[21700001] |Is an American Secretary of State seriously suggesting that the Khmer Rouge should help govern Cambodia?
[21700002] |Apparently so.
[21700003] |There are no easy choices in Cambodia, but we can't imagine that it benefits the U.S. to become the catalyst for an all-too-familiar process that could end in another round of horror in Cambodia.

[21700004] |Now that Vietnam appears to have pulled out its occupation army, the State Department is talking again about accepting an "interim" coalition government in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.
[21700005] |The coalition would include the current Vietnamese-backed Hun Sen regime, the two non-communist resistance groups led by Son Sann and Prince Sihanouk, and the Khmer Rouge.
[21700006] |The aim would be to end the guerrilla war for control of Cambodia by allowing the Khmer Rouge a small share of power.
[21700007] |The State Department says that any Khmer Rouge participation would have to be "minimal."

[21700008] |The usual problem with including communists in "interim" coalition governments is that their ideology and methods require they squeeze out everyone else.
[21700009] |Recall that Nicaragua's Sandinistas came into Managua as partners in a coalition government with anti-Somoza moderates.
[21700010] |Within two years, the moderates were exiled or in prison, Nicaragua had gone communist, and the Sandinistas were building one of the biggest armies in Latin America and threatening their neighbors.
[21700011] |In Laos, when the Western powers bowed to pressure for such a coalition it turned out they were opening the door to communist domination.
[21700012] |Even Mao Tse-tung's China began in 1949 with a partnership between the communists and a number of smaller, non-communist parties.

[21700013] |What complicates the scene in Cambodia is that the current regime is already communist, as are its Vietnamese overseers back in Hanoi, as are the Khmer Rouge -- who are the strongest of the three guerrilla groups.
[21700014] |It's not clear which crew of communists might prevail in a coalition government, but the one good bet is that the non-communists would disappear.
[21700015] |That would leave Hun Sen and the Khmer Rouge.

[21700016] |The Hun Sen regime has sent thousands of conscript laborers to die of malaria and malnourishment while building Cambodia's equivalent of the Berlin Wall near the Thai border.
[21700017] |The Khmer Rouge, however, carry an unsurpassed record for Cambodian tyranny.
[21700018] |These utopians caused the deaths -- by starvation, disease or execution -- of well over one million Cambodians.
[21700019] |The Cambodian horror was so bad that the Vietnamese occupation in 1978 was a perverse form of relief.

[21700020] |The world might want to believe that the Khmer Rouge can't still be such bad guys, just as in the late 1970s it was reluctant to credit the reports of genocide then taking place.
[21700021] |But there is no solid evidence that the Khmer Rouge have changed.
[21700022] |Some of our sources in Thailand say the notorious old Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot, has been holed up this summer in Khmer Rouge camps near the Thai-Cambodian border.

[21700023] |So it's difficult to swallow the notion that Mr. Baker is willing to accept conditions that would help the Khmer Rouge set up shop again in Phnom Penh.
[21700024] |True, Prince Sihanouk backs the idea of such a coalition, at least for this week.
[21700025] |But Prince Sihanouk has backed all sorts of ideas over the years, and done rather better by himself than by Cambodia.
[21700026] |Nor should the U.S. worry much about offending China, which still aids the Khmer Rouge.
[21700027] |It's time the State Department recognized that China does not play by gentlemen's rules.

[21700028] |For the U.S. to lend even the slightest support to the most infamous killers on Indochina's bleak scene could only disturb America's allies elsewhere.
[21700029] |It would be entirely rational for communist insurgents in countries such as the Philippines or Peru to conclude the following: Fight viciously enough and the U.S., under the banner of pragmatism, might eventually help negotiate your way to victory.
[21700030] |U.S. diplomacy has done it before, and it will likely do it again.

[21700031] |The administration and Congress have lately tangoed around the idea of sending military aid to Cambodia's non-communists.
[21700032] |But now the possibility of "diplomatic movement" (Vietnam's withdrawal, the Baker initiative) has put that plan on hold, with the proviso that if the going got rough, the U.S. would then rearm the opposition.
[21700033] |Why the timidity?
[21700034] |At the very least, the odds are heavily weighted against the prospects of preventing the Khmer Rouge and Cambodia's communists from ultimately moving against their opponents.
[21700035] |When that day comes, it would be particularly awful to know that the United States sat on military aid and deprived these people of the means to settle their fate with at least a little honor.

[21701001] |Michael F. Harris, 53, was named executive vice president, North America, for the Financial Times, the business newspaper published by this company that also has interests in book publishing, fine china, oil services and investment banking.
[21701002] |Mr. Harris had been vice president for the newspaper's advertising in New York.
[21701003] |He takes additional responsibility for newspaper sales and distribution of the Financial Times in North America.
[21701004] |Laurance V. Allen, 44, who had been director for North America, resigned to pursue other business interests and do some consulting.

[21702001] |Cipher Data Products Inc. posted a net loss of $14.2 million, or 97 cents a share, for its fiscal first quarter, compared with net income of $3.8 million, or 27 cents a share, a year ago.

[21702002] |Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 fell 20%, to $41.3 million from $51.9 million in the year-earlier period.

[21702003] |Cipher Data, a San Diego maker of magnetic tape peripherals and optical disc drives, said the loss included reserves of $3.8 million related to a corporate restructuring.

[21702004] |The restructuring calls for a 24% reduction in its work force over the next two months, affecting about 525 jobs, Cipher Data said.
[21702005] |It is eliminating the positions of president and chief operating officer, formerly held by Edward L. Marinaro.

[21702006] |Cipher Data said Mr. Marinaro consequently has resigned from those posts and from the company's board.
[21702007] |Mr. Marinaro couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

[21703001] |FileNet Corp., Costa Mesa, Calif., said it expects to report a third-quarter loss of about $1.8 million, or 17 cents a share, because of a $2.5 million reserve to be taken against potential losses on a contract with the state of California.
[21703002] |Revenue is estimated at $18.6 million.

[21703003] |The maker of document image processing equipment said the state procurement division had declared FileNet in default on its contract with the secretary of state uniform commercial code division.
[21703004] |FileNet said it doesn't believe the state has a valid basis of default and is reviewing its legal rights under the contract, but said it can't predict the outcome of the dispute.

[21703005] |The disagreement centers on testing deadlines and other issues involving a FileNet system installed earlier this year.
[21703006] |State officials couldn't be reached for comment late yesterday.

[21703007] |FileNet noted that it had cash and marketable securities totaling $22.5 million on Sept. 30, and stockholders' equity is $60.1 million.
[21703008] |The company made the announcement after the close of the markets, where its stock finished at $10.75, up 25 cents, in over-the-counter trading.

[21704001] |Clinton Gas Systems Inc. said it received a contract from Timken Co., Canton, Ohio, to manage the natural gas purchasing, scheduling and transportation activities for Timken's seven Ohio and two Pennsylvania plants.

[21704002] |Clinton and Timken agreed not to disclose the value of the contract.

[21704003] |Timken, a producer of bearings and specialty steel, already buys gas from Clinton.

[21704004] |Clinton said in Columbus, Ohio, that its Clinton Gas Marketing unit wants to line up a number of such gas management contracts.
[21704005] |Manufacturers frequently don't have anyone who is a specialist in natural gas, Clinton said, and a specialist such as Clinton can save them substantial amounts of money.

[21705001] |The scene opens with pinstripe-suited executives -- Easterners, obviously -- glued to cellular phones and hightailing it out of town in chauffeur-driven limousines.

[21705002] |"The carpetbaggers," snorts the narrator with a Texas twang, "have packed their bags and went."
[21705003] |But, he continues, "They're forgetting we're all Texans.
[21705004] |The Lone Star is on the rise again."

[21705005] |As the music swells, viewers discover they're watching a commercial for Lone Star Beer, the pride of Texas, a product of G. Heileman Brewing Co., a La Crosse, Wis., unit of Bond Corp.

[21705006] |As the ad's tone implies, the Texas spirit is pretty xenophobic these days, and Lone Star isn't alone in trying to take advantage of that.
[21705007] |From Chevy trucks to Lipton iced tea to a host of battling banks, the state has been inundated with broadcast commercials and print advertising campaigns celebrating Texans and castigating outsiders.

[21705008] |While advertisers have long appealed to Texans' state pride and prejudices, the latest trend has been sparked, in part, by the state's recent hard economic times.
[21705009] |That has taken some of the swagger out of natives who like to brag that Texas is the only state that was once a nation, but it has increased their legendary resentment of outsiders.
[21705010] |In the past, writes Houston Chronicle columnist Jim Barlow, outlanders were accepted only after passing a series of tests to prove they had the "right" Texas attitudes and "of course they had to be dipped for parasites."

[21705011] |There is no small irony in the fact that some of the most-jingoistic advertising comes courtesy of -- you guessed it -- outsiders.
[21705012] |Lone Star's Bond Corp. parent, for instance, hails from Perth, Australia.
[21705013] |North Carolinians, New Yorkers, Californians, Chicagoans and Ohioans own Texas banks.
[21705014] |All kinds of landmark Texas real estate has been snapped up by out-of-staters.
[21705015] |Even the beloved Dallas Cowboys were bought by an Arkansas oil man.

[21705016] |"Texas has lost its distinctiveness, leaving Texans with a hunger to feel proud about themselves," says Stephen Klineberg, a sociology professor at Rice University, Houston.
[21705017] |"This plays right into the hands of the advertising agencies."

[21705018] |For example, the iced-tea radio campaign for Thomas J. Lipton Co., an Englewood Cliffs, N.J., unit of Anglo-Dutch Unilever Group, emphatically proclaims: "Real Texans do not wear dock-siders -- ever.
[21705019] |Real Texans don't play paddleball, at least I hope not.
[21705020] |This is football country.
[21705021] |And another thing -- real Texans drink Lipton iced tea."

[21705022] |In developing that theme at Interpublic Group of Cos.' Lintas: New York unit, account supervisor Lisa Buksbaum says she made a "couple of phone calls" to Dallas ad friends and reported her "findings" to a team of writers.
[21705023] |Her findings?
[21705024] |"You know," she says, "stereotypical stuff like armadillos, cowboys and football."

[21705025] |Not exactly sophisticated market research, but who cares as long as the campaigns work.
[21705026] |And ad agencies insist that they do.
[21705027] |Stan Richards of Richards Group Inc., Dallas, tells of the Texan who saw the agency's tear-jerking commercial for First Gibraltar Bank F.S.B. -- complete with the state's anthem -- and promptly invested $100,000 in the thrift's CDs.
[21705028] |Never mind that First Gibraltar is one of the failed Texas thrifts taken over by outsiders -- in this case, an investor group headed by New York financier Ronald Perelman.

[21705029] |The North Texas Chevy Dealers recently had a record sales month after the debut of ad campaign that thumbs its nose at elite Easterners.
[21705030] |And deposits at NCNB Texas National Bank, a unit of NCNB Corp., Charlotte, N.C., have increased $2 billion since last year after heavy advertising stressing commitment to Texas.
[21705031] |"Obviously, pride sells in Texas," says a spokeswoman for Bozell Inc., Omaha, Neb., which represents

[21705032] |The ad campaigns usually follow one of three tracks -- stressing the company's `Texasness,' pointing out the competition's lack thereof, or trying to be more Texan than Texans.
[21705033] |Ford trucks may outsell Chevy trucks in places like "Connecticut and Long Island," sniffs a commercial for Chevrolet, a division of General Motors Corp.
[21705034] |The commercial, created by Bateman, Bryan & Galles Inc., of Dallas, adds derisively: "I bet it takes a real tough truck to haul your Ivy League buddies to the yacht club."
[21705035] |Because they want a truck that is "Texas tough," the commercial concludes, "Texans drive Chevy."

[21705036] |J.C. Penney Co., which relocated from New York to suburban Dallas two years ago, gently wraps itself in Texas pride through a full-page magazine ad: "Taking the long-range view to conserve what is of value to future generations is part of the Lone Star lifestyle," the ad reads.
[21705037] |"It's part of our style, too."

[21705038] |According to several ad-agency sources, newcomers to the Texas banking market are spending a combined $50 million this year to woo Texans.
[21705039] |Meanwhile, surviving Texas banking institutions are busily pitching themselves as the only lenders who truly care about the state.

[21705040] |The most-strident anti-outsider sentiment among bankers comes from the Independent Bankers Association of Texas, although it's hard to tell from previews of the $5 million "The I's of Texas" TV campaign.
[21705041] |Commercials will highlight heart-rending scenes of Texas and chest-swelling, ain't-it-great-to-be-a-Texan music.
[21705042] |Supporting banks will sign a "Texas Declaration of Independents."

[21705043] |But in introductory material for the campaign, the trade group urges members to "arm" for a "revolution" against big, out-of-state bank-holding companies.
[21705044] |A video sent to association members, featuring shots of the Alamo, cowboys, fajitas and a statue of Sam Houston, doesn't mince words.
[21705045] |"Texans can sniff a phony a mile away," the narrator warns outsiders.
[21705046] |"So, don't come and try to con us with a howdy y'all or a cowboy hat."

[21705047] |Young & Rubicam's Pact

[21705048] |Young & Rubicam, fighting charges that it bribed Jamaican officials to win the Jamaica Tourist Board ad account in 1981, said it will no longer create the tourist board's advertising.

[21705049] |In a statement, Alex Kroll, Young & Rubicam's chairman, said "under the present circumstances {we} have agreed that it is prudent to discontinue that contract."
[21705050] |Young & Rubicam has pleaded innocent to the charges.
[21705051] |The board wouldn't comment on its impending search for a new ad agency to handle its estimated $5 million to $6 million account.

[21705052] |Ad Notes. . . .

[21705053] |NEW ACCOUNT:
[21705054] |Sunshine Biscuits Inc., Woodbridge, N.J., awarded its estimated $5 million account to Waring & LaRosa, New York.
[21705055] |The account had been at Della Femina McNamee WCRS, New York.

[21705056] |MEDIA POLICY:
[21705057] |MacNamara Clapp & Klein, a small New York shop, is asking magazine ad representatives to tell it when major advertising inserts will run in their publications.
[21705058] |It says it may pull its clients' ads from those magazines.

[21705059] |COKE ADS:
[21705060] |Coca-Cola Co. said it produced a new version of its 1971 "I'd like to teach the world to sing" commercial.
[21705061] |The ad is part of Classic Coke's 1990 ad campaign, with the tag line, "Can't beat the Real Thing."
[21705062] |Basketball star Michael Jordan and singer Randy Travis have also agreed to appear in ads.

[21706001] |Dell Computer Corp., squeezed by price pressure from its larger competitors and delays in its new product line, said its per-share earnings for fiscal 1990 will be half its previous forecasts.

[21706002] |Although the personal computer maker said it expects revenue to meet or exceed previous projections of $385 million for the year ending Jan. 28, 1990, earnings are expected to be 25 cents to 35 cents a share, down from previous estimates of 50 cents to 60 cents.
[21706003] |Earnings for fiscal 1989 were $14.4 million, or 80 cents a share, on sales of $257.8 million.

[21706004] |Results for the third quarter ending Oct. 31, are expected to be released the third week of November, according to Michael Dell, chairman and chief executive officer.
[21706005] |Mr. Dell said he doesn't expect a loss in either the third or fourth quarter, but said third-quarter earnings could be as low as four cents a share.
[21706006] |In the third quarter last year, Dell had net income of $5 million, or 26 cents a share, on sales of $75.2 million.

[21706007] |Mr. Dell attributed the earnings slide to new product delays, such as a laptop scheduled for September that won't be introduced until early November.
[21706008] |Some delays have been caused by a shortage of micoprocessors -- notably Intel Corp.'s newest chip, the 486 -- but others apparently have been caused by Dell's explosive growth and thinly stretched resources.

[21706009] |"They've got a lot of different balls in the air at the same time," observes Jim Poyner, a computer securities analyst with Dallas-based William K. Woodruff & Co.
[21706010] |Mr. Dell, meanwhile, concedes the company was "definitely too optimistic" in its expectations.

[21706011] |Product delays, however, have left Dell buffeted by harsher competition in its bread-and-butter line of desktop computers, as powerhouse competitors Compaq Computer Corp. and International Business Machines Corp. price their PCs more aggressively.
[21706012] |The result has been thinner margins, which have been further eroded by an ambitious research and development effort and rapid overseas expansion.

[21706013] |Analyst James Weil of the Soundview Financial Group believes Dell's response has been to place increased emphasis on product quality, "in an effort to rise above some of that price pressure."
[21706014] |But that has been the key to Compaq's success, he adds, whereas Dell carved out its market niche as a direct seller of low-cost but reliable computers -- and it might be too late in the game for a shift in strategy.

[21706015] |In national over-the-counter trading, Dell closed yesterday at $6 a share, down 87.5 cents.

[21707001] |TransAtlantic Holdings PLC, a British-based, South African-controlled financial services investment group, and France's Societe Centrale Union des Assurances de Paris reached an accord effectively reducing chances of an unfriendly takeover for Sun Life Assurance Society PLC.

[21707002] |In a joint statement, the two companies, whose combined holdings equal 52.7% of Sun Life's ordinary shares, said their agreement is aimed at reducing "the uncertainty and instability for Sun Life that has resulted from two major shareholders owning" a controlling interest in the company.

[21707003] |TransAtlantic, whose Transol Investments Ltd. unit owns the largest minority stake in Sun Life, has agreed not to make a takeover bid for the British life insurer without the prior consent of the French company, known as UAP.
[21707004] |In return, the agreement would force UAP to buy TransAtlantic's 29.8% holding in Sun Life or sell its 22.9% stake to TransAtlantic at a price set by Transatlantic.

[21708001] |Pride Petroleum Services Inc. said it agreed to buy well-servicing assets of two companies and expects to report higher third-quarter revenue and earnings.

[21708002] |In the year-earlier quarter, the well-servicing contractor had net income of $319,000, or 3 cents a share, on revenue of about $15 million.
[21708003] |Results for the earlier quarter included a $100,000 restructuring charge.

[21708004] |Separately, the Houston concern said it signed letters of intent for the cash and stock purchases of a total of 29 well-servicing rigs from two concerns located in New Mexico and California.
[21708005] |It didn't disclose specifics but said it expects to complete the purchases by Nov. 1.

[21709001] |Schlumberger Ltd., New York, reported third-quarter net income edged up as growth in its oil-field services sector offset a decline in interest income.

[21709002] |The lower interest income occurred because Schlumberger spent $1.2 billion buying back its stock last year.

[21709003] |Net for the oil-field services and electronic measurements and systems concern rose to $114.2 million, or 48 cents a share, from $112.2 million, or 42 cents a share, a year earlier.
[21709004] |Per-share earnings advanced 14% because of the buy-back.

[21709005] |Revenue declined 6.3% to $1.11 billion from $1.18 billion.
[21709006] |But excluding businesses acquired or sold, revenue was flat at about $1.24 billion.

[21709007] |Nine-month net fell 9.5% to $323.4 million, or $1.36 a share, from $357.2 million, or $1.32 a share, a year earlier.
[21709008] |Revenue dropped 5.4% to $3.48 billion from $3.68 billion.

[21709009] |This year's nine-month results include gains of $13 million, or five cents a share, from the sale of Schlumberger's defense systems business, and $22 million, or nine cents a share, from an award by the IranU.S. Claims Tribunal.
[21709010] |The year-earlier nine months include a gain of $35 million, or 13 cents a share, from sale of the company's Electricity Control & Transformers division.

[21710001] |NEW ENGLAND CRITICAL CARE Inc. offered $35 million in convertible subordinated debentures through Morgan Stanley & Co. and Prudential-Bache Capital Funding.
[21710002] |The debentures, due in 2014, have a coupon of 7 3/4%, payable semiannually.
[21710003] |The debentures may be converted into common stock of the Westborough, Mass., home health care concern at $52.50 a share.
[21710004] |Proceeds will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes, including expansion of the company's operations.

[21711001] |The French building group Dumez S.A. said profit jumped 70% in the first half of 1989, partly on the strength of nonrecurring gains from a share issue by its Canadian unit.

[21711002] |Dumez said group profit after payments to minority interests rose to 252 million francs ($40.1 million) from 148 million a year earlier.
[21711003] |Revenue rose 40% to 13.32 billion francs from 9.53 billion.

[21711004] |The group noted that 75 million francs of the advance reflected a one-time gain from the June offering by its United Westburne unit in Canada.
[21711005] |It didn't say if its year-earlier results were influenced significantly by nonrecurring elements.

[21711006] |For all of 1988, Dumez had group profit of 452 million francs after payment to minority interests.
[21711007] |Revenue was 21.98 billion francs.

[21711008] |The group hasn't forecast full-year earnings for 1989, although it said that its first-half results aren't a good indication because of one-time elements and the seasonal nature of its operations.

[21712001] |Tuesday's earthquake will depress local real-estate values in the short term and force companies to reconsider expanding in or relocating to the Bay Area and California, real-estate and relocation specialists said.

[21712002] |Few specialists said they expect the quake to have much of an effect on most California property values.
[21712003] |But real-estate experts and brokers said the quake undoubtedly will drag down prices in neighborhoods built on less stable ground, especially in the Bay Area.

