Facts & Figures

Bait. As propaganda against the 75% import tax on U.S. films, Hollywood was showing British audiences trailers of coming attractions that Britons won't be able to see. Cried a member of Parliament last week: "[The Government should] prevent this method of agitating for a change in our fiscal policy."

Chipped. E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. sweetened the market for a new 40,000-share common stock issue by announcing a record gross of $795,538,075 in 1947, a 20% increase over 1946. Net profits after taxes were $120,009,760, up 6%. Du Pont worried about "excessive construction costs" in its expansion program, set up a reserve that chipped $1.51 off share earnings, brought them to $9.88 per share.

Fill 'er Up. Despite last year's peak production of two billion barrels of oil, the U.S. discovered about 700 million barrels more than it tapped. At year's end, known U.S. reserves were 24,741,660,000 barrels, an alltime high.

A Citizen's Duty. Alleghany Corp.'s Robert R. Young registered with Congress as a lobbyist for his Federation for Railway Progress. Said rambunctious Railroader Young: "It is a citizen's duty to work for constructive legislation. If that is lobbying, we are proud of our new calling--lobbyist."

Bigger Big Three. The cigarette industry's Big Three were still growing. American Tobacco Co.'s Lucky Strikes last year chalked up a record $819,631,122 in sales, and stayed in first place. But its increase in business (7.2%) was less than R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.'s Camels (15.5%) and Liggett & Myers' Chesterfield (10.6%). The only major company to suffer a drop was Philip Morris, whose sales slumped .5%.

Cheaper Midget. Automaker Powel Crosley cut the factory price of his midget Crosley sedan $19 to $869.

Reactor. Industrial use of atomic energy is 20 years away, said Dr. Lyle B. Borst, boss of the Government's atomic project at Brookhaven, Long Island. But

Philadelphia's El-Tronics Inc. took no chances. In magazine ads it bragged: "At last, an inexpensive Geiger-Miiller counter set [a radioactivity detector] for only $69.50!"

No Profit. Eire's new Prime Minister John A. Costello abandoned Irish Airlines' plan to begin transatlantic service next week between Shannon and New York. Reason: the subsidies for the service were too high for Eire's poverty-stricken government.

Fair Profit. The Aviation Commission of tiny (pop.: 11,738) Columbus (Ind.) reported that the city's airport last year earned $4,225 from the sale of soybeans grown on the airfield.

Huckster Nietzsche. The 19th Century's Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche made the grade in 20th Century advertising. In the New York Times, John Ward shoe stores led off an ad for a "neither staid nor stuffy" shoe with the Nietzschean quote: "I am not successful at being pompous."

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