Facts & Figures

Bigger & Bigger. The gross national product in the third quarter of this year rose to a record annual rate of $232 billion up $10 billion since the first quarter. Much of the rise was due to higher prices. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that retail food prices jumped 3.6% during the month ending Sept. 15, reaching a new record high (203.5% of the 1935-39 average) for the fourth consecutive month.

No Corporations. After bickering about it for more than a year, members of the New York Stock Exchange voted down a plan to permit partnerships to incorporate. The plan would have allowed them to take advantage of lower corporate taxes, and get new capital more easily. Despite Exchange President Emil Schram's endorsement of the plan as "certainly in the public interest," Exchange members voted against it by more than two to one because they feared, among other things, that corporations would make it harder for small partnerships and individual members to compete.

Too Much Glim. In Mt. Penn, Pa. (pop. 3,700), housewives got--and promptly tried--free samples of "Glim," a super-sudsy detergent made by General Aniline & Film Corp. Within a few hours, tons of grease that had accumulated in sewage pipes over the years were cut loose and the town's small sewage plant was virtually buried in bubbles, which overflowed onto neighboring lawns. General Aniline cleaned up the mess with "Chat,' another detergent that makes no suds.

Little Glimmer. Office of Defense Transportation Director J. Monroe Johnson reported that the steel industry has volunteered to increase supplies to freight-car builders by more than 50%, beginning early next year. Builders raised their production goals to 14,000 new cars a month by next July, giving Johnson the first "glimmer of hope in the freight-car situation."

K-F on Trial. In Pittsburgh, Kaiser-Frazer dealers were offering new cars on a trial basis. The terms: $200 down and $100 monthly "rental" for six months. At the end of that time, the customer can return the car. If he keeps it, the rent is applied on the purchase price.

Czech In. The first postwar Tatra (Czechoslovak) automobile to reach the U.S. went on display in Manhattan. Low-slung, and fitted with a sliding sedan top, the Tatra has its air-cooled engine in the rear and a cyclops-eye headlight in addition to the usual two in front. Czechoslovakia's nationalized auto industry is producing the car at the rate of 3,000 a year, promises delivery in six weeks. Price: $6,200, plus $350 tax.

Hair-Shirt Heir. War Assets Administrator Robert M. Littlejohn, whose regular offers to resign have been regularly rejected by President Truman, could no longer complain that "nobody wants to wear my hair shirt." The President finally accepted his resignation after getting Jess Larson, 42, until recently general counsel for the agency, to take over when Littlejohn leaves this week. Swarthy, affable Jess Larson, ex-mayor of Chickasha, Okla., and a colonel in World War II, is expected to strengthen at least one major weakness in the Littlejohn regime--a chronic friction with Congress.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.