[21712004] |"California prices were already coming down.
[21712005] |This isn't going to help," said Kenneth T. Rosen, chairman of the Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at the University of California at Berkeley.
[21712006] |State housing prices, at a median $201,028, have declined in recent months because of potential buyers' inability to afford homes.

[21712007] |Mr. Rosen, among others, suggested that the quake, the strongest since the 1906 temblor that struck San Francisco, will in the short term create a two-tier price system for quake-prone communities, with dwellings built on sturdy ground likely to demand higher prices.

[21712008] |One San Francisco neighborhood likely to test Mr. Rosen's theory soon is the city's fashionable Marina district, which boasts some of the highest home prices in the state.
[21712009] |The district, built on landfill, suffered heavy quake damage, including collapsed buildings.
[21712010] |Yesterday, the city demolished two dwellings in the district because of severe structural damage and said as many as 19 of the district's 350 dwellings might have to be razed.

[21712011] |Brokers agreed with the two-tier price theory.
[21712012] |"My gut feeling is that the Marina properties will be affected," said Grace Perkins, senior vice president at Grubb & Ellis Residential Brokerage Inc.
[21712013] |Neither she nor other real-estate executives and brokers could project how much less Marina properties might bring, but she said the two-tier price structure would affect prices "for a while."

[21712014] |Mr. Rosen said the quake will revive consumer interest in a little-publicized 1972 state law that requires brokers to disclose to potential buyers how close a property sits to a fault line.

[21712015] |Because of the size of the California market, few relocation specialists expect a widespread corporate flight in the quake's aftermath.
[21712016] |But they said the quake will force some companies to relocate or expand part or all of their operations outside the state.

[21712017] |"What you're going to get is 'We don't want to put all of our eggs in one basket' theory," said James H. Renzas, president of Location Management Services Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif., relocation concern.

[21712018] |Mr. Renzas, among others, said the quake will prod companies in certain industries, like semiconductors, computers and aerospace, to consider moving operations that involve particularly sensitive machinery to locations outside California.
[21712019] |Because of the quake threat, "some firms have evaluated what the cost is to shore up their buildings and compared it with the cost of building it elswehere," he said.

[21712020] |One Southern California aerospace firm, for example, two months ago asked Location Management to compare the costs of reinforcing its current building against earthquakes with the cost of building a new structure elsewhere.
[21712021] |A new dwelling would cost $21 million, Location Management found, compared with $22 million to make the present building earthquake-proof.
[21712022] |The company, Mr. Renzas said, hasn't yet determined what to do.

[21713001] |NATIONWIDE HEALTH PROPERTIES, Pasadena, Calif., said it wouldn't pay its fourth-quarter dividend, despite a 44% increase in third-quarter earnings, to $3.5 million, or 42 cents a share.
[21713002] |Net income included a gain of $708,000 on asset sales, the real estate investment trust said.
[21713003] |A year earlier, Nationwide Health earned $2.4 million, or 29 cents a share.
[21713004] |Revenue rose 3% to $9 million from $8.8 million.
[21713005] |Nationwide Health said that although it has the cash to cover the 25-cent-a-share dividend, its banks have denied the company's request to pay it because the trust hasn't met certain terms.
[21713006] |Nationwide Health said it has "numerous financing activities" under way to remedy the problem and will make up the dividend payment later if possible.

[21714001] |Aussedat Rey S.A., a French paper producer, said it concluded an agreement with Japan's Fuji Photo Film Co. that will allow Aussedat Rey to manufacture and sell thermal paper using Fuji technology.

[21714002] |Aussedat Rey is a leading French maker of copying and electronic printing paper.
[21714003] |Thermal paper is used in facsimile machines.

[21714004] |Terms of the agreement weren't disclosed.

[21714005] |Aussedat Rey's move follows similar technology-licensing agreements between Japanese producers of thermal paper and European paper groups.

[21715001] |W.R. Grace & Co., New York, said its earnings for the third quarter nearly doubled as a result of a $114.4 million pre-tax gain from restructuring its energy operations and other adjustments.

[21715002] |Net income rose to $97.9 million, or $1.15 a share, from $50.5 million, or 60 cents a share, a year earlier.
[21715003] |Sales increased 7% to $1.49 billion from $1.39 billion.
[21715004] |The gain resulted from the sale of Grace Equipment Co., the initial public offering of a one-sixth interest in Grace Energy Corp. and an adjustment in the carrying value of certain natural resource assets not part of Grace Energy.

[21715005] |The international specialty chemical company's earnings were hurt by an accrual for stock-appreciation rights that reflected a 19% increase in the stock price, and higher interest expenses.

[21716001] |Anglo American Corp. of South Africa Ltd. said the third-quarter combined profit of its six gold mines dropped 8.5% from the previous quarter.

[21716002] |Total net income fell to 471.6 million rand ($178.0 million) from 515.4 million rand in the June quarter.

[21716003] |Total gold production by all six mines rose 4% to 63,971 kilograms from 61,493 kilograms in the previous quarter.

[21717001] |Doman Industries Ltd. said it increased its stake in Western Forest Products Ltd. to 56% from 22%, through a two-step transaction valued at 137 million Canadian dollars ($US116.7 million).

[21717002] |Doman is based in Duncan, British Columbia.
[21717003] |The company, founded and controlled by Harbanse Doman, its chairman and president, said the purchase would make it Canada's 10th largest forest products company.

[21717004] |Under terms of the transaction, which was proposed in June, Doman said it acquired International Forest Products Ltd.'s 22% stake in Western Forest, and Western Forest, in a related transaction, bought back a 22% interest in the company from Fletcher Challenge Canada Ltd.

[21717005] |The Fletcher Challenge Canada stake was then canceled, Doman said, raising Doman's interest in Western Forest to 56%.
[21717006] |Doman said it was also granted an option to acquire the remaining 44% interest in Western Forest, which is currently held by two Canadian banks.

[21717007] |International Forest, Western Forest, and Fletcher Challenge Canada are Vancouver-based forest products concerns.

[21718001] |The Canadian government introduced in the House of Commons legislation to extend federal regulatory authority over provincial government-owned telephone utilities in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

[21718002] |The legislation would open the way for more telephone services and more competition in the telephone business in the three provinces, federal officials said.

[21718003] |The federal government initiative follows a recent Canadian Supreme Court decision that held that the major telephone companies in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba and in the Atlantic coast provinces were interprovincial undertakings and subject to federal legislative authority.
[21718004] |Prior to the ruling the federal government had regulated only the telephone companies in Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories.

[21718005] |The governments of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have strongly opposed federal regulation of their telephone companies.
[21718006] |The extension of federal regulatory authority over telephone utilities in the Atlantic provinces hasn't required special legislation because they are investor-owned.

[21719001] |Amdura Corp. said its bank group, led by Chicago-based Continental Bank, agreed to extend its $40 million bridge loan until March 31, 1990, and gave it a new $30 million credit line.

[21719002] |Under terms of the loan agreement, Amdura said it will omit the next quarterly dividends on its Series A, B, C and D preferred shares, which are due Nov. 15.
[21719003] |Since the preferred stock is cumulative, Amdura said it will pay all omitted dividends, which range from $1.19 to $4.88 a share, when debt-reduction requirements have been met.

[21719004] |Amdura's bridge loan, part of the financing for Amdura's acquisition of CoastAmerica in December 1988, was to come due next Friday.
[21719005] |The company's new management, which took control of Amdura's board after a consent solicitation last month, wanted to extend the loan while it tries to sell two units.
[21719006] |Proceeds from those sales will be used to reduce debt.

[21719007] |Amdura, a Denver hardware and automotive distributor, said the new credit agreement will provide the working capital needed to meet ongoing requirements.

[21720001] |Three savings-and-loan institutions in Kansas and Texas were added to the Resolution Trust Corp.'s conservatorship program after federal regulators declared the thrifts insolvent and named the RTC their receiver.

[21720002] |The deposits, assets and certain liabilities of the three thrifts were transferred to newly chartered federal mutual institutions.

[21720003] |The three institutions are: Mid Kansas Federal Savings & Loan Association, Wichita, which had $830.5 million in assets; Valley Federal Savings & Loan Association of McAllen, McAllen, Texas, with $582.6 million in assets; and Surety Savings Association, El Paso, with $309.3 million in assets.

[21720004] |The three insolvent thrifts will maintain normal business hours and operations under RTC-appointed managing agents, while the RTC tries to negotiate permanent resolutions.

[21720005] |Separately, Century Bank, Phoenix, Ariz., was closed by Arizona banking officials.
[21720006] |The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. approved the assumption of Century's deposits and fully secured liabilities by a newly chartered subsidiary of Valley Capital Corp., Las Vegas.
[21720007] |The new institution is also called Century Bank, and the failed bank's five offices will reopen today.

[21720008] |The failed bank had assets of about $129.6 million.
[21720009] |The newly chartered bank will assume about $125.7 million in 10,300 deposit accounts and pay the FDIC a purchase premium of $2.9 million.
[21720010] |It also will buy about $91.7 million of assets, and the FDIC will advance $31.8 million to the assuming bank.

[21721001] |Lonrho PLC of Britain is to come to the rescue of the French distribution group Societe Commerciale de l'Ouest Africaine in an operation that has been engineered with the Paribas financial group, Societe Commerciale's main shareholder.

[21721002] |The announcement came as Societe Commerciale, a trading company with activities in more than 40 countries, reported a loss of 320.5 million francs ($51 million) for the first six months of this year, partly because of provisions on future losses.

[21721003] |The rescue operation will consist of a capital boost for Societe Commerciale of one billion francs through issues of new shares and convertible bonds.

[21721004] |Cie. Financiere de Paribas said it intends to transfer its 30% shareholding in Societe Commerciale to a new company which will be jointly owned with Lonrho.
[21721005] |This will give Paribas and Lonrho joint control of Societe Commerciale.

[21721006] |Paribas said Lonrho will participate in the forthcoming capital boost for Societe Commerciale.

[21722001] |International Business Machines Corp. and MCA Inc. said they agreed to sell their Discovision Associates joint venture to U.S. units of Pioneer Electronic Corp. for $200 million.

[21722002] |The joint venture licenses a portfolio of about 1,400 patents and patent applications relating to optical-disk recording technology.

[21722003] |IBM and MCA formed Discovision in 1979 to make laser-read optical products.
[21722004] |But the partners didn't believe the market for the systems was developing as rapidly as they had hoped.
[21722005] |After reportedly investing $100 million in the business, Discovision ceased manufacturing operations in 1982 and sold many of its assets to Tokyo-based Pioneer, among others.

[21722006] |Discovision now has world-wide license agreements with major manufacturers covering CD audio disks, audio disk players, videodisks and videodisk players.
[21722007] |It also licenses optically based data storage and retrieval devices.

[21722008] |James N. Fiedler, president of Discovision and a vice president of MCA, said that IBM and MCA hadn't planned to sell the joint venture, which is now profitable, but that Pioneer approached Discovision earlier this year.
[21722009] |He said it isn't certain whether Discovision's current management will remain when Pioneer buys the company.

[21722010] |The agreement is contingent on certain government approvals and should be completed later this year.

[21723001] |Tokyo stocks closed higher in moderately active but directionless trading as the recent anxiety in world stock markets continued to fade.

[21723002] |London shares also closed firmer in thin trading driven largely by technical factors and support from a new Wall Street rally.
[21723003] |Prices also rose on almost every other major exchange in Europe, Asia and the Pacific.

[21723004] |Tokyo's Nikkei index of 225 issues, which gained 111.48 points Wednesday, climbed 266.66, or 0.76%, to 35374.22.
[21723005] |Volume on the first section was estimated at 800 million shares, compared with 841 million Wednesday.
[21723006] |Winners outnumbered losers 645-293, with 186 issues unchanged.

[21723007] |In early trading in Tokyo Friday, the Nikkei index rose 170.65 points, to 35544.87.

[21723008] |On Thursday, the Tokyo Stock Price Index of all issues listed in the first section, which gained 0.24 point Wednesday, was up 22.78, or 0.86%, at 2665.66.

[21723009] |The morning session was dominated by individuals and dealers, but some institutions participated in the afternoon, encouraged by the market's firmness, traders said.
[21723010] |Sentiment was helped by the small gain made by New York stocks Wednesday despite anxiety over possible effects of the major earthquake that struck northern California Tuesday.

[21723011] |Having survived both last Friday's 6.9% Wall Street plunge and the immediate aftermath of the San Francisco Bay area earthquake, Tokyo market participants expressed relief that trading had returned to normal.

[21723012] |Hiroyuki Murai, general manager of the stock trading division at Nikko Securities, said that after looking at the reasons for Friday's Wall Street plunge, participants realized that the Tokyo and New York markets have different economic fundamentals.
[21723013] |This conclusion, he said, restored the credibility of Tokyo stocks.

[21723014] |Yoshiaki Mitsuoka, head of the investment information department at Daiwa Investment Trust & Management, said that if New York stocks just fluctuate in or near their current range, the Tokyo market will remain firm with a moderately upward trend for the rest of the year.

[21723015] |But traders said the market lacks a base on which to set long-term buying strategy, as the future direction of U.S. interest rates remains unclear.

[21723016] |"Investor interest switches back and forth ceaselessly as they are unable to shift their weight to one side for sure," Mr. Mitsuoka of Daiwa Investment Trust said.

[21723017] |Many of Wednesday's winners were losers yesterday as investors quickly took profits and rotated their buying to other issues, traders said.

[21723018] |Pharmaceuticals made across-the-board advances.
[21723019] |Fujisawa Pharmaceutical gained 130 to 1,930 yen ($13.64) a share, Mochida Pharmaceutical was up 150 at 4,170, and Eisai advanced 60 to 2,360.

[21723020] |Housing issues were boosted by a report that Daiwa House expects to post 43% higher earnings for its latest fiscal year, traders said.
[21723021] |Daiwa House advanced 100 to 2,610, Misawa Homes was up 60 at 2,940, and Sekisui House gained 100 to 2,490.

[21723022] |Leading construction companies also attracted interest for their strong earnings outlooks, traders said.
[21723023] |They and many other major Japanese corporations will issue results soon for the fiscal first half ended Sept. 30.
[21723024] |Ohbayashi was up 60 to close at 1,680, Shimizu gained 50 to 2,120, and Kumagai-Gumi advanced 40 to 1,490.

[21723025] |Other winners included real estate issues Mitsubishi Estate, which closed at 2,500, up 130, and Mitsui Real Estate Development, which gained 100 to 2,890.

[21723026] |Steel shares fell back after advancing for three days.
[21723027] |Kawasaki Steel was down 11 at 788, Kobe Steel lost 5 to 723, and Nippon Steel slipped 6 to 729.

[21723028] |Mitsubishi Rayon, a leading advancer Wednesday, fell 44 to 861 as investors grabbed profits.

[21723029] |London's Financial Times-Stock Exchange 100-share index finished 19.2 points higher at 2189.3.
[21723030] |The Financial Times 30-share index ended 13.6 higher at 1772.1.
[21723031] |Volume continued to ease from the active dealings at the start of the week.
[21723032] |Turnover was 382.9 million shares, compared with 449.3 million Wednesday.

[21723033] |Dealers said the market was underpinned by a squeeze in FT-SE 100 stocks, particularly among market-makers seeking shares that had been hit hard in recent weeks, such as retailers and building-related concerns.

[21723034] |But despite the flurry of interest in those shares, dealers said, the market remains nervous about Wall Street's volatility and high U.K. interest rates.

[21723035] |U.K. money supply figures for September, released yesterday, showed continued growth in corporate and personal lending, which will keep pressure on the government to maintain tight credit.

[21723036] |Among the stocks featured in the market-makers' squeeze was Sears, which closed at 107 pence ($1.70) a share, up 3.

[21723037] |General Universal Stores, another top-tier stock hit recently by concerns over retail demand in the face of high interest rates, gained 20 to #10.44.
[21723038] |Storehouse gained 2 to

[21723039] |Another active FT-SE 100 stock was clothing and furniture retailer Burton, which gained 6 to 196.

[21723040] |Insurers recovered ground again on market-maker demand and speculative buying linked to talk of mergers in the industry before the European Community's planned market unification in

[21723041] |Royal Insurance was the sector's hottest issue, ending 15 higher at 465.
[21723042] |Sun Alliance fell 1 to close at 289, and General Accident jumped 10 to #10.13.

[21723043] |B.A.T Industries surged in afternoon dealings after its shareholders approved a plan to dispose of its U.S. and U.K. retailing operations to fend off Hoylake Investment's #13.4 billion ($21.33 billion) hostile bid.
[21723044] |With the company also exercising a plan to buy back as many as 10% of its shares outstanding, B.A.T closed at 783, up 27.
[21723045] |Turnover was 6.8 million shares, including about four million shares traded in the afternoon after the shareholders' meeting.
[21723046] |B.A.T said it purchased 2.5 million shares at 785.

[21723047] |In other European markets, shares closed sharply higher in Stockholm, Frankfurt, Zurich and Paris and higher in Milan, Amsterdam and Brussels.
[21723048] |South African gold stocks closed firmer.

[21723049] |Prices also closed higher in Singapore, Sydney, Taipei, Wellington, Hong Kong and Manila but were lower in Seoul.

[21723050] |Here are price trends on the world's major stock markets, as calculated by Morgan Stanley Capital International Perspective, Geneva.
[21723051] |To make them directly comparable, each index is based on the close of 1969 equaling 100.
[21723052] |The percentage change is since year-end.

[21724001] |The federal response to California's earthquake crisis was marred by coast-to-coast name-calling between the White House and San Francisco's Mayor Art Agnos.

[21724002] |Mr. Agnos complained that he was "ticked off" that Vice President Dan Quayle, who toured the earthquake site Wednesday, didn't schedule a private meeting with him.
[21724003] |The mayor said the Quayle visit was "a publicity stunt."

[21724004] |The White House said Mr. Quayle's staff had invited the mayor to two meetings of the vice president and groups of local officials and had offered to dispatch a helicopter to pick him up.
[21724005] |Mr. Agnos declined the invitations, the White House said.

[21724006] |Marlin Fitzwater, White House press secretary, also asserted that Mr. Agnos had failed to return telephone calls from John Sununu, White House chief of staff.
[21724007] |"We regret very much that the mayor of San Francisco has decided not to cooperate with us on this matter in making sure that there is adequate federal support for the disaster in his city," Mr. Fitzwater said.

[21724008] |By late yesterday, both sides appeared prepared to bury the hatchet.
[21724009] |The White House announced that Mr. Agnos, along with the mayors of Oakland and Alameda, are to accompany President Bush on a tour of the earthquake area today.
[21724010] |And one White House official reported that Mr. Agnos had been "very helpful" in making arrangements for Mr. Bush's hastily scheduled trip to California.

[21725001] |Gold and silver broker Preston Semel asked a federal court to halt the Commodity Exchange from imposing a record $550,000 fine on his firm.

[21725002] |The suit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, also asks that the Comex's nine-month suspension of Mr. Semel be lifted, pending the broker's appeal of the disciplinary measures.
[21725003] |The fine and suspension, announced in August, are the stiffest sanctions the Comex has ever ordered against one of its members.

[21725004] |The Comex accused the 39-year-old Mr. Semel of "fraudulent conduct" and improper trading.
[21725005] |The disciplinary proceedings stem from trading in April 1987.

[21725006] |Mr. Semel and his firm, Semel & Co., have appealed the Comex decision and the sanctions to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
[21725007] |The commission denied Mr. Semel's request that the fine and suspension be delayed pending the appeal.

[21725008] |The lawsuit states that unless the sanctions are halted pending an appeal, the broker and his firm "will be irreparably injured and their business will be totally and permanently destroyed."
[21725009] |Already the firm has paid $211,666 of the fine, the suit said, and it will have to liquidate additional assets in order to pay the rest.

[21725010] |A spokesman for the Comex couldn't be reached to comment.

[21726001] |The Federal National Mortgage Association said 39 lenders across the U.S. have agreed to offer home loans under Fannie Mae's pilot program for elderly people.

[21726002] |Fannie Mae, a federally chartered and shareholder-owned company, said the lenders include Prudential Home Mortgage Co., a unit of Prudential Insurance Co. of America that operates in every state.
[21726003] |Prudential Insurance is based in Newark, N.J.

[21726004] |Fannie Mae has agreed to buy as much as $100 million of loans under its Seniors' Housing Opportunities pilot program, which offers four types of loans to people 62 years of age or older to help them maintain their home or obtain housing.
[21726005] |The loans can be for accessory apartments, for cottages built in a relative's yard, for home-sharing or for sale-lease-back transactions.

[21726006] |Fannie Mae makes a secondary market in home loans.
[21726007] |It buys loans from lenders, packages some into securities for sale to investors and holds the remainder in a portfolio.

[21727001] |Robert M. Gintel, senior partner of a Greenwich, Conn., investment firm, said he plans to launch a proxy fight against the board of Boston-based Xtra Corp.

