under a new program designed to release Export-Import Bank funds for new lending, the bank will sell $4,000,000 worth of 5% notes (of a total $24 million) owed by Cuba's Cuban Electric Co. to Manufacturers Trust Co. of New York, hopes to line up other private bankers soon.

JET TRANSPORTS are being ordered by two more airlines. T.W.A., last of the major U.S. airlines to sign up for jets, ordered eight Boeing 707s as the start on a 30-plane fleet costing approximately $135 million, while

Delta Airlines signed up for six Douglas DC-8s costing $28.5 million. Jet box score to date: 111 Douglas DC-8s v. 83 Boeing 707s.

LABOR GOAL for 1956 will be a 35-hour week in at least one big U.S. industry. Merged C.I.O.-A.F.L. has its sights set on the high-flying aircraft industry, thinks that it is in a good position (order backlogs of $13.2 billion, 1955 profits of $500 million) to give 180,000 plane workers new benefits this spring. First target: Convair, whose contract "expires March 31. Asking price: a 35-hour week plus a 10% wage increase.

SOFT COAL COMEBACK will bring as much as a 50-c--a-ton price boost in April, the second such increase in seven months. The boost, owing to increasing demand (up 20% in 1955) and higher costs, will raise soft coal prices to where they were before the 1948 depression.

NUCLEAR DATA for peacetime use will soon be almost 100% declassified. The AEC has already released 50% of the needed data, is currently declassifying another 30%. To help businessmen get the facts they need from the 20% still secret, the AEC has granted "access permits" to 602 companies, is clearing another 60 to 70 monthly. This June it will also set up nuclear libraries across the U.S., will let businessmen use some AEC facilities for their own research.

DYED ORANGES, standard practice for 30 years among Florida growers, will stay that way, at least for another three years. The Food & Drug Administration has agreed to rescind an order banning dyes that make the fruit look appetizing.

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