No More Farming for Harvester

To reassure its customers, the long-ailing International Harvester launched an ad campaign early this year that featured this slogan: "The commitment is forever." But last week Harvester's shaky financial condition forced it to break that promise. The Chicago-based company decided to sell its agricultural division for $430 million to Houston's Tenneco, an energy conglomerate. This means that Harvester, the descendant of a company founded by Cyrus McCormick, the inventor of the mechanical reaper, will abandon its original line of business. The divestiture will let Harvester concentrate on its profitable truck-building operation. Tenneco will merge Harvester's tractor line with its struggling J.I. Case farm-equipment division. By closing plants like Harvester's giant Farmall factory in Rock Island, Ill., Tenneco hopes to slash the industry's overcapacity. The cutbacks, though, could bring layoffs for thousands of workers.

Another heavy-equipment maker, Caterpillar Tractor, announced last week that it may move some of its production from plants in Illinois and Iowa to factories in Western Europe. The step could mean the loss of even more Midwestern jobs.