[21727002] |Mr. Gintel, head of Gintel & Co., said he plans to conduct a proxy contest to elect a majority of Xtra's board at the next annual stockholders meeting.
[21727003] |Xtra, a transportation leasing company, said in a statement it would have no comment on Mr. Gintel's plans until "further information has been disclosed by him."
[21727004] |The company also said its 1990 annual meeting has not been scheduled.

[21727005] |Mr. Gintel owns 300,000 of the company's 6.3 million common shares outstanding.
[21727006] |Xtra said it recently bought back approximately 55,000 of its shares pursuant to its existing authorization to acquire as many as 650,000 shares.

[21727007] |Mr. Gintel has filed suit in Delaware Chancery Court, seeking to block Xtra's anti-takeover tactic.

[21727008] |In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr. Gintel said Xtra "has pursued business strategies that aren't in the best interest of stockholders.

[21728001] |STOCKS AND BONDS SURGED on the second anniversary of Black Monday as a favorable inflation report prompted speculation of lower interest rates.
[21728002] |The Dow Jones industrials closed up 39.55, at 2683.20, after rising over 60 points in mid-afternoon.
[21728003] |The rally brought the gain so far this week to about 114 points.
[21728004] |The dollar finished mixed, while gold declined.

[21728005] |Consumer prices climbed a moderate 0.2% in September, mostly due to higher clothing costs.
[21728006] |Energy prices continued to fall at the retail level, but economists worried about a big rise in wholesale energy costs.

[21728007] |British Airways dropped out of the current bidding for United Air's parent, leaving a UAL management-pilots group without a key partner.
[21728008] |British Air's move raised new questions about the buy-out group's efforts to revive a stalled bid for UAL.

[21728009] |A capital-gains tax-cut plan was dropped by Senate Democrats under pressure from their leadership.
[21728010] |The move is a setback for Bush, who needs Democratic support to pass a capital-gains cut in the Senate.

[21728011] |Other tax breaks also are likely to be restored or created in the coming months as special interest groups try to undo the 1986 tax overhaul.

[21728012] |Many retailers are worried that a price war could erupt this Christmas if cash-strapped firms such as Campeau slash prices to spur sales.

[21728013] |AT&T unveiled a sweetened early retirement plan for management that the company hopes will save it $450 million in the next year.
[21728014] |Also, profit rose 19% in the third quarter.

[21728015] |Chrysler will idle a Toledo assembly plant temporarily due to slowing sales of its profitable Jeep Cherokee and Wagoneer sport utility vehicles.

[21728016] |Digital Equipment's profit fell 32% in the latest quarter, prompting forecasts of weaker results ahead.
[21728017] |Analysts were troubled by signs of flat U.S. orders at the computer maker.

[21728018] |IBM plans to unveil over 50 software products on Tuesday to try to end some of the problems in computerizing manufacturing operations.

[21728019] |The TV units of Paramount and MCA are exploring offering prime-time programming to independent stations two nights a week.

[21728020] |BankAmerica's profit jumped 34% in the third quarter.
[21728021] |The rapid recovery continued to be fueled by growth in consumer loans, higher interest margins and only minor loan losses.

[21728022] |Big Board short interest fell 4.2% for the month ended Oct. 13, the second decline in a row.
[21728023] |Borrowed shares on the Amex rose to another record.

[21728024] |Bell Atlantic posted a strong earnings gain for the third quarter, as did Southern New England Telecommunications.
[21728025] |But Nynex, Pacific Telesis and U S West had lower profits.

[21728026] |B.A.T Industries won shareholder approval for a defensive restructuring to fend off Sir James Goldsmith.

[21728027] |American Express's profit climbed 21% in the quarter, aided by a surge in its travel business and despite a big rise in Third World loan reserves.

[21728028] |Markets --

[21728029] |Stocks: Volume 198,120,000 shares.
[21728030] |Dow Jones industrials 2683.20, up 39.55; transportation 1263.51, up 15.64; utilities 215.42, up 1.45.

[21728031] |Bonds: Shearson Lehman Hutton Treasury index 3398.65, up

[21728032] |Commodities: Dow Jones futures index 130.13, up 0.23; spot index 130.46, up 0.10.

[21728033] |Dollar: 141.70 yen, up 0.25; 1.8470 marks, off 0.0015.

[21729001] |Computer Sciences Corp., El Segundo, Calif., said the National Aeronautics and Space Administration will negotiate details of a contract valued at about $170 million to provide software for the Ames Research Center.

[21729002] |Included in the three-year contract are options for two one-year renewals.

[21729003] |NASA awarded the contract to CSC in November but an appeal by Sterling Software Inc. of Dallas sent the contract to the General Services Administration Board of Contract Appeals and the board required NASA to re-evaluate bidders' proposals.
[21729004] |Sterling had completed a five-year contract for NASA but lost its bid for renewal.
[21729005] |As directed by the board, NASA completed the evaluation and again chose CSC.

[21729006] |For its fiscal year ended March 31, CSC had revenue of $1.3 billion.

[21730001] |AFTERSHOCKS RATTLED Northern California amid an earthquake cleanup.

[21730002] |As power and commuters returned to much of downtown San Francisco for the first time since Tuesday's temblor in the Bay area, three strong aftershocks, one measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale, jolted the region.
[21730003] |Serious injuries or damages weren't reported.
[21730004] |Californians, meanwhile, tried to cope with still-limited services, blocked roadways and water shortages in the aftermath of the tremor that left scores dead and injured.
[21730005] |Thousands remained homeless.
[21730006] |Bush is to visit the area today, and officials in Washington estimated that emergency assistance would total at least $2.5 billion.

[21730007] |A series of earthquakes struck northern China, killing at least 29 people, injuring hundreds and razing about 8,000 homes, the Xinhua News Agency said.

[21730008] |The Senate rejected a constitutional amendment sought by Bush to prohibit desecration of the U.S. flag.
[21730009] |While the proposal won a slight majority, the 51-48 vote was well short of the two-thirds needed to approve changes in the Constitution.
[21730010] |It was considered a victory for Democratic leaders, who favor a law barring flag burning.

[21730011] |The House approved an $837 million aid package for Poland and Hungary, nearly double what Bush had requested.
[21730012] |The vote of 345-47 sent the measure to the Senate.

[21730013] |Britain's chief justice quashed the murder convictions of four people for Irish Republican Army bombings that killed seven people in 1974.
[21730014] |The reversal came after the government conceded that investigators may have faked evidence.
[21730015] |The "Guildford Four," three Irishmen and an Englishwoman, have been imprisoned since 1975.

[21730016] |The Nobel Prize in literature was won by Camilo Jose Cela, a Spanish writer.
[21730017] |His 1942 novel "The Family of Pascual Duarte" is considered the most popular work of fiction in Spanish since Cervantes's "Don Quixote" was published 400 years ago.
[21730018] |The Swedish Academy in Stockholm cited the 73-year-old Cela for "rich and intensive prose."

[21730019] |The editor of Pravda was dismissed and succeeded by a confidant of Soviet leader Gorbachev.
[21730020] |The action at the Communist Party daily, viewed as the Soviet Union's most authoritative newspaper, was considered the most significant development in a week of Kremlin wrangling over the press, including sharp criticism from Gorbachev.

[21730021] |East Germany's new leader met with Lutheran Church officials to discuss a growing opposition movement demanding democratic freedoms.
[21730022] |As they conferred near East Berlin, a pro-democracy protest erupted in the Baltic city of Greifswald, and activists threatened further rallies against leader Krenz's expected hard-line policies.

[21730023] |Police in Prague raided an international meeting on human rights, detaining Czechoslovakia's former foreign minister, Jiri Hajak, and 14 other activists.
[21730024] |A leading U.S. human-rights monitor also was briefly held.
[21730025] |Dissident playwright Vaclav Havel reportedly escaped the crackdown, the fourth against activists in recent days.

[21730026] |Bush met in Washington with Spain's Prime Minister Gonzalez and discussed what the president called "the unique role" that Madrid can play in furthering democracy in Eastern Europe and Latin America.
[21730027] |Gonzalez, who pledged to help monitor voting in Nicaragua, was said to be carrying proposals for free elections in Panama.

[21730028] |The Galileo spacecraft sped unerringly toward the planet Jupiter, while five astronauts aboard the space shuttle Atlantis measured the Earth's ozone layer.
[21730029] |The robot probe was dispatched Wednesday by the shuttle crew, which is to conduct a series of medical and other experiments before their scheduled landing Monday in California.

[21730030] |Argentina and Britain agreed to resume diplomatic and economic relations, seven years after the two nations battled over the Falkland Islands.
[21730031] |The announcement, in which they said hostilities had ceased, followed a two-day meeting in Madrid.

[21730032] |Rebel artillerists bombarded the capital of Afghanistan, killing at least 12 people, as the Soviet Union was reported to be airlifting arms and food to Kabul's forces.
[21730033] |Fighting also was reported around the strategic town of Khost, near the Pakistani border.

[21730034] |Saudi Arabia's foreign minister met in Damascus with President Assad to develop a plan for the withdrawal of Syria's 40,000 troops from Lebanon as part of a settlement of that nation's 14-year-old civil war.
[21730035] |The talks came as Lebanese negotiations on political changes appeared deadlocked.

[21730036] |GOP Sen. Specter of Pennsylvania said he would vote to acquit federal Judge Alcee Hastings in his impeachment trial on charges of perjury and bribery conspiracy.
[21730037] |Specter, the vice chairman of the Senate's evidence panel, said there was "insufficient evidence to convict" the Miami jurist.

[21731001] |After slipping on news of a smaller-than-expected U.S. inflation figure, the dollar rebounded later in the trading day.

[21731002] |The U.S. unit dipped to a session low against the mark just after the release of the U.S. consumer price index.
[21731003] |The report showed that September consumer prices rose just 0.2%, a smaller increase than expected.
[21731004] |The market had anticipated a 0.4% rise in the price index.

[21731005] |The September index fueled speculation, damaging to the dollar, that the Federal Reserve soon will ease monetary policy further.

[21731006] |But foreign-exchange dealers said the dollar staged a quick comeback, prompted by a round of short covering and some fresh buying interest later in the trading day.

[21731007] |Traders said that a nearly 40-point gain in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, fueled in part by news of a lower-than-expected price index, had little influence on the dollar's moves.

[21731008] |"The market is beginning to disassociate itself from Wall Street," said one New York trader.

[21731009] |In late New York trading yesterday, the dollar was quoted at 1.8470 marks, down from 1.8485 marks late Wednesday, and at 141.70 yen, up from 141.45 yen late Wednesday.
[21731010] |Sterling was quoted at $1.5990, up from $1.5920 late Wednesday.

[21731011] |In Tokyo Friday, the U.S. currency opened for trading at 141.93 yen, up from Thursday's Tokyo close of 141.55 yen.

[21731012] |Some analysts said the consumer price index reflects a more significant slowdown in the U.S. economy than earlier indicated.
[21731013] |They point out that September's producer-price index showed a 0.9% increase.

[21731014] |They noted that because the consumer price index, known as the CPI, is a more comprehensive measure of inflation and is rising less rapidly than the producer-price index, or PPI, it could signal further easing by Fed.

[21731015] |Others suggested, however, that the Fed will hold any changes in monetary policy in check, leaving fed funds at around 8 3/4%, down from the 9% level that prevailed from July through September.

[21731016] |Kevin Logan, chief economist with the Swiss Bank Corp., said that both PPI and CPI climbed around 4 1/2% year-to-year in September.
[21731017] |He argued that both CPI and PPI have in fact decelerated since spring.

[21731018] |"The Fed won't be stampeded into easing," Mr. Logan said, predicting that for now, interest rates will stay where they are.

[21731019] |A four-day matched sale-purchase agreement, a move to drain liquidity from the system, was viewed as a technical move, rather than an indication of tightening credit.

[21731020] |Market participants note that the mark continues to post heftier gains against its U.S. counterpart than any other major currency, particularly the yen.

[21731021] |"There's a bottomless pit of dollar demand" by Japanese investors, said Graham Beale, managing director of foreign exchange at Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corp. in New York, adding that purely speculative demand wouldn't hold the dollar at its recent levels against the Japanese currency.

[21731022] |Mr. Beale commented that the mark remains well bid against other currencies as well.

[21731023] |Robert White, manager of corporate trading at First Interstate of California, called the market "psychologically pro-mark," noting that the U.S. remains a "veritable grab bag" for Japanese investors which accounts for the unabated demand for U.S. dollars.

[21731024] |On the Commodity Exchange in New York, gold dropped $1.60 to $367.10 an ounce in moderate trading.
[21731025] |Estimated volume was three million ounces.

[21731026] |In early trading in Hong Kong Friday, gold was at about $366.85 an ounce.

[21732001] |Hotel Investors Trust and its affiliate, Hotel Investors Corp., said the companies plan to sell all of the hotels the companies own and operate, except for two hotel-casinos in Las Vegas, Nev.

[21732002] |The hotels and management interests will be sold at an auction, said John Rothman, president and chief executive officer of the trust and a director of the corporation.
[21732003] |Value of the properties and management interests wasn't disclosed.

[21732004] |In all, the Los Angeles-based trust plans to sell its interests in 36 hotels, while the corporation will sell its management interests in 32 of those properties.

[21732005] |Excluded from the sale are the interests of the trust and the corporation in two Las Vegas hotel-casinos.

[21732006] |After completing the sale and paying debts, the trust and corporation will consider a number of options including a stock repurchase, payment of special dividend or investment in more gaming properties.
[21732007] |The companies will retain their current regular quarterly dividend of 25 cents during the sale process, Mr. Rothman said.

[21732008] |For the first six months, the trust and corporation had a net loss of $244,000.

[21733001] |Baxter International Inc., citing cost-cutting moves and increased sales of its home-care products and dialysis treatments, posted a 20% rise in third-quarter net income on a 5.9% sales boost.

[21733002] |The Deerfield, Ill., medical products and services company posted net of $102 million, or 34 cents a share, compared with $85 million, or 28 cents a share, a year ago.
[21733003] |Sales totaled $1.81 billion up from $1.71 billion the previous year.

[21733004] |For the nine-month period, Baxter said net rose 15% to $307 million, or $1.02 a share, from $267 million, or 89 cents a share, during the year-ago period.

[21733005] |Sales for the nine months were up 8% to $5.44 billion from $5.04 billion in the same period in 1988.

[21733006] |In New York Stock Exchange composite trading, Baxter closed at $22.25 a share, down 12.5 cents.

[21734001] |A group bidding for American Medical International Inc., New York, said it formally received the final financing needed for a $3 billion bid for about 86% of the hospital operator's stock.

[21734002] |The offer from IMA Acquisition Corp., for as many as 63 million shares, is set to expire Wednesday.
[21734003] |Earlier this month, IMA said it had received about $1 billion of senior debt financing from Chemical Bank and six other banks; Chemical Bank said it was "highly confident" it could arrange the balance of about $509 million.

[21734004] |In addition, the $3 billion bid includes $1 billion of debt that will be assumed by IMA, $600 million of high-yield junk bonds that will be sold by First Boston Corp. and $285 million of equity.

[21734005] |In New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday, American Medical closed at $23.625, up $1.875.

[21734006] |American Medical has agreed to the offer, but earlier this month said it had received new "expressions of interest" from two previous bidders.
[21734007] |American Medical said it would pursue the inquiries from the companies, but wouldn't identify them unless they make firm offers.

[21735001] |H&R Block is one of the great success stories of U.S. business.
[21735002] |Oddly enough, this presents a problem for the stock.

[21735003] |Some money managers are disenchanted with H&R Block because they suspect the company's glory days are past, or at least passing.
[21735004] |Block's tax-preparation business is mature, they say, and some of its diversifications are facing tough competition.

[21735005] |It's no secret that Block dominates the mass-market tax-preparation business.
[21735006] |The Street knows all about the predictability of its earnings, which are headed for a ninth consecutive yearly increase.
[21735007] |The company has consistently earned more than a 20% annual return on its net worth while many companies would be happy with 15%.

[21735008] |But the tax-preparation business simply has no more room to grow, says Mark Cremonie, director of research for Capital Supervisors Inc., a Chicago firm that manages $6.5 billion.
[21735009] |"You go to any medium-sized town in the U.S. and you're going to see H&R Block tax services."

[21735010] |Mr. Cremonie's firm once held about 4.8% of H&R Block.
[21735011] |That was before the 1986 tax "reform" made taxes more complex than ever.
[21735012] |"One thing you can bet on," he says, "is that Congress will do stupid things with the Tax Code."
[21735013] |But Capital Supervisors sold the last of its H&R Block holdings earlier this year.
[21735014] |"They're thrashing around for diversification," he says.
[21735015] |"I think a lot of their businesses are just so-so."

[21735016] |Last week the stock hit an all-time high of 37 1/4 before getting roughed up in the Friday-the-13th minicrash.
[21735017] |It closed yesterday at 34 3/4.

[21735018] |To be sure, the stock still has a lot of fans.
[21735019] |"If you invested $10,000 in the initial public offering in 1962, it would be worth well over $5 million today," says Fredric E. Russell, a Tulsa, Okla., money manager.
[21735020] |"I don't know what the risk is {of holding the stock}.
[21735021] |Taxes are not going out of business."

[21735022] |Many of his peers feel the same way.
[21735023] |The number of big institutions that own H&R Block shares is 207 and growing, according to a midyear tally by CDA Investment Technologies.
[21735024] |Brokerage houses are sweet on H&R Block, too.
[21735025] |Zacks Investment Research counts five brokerage houses that consider the stock a buy, and four that call it a hold.
[21735026] |None dare say to sell it.

[21735027] |But some money managers are doing just that.
[21735028] |Eugene Sit, president of Sit Investment Associates in Minneapolis, says, "When we bought it, we thought the growth rate was going to accelerate" because of computerized tax filing and instant refunds (the customer gets a refund immediately but pays extra to the tax preparer, which waits for Uncle Sam's check).

[21735029] |But neither of those developments did much to juice up growth, Mr. Sit says.
[21735030] |He figures Block earnings are now growing at about a 10% annual rate (down from about 14% the past five years) and will grow at an 8%-10% rate in the future.

[21735031] |That's "not bad," Mr. Sit says, but it sure doesn't justify Block shares being priced at 15 to 16 times estimated earnings for fiscal 1990.
[21735032] |He wants stocks whose price/earnings ratio is less than their growth rate; as he figures it, H&R Block doesn't even come close.

[21735033] |Two other money managers, in explaining why they have sold large amounts of H&R Block stock this year, spoke on the condition they not be named.

[21735034] |"The stock was going no place and the earnings were so-so," said one.
[21735035] |(In the past two years, the stock almost stalled out.
[21735036] |It was above 33, adjusted for a subsequent split, in 1987, and hasn't gotten much higher since.)

[21735037] |"There's no more growth in the tax business {except} for increasing prices," the money manager added.
[21735038] |The CompuServe subsidiary (which provides information to home-computer users) is "where the growth is," he said, but its format is "still too complicated."

[21735039] |CompuServe provides about 20% of both sales and earnings.
[21735040] |The tax business still provides about 70% of earnings, on about 50% of sales.
[21735041] |Personnel Pool (temporary workers, mostly in the health-care area) chips in close to 25% of sales but only about 9% of earnings.

[21735042] |The shortage of nurses is crimping profit at Personnel Pool, said the second money manager.
[21735043] |He concedes H&R Block is "well-entrenched" and "a great company," but says "it doesn't grow fast enough for us.
[21735044] |We're looking for something that grows faster and sells at a comparable {price-earnings} multiple."

[21735045] |Thomas M. Bloch, president and chief operating officer, says "I would disagree" that the tax business is mature.
[21735046] |For example, he says, the company is planning to go nationwide with a new service, tested in parts of the country, aimed at taxpayers who want refunds in a hurry.

[21735047] |Mr. Bloch concedes that a recent diversification attempt fell through.
[21735048] |"We're still interested {in diversifying}," he says, "but we'd rather be prudent than make a mistake."
[21735049] |He also says CompuServe's earnings continue to grow "20% to 30% a year" in spite of tough competition from giants like Sears and IBM.
[21735050] |And he says Block's other businesses are growing, although less consistently.

[21735051] |H&R Block (NYSE; Symbol:HRB)

[21735052] |Business: Tax Preparation

[21735053] |Year ended April 30, 1989:

[21735054] |Revenue: $899.6 million

[21735055] |Net loss: $100.2 million; $1.90 a share

[21735056] |First quarter, July 31, 1989:

[21735057] |Per-share earnings: Loss of 8 cents vs. loss of 9 cents

[21735058] |Average daily trading volume: 145,954 shares

[21736001] |Philips Industries Inc. said its board authorized the redemption Dec. 6 of the company's $1 cumulative convertible special preferred stock at $37.50 a share, not including a 25 cent dividend for the current quarter, and the $3 cumulative convertible preferred stock at $75, plus a 75 cent dividend for the current quarter.

[21736002] |The Dayton, Ohio, maker of parts for the building and transportation industries said holders of the two issues can convert their stock into common shares through the close of business Dec. 1.
[21736003] |Each $1 cumulative share can be converted into 4.92 common shares; the ratio on the $3 cumulative is eight common shares for each $3 cumulative preferred.

