HOME LOAN PROGRAM by the Veterans Administration, totaling $33 billion, is coming under fire from a House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee. After a 14-month investigation, the subcommittee charged widespread abuses of VA-guaranteed loans by builders and real estate operators. Among the charges: many loans were granted for non-G.I. projects, builders often overcharged on G.I. housing they did build, and bribed VA inspectors to cover up.

EXECUTIVE RESERVE will be set up to help run the Government in case of war. President Eisenhower has signed an order permitting the Office of Defense Mobilization to recruit a pool of 3,000 to 4,000 top men in communications, transportation, labor, etc., give them peacetime training for wartime duties.

NEW OIL RUSH is under way in Alberta, Canada. Union Oil Co. has hit an oil zone 4,797 ft. deep, 220 miles north of Edmonton not far from Lesser Slave Lake. Size of the strike is causing the biggest scramble ever in that province for drilling rights; 12 million acres were reserved in the first few days.

CHRYSLER COMEBACK is losing some of its steam. While General Motors (with 53% of the market) has cut back production 6% and Ford (with 26%) has cut back 16%, Chrysler production has slumped 29% from its 1955 pace, now holds only 17% of the auto market v. 19% at this time last year. Biggest loser: Dodge, down 50% from 1955.

NUCLEAR POWER for the British Commonwealth will get a boost from U.S. industry. In the first commercial Anglo-American atomic project, American Machine & Foundry Co. and Britain's Mitchell Engineering, Ltd. have agreed to build a series of nuclear power plants in underdeveloped Commonwealth areas.

FORD STOCK, now trading over the counter (current price: around 62, down 8 3/4 points from the high and 2 1/2 points below the original offering), will go on the New York Stock Exchange's big board on March 7. Ford will also be listed simultaneously on the Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and San Francisco exchanges.

COPPER PINCH will be eased by a large-scale U.S. mining expansion in Chile. In a $100 million program, Anaconda Copper will spend $53 million to get its newly discovered Indio Muerto mines into production, expects them to add 100,000 tons of refined copper to the free world's annual production. The company will also increase production another 55,000 tons at two present mines.

TEXTILES WORKERS will make their first bid for a wage boost since 1950. After holding the line (and even taking a 6 1/2% wage cut in 1952) in the depressed industry, the Textile Workers Union is sending notices to employers that it will seek "substantial" wage and fringe benefits increases.

AUTO FREIGHT CHARGES for destinations in the South and West will be cut by Ford Motor Co. to satisfy complaints by dealers. Though Ford will still charge "phantom freight," i.e., on the basis of mileage from Detroit no matter how near dealers are to local assembly plants, the company will cut the charges as much as $49 on a Ford and $58 on a Lincoln. However, part of the reduction will be counteracted by a $16 wholesale price increase on Fords.

PLANE CHARTER will soon be as easy and inexpensive as renting a bus, truck or boat. Under a system set up by the Aircoach Transport Association, charter groups will no longer have to deal with scattered individual airlines, rarely pay expensive ferrying costs to fly empty planes back from outlying points. Instead, ACTA will act as a general agent for more than 30 nonscheduled lines, be able to pick the nearest available plane and charter it for as little as 2 1/2-c- per passenger mile.

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