Facts & Figures

Tractor Deal. Harry Ferguson, Inc. found a new manufacturer for the tractors which Henry Ford II had stopped building for Inventor Ferguson (TIME, July 21). It was Sir John Black's Standard Motor plant at Coventry, England. Standard, already building 250 tractors a day for Ferguson's English company, will build another 250 a day for Harry Ferguson, Inc. to sell in the U.S. They will be powered with Continental motors imported from the U.S. (Ferguson found that would be cheaper than assembling the motor and British frames in the U.S.)

Building Up. U.S. business, said SEC and the Department of Commerce in a joint study, expects to spend $4.1 billion on new plants and equipment in the first quarter of this year. This is 30% more than was spent in the corresponding period last year, and 80% more than in 1929, the highest prewar year.

Franc Down? Paris reported rumors that the French franc, pegged at 119 to $1, would soon be devalued to somewhere near its real worth (black market price: 350 to $1). The uncertainty nipped French exports; foreign buyers were all holding off for the lower prices devaluation would bring. Charles Gruere, president of the National Federation of French Exporters, called for the immediate establishment of a "free" export franc similar to the export lira in Italy (TIME, Dec. 8). France was reported ready to establish such a franc. Estimated value: 250 to $1.

Electric Shock. In California, the U.S. Department of Justice named General Electric, Westinghouse and eight smaller electric companies in civil and criminal indictments. The charge: violating the antitrust laws by fixing prices of electrical equipment in the Far West.

Ceiling Reached. In Everett, Wash., wage negotiations between local contractors and Local 339 of the painters' union (A.F.L.) took an unexpected turn. The painters, who had begun by asking a 14 1/2-c- an hour increase, ended by agreeing to a 2 1/2-c- an hour cut. The painters reasoned that business, which had fallen off, might pick up again if painting costs went down.

Melting Sugar. In New York, where trade in world sugar futures was resumed for the first time since 1941, the price fell to a low of 3.63-c- a lb. (Last August the world spot price had been 8.5-c-.) The big fall was due to prospects of a huge crop in Cuba, little buying by Europe and a 1948 U.S. import quota smaller than Cuba had hoped for. In a few months, after U.S. refiners had used up their stocks, the drop would bring down retail prices.

Chemical Change. At E. I. du Pont de Nemours, the president customarily resigns by the time he's 60. Last week, when Walter S. Carpenter Jr. turned the mark, he stepped aside for Crawford H. Greenewalt, 45, a chemist who had joined Du Pont in 1922, later married the daughter of Irenee du Pont. Carpenter became chairman of the board, succeeding 67-year-old Lammot du Pont, who remains a director.

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