[21736004] |Philips didn't indicate how many shares outstanding it has of either issue.
[21736005] |Company officials couldn't be reached.

[21736006] |Earlier this month the company said its board approved a proposed management-led leveraged buy-out at $25.50 a share, or $750 million.

[21737001] |(During its centennial year, The Wall Street Journal will report events of the past century that stand as milestones of American business history.)

[21737002] |PUTS AND CALLS, STOCK MARKET PATOIS for options to sell or buy a company's shares, were long an arcane Wall Street art best left to the experts, who used them either as a hedge or for pure speculation.

[21737003] |Options lost some of their mystery in 1973 when the Chicago Board of Trade set up a special exchange to deal in them.
[21737004] |Until then, options had been traded only in the over-the-counter market, mostly in New York, and in an almost invisible secondary market operating chiefly by telephone.

[21737005] |The Chicago Board of Trade, the No. 1 U. S. grain market, had long chafed under the attention won by its innovative archrival, the livestock-dealing Mercantile Exchange.
[21737006] |So the men who ran the grain pits listened when Joseph Sullivan, a 35-year-old former Wall Street Journal newsman, offered them the idea of all-options trading.
[21737007] |After four year of tinkering and $2.4 million in seed money, the board set up the new marketplace, titled it the Chicago Board Options Exchange, and named Sullivan its first president.

[21737008] |The beginnings were modest.
[21737009] |The CBOE opened for business on April 26, 1973, in what had been a Board of Trade lunchroom.
[21737010] |It listed just 16 options to buy a "pilot list" of stocks on the New York Stock Exchange.
[21737011] |(Puts, or sell options, would not be added until 1977.)
[21737012] |The 282 members had paid $10,000 apiece for seats.
[21737013] |(The 1989 price: $250,000.)

[21737014] |The first day's business was 911 contracts (each for 100 shares of one of the listed stocks).
[21737015] |By the end of 1973, the number of "underlying" Big Board stocks had been increased to 50 and the options exchange had run up volume of 1.1 million contracts.
[21737016] |A year later, it was 5.7 million.
[21737017] |Last year, more than 1,800 traders on the CBOE bought and sold 112 million contracts on 178 listed stocks, 60% of all U.S. listed options trading.

[21737018] |The new exchange drew instant recognition from an unwelcome quarter.
[21737019] |The government, campaigning against fixed brokerage commissions, promptly sued the CBOE over its minimum-fee system.

[21738001] |The Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruled unanimously that the financial troubles facing the Seabrook, N.H., nuclear-power plant have no impact on whether the plant receives a full-power license.

[21738002] |Massachusetts Attorney General James Shannon, opposing the license, said he will appeal the ruling in federal court.
[21738003] |Seabrook officials said the plant could receive a full-power license by the end of the year.

[21738004] |The NRC rejected Mr. Shannon's argument that Public Service Co. of New Hampshire, which owns the largest share of Seabrook, and 11 other owners are financially unable to guarantee the plant's safe operation.
[21738005] |Mr. Shannon was seeking a waiver of NRC policy that ignores financial considerations in making licensing decisions.

[21738006] |In its ruling, the NRC said that because Seabrook will be allowed to charge rates sufficient to run the plant and make payments on past construction costs, consideration of the owners' financial condition is pointless.

[21738007] |"The commissioners found the circumstances of the case didn't undercut the assurance from government rate setters of available funds adequate for safe operation," said a commission spokesman.

[21738008] |In January 1988, the utility filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the federal Bankruptcy Code, allowing it to continue to operate while protected from creditors' lawsuits.

[21739001] |Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., New York, the newly merged drug and health-care-product company, reported record third-quarter earnings for both companies in the merger.

[21739002] |Bristol-Myers Co. and Squibb Corp., Princeton, N.J., merged Oct. 4, but the new company reported third-period earnings for both companies.
[21739003] |For the fourth quarter, Bristol-Myers Squibb will report one set of earnings.

[21739004] |Bristol-Myers said net income rose 15% to $266.2 million, or 93 cents a share, from $232.3 million, or 81 cents a share, a year earlier.
[21739005] |Sales gained 5% to $1.59 billion from $1.52 billion.

[21739006] |Squibb Corp. said net rose 17% to $144.5 million, or $1.47 a share, from $123 million, or $1.25 a share.
[21739007] |Sales were $730.1 million, up 7% from $679.5 million.

[21739008] |In New York Stock Exchange composite trading, Bristol-Myers Squibb rose $1.75 to $52.75.

[21740001] |PPG Industries Inc., hurt by softness in the U.S. automotive and construction industries, said third-quarter net income fell 5.5% to $106.7 million, or 97 cents a share, from $112.9 million, or $1.03 a share, a year ago.

[21740002] |Sales were nearly identical to the year-earlier $1.36 billion.

[21740003] |The drop in earnings didn't surprise analysts who said the Pittsburgh glass, coatings and chemical concern had been predicting a slow quarter because of the sluggish construction industry, a major market for the company's flat glass.

[21740004] |Glass sales to Canadian and European auto makers and sales of replacement auto glass in all markets increased.
[21740005] |The coating segment also posted higher sales particularly in North America and Europe.

[21740006] |But sale increases were offset by slumping sales in flat glass and fiberglass reinforcements, the company said.
[21740007] |Also, chemicals sales were slightly down because of lower prices for vinyl chloride monomer and other chlorine derivatives.

[21740008] |In New York Stock Exchange composite trading, PPG closed at $41 a share, down 37.5 cents.

[21741001] |Jefferies Group Inc. said third-quarter net income fell 4%, to $2.2 million, or 35 cents a share, from $2.3 million, or 31 cents a share on more shares, a year earlier.

[21741002] |Revenue rose 15%, to $36 million from $31.2 million.

[21741003] |Jefferies, a Los Angeles holding company primarily engaged in securities trading, also said stock market declines since the quarter ended Sept. 30 created an unrealized pretax loss of about $6 million in its risk arbitrage account.

[21741004] |For the nine months, Jefferies said net fell 39%, to $6.8 million, or $1.07 a share, from $11.1 million, or $1.50 a share.
[21741005] |Revenue fell 3%, to $105.2 million from $108.4 million.

[21742001] |Sony Corp., New York, said its bids for Columbia Pictures Entertainment Inc. and Guber-Peters Entertainment Co. have been cleared by federal antitrust regulators.

[21742002] |The Japanese company said the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust act for the $3.4 billion bid for Columbia and the $200 million offer for Guber-Peters expired Monday.
[21742003] |Sony has agreed to buy both companies, but is in a legal battle with Warner Communications Inc. over the services of producers Peter Guber and Jon Peters.

[21742004] |In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Sony also said two more suits have been filed opposing the company's agreement to buy Columbia.
[21742005] |Sony added that a hearing has been set for Thursday in the Delaware Chancery Court in one of the suits.

[21743001] |Thursday, October 19, 1989

[21743002] |The key U.S. and foreign annual interest rates below are a guide to general levels but don't always represent actual transactions.

[21743003] |PRIME RATE: 10 1/2%.
[21743004] |The base rate on corporate loans at large U.S. money center commercial banks.

[21743005] |FEDERAL FUNDS: 8 3/4% high, 8 5/8% low, 8 11/16% near closing bid, 8 11/16% offered.
[21743006] |Reserves traded among commercial banks for overnight use in amounts of $1 million or more.
[21743007] |Source: Fulton Prebon (U.S.A.) Inc.

[21743008] |DISCOUNT RATE: 7%.
[21743009] |The charge on loans to depository institutions by the New York Federal Reserve Bank.

[21743010] |CALL MONEY: 9 3/4% to 10%.
[21743011] |The charge on loans to brokers on stock exchange collateral.

[21743012] |COMMERCIAL PAPER placed directly by General Motors Acceptance Corp.: 8.45% 30 to 44 days; 8.25% 45 to 73 days; 8.325% 74 to 99 days; 7.75% 100 to 179 days; 7.50% 180 to 270 days.

[21743013] |COMMERCIAL PAPER: High-grade unsecured notes sold through dealers by major corporations in multiples of $1,000: 8.525% 30 days; 8.425% 60 days; 8.375% 90 days.

[21743014] |CERTIFICATES OF DEPOSIT: 8.05% one month; 8.02% two months; 8% three months; 7.98% six months; 7.95% one year.
[21743015] |Average of top rates paid by major New York banks on primary new issues of negotiable C.D.s, usually on amounts of $1 million and more.
[21743016] |The minimum unit is $100,000.
[21743017] |Typical rates in the secondary market: 8.60% one month; 8.60% three months; 8.45% six months.

[21743018] |BANKERS ACCEPTANCES: 8.45% 30 days; 8.32% 60 days; 8.32% 90 days; 8.17% 120 days; 8.08% 150 days; 7.98% 180 days.
[21743019] |Negotiable, bank-backed business credit instruments typically financing an import order.

[21743020] |LONDON LATE EURODOLLARS: 8 11/16% to 8 9/16% one month; 8 11/16% to 8 9/16% two months; 8 11/16% to 8 9/16% three months; 8 5/8% to 8 1/2% four months; 8 9/16% to 8 7/16% five months; 8 9/16% to 8 7/16% six months.

[21743021] |LONDON INTERBANK OFFERED RATES (LIBOR): 8 3/4% one month; 8 11/16% three months; 8 9/16% six months; 8 9/16% one year.
[21743022] |The average of interbank offered rates for dollar deposits in the London market based on quotations at five major banks.

[21743023] |FOREIGN PRIME RATES: Canada 13.50%; Germany 8.50%; Japan 4.875%; Switzerland 8.50%; Britain 15%.
[21743024] |These rate indications aren't directly comparable; lending practices vary widely by location.

[21743025] |TREASURY BILLS: Results of the Monday, October 16, 1989, auction of short-term U.S. government bills, sold at a discount from face value in units of $10,000 to $1 million: 7.37% 13 weeks; 7.42% 26 weeks.

[21743026] |FEDERAL HOME LOAN MORTGAGE CORP. (Freddie Mac): Posted yields on 30-year mortgage commitments for delivery within 30 days.
[21743027] |9.87%, standard conventional fixed-rate mortgages; 7.875%, 2% rate capped one-year adjustable rate mortgages.
[21743028] |Source: Telerate Systems Inc.

[21743029] |FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION (Fannie Mae): Posted yields on 30 year mortgage commitments for delivery within 30 days (priced at par) 9.81%, standard conventional fixed-rate mortgages; 8.70%, 6/2 rate capped one-year adjustable rate mortgages.
[21743030] |Source: Telerate Systems Inc.

[21743031] |MERRILL LYNCH READY ASSETS TRUST: 8.50%.
[21743032] |Annualized average rate of return after expenses for the past 30 days; not a forecast of future returns.

[21743033] |China said the question of Taiwan's membership in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade should be considered only after China's own membership in the 97-nation organization is restored.

[21743034] |Both China and Taiwan are seeking seats in GATT, which sponsors trade-liberalizing agreements and sets world-commerce rules.
[21743035] |"As one of China's provinces, Taiwan has no right to join GATT on its own," Foreign Ministry spokesman Li Zhaoxing said.

[21743036] |China, under the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek, was a founding member of GATT in 1947.
[21743037] |The Nationalists withdrew in 1950, after their flight to Taiwan, and the Communist government in Beijing applied for restoration of China's membership in July 1986.

[21743038] |The U.S. has voiced opposition to China's bid for GATT membership, saying China has yet to undertake needed economic reforms.

[21743039] |Japan's biggest women's underwear maker, Wacoal Corp., said that it developed a sports car that it plans to market in two years.
[21743040] |The "Jiotto Caspita" can run at over 188 miles an hour, a company spokesman said.
[21743041] |The base price of the car is estimated at 30 million yen (about $213,000).
[21743042] |Wacoal said it intends to produce the cars through a car manufacturer.
[21743043] |Along with the car, Wacoal plans to launch a series of Caspita-brand men's underwear.
[21743044] |"Our image is a company that makes women's products," said a Wacoal spokesman.
[21743045] |"Now, we're going to sell to men."

[21743046] |The British satirical magazine Private Eye won an appeal against the size of a $960,000 libel award to Sonia Sutcliffe, the estranged wife of the "Yorkshire Ripper" mass murderer.
[21743047] |An appeals-court panel slashed all but $40,000 from the award, the largest ever set by a British jury, pending a reassessment of the damages.
[21743048] |But the panel dismissed the magazine's contention that it hadn't libeled Mrs. Sutcliffe when it accused her of trying to sell her story to capitalize on the notoriety of her husband.
[21743049] |Private Eye had been threatened with closure because it couldn't afford the libel payment.

[21743050] |Senshukai Co., a travel agent based in Osaka, Japan, announced that it and Nissho Iwai Corp., a major Japanese trading house, will jointly build a 130-unit condominium in Queensland, Australia.
[21743051] |Senshukai said the partners plan to rent to tourists but will also sell to interested parties.
[21743052] |Senshukai has a 60% stake in the venture and Nissho Iwai has the rest.
[21743053] |Construction of the 34-floor building will begin next May and should be completed in April 1992.
[21743054] |Units will cost from 500,000 to 3.5 million Australian dollars (about US$386,000 to US$2.7 million).

[21743055] |The Soviet Union has halted construction of two Chernobyl-type nuclear reactors and is reassessing the future of 12 other existing reactors.
[21743056] |Viktor Sidorenko, vice chairman of the State Committee on Nuclear Safety, said the two reactors were at Kursk and Smolensk.
[21743057] |News of the halt comes amid growing anger in the Ukraine and Byelorussia over continuing high levels of radiation from Chernobyl.

[21743058] |A former vice president of the Singapore branch of Drexel Burnham Lambert Group Inc. was charged in court yesterday on 19 counts of cheating.
[21743059] |Francis Dang, 41, is alleged to have been involved in cheating Drexel Burnham Lambert of up to 2.1 million Singapore dollars (US$1.1 million) by carrying out unauthorized transactions on the London Commodities Exchange and the International Petroleum Exchange.
[21743060] |Mr. Dang is alleged to have used the account of Singapore hotel and property magnate Ong Beng Seng to effect the transactions.

[21743061] |Japan says its economic growth will fall sharply if it cuts back on the use of oil, coal and gas to cap emissions of carbon dioxide.

[21743062] |A Ministry of International Trade and Industry official said that a study found that Japan's annual economic growth rate would eventually be only 0.8% if carbon-dioxide emissions remained at this year's level of 300 million tons.
[21743063] |The study will support arguments against capping carbon-dioxide emissions that Japan will make at a U.N.-backed conference on atmospheric pollution next month.

[21743064] |The study said Japan's carbon-dioxide emissions would slightly more than double by 2010 unless the nation reduced its dependence on fossil fuels.
[21743065] |It said that expanding nuclear-power capability is the quickest way to lessen that dependence.

[21743066] |But increased reliance on nuclear power would meet stiff opposition from environmentalists, a second ministry official said.

[21743067] |Just in time for Halloween, Britain's Oxford University Press is publishing a "Dictionary of Superstitions."
[21743068] |The books 1,500 entries include stepping on cracks and knocking on wood. . . .
[21743069] |In New Zealand's tiny township of Kaitaia, which has had direct dialing for less than a year, about 30 angry phone-company customers questioned the size of their bills.
[21743070] |It turned out their children had been dialing a "sex fantasy" service in the U.S.

[21744001] |Slowing sales of its profitable Jeep Cherokee and Wagoneer sport utility vehicles are forcing Chrysler Corp. to temporarily idle its Toledo, Ohio, assembly plant for the first time since April 1986.

[21744002] |About 5,500 hourly workers will be laid off for a week beginning Oct. 23, and overtime has been eliminated at the plant for the fourth quarter, a Chrysler spokesman said.
[21744003] |That's a significant change from earlier this year when the plant worked substantial overtime only to have sales fall short of the company's bullish expectations.

[21744004] |Sales of Cherokee, the best-selling Jeep, and the lower-volume Wagoneer were actually up about 10% through the end of last month.
[21744005] |But that's less than Chrysler officials had hoped when they set ambitious production schedules for the Toledo plant earlier this year.

[21744006] |Even when it became clear this spring that demand wasn't coming up to expectations, Chrysler officials "resisted" cutting output because Cherokee and Wagoneer are "very profitable vehicles," the spokesman said.

[21744007] |Instead, Chrysler officials in late May slapped $1,000 cash rebates on the vehicles, including the first such incentives on the popular four-door Cherokee since Chrysler bought Jeep in 1987.
[21744008] |The incentives boosted sales for a while, but the pace had cooled by last month.

[21744009] |The result: Chrysler dealers had a bloated 82-day supply of the Cherokee as of the end of last month and a 161-day supply of the Comanche pickup, which Toledo also builds.
[21744010] |A 60-day to 65-day supply is considered normal.

[21744011] |At Jasper Jeep-Eagle, one of the largest Jeep dealerships in the country, inventories have continued to swell.
[21744012] |Steve Lowe, general manager of Jasper, Ga., dealership, said new rebates of $500 to $1,000 on the models have stimulated sales, but not enough to significantly cut dealer stocks.
[21744013] |"If people aren't buying, you have to close plants," he said.

[21744014] |Separately, Chrysler said it will idle for four weeks the St. Louis assembly plant that builds the Chrysler LeBaron and Dodge Daytona models.
[21744015] |Chrysler officials said the plant is scheduled to resume production on Nov. 20., and 3,300 hourly workers will be affected.

[21744016] |General Motors Corp., meanwhile, said it will idle for yet another week its Linden, N.J., assembly plant, bringing to three weeks the total time that plant will be idled during October.

[21744017] |GM said the assembly plant, which builds the Chevrolet Corsica and Beretta compact cars, originally was scheduled to reopen Monday but now will not resume production until Oct. 30.
[21744018] |The shutdown affects 3,000 workers and will cut output by about 4,320 cars.

[21744019] |Sluggish sales of the Beretta and Corsica spurred GM to offer $800 rebates on those cars.
[21744020] |The Corsica and Beretta make up the highest-volume car line at Chevrolet, but sales of the cars are off 9.6% for the year, and fell a steep 34.2% early this month.

[21744021] |GM has scheduled overtime at its Lordstown, Ohio, and Janesville, Wis., assembly plants, which build the Chevrolet Cavalier.

[21744022] |Ford Motor Co. said it will shut down for one week its Kentucky Truck Plant because of a "shortage of dealer orders."
[21744023] |The shutdown will idle 2,000 hourly employees and eliminate production of about 1,300 medium and heavy duty trucks.
[21744024] |The assembly plant is scheduled to resume production on Oct. 30.

[21744025] |Meanwhile, the nine major U.S. auto makers plan to build 143,178 cars this week, down 11.7% from 162,190 a year ago and flat with last week's 142,117 car output.

[21744026] |f-Includes Chevrolet Prizm and Toyota Corolla.
[21744027] |r-Revised.
[21744028] |x-Year-to-date 1988 figure includes Volkswagen domestic-production through July.

[21745001] |LOTUS DEVELOPMENT Corp.'s net income rose 61% in the third quarter from the year-earlier period.
[21745002] |Yesterday's edition misstated the percentage increase.

[21746001] |First Fidelity Bancorp., Lawrenceville, N.J., reported a 24% drop in third-quarter profit, because of a decline in earning assets, lower loan volume and tighter interest margins.

[21746002] |The bank holding company posted net income of $54.4 million, or 87 cents a share, including $1.7 million, or three cents a share, in one-time tax benefits.
[21746003] |A year earlier, net was $71.6 million, or $1.22 a share.

[21746004] |First Fidelity said non-performing assets increased to $482.3 million Sept. 30 from $393.1 million June 30.
[21746005] |The rise resulted from the transfer to non-accrual status of $96 million "owed by two national borrowers and one local commercial real-estate customer," First Fidelity said.
[21746006] |It said it doesn't anticipate any loss of principal on two of the loans, comprising $85 million of these credits.

[21746007] |First Fidelity said it boosted its loan-loss provision to $50.9 million from $20.4 million a year ago, primarily because of a weaker real-estate sector in the region.

[21747001] |VIACOM Inc.'s loss narrowed to $21.7 million in the third quarter from $56.9 million a year ago.
[21747002] |Thursday's edition misstated the narrowing.

[21748001] |Coastal Corp. said it signed a definitive agreement with Aruba to restart a 150,000-barrel-a-day oil refinery.
[21748002] |Coastal wouldn't disclose the terms.

[21748003] |Coastal, a Houston oil and gas company, said it expects to begin operations in October 1990.
[21748004] |The company said it may install additional processing units at the refinery to produce higher octane gasolines and other products.

[21748005] |The company said it was leasing the site of the refinery from Aruba.
[21748006] |Exxon Corp. built the plant but closed it in 1985 and sold off much of the equipment to dismantling contractors, from whom Coastal bought back much of the equipment.

[21748007] |A Coastal spokesman said the biggest expense will be to refurbish the refinery but wouldn't say how much that would be.
[21748008] |The prime minister of Aruba has said it could cost around $100 million.

