How Now the Dow

Created in 1884 by Charles Henry Dow, the first editor of the Wall Street Journal, the Dow Jones average of industrial stocks took its modern form in the late 1920s, just in time for the market crash and the Great Depression. Then as now, the index is an average of stock prices of companies in major American industries.

Only 13 of the original 30 stocks are still on the list. Dropped long ago were smoky, smelly oldies like American Smelting, Nash Motors and American Sugar. The three latest additions are IBM, Merck and American Express.

Despite last week's high, only General Electric at 93 3/8 and American Brands at 49 7/8 set price records, and a few were strikingly beneath their historic highs. U.S. Steel, reflecting the woes of its industry, closed at 19 7/8%, down sharply from 108 in 1959. GM was at 57, half the 113 3/4% of 1965, before stiff competition arose from Japan.

COMPANY CLOSING PRICE Nov. 5 % RISE SINCE AUG. 12

American Express $64 3/4 81%

Sears Roebuck 31 1/8 72

F.W.Woolworth 26 3/8 56

Minnesota Mining 76 1/2 47

General Electric 91 7/8 46

Goodyear 32 45

General Motors 57 43

Westinghouse 37 5/8 42

United Technologies 56 1/8 42

DuPont 43 1/4 41

International Paper 50 37

IBM 84 3/8 36

Union Carbide 57 35

Procter & Gamble 113 3/4 35

General Foods 46 35

Owens Illinois 28 1/8 33

American Brands 49 7/8 33

Eastman Kodak 93 1/4 30

American Can 34 30

Standard Oil (Calif.) 32 1/4 29

Alcoa 29 1/8 27

Merck 81 1/2 26

INCO 9 7/8 23

Allied Corp. 38 23

Bethlehem Steel 18 1/2 23

Exxon 30 1/2 22

AT&T 62 1/8 22

U.S. Steel 19 7/8 20

Texaco 31 18

International Harvester 4 1/8 10

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