[21748009] |Coastal said the refinery's expected daily production will include 34,000 barrels of jet fuel, 32,000 barrels of low-sulfur diesel fuel, 30,000 barrels of naphtha, 17,000 barrels of residual fuel oil, 8,000 barrels of asphalt and 25,000 barrels of low-sulfur catalytic cracker feedstock.

[21749001] |Loral Corp. said fiscal second-quarter net income was $19.8 million, or 79 cents a share, compared with year-earlier earnings from continuing operations of $15.6 million, or 62 cents a share.

[21749002] |Year-earlier net of $21 million, or 84 cents a share, included the results of Loral's former Aircraft Braking Systems and Engineered Fabrics divisions, which were sold April 27 to the company's chairman, Bernard L. Schwartz.

[21749003] |The defense electronics concern attributed the operating improvement to higher profit margins and lower net interest expense.

[21749004] |Loral also reported that its bookings more than doubled to $654 million in the quarter, ended Sept. 30, from $257 million, in the year-before period.
[21749005] |The increase was due mainly to a $325 million order from Turkey to equip its fleet of F-16 fighters with Loral's ALQ-178 Rapport III electronic countermeasures system.
[21749006] |The order is the biggest in the company's history.

[21749007] |Sales in the latest period edged up to $295.7 million from $293.9 million.

[21749008] |Mr. Schwartz said the recent increase in orders "puts us well on the way to our goal of $1.6 billion in bookings for the year."
[21749009] |He added: "I expect to see the earnings momentum we experienced this quarter continue for the rest of the year."

[21749010] |Loral said it expects sales to accelerate in both the third and fourth quarters of this fiscal year.

[21749011] |Loral's profit from continuing operations for the first six months of fiscal 1990 was $36.4 million, or $1.44 a share, up 31% from $27.8 million, or $1.11 a share, a year earlier.
[21749012] |Net income fell 8.6% to $37.1 million, or $1.43 a share, from $40.6 million, or $1.56 a share.

[21749013] |Fiscal first-half sales slipped 3.9% to $528.4 million from $549.9 million.

[21749014] |Bookings for the first half totaled $813 million, compared with the $432 million recorded last year.

[21749015] |In New York Stock Exchange composite trading, Loral closed at $33.25, down 37.5 cents.

[21750001] |HealthVest said two of its lenders have given it notices of default on bank loans and said they may take actions to recover their loans.

[21750002] |HealthVest, an Austin, Texas, real estate investment trust, said that Chemical Bank, the lead bank under its domestic bank agreement, told it that if $3.3 million owed to the bank group isn't paid by today, the group will call the $120 million that HealthVest has outstanding under the credit line.
[21750003] |The bank group also said that it won't make additional advances under the $150 million credit line.

[21750004] |HealthVest missed a payment to the group that was due in late September.

[21750005] |In addition, HealthVest said Bank of Tokyo Trust Co. also has notified it of a default and said it might take action to cure the default.
[21750006] |HealthVest missed an interest payment to Bank of Tokyo on Oct. 1.
[21750007] |However, HealthVest said the Tokyo bank indicated that it won't accelerate HealthVest's $50 million loan.

[21750008] |HealthVest is in a severe liquidity bind because its affiliate, Healthcare International Inc., has failed to make about $10.6 million in principal and interest payments owed since August.
[21750009] |Healthcare operates many of the health-care properties that HealthVest owns.

[21751001] |EMPIRE PENCIL, later called Empire-Berol, developed the plastic pencil in 1973.
[21751002] |Yesterday's Centennial Journal misstated the company's name.

[21752001] |Storage Technology Corp. had net income of $8.3 million, or 32 cents a share, for its fiscal-third quarter ended Sept. 29, almost 15 times the $557,000, or two cents a share, it posted for the year-ago period.

[21752002] |Storage, Louisville, Colo., which makes data-storage devices for mainframe computers, said the huge increase in net reflects "strong sales" of its tape products, particularly the 4400 Automated Cartridge System, which holds a library of tape cartridges.
[21752003] |The company said it recently sold its 750th cartridge system, which cost $400,000 to $500,000 each.

[21752004] |Quarter revenue was $232.6 million, up 12% from $206 million last year.

[21752005] |The stock market reacted strongly to the news.
[21752006] |Storage rose $1.125 a share, to close at $14, in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

[21752007] |For the nine months, Storage had net of $25.5 million, or 98 cents a share, including an $11.3 million extraordinary gain for the anticipated proceeds from liquidating an Irish unit.
[21752008] |Net was up 69% from $15.1 million, or 57 cents a share, last year.

[21752009] |Revenue for the latest period was up 11% to $682.7 million, from $614.6 million.

[21753001] |A Canadian government agency conditionally approved proposed exports to the U.S. of natural gas from big, untapped fields in the Mackenzie River delta area of the western Canadian Arctic.

[21753002] |Three companies, Esso Resources Canada Ltd., Shell Canada Ltd. and Gulf Canada Resources Ltd., applied to the Canadian National Energy Board to export 9.2 trillion cubic feet of Mackenzie delta natural gas over 20 years starting in 1996.

[21753003] |To be economically feasible, the 11 billion Canadian dollar (US$9.37 billion) project requires almost a doubling of natural gas export prices.
[21753004] |It also faces numerous other hurdles including an agreement on a pipeline route for the gas.

[21753005] |The board said the export licenses would be issued on the condition that Canadian interests would also be allowed to bid for the Mackenzie delta gas on terms similar to those offered to U.S. customers.

[21753006] |U.S. buyers have already been lined up.
[21753007] |They include Enron Corp., Texas Eastern Corp., Pacific Interstate Transmission Co. and Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co.

[21753008] |The project could result in the U.S. taking more than 10% of its natural gas supplies from Canada, up from about 5% currently.
[21753009] |It would bring 13 gas fields into production at a combined rate of about 1.2 billion cubic feet a day.

[21753010] |The board estimated that the cost of building a pipeline from the Mackenzie delta to Alberta would be about C$5.9 million.
[21753011] |It also said projections of surging U.S. demand for natural gas and price forecasts of C$5.25 per thousand cubic feet by 2005 would make the project economically viable.

[21753012] |Esso, a unit of Imperial Oil Ltd. which is 71%-owned by Exxon Corp., will be allowed to export 5.1 trillion cubic feet to the U.S. in the 20-year period.
[21753013] |Shell, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch/Shell Group, will be allowed to export 0.9 trillion cubic feet, and Gulf, a unit of Olympia & York Developments Ltd. will be allowed to export 3.2 trillion cubic feet.

[21754001] |Combustion Engineering Inc., Stamford, Conn., said it sold and agreed to sell several investments and nonstrategic businesses for about $100 million, which will be used for reducing debt and general purposes.
[21754002] |The transactions are unrelated.

[21754003] |The company agreed to sell its minority investments in makers of steam-generating and related equipment, Stein Industrie and Energie & Verfahrenstechnik, to the major shareholder in the companies, Dutch-based GEC Alsthom N.V.

[21754004] |Combustion Engineering, which provides engineered products, systems and services for power generation, also sold Illinois Minerals Co., based in Cairo, Ill.
[21754005] |That unit of its Georgia Kaolin Co. subsidiary was sold to a unit of Unimin Corp.

[21754006] |Assets of Construction Equipment International, Houston, were sold to Essex Crane Inc., and the assets of Elgin Electronics, Erie, Pa., were sold to closely held Charter Technologies Inc.

[21755001] |Where do Americans put their money?
[21755002] |It depends on when you look.

[21755003] |In 1900, for instance, less than 8% of assets went into bank deposits.
[21755004] |That rose to nearly 18% during the Depression, and hasn't changed much since.
[21755005] |Pension reserves, on the other hand, made up a relatively small part of household assets until the last decade, when they skyrocketed.
[21755006] |And there has been a drastic decline in the importance of unincorporated business assets -- thanks to industry consolidation and a decline in family farms.

[21755007] |That's some of what emerges from the following charts, which show how Americans have changed their investment patterns over the past 90 years.
[21755008] |Some results are self-explanatory.
[21755009] |But other figures are surprising.

[21755010] |Housing, for instance, has remained a fairly steady component of household assets over the past decade -- although common wisdom would have expected an increase.
[21755011] |"There is a lot of attention paid to housing as a form of household wealth," says Edward N. Wolff, professor of economics at New York University.
[21755012] |"But it hasn't increased much relative to other assets.
[21755013] |It suggests that households accumulate wealth across a broad spectrum of assets.
[21755014] |And housing though it appears in the popular mind as being the major {growing} household asset, isn't."

[21755015] |In addition, investors' desire to hold stocks -- directly and through mutual funds -- has held surprisingly steady; stocks' importance among assets largely reflects the ups and downs of the stock market, and not a shift in stock-holding preferences.
[21755016] |"Stocks have not spread to the general public, despite the fact that the environment is much different," concludes Robert Avery, an economist at Cornell University.
[21755017] |"To me it says that despite all the views that we spend too much of our wealth on paper assets, we have ways of holding wealth similar to 100 years ago."

[21755018] |-- The charts show how househld assets have been distributed over time.
[21755019] |The main components of the various asseet categories: Housing: Primary home, but not the land it's on.

[21755020] |Land and Other Real Estate: Land on which primary home is built, investment property.

[21755021] |Consumer Durables: Automobiles, appliances, furniture.

[21755022] |Bank Deposits: Currency, checking-account deposits, small savings and time deposits, certificates of deposits, money-market fund shares.

[21755023] |Bonds: Excludes bond funds.

[21755024] |Stocks/Mutual Funds: Stocks and mutual funds other than money-market funds.

[21755025] |Unincorporated Business: Partnerships and sole proprietorships, professional corporations.

[21755026] |Pension Reserves: Holdings by pension funds.

[21756001] |McCaw Cellular Communications Inc. said it sent a letter to LIN Broadcasting Corp. clarifying its revised tender offer for LIN and asking LIN to conduct "a fair auction."

[21756002] |The letter apparently came in response to a request for clarification by LIN earlier this week.
[21756003] |LIN, which has agreed with BellSouth Corp. to merge their cellular-telephone businesses, said then that it wouldn't take a position on McCaw's revised tender offer.

[21756004] |Earlier this month, McCaw revised its offer to $125 a share for 22 million LIN shares.
[21756005] |McCaw is seeking 50.3% of the cellular and broadcasting concern; the revised offer includes a feature requiring McCaw to begin an auction process in July 1994 that would buy out remaining holders at a per-share price roughly equivalent to what a third party might then have to pay for all of LIN.

[21756006] |The letter outlines broad powers for an independent group of directors provided for in the revised offer.
[21756007] |In a statement, Craig O. McCaw, chairman and chief executive officer of McCaw, said: "We trust LIN will take no further actions that favor BellSouth."

[21756008] |McCaw said the three independent directors provided for in the offer would be designated by the current board.
[21756009] |The successors would be nominated by the independent directors.

[21756010] |LIN would have a priority right to pursue all opportunities to acquire U.S. cellular interests in markets other than those in which McCaw holds an interest, or which are contiguous to those markets, unless LIN has an interest there or contiguous to it.
[21756011] |Independent directors would have veto rights to any acquisition if they unanimously decide it isn't in LIN's best interest.

[21756012] |Independent directors would be able to block transactions they unanimously deem would be likely to depress the private market value of LIN at the time it is to be sold in five years.

[21756013] |If LIN is put up for sale rather than purchased by McCaw in five years, McCaw won't submit a bid unless the independent directors request it, and the independent directors will run the bidding.
[21756014] |The directors would be able to sell particular assets to enable such buyers as the regional Bell operating companies to purchase the company's interests.

[21757001] |MCA Inc. said third-quarter net fell 6.3% to $50.8 million, or 69 cents a share, from $54.3 million, or 74 cents a share, a year earlier.

[21757002] |MCA said revenue rose 14% to $918.4 million from $806.7 million.
[21757003] |The entertainment concern said the success of several movies released during the quarter, including "Parenthood" and "Uncle Buck," contributed to record revenue for its film unit.
[21757004] |Both MCA's music-entertainment and book-publishing units also posted record revenue and operating profit.

[21757005] |The parent company's net included a loss -- which it didn't specify -- that was related to the company's 50% stake in Cineplex Odeon Corp.
[21757006] |Cineplex, a Toronto theater chain, had a second-quarter net loss of $38.7 million.

[21757007] |MCA said net also included certain reserves related to the restructuring of its LJN Toys' international operations.
[21757008] |These items were partly offset, MCA said, by an unspecified gain on the sale of its Miller International unit, a maker and distributor of budget-priced audio cassettes.

[21757009] |In New York Stock Exchange composite trading, MCA rose $1.50 to $64.

[21757010] |In the nine months, net rose 35% to $120.1 million, or $1.64 a share, from $89.2 million, or $1.22 a share, a year earlier.
[21757011] |Revenue increased 22% to $2.5 billion from $2.1 billion.

[21758001] |Past Due Impasse

[21758002] |I never pay my bills Till the very last day; I lose far less interest By proceeding that way.

[21758003] |But it all evens out, It's so easy to see: Not till the last moment Am I paid what's due me.

[21758004] |-- Arnold J. Zarett.

[21758005] |Rex Tremendae

[21758006] |The effete Tyrannosaurus Rex Had strict Cretaceous views on sex, And that is why you only see him Reproduced in the museum.

[21758007] |-- Laurence W. Thomas.

[21759001] |Helmsley Enterprises Inc. plans to close its company-owned insurance business and is seeking other brokers to take over its policies, according to individuals familiar with the New York firm.

[21759002] |Helmsley Enterprises is the umbrella organization for companies controlled by Harry B. Helmsley.
[21759003] |These include office and residential real estate giant, HelmsleySpear Inc., and Helmsley Hotels.
[21759004] |The insurance brokerage agency, just a fragment of Helmsley's vast empire, would be the first piece of the company to be stripped away since last summer when Mr. Helmsley's wife, Leona Helmsley, was found guilty of tax evasion.

[21759005] |Industry sources estimate the agency brokers property and casualty premiums worth about $25 million annually, and has revenue, based on a standard 10% commission rate, of about $2.5 million.
[21759006] |The insurance firm acts as a broker on policies covering buildings managed by HelmsleySpear and others.
[21759007] |Many of the properties are owned through limited partnerships controlled by Mr. Helmsley.

[21759008] |New York State law prohibits insurance brokerages from deriving more than 10% of revenue from insuring affiliated companies.
[21759009] |Helmsley's insurance division had slightly exceeded that percentage, sources say, but the division wasn't considered significant enough to the company to be restructured, particularly at a difficult time for the firm.

[21759010] |Adverse publicity from the scandal surrounding its founder's wife and related management strife have put pressure on the entire Helmsley organization.
[21759011] |However, individuals close to the company insist shuttering the insurance division, a sideline from the company's core property management business, isn't the beginning of a sale of assets.

[21759012] |Helmsley's insurance premiums are expected to be transferred to several different insurance brokerage companies.
[21759013] |Frank B. Hall Inc. of Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. is reportedly working out an agreement with Helmsley.
[21759014] |Officials there declined to comment, as did Helmsley management.

[21760001] |Outside the white-walled headquarters of the socalled Society of Orange Workers, all seems normal in South Africa's abnormal society.

[21760002] |A pickup truck driven by a white farmer rumbles past with a load of black workers bouncing in the back.
[21760003] |Over at Conradies, the general store, a black stock boy scurries to help an elderly white woman with her packages.
[21760004] |Down the street, a car pulls into the Shell station and is surrounded by black attendants.

[21760005] |But inside the white walls of the Orange Workers' office -- just about the largest building in town, save for the Dutch Reformed Church and the school -- South Africa's neat racial order is awry.
[21760006] |A dozen white office workers fold newsletters and stuff them into envelopes.
[21760007] |White women serve tea and coffee, and then wash the cups and saucers afterwards.
[21760008] |White children empty the wastepaper baskets and squeegee the windows.
[21760009] |There isn't a black worker in sight.
[21760010] |Not in the kitchen, or the storeroom or the book shop.

[21760011] |"If we want to have our own nation, then we must be willing to do all the work ourselves," says Hendrik Verwoerd Jr., son of the former prime minister and the leader of the Orange Workers, founded in 1980.

[21760012] |They do indeed want their own nation.
[21760013] |The pillars of apartheid may be trembling in the rest of South Africa, with Johannesburg opening its public facilities to all races, blacks storming the all-white beaches of the Cape and the government releasing seven leaders of the banned African National Congress.
[21760014] |But here in Morgenzon, a sleepy town amid the corn fields of the eastern Transvaal, the Orange Workers are holding the pillars steady.

[21760015] |The Orange Workers -- who take their name from William of Orange of the Netherlands, a hero of the Dutch-descended Afrikaners -- believe that the solution to South Africa's racial problems isn't the abolition of apartheid, it's the perfection of apartheid -- complete and total separation of the races.

[21760016] |Here, then, is where the Orange Workers have come to make apartheid's last stand.
[21760017] |Their idea is to create a city, first, and then an entire nation -- without blacks.
[21760018] |This may seem to be a preposterous and utterly futile effort in Africa.
[21760019] |And the fact that there are only 3,000 card-carrying Orange Workers may put them on the loony fringe.
[21760020] |But their ideal of an Afrikaner homeland, an all-white reserve to be carved out of present-day South Africa, is a mainstream desire of the right-wing, which embraces about one-third of the country's five million whites.
[21760021] |Afrikaner philosophers and theologians have long ruminated on the need for a white homeland.
[21760022] |The Orange Workers are just putting this preaching into practice.

[21760023] |Thus, farmer Johan Fischer, his T-shirt and jeans covered in grease, crawls around under his planter, tightening bolts and fixing dents.
[21760024] |On almost every other farm in South Africa, black workers do the repairs.
[21760025] |But not here.
[21760026] |Mr. Fischer plows his own fields, sows his own corn and sunflowers, and feeds his own sheep.

[21760027] |Over at the fiberglass factory, four white workers assemble water tanks on their own, and in their spare time they build townhouses across the road.
[21760028] |On Main Street, Alida Verwoerd and her daughters look after the clothes and fabric shop, then hurry home to fix lunch for the rest of the family.
[21760029] |Down by the stream, a group of Orange Workers puts the finishing touches on a golf course.
[21760030] |If whites want to play there by themselves, says consulting engineer Willem van Heerden, whites should also build it by themselves.

[21760031] |"If we want to survive as a people," he says, "we have to change our way of life.
[21760032] |The Afrikaner must end his reliance on others."

[21760033] |In their quest to perfect apartheid, the Orange Workers have discovered a truth that most of privileged white South Africa tries mightily to deny: The master can't become dependent on the slave and expect to remain master forever.

[21760034] |"If apartheid means you want cheap black labor and all the comforts that go with it, but you also want to exclude the blacks from social and political integration, then these are two contradictions that can't go on forever," says Mr. Verwoerd.
[21760035] |He is sitting in his living room, beneath a huge portrait of his late father, Hendrik F. Verwoerd, apartheid's architect and South African prime minister from 1958 to 1966.
[21760036] |Somewhere, the son sighs, things went terribly wrong with apartheid; today, whites even rely on blacks to police their separation.

[21760037] |"People took separate development as an opportunity to use black labor without ever getting rid of it.
[21760038] |But my father meant it to mean real separation," says the son.

[21760039] |The Orange Workers speak sincerely.
[21760040] |"We agree with world opinion that the status quo in South Africa is morally wrong," says Pieter Bruwer, the Orange Workers' chief scribe and pamphleteer.
[21760041] |"We must either integrate honestly or segregate honestly."

[21760042] |Morgenzon has long been a special domain of Afrikanerdom.
[21760043] |According to Mr. Verwoerd, the early Afrikaner pioneers were the first people to settle in the eastern Transvaal, even before the blacks.
[21760044] |Then, when Morgenzon was incorporated in 1908, the farmer who owned the land stipulated that only whites could reside in town; blacks could work there, but they had to leave at night.

[21760045] |Today, Morgenzon is a town of 800 whites and two paved roads.
[21760046] |Weeds push up through the cracks in the sidewalks, and many houses and storefronts are empty.
[21760047] |There are few factories and no mines.
[21760048] |It was an ideal place for the Orange Workers to start their new nation, unencumbered by the demographics that have undermined apartheid elsewhere in South Africa.

[21760049] |So far, about 150 Orange Workers have moved here, spending nearly $1 million buying up property over the past three years.
[21760050] |Still, complete and total segregation remains elusive.
[21760051] |Just beyond the city limits is a shantytown of 2,000 blacks who are employed throughout the area.
[21760052] |Despite the Orange Workers' intention to put them all out of work, they are in no hurry to leave.
[21760053] |A young man called July (that's when he was born), who works at the railroad station just up the street from the Orange Workers office, points at the whitewalled building and says matter-of-factly, "We're not allowed in there, that's all I know."

[21760054] |The 650-or-so local whites who aren't Orange Workers are more troubled.
[21760055] |Try as they might, they just can't conceive of life without black workers.

[21760056] |"Impossible, impossible," say the Conradies, an elderly couple who have run the general store for decades.
[21760057] |"We can't do without their help," says Mrs. Conradie.
[21760058] |"Oh no.
[21760059] |We need them and I thank God for them."

[21760060] |Over at the Shell station, owner Rudi van Dyk, who doubles as Morgenzon's mayor, worries that the Orange Workers have made his town the laughingstock of the nation.
[21760061] |"What they want us to do just isn't practical," he says, noting that he employs 16 blacks.
[21760062] |"I couldn't afford to hire 16 whites.
[21760063] |The only Afrikaners who would be willing to work for this salary wouldn't know how to handle money."

[21760064] |Back at the Verwoerd house, Hendrik Sr. peers down over the shoulder of Hendrik Jr.
[21760065] |The son believes that when the Afrikaners finally realize there is no turning back the integration of South African society and politics, Morgenzon will boom.

[21760066] |"We urge our people not to wait until they have to fight for their own nation," says Mr. Verwoerd.
[21760067] |"By populating a place now, we make ourselves a power any new government will have to take into account."
[21760068] |Curiously, he compares the Orange Workers to the ANC, which his father outlawed in 1960.
[21760069] |"The ANC won't be stopped until there is a provision for black aspirations," says Mr. Verwoerd.
[21760070] |"Likewise, no government will stop this idea of the Afrikaners."

[21760071] |He apologizes for sounding pushy.
[21760072] |"Look," he says, "If the rest of South Africa wants to have an integrated melting pot, that's their choice.
[21760073] |We'll leave them alone.
[21760074] |We just want to have our own cup of tea."
[21760075] |And they will even serve it themselves.

[21761001] |Okay, now you can pick up that phone.
[21761002] |But don't do anything rash.

[21761003] |After last Friday's stock-market plunge, investment professionals cautioned people to resist the urge to call their brokers and sell stocks.
[21761004] |Not selling into a panic turned out to be very good advice: Despite the market's volatility, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has surged 114 points in the past four days.

[21761005] |Now, with a semblance of normalcy returning, some advisers say it's time for investors to take a hard, cold look at the stocks they own and consider some careful pruning.

[21761006] |"The market is sending nervous signals," says Peter J. Canelo, chief market strategist for Bear, Stearns & Co., and it's "unwise" to be overcommitted to stocks.
[21761007] |Alan Weston, president of Weston Capital Management, a Los Angeles money-management firm, adds that in periods of uncertainty like today, "it's a good time to cut out the dead branches of your portfolio."

[21761008] |Not everybody agrees that it's time to trim.
[21761009] |"We aren't inclined to prune stock portfolios now," says Steven G. Einhorn, chairman of the investment policy committee of Goldman, Sachs & Co.
[21761010] |"Investors should stay with their stocks.
[21761011] |We expect a choppy and sloppy market for a short period, but we don't think it will be ugly.
[21761012] |The downside is limited."

[21761013] |And even those who say some selective selling may be in order stress that individuals need to be in the stock market to achieve their long-term investment objectives and to help balance their other assets.

[21761014] |Any selling, they say, should be well thought-out, and executed gradually, during market rallies.
[21761015] |They offer these suggestions:

[21761016] |GET RID OF THE DOGS.
[21761017] |"Sell stocks that aren't doing well now, and that don't have good earnings prospects," says Alfred Goldman, technical analyst at St. Louis-based A.G. Edwards & Sons.
[21761018] |"Most people do just the opposite: They sell their winners and keep their losers."
[21761019] |Which types of stocks are most likely to qualify?
[21761020] |Technology stocks, says Mr. Goldman.

[21761021] |WATCH FOR EARNINGS DISAPPOINTMENTS.
[21761022] |A company doesn't have to post a loss to be a candidate for sale, says Charles I. Clough Jr., chief market strategist at Merrill Lynch & Co.
[21761023] |If earnings don't live up to analysts' expectations, he says, that's enough to dump the stock.

[21761024] |John Markese, director of research for the American Association of Individual Investors, raises a cautionary note.
[21761025] |"Substituting a rule of thumb for your own judgment" can be a mistake, he says.
[21761026] |An earnings disappointment may reflect a situation that's short-term.

[21761027] |But Mr. Clough says, "The risk is that earnings disappointments will continue."
[21761028] |The economy is decelerating after six good years, and "right now it's better to shoot first and ask questions later."
[21761029] |Which types of stocks currently have the greatest earnings risks?
[21761030] |Computer companies; commodity cyclical stocks, like autos; and retailing stocks, he says.

[21761031] |BEWARE OF HEAVY DEBT.
[21761032] |The companies apt to run into earnings problems soonest are the ones with heavy debt loads, says Larry Biehl, partner in the San Mateo, Calif., money-management firm of Bailard, Biehl & Kaiser.
[21761033] |Mr. Canelo of Bear Stearns agrees: "If we do have an economic slowdown," he says, "companies with high debt ratios will be dumped en masse."
[21761034] |The best course for individual investors is to sell these stocks now, the two advisers say.

[21761035] |SELL `WHISPER' STOCKS.
[21761036] |UAL Corp.'s difficulty in obtaining bank financing for its leveraged buy-out and its resulting price plunge is a tip-off to what's going to happen to "takeover stocks," says Mr. Canelo.
[21761037] |Takeover activity will slow down as more and more banks tighten their lending requirements, he says.
[21761038] |"There'll be fewer and fewer deals."

[21761039] |Moreover, many financial advisers say individuals should be in the stock market as long-term investors, not as traders trying to catch the next hot stock.
[21761040] |In general, they say, avoid takeover stocks.

[21761041] |COMPARE P/E RATIOS WITH PROSPECTS.
[21761042] |Mr. Canelo suggests that investors compare price/earnings ratios (the price of a share of stock divided by a company's per-share earnings for a 12-month period) with projected growth rates.
[21761043] |"If you think earnings will grow at 20% a year, it's all right to pay 20 times earnings," he says.
[21761044] |"But don't pay 30 times earnings for a company that's expected to grow at 15% a year."

[21761045] |Mr. Canelo thinks the market will probably go higher, but "will be ruthless with stocks if the earnings aren't there."

[21761046] |Mr. Markese cautions that investors shouldn't slavishly follow any specific price/earnings sell trigger.
[21761047] |"If you say sell anytime a company's price/earnings ratio exceeds 15, that knocks out all your growth stocks," he says.
[21761048] |"You eliminate companies with substantial prospects that are moving up in price."

[21761049] |EXAMINE WHAT HAS CHANGED.
[21761050] |Tom Schlesinger, market analyst at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc., says investors should consider selling if there has been a fundamental change in a company since they bought its stock.
[21761051] |Say you purchased a stock because of a new product that was in the works.
[21761052] |Now, because of various difficulties, the product has been scrapped.
[21761053] |Time to sell, says Mr. Schlesinger.

[21761054] |Similarly, he says, suppose you were attracted to a company because of expectations that sales would hit $200 million by 1990.
[21761055] |If things haven't worked out that well, and sales won't hit $200 million until 1992, it's time to consider selling, he says.

[21762001] |USX Corp. declined a United Steelworkers request for a reopening of its four-year labor contract that is due to expire Jan. 31, 1991.

[21762002] |The union on Oct. 5 requested that the contract be reopened to restore all pay and benefits that the union gave up in the 1982-83 and 1986-87 rounds of bargaining.

[21762003] |A United Steelworkers spokeman said Lynn Williams, the union's president, was out of town.
[21762004] |The union won't respond to the USX statement until Mr. Williams has studied it, the spokesman said.

[21763001] |Robert A. Oswald, chief financial officer and a director of this natural-gas pipeline company, was elected to the additional position of executive vice president.
[21763002] |In addition, Michael W. O'Donnell, executive vice president of a Columbia unit, was named assistant chief financial officer and a senior vice president of the parent company.
[21763003] |The appointments take effect Nov. 1.
[21763004] |Both men are 44 years old.

[21764001] |This magazine and book publisher said three men were elected directors, increasing the board to 10.
[21764002] |They are: James R. Eiszner, 62 years old and chairman and chief executive officer of CPC International Inc.; Robert G. Schwartz, 61, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., and Walter V. Shipley, 53, chairman and chief executive officer of Chemical Banking Corp.

[21765001] |BankAmerica Corp. reported a 34% jump in third-quarter earnings, as its rocket-like recovery from nearly ruinous losses several years ago continued to be fueled by growth in consumer loans, higher interest margins and negligible loan losses.

[21765002] |For the quarter, BankAmerica said it earned $254 million, or $1.16 a share, compared with $190 million, or 97 cents a share, a year earlier.

[21765003] |BankAmerica spokesmen said preliminary reports indicate the company wasn't materially affected by the Tuesday earthquake.
[21765004] |All but eight of the 850 branches, which had some structural damage, reopened yesterday for business.
[21765005] |Automated teller machine operations also were up and operating yesterday, a bank spokesman said.

[21765006] |For the first time in nearly two years, BankAmerica results failed to improve in consecutive quarters, but the decline from the second quarter was attributable to special factors.
[21765007] |Third-quarter profit was 16% below the $304 million, or $1.50 a share, earned in the 1989 second quarter.

[21765008] |The company cited higher tax credits in the second quarter, totaling $63 million, compared with $28 million in the third quarter.
[21765009] |Excluding tax credits, profit was 6% below the second quarter.
[21765010] |But that drop was caused entirely by a decline in Brazilian interest paid, to $5 million from $54 million the second quarter.

[21765011] |Moreover, BankAmerica continued to build its reserve against troubled foreign loans by boosting its loan-loss provision to $170 million, about the same as the previous quarter but well above the $100 million in the year-earlier quarter.
[21765012] |The provision rate was far above BankAmerica's actual net credit losses of $24 million in the third quarter, compared with $18 million in the second period and $38 million a year earlier.

[21765013] |As a result, BankAmerica said its reserve against troubled foreign-country loans, once below 25%, now amounts to 45% of the $6.4 billion of non-trade debt it calculates it is owed by those nations.
[21765014] |That level is about the same as some other big banks, but far below the 85% and 100% reserves of Bankers Trust New York Corp. and J.P. Morgan & Co., respectively.

[21765015] |By any measure, third-quarter earnings were still robust, equivalent to a 0.92% return on assets even excluding tax credits.
[21765016] |By that key measure of operating efficiency, BankAmerica turned in a better performance than its well-regarded Los Angeles-based competitor, Security Pacific Corp., which posted a 0.89% return in the third quarter.
[21765017] |But it continued to badly trail its San Francisco neighbor, Wells Fargo & Co., which reported an extraordinary 1.25% return on assets.
[21765018] |Both returns don't include any tax credits.

[21765019] |"They {BankAmerica} continue to show good performance," said Donald K. Crowley, an analyst with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc., San Francisco.
[21765020] |In composite trading yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange, BankAmerica common stock edged up 12.5 cents to close at $32 a share.

[21765021] |Shareholder equity improved to 4.68% from 4.23% in the previous quarter.
[21765022] |The 4.52% net interest margin, or the difference between the yield on a bank's investments and the rate it pays for deposits and other borrowings, was still markedly higher than the 3.91% ratio a year earlier, and is among the best in the industry, analysts said.

[21765023] |The high margin partly stems from continued strong growth in high-yielding consumer loans, which jumped 31% to $17.47 billion from a year earlier, and residential mortgages, which rose 25% to $12 billion.
[21765024] |BankAmerica's total loans rose 8% to $71.36 billion.

[21765025] |For the nine months, BankAmerica profit soared 81% to $833 million, or $4.07 a share, from $461 million, or $2.40 a share.

[21766001] |International Business Machines Corp. will announce on Tuesday a slew of software products aimed at eliminating some of the major problems involved in computerizing manufacturing operations, industry executives said.

[21766002] |Many plant floors currently resemble a Tower of Babel, with computers, robots and machine tools that generally speak their own language and have trouble talking to each other.
[21766003] |As a result, if a problem develops on a production line, it is unlikely some supervisor sitting in front of a personal computer or workstation will know about it or be able to correct it.

[21766004] |So IBM will be announcing more than 50 products that will be aimed at letting even the dumbest machine tool talk to the smartest mainframe, or anything in between.
[21766005] |In an unusual display of openness, IBM also will be helping customers tie together operations that include lots of equipment made by IBM's competitors.

[21766006] |In addition, the executives said IBM will be offering programming tools designed to let anyone working on a factory floor write ad-hoc software, for instance, to do statistical analysis that would pinpoint a problem on a manufacturing line.

[21766007] |In Armonk, N.Y., an IBM spokeswoman confirmed that IBM executives will be announcing some computer-integrated-manufacturing plans next week but declined to elaborate.

[21766008] |The industry executives said that, as usual with such broad announcements from IBM, this one will be part reality and part strategy.
[21766009] |So it will take many quarters for IBM to roll out all the products that customers need, and it will take years for customers to integrate the products into their operations.
[21766010] |Also as usual, the products will appeal mostly to heavy users of IBM equipment, at least initially.

[21766011] |Still, consultants and industry executives said the products could help make manufacturing operations more efficient, and provide a boost to the computer-integrated-manufacturing market -- a market that Yankee Group, a research firm, has said may double to $40 billion by 1993.

[21766012] |"This is a step in the right direction," said Martin Piszczalski, a Yankee Group analyst.
[21766013] |He added, though, that "a lot of this is intentions. . . .
[21766014] |We'll have to wait and see" how the plan develops.

[21766015] |The announcements also should help IBM go on the offensive against Digital Equipment Corp. on the plant floor.
[21766016] |While IBM has traditionally dominated the market for computers on the business side of manufacturing operations and has done well in the market for design tools, Digital has dominated computerized manufacturing.
[21766017] |Hewlett-Packard Co. also has begun to gain share in the whole computer-integrated-manufacturing arena.

[21766018] |IBM will face an uphill climb against Digital, given Digital's reputation for being better than IBM at hooking together different manufacturers' computers.
[21766019] |In addition, Hewlett-Packard, while a much smaller player, has made a big commitment to the sorts of industry standards that facilitate those hookups and could give IBM some problems.
[21766020] |Both can be expected to go after the market aggressively: Gartner Group Inc., a research firm, estimated the Digital gets 30% of its revenue from the manufacturing market, and Hewlett-Packard gets 50%.

[21766021] |IBM, which Gartner Group said generates 22% of its revenue in this market, should be able to take advantage of its loyal following among buyers of equipment.
[21766022] |That is because many companies will standardize on certain types of equipment as the various parts of the manufacturing market merge, and IBM is the biggest player.
[21766023] |But much will depend on how quickly IBM can move.

[21766024] |The whole idea of computer-integrated manufacturing, CIM, seems to be making a comeback after losing a little luster over the past couple of years when it became apparent that it wasn't a panacea that would make U.S. plants more efficient and banish foreign competition.

[21766025] |Erik Keller, a Gartner Group analyst, said organizational changes may still be required to really take advantage of CIM's capabilities -- someone on the shop floor may not like having someone in an office using a personal computer to look over his shoulder, for instance, and may be able to prevent that from happening.
[21766026] |But he said a system such as IBM's should help significantly.

[21766027] |In making polyethylene sheets out of plastic chips, for instance, a chip sometimes doesn't melt, gets caught in the machinery and creates a run in the sheets.
[21766028] |That can be expensive, because the problem may not be noticed for a while, and the sheets are typically thrown away.
[21766029] |But Mr. Keller said that, if computers can be integrated into the process, they could alert an operator as soon as the problem occurred.
[21766030] |They could also check through the orders on file to find a customer that was willing to accept a lower grade of polyethylene.
[21766031] |The computer would let the machine run just until that order was filled, eliminating waste.

[21766032] |This sort of improved link figures to eventually become a significant weapon for some companies.
[21766033] |Companies might be able to tell salespeople daily, for instance, about idle equipment, so they could offer discounts on whatever that equipment produces.
[21766034] |Salespeople also could get a precise reading on when products could be delivered -- in much the same way that Federal Express has marketed its ability to tell exactly where a package is in the delivery system.

[21767001] |Ford Motor Co.'s Merkur, the company's first new car franchise in the U.S. since the Edsel was unveiled in 1957, now will share Edsel's fate.

[21767002] |Ford said yesterday it will halt imports of the Merkur Scorpio, a $28,000 luxury sedan built by Ford of Europe in West Germany.
[21767003] |The cars are sold under a separate franchise with its own sign in front of Lincoln-Mercury dealers -- as opposed to new models such as Taurus or Escort, which are sold under existing Ford divisions.

[21767004] |The move to halt imports -- announced 29 years and 11 months to the day after Henry Ford II declared that the Edsel division and its gawky car would be scrapped -- kills the four-year-old Merkur brand in the U.S. market.
[21767005] |It will continue to be sold in the European market.

[21767006] |Merkur's death isn't nearly as costly to Ford as was the Edsel debacle, because Merkur was a relatively low-budget project with limited sales goals.
[21767007] |Still, Merkur's demise is a setback for Ford at a time when the company's image as the U.S. auto maker with the golden touch is showing signs of strain.

[21767008] |The No. 2 auto maker's new Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar models haven't met sales expectations in the year since they were introduced, and Ford's trucks are losing ground to their GM rivals.
[21767009] |This fall, Ford introduced only one new product: A restyled version of its hulking Lincoln Town Car luxury model.

[21767010] |The demise of Merkur (pronounced mare-COOR) comes after a September in which 670 Merkur dealers managed to sell only 93 Scorpios.
[21767011] |Total Merkur sales for the first nine months dropped 46% from a year ago to just 6,320 cars.

[21767012] |Merkur isn't the only European luxury brand having problems in the U.S.
[21767013] |The Japanese assault on the luxury market is rapidly overshadowing such European makes as Audi and Saab, which at least have clear brand images.
[21767014] |Merkur, as an import on domestic car lots, suffered from the same sort of image confusion that is hobbling sales of imports at General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Corp.

[21767015] |Merkur was originally aimed at enticing into Lincoln-Mercury dealerships the kind of young, affluent buyers who wouldn't be caught dead in a Town Car -- a vehicle so bargelike that Ford is staging a press event next month linking the Town Car's launch to the commissioning of a new aircraft carrier in Norfolk, Va.

[21767016] |But the brand had trouble from the start.
[21767017] |The first Merkur, the XR4Ti, went on sale in early 1985.
[21767018] |The sporty coupe foundered in part because American buyers didn't go for the car's unusual double-wing rear spoiler.

[21767019] |In May 1987, Ford began importing the Scorpio sedan from West Germany to sell next to a redesigned XR4Ti in showrooms.
[21767020] |Ford officials said they expected the two Merkurs would sell about 15,000 cars a year, and in 1988 they reached that goal, as sales hit 15,261 cars.

[21767021] |It was downhill from there, however.
[21767022] |One major factor was the decline of the dollar against the mark, which began less than a year after Merkur's 1985 launch.
[21767023] |As the West German currency rose, so did Merkur prices.

[21767024] |The Merkur cars also suffered from spotty quality, some dealers say.
[21767025] |"It was like a comedy of errors," says Martin J. "Hoot" McInerney, a big dealer whose Star Lincoln-Mercury-Merkur operation in Southfield, Mich., sold more XR4Ti's than any other dealership.
[21767026] |But by the third quarter of 1988, Scorpios had a high satisfaction rating in internal Ford studies, a spokesman said.

[21767027] |Apparently, however, the improvement came too late.
[21767028] |Last fall, Ford announced it would discontinue the XR4Ti in the U.S. at the end of the 1989 model year.
[21767029] |Ford said then it would keep the Scorpio.
[21767030] |This year, Scorpio sales plummeted, and at the current sales pace it would take Ford 242 days to sell off the current Scorpio inventory of about 4,600 cars.

[21768001] |Canadian Pacific Ltd. said it proposed acquiring the 44% of Soo Line Corp. it doesn't already own for $19.50 a share, or about $81.9 million, after failing to find a buyer for its majority stake earlier this year.

[21768002] |Soo Line said its board appointed a special committee of independent directors to study the proposal.
[21768003] |The troubled Minneapolis-based railroad concern said the committee has the authority to hire financial and legal advisers to assist it.
[21768004] |The proposed acquisition will be subject to approval by the Interstate Commerce Commission, Soo Line said.

[21768005] |In New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday, Soo Line shares jumped well above the proposed price, closing at $20.25, up $2.75.

[21768006] |Canadian Pacific put its 56% stake in Soo Line up for sale last year but couldn't find any takers.
[21768007] |Canadian Pacific, which has interests in transportation, telecommunications, forest products, energy and real estate, finally took its majority block off the market this spring.
[21768008] |"It turned out we couldn't sell it," a Canadian Pacific official said, adding that acquiring the remainder of Soo Line is now "the best way to rationalize operations."

[21768009] |Canadian Pacific is Soo Line's biggest customer and has owned a majority stake in the U.S. railroad since 1947.
[21768010] |Canadian Pacific and Soo Line tracks connect at two points in the West on the Canada-U.S. border and the two companies operate a very successful Chicago-Montreal rail service.

[21768011] |Separately, for the first nine months, Soo Line reported a loss of $398,000, or four cents a share, compared with net income of $12.5 million, or $1.32 a share, a year earlier.
[21768012] |Revenue fell 5.8% to $407.9 million from $433.2 million.
[21768013] |The company had a loss from operations of $1.7 million.

[21769001] |Golden Nugget Inc. reported a third-quarter net loss of $13.1 million, or 76 cents a share, based on 17.2 million common shares and dilutive equivalents outstanding.
[21769002] |The results compare with a year-earlier net loss of $1.5 million, or seven cents a share, based on 20.3 million common and dilutive equivalents outstanding.

[21769003] |Operating revenue rose 25% to $52.1 million from $41.8 million a year ago.

[21769004] |Results for the latest quarter include nonoperating items of $23.9 million, versus $8.4 million a year earlier.
[21769005] |Most of the expenses stem from the company's huge Mirage resort-casino scheduled to open next month along the Strip, and an April 1989 financing by units operating the downtown Golden Nugget property.

[21769006] |For the nine months, Golden Nugget reported a net loss of $11.4 million, or 69 cents a share, based on 16.6 million common and dilutive equivalents outstanding.
[21769007] |The year earlier, the company had a net loss of $4.3 million, or 20 cents a share, based on 21 million common shares and dilutive equivalents outstanding.
[21769008] |The 1988 results include a $10.7 million charge stemming from a litigation judgment.

[21769009] |Separately, the casino operator said its board approved a plan to buy-back as many as three million common shares from time to time, either in the open market or through private transactions.
[21769010] |An additional 299,000 shares are authorized for repurchase under an earlier stock buy-back program.

[21769011] |John Uphoff, an analyst with Raymond James & Associates, said the results weren't surprising, and attributed the buy-back to management's confidence in the Mirage's ability to generate strong cash flow in 1990.
[21769012] |Yesterday, in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, Golden Nugget common closed at $28.25, up $2.

[21770001] |Capital Holding Corp. said it requested and received the resignation of John A. Franco, its vice chairman, as an officer and a director of the life insurance holding company.

[21770002] |The company said Mr. Franco developed a plan to establish a business that might be competitive with Capital Holding Corp.'s Accumulation and Investment Group, which Mr. Franco headed.
[21770003] |The group temporarily will report to Irving W. Bailey II, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Capital Holding.

[21770004] |Mr. Franco, 47 years old, said in a telephone interview that he has been considering and discussing a number of possible business ventures, but that "nothing is at a mature stage."
[21770005] |He said he "didn't argue with" the company's decision to seek his resignation because contemplating outside business ventures can distract an executive from performing his best "at the job he is paid to do."

[21770006] |Martin H. Ruby, a managing director of Capital Holding's Accumulation and Investment Group, also resigned to pursue other business interests, Capital Holding said.

[21770007] |Mr. Ruby, 39, said that he had "an amicable parting" with Capital Holding and that he has "a number of ventures in the financial-services area" under consideration.
[21770008] |He said that his resignation was a mutual decision with Capital Holding management, but that he wasn't actually asked to resign.

[21770009] |The Accumulation and Investment Group is responsible for the investment operations of all Capital Holding's insurance businesses and markets guaranteed investment contracts to bank trust departments and other institutions.
[21770010] |It also sells single-premium annuities to individuals.

[21770011] |Mr. Bailey said he expects to name a new group president to head that operation following the Nov. 8 board meeting.

[21771001] |@
[21771002] |Money Market Deposits-a 6.23%

[21771003] |a-Average rate paid yesterday by 100 large banks and thrifts in the 10 largest metropolitan areas as compiled by Bank Rate Monitor.

[21771004] |b-Current annual yield.
[21771005] |Guaranteed minimum 6%.

[21772001] |(During its centennial year, The Wall Street Journal will report events of the past century that stand as milestones of American business history.)

[21772002] |PLASTIC PENCILS, CODE-NAMED E-71, made their hush-hush debut in children's pencil boxes at five-and-dime stores in 1973.
[21772003] |But few knew it then and most still think all pencils are wooden.

[21772004] |Eagle Pencil of Shelbyville, Tenn., "Pencil City U.S.A.," had made its earliest pilot plastic pencils in 1971.
[21772005] |But it wasn't until after it hired Arthur D. Little, a Cambridge, Mass., research concern, that its new product was refined for commercial sale in 1973.
[21772006] |Three A.D.L. inventors applied April 6, 1973, for the patent, which was assigned and awarded in 1976 to Hasbro Industries, then Eagle's parent.

[21772007] |Pencil pushers chew and put the plastic models behind their ears just like traditional pencils made of glued strips of California incense cedar filled with ceramic lead.
[21772008] |It takes five steps to make standard pencils, just one for the plastic type.
[21772009] |Automated machines coextrude long plastic sheaths with graphite-plastic cores that are printed, cut, painted and eraser-fitted.

[21772010] |"After more than 200 years, something new has happened to pencils," said Arthur D. Little in a 1974 report that publicly described the previously secret item.
[21772011] |Eagle's plastic type sharpens and looks like a wooden pencil.
[21772012] |A major difference is that a snapped wooden pencil will have a slivered break while a plastic model will break cleanly.

[21772013] |The softness of the core constrains the plastic models to No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3-type pencils, which account for the bulk of the market.
[21772014] |Artists and draftsmen need harder "leads."

[21772015] |Eagle, now called Eagle-Berol, remains a leading company among the 10 in the U.S. that produced about 2.3 billion pencils last year, according to the Pencil Makers Association.
[21772016] |It's a trade secret how many were plastic, and most writers still don't know what they're using.

[21773001] |H.F. Ahmanson & Co., the nation's largest thrift holding company, posted a 12% earnings decline for the third quarter while another large California savings and loan, Great Western Financial Corp., reported a slight earnings gain.

[21773002] |H.F. Ahmanson, parent of Home Savings of America, reported third-quarter net of $49.2 million, or 50 cents a share, down from $56.1 million, or 57 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

[21773003] |Most of the earnings decline reflected an increase in the company's effective tax rate to 44% from 37% in the year-ago third quarter when nonrecurring tax credits were recorded, the company said.
[21773004] |Pretax earnings declined 1.3%.

[21773005] |For the nine months, Los Angeles-based H. F. Ahmanson had profit of $128.1 million, or $1.29 a share, a 4.6% decline from earnings of $134.2 million in the year-ago nine months.
[21773006] |The company said the decline was attributable to a 79% reduction in net gains on loan sales this year.

[21773007] |Third-quarter spreads widened to the highest level in two years as loan portfolio yields rose and money costs declined, the company said.

[21773008] |Great Western Financial said third-quarter profit rose slightly to $68.4 million, or 52 cents a share, from $67.9 million, or 53 cents a share, from a year ago.
[21773009] |Great Western, based in Beverly Hills, Calif., is a financial services firm and parent to Great Western Bank, an S&L.

[21773010] |Great Western said it had a sharp increase in margins in the recent third quarter.
[21773011] |Margins are the difference between the yield on the company's earning assets and its own cost of funds.

[21773012] |But a reduction in one-time gains on the sale of various assets and an increase in the company's provision for loan losses held down the earnings gain, the company said.
[21773013] |Great Western's provision for loan losses was increased to $27.9 million for the recent quarter compared with $21.8 million a year ago primarily as a result of "continued weakness in various commercial and multifamily real estate markets outside California."

[21773014] |For the nine months Great Western posted net of $177.5 million, or $1.37 a share, a 5.9% decline from $188.7 million, or $1.48 a share, in the year-ago period.

[21774001] |Dun & Bradstreet Corp. posted a 15% rise in third-quarter earnings.

[21774002] |But revenue declined more than 2%, reflecting in part a continuing drop in sales of credit services in the wake of controversy over the company's sales practices.
[21774003] |The information company also cited the stronger dollar, the sale last year of its former Official Airline Guides unit and other factors.

[21774004] |Net income rose to a record $155.3 million, or 83 cents a share, from $134.8 million, or 72 cents a share.
[21774005] |Revenue fell to $1.04 billion from $1.07 billion.

[21774006] |In composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Dun & Bradstreet closed yesterday at $53.75, down 25 cents a share.

[21774007] |Analysts said the results were as expected, but several added that the earnings masked underlying weaknesses in several businesses.
[21774008] |"The quality of earnings wasn't as high as I expected," said Eric Philo, an analyst for Goldman, Sachs & Co.

[21774009] |For example, he noted, operating profit was weaker than he had anticipated, but nonoperating earnings of $14.6 million and a lower tax rate helped boost net income.

[21774010] |Dun & Bradstreet said operating earnings rose 8%, excluding the sale of Official Airline Guides.

[21774011] |Third-quarter sales of U.S. credit services were "disappointingly below sales" of a year earlier, Dun & Bradstreet said.
[21774012] |As previously reported, those sales have been declining this year in the wake of allegations that the company engaged in unfair sales practices that encouraged customers to overpurchase services.
[21774013] |The company has denied the allegations but has negotiated a proposed $18 million settlement of related lawsuits.
[21774014] |Analysts predict the sales impact will linger.
[21774015] |"There isn't much question there will continue to be a ripple effect," said John Reidy, an analyst with Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc.

[21774016] |Dun & Bradstreet noted that price competition in its Nielsen Marketing Research, Nielsen Clearing House and Donnelley Marketing businesses also restrained revenue growth.
[21774017] |It cited cyclical conditions in its Moody's Investors Service Inc. and D&B Plan Services units.

[21774018] |For the nine months, net income rose 19% to $449 million, or $2.40 a share, from $375.9 million, or $2.01 a share, a year earlier.
[21774019] |Year-earlier earnings reflected costs of $14.3 million related to the acquisition of IMS International.
[21774020] |Revenue rose slightly to $3.16 billion from $3.13 billion.

[21775001] |Control Data Corp. said it licensed its airline yield-management software to the International Air Transport Association.
[21775002] |Terms include a royalty arrangement, but details weren't disclosed.

[21775003] |The computer equipment and financial services company said IATA, a trade group, will sell access to the package to its 180 airline members world-wide.
[21775004] |Control Data will receive revenue linked to the number of passengers served by the software, IATA said.

[21775005] |The package helps carriers solve pricing problems, such as how to react to discounts offered by competitors or what would be the optimum number of seats to offer at a given price.

[21776001] |Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. said it decided to proceed with installation of automatic gauge and shape controls at its 60-inch tandem cold rolling mill in Allenport, Pa.

[21776002] |The new equipment, which will produce steel sheet with more uniform thickness and flatness, is likely to cost more than $20 million, the company said.
[21776003] |When the company last considered adding the equipment two years ago, it estimated the cost at $21 million to $22 million, but a task force will have to prepare a detailed plan before the company can predict the current cost.

[21776004] |The time schedule for installing the equipment also will be developed by the task force, the company said.

[21777001] |Sir Richard Butler, 60-year-old chairman of Agricola (U.K.) Ltd., was named chairman of County NatWest Investment Management Ltd., the investment management subsidiary of County NatWest Ltd., the investment banking arm of this British bank.
[21777002] |Sir Richard succeeds John Plastow, who resigned in July.
[21777003] |Sir Richard is also a non-executive director at National Westminister Bank and NatWest Investment Bank Ltd.

[21778001] |In the long, frightening night after Tuesday's devastating earthquake, Bay Area residents searched for comfort and solace wherever they could.
[21778002] |Some found it on the screen of a personal computer.

[21778003] |Hundreds of Californians made their way to their computers after the quake, and checked in with each other on electronic bulletin boards, which link computers CB-radio-style, via phone lines.

[21778004] |Some of the most vivid bulletins came over The Well, a Sausalito, Calif., board that is one of the liveliest outposts of the electronic underground.
[21778005] |About two-thirds of the Well's 3,000 subscribers live in the Bay Area.

[21778006] |The quake knocked The Well out for six hours, but when it came back up, it teemed with emotional first-hand reports.

[21778007] |Following are excerpts from the electronic traffic that night.
[21778008] |The time is Pacific Daylight Time, and the initials or nicknames are those subscribers use to identify themselves.

[21778009] |11:54 p.m.
[21778010] |JCKC:
[21778011] |Wow!
[21778012] |I was in the avenues, on the third floor of an old building, and except for my heart (Beat, BEAT!) I'm OK.
[21778013] |Got back to Bolinas, and everything had fallen: broken poster frames with glass on the floor, file cabinets open or dumped onto the floor.

[21778014] |11:59 p.m.
[21778015] |JKD:
[21778016] |I was in my favorite watering hole, waiting for the game to start.
[21778017] |I felt the temblor begin and glanced at the table next to mine, smiled that guilty smile and we both mouthed the words, "Earth-quake!" together.
[21778018] |That's usually how long it takes for the temblors to pass.
[21778019] |This time, it just got stronger and then the building started shaking violently up and down as though it were a child's toy block that was being tossed.

[21778020] |12:06 a.m.
[21778021] |HRH:
[21778022] |I was in the Berkeley Main library when it hit.
[21778023] |Endless seconds wondering if those huge windows would buckle and shower us with glass.
[21778024] |Only a few books fell in the reading room.
[21778025] |Then the auto paint shop fire sent an evil-looking cloud of black smoke into the air.

[21778026] |12:07 a.m.
[21778027] |ONEZIE:
[21778028] |My younger daughter and I are fine.
[21778029] |This building shook like hell and it kept getting stronger.
[21778030] |Except for the gas tank at Hustead's Towing Service exploding and burning in downtown Berkeley, things here are quite peaceful.
[21778031] |A lot of car alarms went off.
[21778032] |The cats are fine, although nervous.

[21778033] |12:15 a.m.
[21778034] |DHAWK:
[21778035] |Huge fire from broken gas main in the Marina in SF.
[21778036] |Areas that are made of `fill' liquefy.
[21778037] |A woman in a three-story apartment was able to walk out the window of the third floor onto street level after the quake.
[21778038] |The house just settled right down into the ground.

[21778039] |12:38 a.m.
[21778040] |DAYAC:
[21778041] |I was driving my truck, stopped at a red light at the corner of Shattuck and Alcatraz at the Oakland-Berkeley border when it hit.
[21778042] |Worst part was watching power lines waving above my head and no way to drive away.

[21778043] |12:48 a.m.
[21778044] |LMEYER:
[21778045] |Was 300 ft. out on a pier in San Rafael.
[21778046] |It flopped all around, real dramatic!
[21778047] |Many hairline cracks in the concrete slabs afterwards.
[21778048] |Ruined the damn fishing!

[21778049] |1:00 a.m.
[21778050] |HEYNOW:
[21778051] |I rode it out on the second floor of Leo's at 55th and Telegraph in Oakland.
[21778052] |I heard parts of the building above my head cracking.
[21778053] |I actually thought that I might die.
[21778054] |I couldn't decide if I should come home to Marin, because my house is on stilts.
[21778055] |I decided to brave the storm.
[21778056] |There was a horrible smell of gas as I passed the Chevron refinery before crossing the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.
[21778057] |I could also see the clouds across the bay from the horrible fire in the Marina District of San Francisco.

[21778058] |I have felt many aftershocks.
[21778059] |My back is still in knots and my hands are still shaking.
[21778060] |I think a few of the aftershocks might just be my body shaking.

[21778061] |1:11 a.m.
[21778062] |GR8FLRED:
[21778063] |I could see the flames from San Francisco from my house across the bay.
[21778064] |It's hard to believe this really is happening.

[21778065] |1:11 a.m.
[21778066] |RD:
[21778067] |Building on the corner severely damaged, so an old lady and her very old mother are in the guest room.
[21778068] |Books and software everywhere.
[21778069] |This being typed in a standing position.

[21778070] |1:20 a.m.
[21778071] |DGAULT:
[21778072] |Bolinas -- astride the San Andreas Fault.
[21778073] |Didn't feel a thing, but noticed some strange bird behavior.
[21778074] |Duck swarms.

[21778075] |3:25 a.m.
[21778076] |SAMURAI:
[21778077] |I just felt another aftershock a few seconds ago.
[21778078] |I'm just numb.

[21778079] |3:25 a.m.
[21778080] |MACPOST:
[21778081] |Downtown Bolinas seems to be the part of town that's worst off.
[21778082] |No power, minimal phones, and a mess of mayonnaise, wine, and everything else all over the floors of the big old general store and the People's Co-op.
[21778083] |The quivers move through my house every few minutes at unpredictable intervals, and the mouse that's been living in my kitchen has taken refuge under my desk.
[21778084] |It runs out frantically now and then, and is clearly pretty distressed.

[21778085] |I was in Stinson Beach when the quake rolled through town.
[21778086] |At first, we were unfazed.
[21778087] |Then as things got rougher, we ran for the door and spent the next few minutes outside watching the brick sidewalk under our feet oozing up and down, and the flowers waving in an eerie rhythm.
[21778088] |Amazing what it does to one's heart rate and one's short-term memory.
[21778089] |Everyone looked calm, but there was this surreal low level of confusion as the aftershocks continued.

[21778090] |4:02 a.m.
[21778091] |SHIBUMI:
[21778092] |Power is back on, and UCSF {medical center} seems to have quieted down for the night (they were doing triage out in the parking lot from the sound and lights of it).
[21778093] |A friend of mine was in an underground computer center in downtown SF when the quake hit.
[21778094] |He said that one of the computers took a three-foot trip sliding across the floor.

[21778095] |Today should be interesting as people realize how hard life is going to be here for a while.

[21778096] |4:30 a.m.
[21778097] |KIM:
[21778098] |I got home, let the dogs into the house and noticed some sounds above my head, as if someone were walking on the roof, or upstairs.
[21778099] |Then I noticed the car was bouncing up and down as if someone were jumping on it.
[21778100] |I realized what was happening and screamed into the house for the dogs.
[21778101] |Cupboard doors were flying, the trash can in the kitchen walked a few feet, the dogs came running, and I scooted them into the dog run and stood in the doorway myself, watching the outside trash cans dance across the concrete.

[21778102] |When I realized it was over, I went and stood out in front of the house, waiting and praying for Merrill to come home, shivering as if it were 20 below zero until he got there.
[21778103] |Never in my life have I been so frightened.
[21778104] |When I saw the pictures of 880 and the Bay Bridge, I began to cry.

[21778105] |5:09 a.m.
[21778106] |JROE:
[21778107] |The Sunset {District} was more or less like a pajama party all evening, lots of people & dogs walking around, drinking beer.

[21778108] |6:50 a.m.
[21778109] |CAROLG:
[21778110] |I was just sitting down to meet with some new therapy clients, a couple, and the building started shaking like crazy.
[21778111] |It's a flimsy structure, built up on supports, and it was really rocking around.
[21778112] |The three of us stopped breathing for a moment, and then when it kept on coming we lunged for the doorway.
[21778113] |Needless to say, it was an interesting first session!

[21778114] |7:13 a.m.
[21778115] |CALLIOPE:
[21778116] |Albany escaped embarrassingly unscathed.
[21778117] |Biggest trouble was scared family who couldn't get a phone line through, and spent a really horrible hour not knowing.

[21778118] |8:01 a.m.
[21778119] |HLR:
[21778120] |Judy and I were in our back yard when the lawn started rolling like ocean waves.
[21778121] |We ran into the house to get Mame, but the next tremor threw me in the air and bounced me as I tried to get to my feet.
[21778122] |We are all fine here, although Mame was extremely freaked.
[21778123] |Kitchen full of broken crystal.
[21778124] |Books and tapes all over my room.
[21778125] |Not one thing in the house is where it is supposed to be, but the structure is fine.
[21778126] |While I was standing on the lawn with Mame, waiting for another tremor, I noticed that all the earthworms were emerging from the ground and slithering across the lawn!

[21778127] |9:31 a.m.
[21778128] |GR8FLRED:
[21778129] |It's amazing how one second can so completely change your life.

[21778130] |9:38 a.m.
[21778131] |FIG:
[21778132] |I guess we're all living very tentatively here, waiting for the expected but dreaded aftershock.
[21778133] |It's hard to accept that it's over and only took 15 seconds.
[21778134] |I wonder when we'll be able to relax.

[21778135] |9:53 a.m.
[21778136] |PANDA:
[21778137] |Flesh goes to total alert for flight or fight.
[21778138] |Nausea seems a commonplace symptom.
[21778139] |Berkeley very quiet right now.
[21778140] |I walked along Shattuck between Delaware and Cedar at a few minutes before eight this morning.
[21778141] |Next to Chez Panisse a homeless couple, bundled into a blue sleeping bag, sat up, said, "Good morning" and then the woman smiled, said, "Isn't it great just to be alive?"
[21778142] |I agreed.
[21778143] |It is.
[21778144] |Great.

[21779001] |Georgia-Pacific Corp., exceeding some analysts' expectations, said third-quarter earnings rose 56% to $178 million, or $2.03 a share, from $114 million, or $1.19 a share, in the year-earlier period.

[21779002] |Sales increased 10% to $2.65 billion from $2.41 billion.

[21779003] |Per-share earnings were enhanced by the company's share buy-back program, which reduced the average shares outstanding to 87.5 million in the quarter from 95.8 million in the same quarter of 1988.

[21779004] |With strong prices in the company's two major areas -- building products as well as pulp and paper -- analysts had expected a roaring quarter.
[21779005] |But the performance exceeded some estimates of around $1.90 a share.

[21779006] |Fueling the growth, among other things, were higher-than-expected prices for certain building products.
[21779007] |One reason: efforts to protect the spotted owl led to restrictions on logging in the Pacific Northwest, constricting supply and forcing prices up.
[21779008] |Another reason: strikes, both at Georgia-Pacific and other lumber companies also cut supplies and raised prices, analysts said.

[21779009] |For the nine months, Georgia-Pacific's earnings increased 49% to $504 million, or $5.58 a share, from $338 million, or $3.41 a share.
[21779010] |Sales rose 11% to $7.73 billion from $6.94 billion.

[21779011] |In composite New York Stock Exchange Trading, Georgia-Pacific stock rose $1.25 a share yesterday to close at $58.

[21780001] |The House Public Works and Transportation Committee approved a bill that would give the Transportation Department power to block airline leveraged buy-outs, despite a clear veto threat from the Bush administration.

[21780002] |The 23-5 vote clears the way for consideration on the House floor next week or the week after.
[21780003] |Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner, in a letter to the committee, warned that he would urge President Bush to veto the legislation if it passed Congress.
[21780004] |The Senate Commerce Committee already has approved similar legislation.

[21780005] |On Monday, a letter from Mr. Skinner's deputy, Elaine Chao, said the administration opposed the legislation "in its present form."
[21780006] |Some of the bill's supporters had taken heart from the fact that the letter wasn't signed by Mr. Skinner and that it didn't contain a veto threat.

[21780007] |The stepped-up administration warnings annoyed some lawmakers, especially senior Republicans who supported the bill because they thought the Transportation Department favored it.
[21780008] |"We backed this bill because we thought it would help Skinner," one Republican said, "and now we're out there dangling in the wind."

[21780009] |A few weeks ago, Mr. Skinner testified before Congress that it would be "cleaner, more efficient" if he had authority to block buy-outs in advance.
[21780010] |But he never took an official position on the bill and has steadfastly maintained that he already has enough authority to deal with buy-outs.

[21780011] |Under the committee bill, the Transportation secretary would have 30 days, and an additional 20 days if needed, to review any proposed purchase of 15% or more of a major U.S. airline's voting stock.
[21780012] |The secretary would be required to block an acquisition if he concluded that it would so weaken an airline financially that it would hurt safety or reduce the carrier's ability to compete, or if it gave control to a foreign interest.

[21780013] |Although the legislation would apply to any acquisition of a major airline, it is aimed at transactions financed by large amounts of debt.
[21780014] |Supporters of the bill are concerned an airline might sacrifice costly safety measures in order to repay debt.

[21780015] |The panel's action occurs in a politically charged atmosphere surrounding recent buy-out proposals, their apparent collapse and the volatile conditions in the stock market.

[21780016] |"It became apparent in hearings that there ought to be regulation of leveraged buy-outs of some sort," Rep. James Oberstar (D., Minn.), chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee, said during the panel's deliberations.
[21780017] |"I don't believe in the airline business you can be totally laissez-faire because of the high degree of public interest" at stake.

[21780018] |But Mr. Skinner disagreed, calling the legislation "a retreat from the policy of deregulaton of the airline industry."
[21780019] |In his letter to Committee Chairman Glenn Anderson (D., Calif.), the secretary also said the bill "would be at odds with the administration's policies welcoming open foreign investment and market allocation of resources."

[21780020] |Currently, the Transportation Department doesn't have the authority to block a takeover in advance.
[21780021] |However, if the secretary concludes that a transaction has made a carrier unfit to operate, the department may revoke its certificate, grounding the airline.
[21780022] |Such authority is more than adequate, say opponents of the legislation.
[21780023] |But supporters argue that grounding an airline is so drastic that the department would hesitate doing it.

[21780024] |The panel rejected a proposal pushed by AMR Corp., the parent of American Airlines, to allow the Transportation secretary to block corporate raiders from waging proxy fights to oust boards that oppose a leveraged buy-out.
[21780025] |It also voted down proposals to give the secretary much more discretion on whether to block a buy-out and to require the department to consider the impact of a buy-out on workers.

[21781001] |London shares rallied to post strong gains after initial fears evaporated that the California earthquake would depress Wall Street prices.

[21781002] |Tokyo stocks, which rebounded strongly Tuesday, extended their gains yesterday, but most other Asian and Pacific markets closed sharply lower.

[21781003] |In London, the Financial Times-Stock Exchange 100-share index jumped 34.6 points to close at its intraday high of 2170.1.
[21781004] |The index was under pressure for most of the morning over concerns that the effects of Tuesday night's major earthquake in the San Francisco area would undermine the U.S. market.
[21781005] |The mood changed after dealers reappraised the direct impact of the disaster on shares and Wall Street rebounded from early losses.

[21781006] |The Financial Times 30-share index settled 27.8 points higher at 1758.5.
[21781007] |Volume was 449.3 million shares, the slowest of a hectic week, compared with 643.4 million Tuesday.

[21781008] |U.K. composite, or non-life, insurers, which some equity analysts said might be heavily hit by the earthquake disaster, helped support the London market by showing only narrow losses in early trading.
[21781009] |The insurers' relative resilience gave the market time to reappraise the impact of the California disaster on U.K. equities, dealers said.

[21781010] |Dealers said the market still hasn't shaken off its nervousness after its bumpy ride of the past several sessions, caused by interest-rate increases last week and Wall Street's 6.9% plunge Friday.
[21781011] |But technical factors, including modest gains in the value of the pound, helped draw buying back into the market and reverse losses posted a day earlier.

[21781012] |Among composite insurers, General Accident rose 10 pence to #10.03 ($15.80) a share, Guardian Royal climbed 5 to 217 pence, Sun Alliance rose 3 to 290, and Royal Insurance jumped 12 to 450.
[21781013] |Life insurers fared similarly, with Legal & General advancing 3 to 344, although Prudential fell 2 to 184 1/2.
[21781014] |Pearl Group rose 5 to 628, and Sun Life finished unchanged at #10.98.

[21781015] |Most banking issues retreated after a sector downgrade by Warburg Securities, although National Westminister showed strength on positive comments from brokerage firms about its long-term prospects.
[21781016] |NatWest, the most actively traded of the banks, finished at 300, up 1.

[21781017] |B.A.T Industries fell in early dealings but recovered to finish at 754, up 5.
[21781018] |Dealers said the market was nervous ahead of a special B.A.T holders' meeting today.
[21781019] |The session is to consider a defensive plan to spin off assets to fend off Sir James Goldsmith's #13.4 billion bid for B.A.T.

[21781020] |The recent stock market drop has shaken confidence in the plan, but dealers said the shares fell initially on questions about whether Mr. Goldsmith's highly leveraged bid will come to fruition.

[21781021] |Trading was suspended in WCRS Group, a U.K. advertising concern, pending an announcement that it is buying the remaining 50% of France's Carat Holding for 2.02 billion French francs ($318.7 million) and expanding commercial and equity ties with advertising group Eurocom.

[21781022] |Merchant banker Morgan Grenfell climbed 14 to 406 on renewed takeover speculation.
[21781023] |S.G. Warburg, also mentioned in the rumor mill, jumped 14 at to 414.
[21781024] |Jaguar advanced 19 to 673 as traders contemplated a potential battle between General Motors and Ford Motor for control of the U.K. luxury auto maker.

[21781025] |Tokyo's Nikkei index of 225 issues rose 111.48 points, or 0.32%, to 35107.56.
[21781026] |The index gained 527.39 Tuesday.
[21781027] |Volume was estimated at 800 million shares, compared with 678 million Tuesday.
[21781028] |Declining issues outnumbered advancers 505-455, with 172 unchanged.
[21781029] |The Tokyo Stock Price Index of all issues listed in the first section, which gained 41.76 Tuesday, was up 0.24 points, or 0.01%, at 2642.88.

[21781030] |In early trading in Tokyo Thursday, the Nikkei index rose 135.09 points to 35242.65.

[21781031] |On Wednesday, shares were pushed up by index-related buying on the part of investment trusts as well as small orders from individuals and corporations, traders said.

[21781032] |Institutions, meanwhile, stepped back to the sidelines as the direction of U.S. interest rates remained unclear.
[21781033] |The uncertainty was multiplied by the persistent strength of the dollar, traders said, and by the U.S. trade deficit, which widened by 31% in August from the previous month.

[21781034] |Traders and analysts said they didn't see any effect on Tokyo stocks from the California earthquake.
[21781035] |The impact on Japanese insurers and property owners with interests in the San Francisco area is still being assessed, they said.

[21781036] |Buying was scattered across a wide range of issues, making the session fairly characterless, traders said.
[21781037] |With uncertainty still hanging over interest rates and the dollar, the market failed to find a focus that might lead to further investor commitments, they said.

[21781038] |Some traders said the popularity of issues that gained yesterday won't last long, as investors will rotate their buying choices over the short term.

[21781039] |Interest rate-sensitive shares such as steel, construction and electric utility companies, which rose early in the week, saw their advance weaken yesterday.

[21781040] |Traders said these issues need large-volume buying to push up their prices, so substantial gains aren't likely unless institutional investors participate.

[21781041] |An outstanding issue in yesterday's session was Mitsubishi Rayon, which surged 95 to 905 yen ($6.34) a share.
[21781042] |Its popularity was due to speculation about the strong earnings potential of a new type of plastic wrap for household use, a trader at County Natwest Securities Japan said.

[21781043] |Some laggard food issues attracted bargain-hunters, traders said.
[21781044] |Kirin Brewery was up 100 at 2,000, and Ajinomoto gained 70 to 2,840.
[21781045] |Pharmaceuticals were mostly higher, with SS Pharmaceutical gaining 140 to 1,980.

[21781046] |Shares closed lower in other major Asian and Pacific markets, including Sydney, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei, Wellington, Seoul and Manila.
[21781047] |Most of those markets had rebounded the day before from Monday's slide.
[21781048] |But unlike the Tokyo exchange, they failed to extend the rise to a second session.

[21781049] |Elsewhere, prices surged for a second day in Frankfurt, closed higher in Zurich, Stockholm and Amsterdam and were broadly lower in Milan, Paris and Brussels.
[21781050] |South African gold stocks ended marginally firmer.

[21781051] |In Brussels, it was the first trading day for most major shares since stocks tumbled on Wall Street Friday.
[21781052] |Trading had been impeded by a major computer failure that took place before the start of Monday's session.

[21781053] |Here are price trends on the world's major stock markets, as calculated by Morgan Stanley Capital International Perspective, Geneva.
[21781054] |To make them directly comparable, each index is based on the close of 1969 equaling 100.
[21781055] |The percentage change is since year-end.

[21782001] |Housing construction sank in September to its lowest level since the last recession, the Commerce Department reported.

[21782002] |Work began on homes and apartments at an annual rate of 1,263,000 units last month, down 5.2% from August, the department said.
[21782003] |The September decline followed an even steeper drop of 6.2% in August and left housing starts at their weakest since October 1982, when the country was nearing the end of a recession.
[21782004] |Originally the department had reported the August decline as 5%.

[21782005] |The numbers suggest that the housing industry is still suffering the effects of the Federal Reserve's battle against inflation.
[21782006] |The industry had shown signs of recovery this summer, after the central bank began to relax its clamp on credit, allowing interest rates to drop a bit after pushing them up for a year.
[21782007] |Sales of new homes rose and inventories of houses, which had been climbing, dropped.

[21782008] |But last month new construction in all types of homes waned, from single-family houses to large apartment complexes.

[21782009] |"It's pretty much weak across the board," said Martin Regalia, chief economist of the National Council of Savings Institutions.

[21782010] |Mr. Regalia said the industry may be reluctant to step up building at the moment for fear the inventories of unsold homes will increase again.

[21782011] |Another reason for the weakness, he said, may be that mortgage rates have hit a plateau since they began edging down after a peak in March.
[21782012] |In August, rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages started creeping up a bit, but they inched down again through September.

[21782013] |"Rates haven't really peeled off that much," Mr. Regalia said.
[21782014] |"We've kind of settled now into an interest-rate environment that's fairly high."

[21782015] |Work was begun on single family homes -- the core of the housing market -- at an annual rate of 971,000 in September, a drop of 2.1% from the previous month.
[21782016] |That followed a 3.3% decline in August.

[21782017] |Construction of apartments and other multi-family dwellings slipped 2.2% to an annual rate of 1,022,000 following a 3.5% decline in August.

[21782018] |The number of building permits issued for future construction dropped 2.4% to a 1,296,000 annual rate after rising 3.7% in August.

[21782019] |All the numbers were adjusted for normal seasonal variations in building activity.
[21782020] |The housing starts numbers, however, are one of the least precise of the government's economic indicators and are often revised significantly as more information is collected.

[21783001] |Shearson Lehman Hutton Holdings Inc. posted a sharp third-quarter turnaround from a year earlier, but net income would have dropped from the second quarter without a $37 million after-tax gain.

[21783002] |The securities firm posted third-quarter net of $66 million, or 64 cents a share, compared with a restated year-earlier loss of $3 million, or 11 cents a share.

[21783003] |Revenue climbed 25% to $3.3 billion from $2.6 billion.

[21783004] |The latest period included the gain, which was $77 million before tax, from the previously announced sale of the institutional money management business of Lehman Management Co.
[21783005] |The 1988 period was restated from net income of $8 million to correct an overstatement in the company's Boston Co. subsidiary.

[21783006] |In the 1989 second quarter, Shearson had net income of $55 million, or 54 cents a share.
[21783007] |An average 102.5 million common shares were outstanding in the latest quarter, up from 87.1 million.

[21783008] |In New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday, Shearson shares lost 37.5 cents to $18.125.

[21783009] |The company said the improved performance from a year ago reflects higher commissions and revenue from marketmaking and trading for its own account.
[21783010] |Commission revenue was $522 million, up 49%.
[21783011] |But industrywide trading activity slowed in September as institutional investors turned cautious and individuals continued to shy away from the market.

[21783012] |Investment banking revenue fell 32% to $205 million, in part reflecting the continued slowdown of the underwriting business.

[21783013] |In the nine months, net fell 3% to $106 million, or 98 cents a share, from $110 million, or $1.05 a share.
[21783014] |Revenue advanced 26% to $9.6 billion from $7.6 billion.

[21784001] |Two major drug companies posted strong third-quarter earnings, in line with profits already reported by industry leaders and analysts' expectations.
[21784002] |But Pfizer Inc., based in New York, reported flat earnings.

[21784003] |Schering-Plough Corp., based in Madison, N.J., reported a 21% rise in earnings as American Home Products Corp. of New York posted an 11% increase in net.

[21784004] |American Home Products

[21784005] |American Home Products said sales and earnings for the third quarter and nine months were at record levels.
[21784006] |Sales for the third quarter increased 6.5% to $1.51 billion from $1.42 billion.

[21784007] |Sales of health-care products increased 6% in the third quarter, based in part on strong sales of prescription drugs such as Premarin, an estrogen-replacement drug, and sales of the company's infant formula.

[21784008] |American Home Products said net income benefited from a "lower effective tax rate," reflecting a reduction of foreign tax rates, and additional operations in Puerto Rico.
[21784009] |Net also was aided by a gain on the sale of the company's equity interests in South Africa effective Sept. 1.

[21784010] |In New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday, American Home Products closed at $102.25 a share, down 75 cents.

[21784011] |Pfizer

[21784012] |Pfizer said third-quarter sales increased 4% to $1.44 billion from $1.38 billion.
[21784013] |The company said net income was flat because of investment in research and development and costs related to launches of several products.

[21784014] |The company said the dollar's continued strengthening reduced world-wide sales growth by three percentage points.

[21784015] |Pfizer posted its largest gains in healthcare sales, up 3%, and consumer products, up 23%.
[21784016] |Sales by the specialty chemicals and materials science segments were flat, and sales by the agriculture segment declined 5%.

[21784017] |In the health-care segment, pharmaceutical sales increased 4% and sales of hospital products increased 1%.
[21784018] |During the quarter, Pfizer received federal approval of Procardia XL, a calcium channel blocker approved for both angina and hypertension, and Monorail Piccolino, used to open obstructed coronary arteries.

[21784019] |In New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday, Pfizer closed at $67.75 a share, up 75 cents.

[21784020] |Schering-Plough

[21784021] |Schering-Plough said sales gained 2.7% to $743.7 million from $724.4 million.

[21784022] |In the period, the company completed the sale of its European cosmetics businesses, sold a majority interest in its Brazilian affiliate, and announced the reorganization of its over-the-counter drug businesses into a new unit, Schering-Plough Health Care Products.
[21784023] |These actions didn't affect results because the gain on the sale of the European cosmetics businesses was offset by provisions relating to the Brazil divestiture and drug restructuring.

[21784024] |U.S. pharmaceutical sales rose 15%, led by allergy, asthma and cold products; dermatological products; anti-infectives and anti-cancer products; and cardiovascular products.

[21784025] |World-wide consumer product sales declined 12%, primarily because of the European cosmetics sale.
[21784026] |Significantly lower sales of `Stay Trim' diet aids also were a factor in the drop.
[21784027] |The Maybelline beauty product line had higher sales following a sluggish first half.

[21784028] |In Big Board composite trading, Schering-Plough shares fell 75 cents to close at $74.125.

[21785001] |Swedish auto and aerospace concern Saab-Scania AB said it received a 250 million krona ($39 million) order from Swiss Crossair, one of Europe's leading regional air companies, for five Saab 340B turboprop commuter aircraft.

[21786001] |It is quite unfortunate that you failed so miserably in reporting the Hurricane Hugo disaster.
[21786002] |Your Sept. 27 page-one article "Charleston Lost Quite a Lot to Hugo, Especially Gentility" leaves the impression that the storm was little more than an inconvenience.
[21786003] |The damage reported focused on a select few who owned irreplaceable historic homes on the Battery.

[21786004] |Not mentioned were the 50,000 people rendered homeless, and the more than 200,000 out of work for an indeterminable period; the $1 billion-plus in losses to homes and personal property on the barrier islands; the near- and long-term impact on the state's largest industry, tourism, not to mention the human suffering.

[21786005] |In centering on the disruption of a few proud local customs such as the historichomes tour and the damage to the antiquities, your reporter served to only perpetuate an outdated and stereotypically provincial view of this otherwise thriving port city.
[21786006] |The damage will undoubtedly prove to be one of the epic human and economic disasters of the decade in this country.

[21786007] |David M. Carroll

[21786008] |Columbia, S.C.

[21786009] |Your story was tasteless and insensitive.
[21786010] |Depicting the people of a traumatized city reeling from a disaster of unprecedented proportions was at the very best ludicrous under the circumstances.
[21786011] |Your narrow focus appears to be a contrived attempt to show the people of that historic city to be doddering fools.

[21786012] |You had to have been blind not to see the scenario there for what it was and is and will continue to be for months and even years -- a part of South Carolina that has sustained a blow that the Red Cross expects will cost that organization alone some $38 million.

[21786013] |William C. Barksdale Jr.

[21786014] |Columbia, S.C.

[21786015] |Charleston is historic and aristocratic, as your reporter said, but not haughty, as he suggested.
[21786016] |Charlestonians are instead indomitable and have contributed mightily to the culture and history of our country for more than 300 years.
[21786017] |I suggest your reporter see Charleston next spring in its full glory.
[21786018] |William C. Stuart III

[21786019] |Silver Spring, Md.

[21787001] |Affiliated Bankshares of Colorado Inc. said it agreed to sell its 10% interest in Rocky Mountain Bankcard Systems for $18.5 million to Colorado National Bank of Denver and Central Bank of Denver.

[21787002] |Colorado National is a unit of Colorado National Bankshares Inc. and Central is a unit of First Bank System of Minneapolis.

[21787003] |Affiliated said it expects to record a pretax gain of about $18.5 million from the sale of the credit-card business, which should more than offset any reduction in the carrying value of real estate and real-estate loans on its books.

[21788001] |The U.S. Export-Import Bank tentatively decided to guarantee commercial bank financing for the purchase of two Boeing Co. 767 airliners by Avianca, Colombia's international airline, at a cost of about $150 million.

[21788002] |The loan guarantee would amount to about $127.5 million, or 85% of the cost of the aircraft.

[21788003] |Because of the size of the proposed loan guarantee, the Ex-Im Bank's preliminary commitment is subject to review by the House and Senate Banking committees.
[21788004] |Ex-Im Bank officials said this review process currently is under way.

[21789001] |Sebastian Guzman Cabrera took over the oil workers union, Mexico's most powerful labor organization, only last January.
[21789002] |But even in that short time Mr. Guzman Cabrera has become as controversial in his own way as his deposed predecessor, Joaquin Hernandez Galicia, known as La Quina.

[21789003] |President Carlos Salinas de Gortari used the army to oust La Quina, who reigned for 28 years over a graft-riddled empire that made state-run Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, one of the world's most inefficient oil companies.
[21789004] |Now, Mr. Guzman Cabrera is facing accusations that he's as much a company man as La Quina was a crook.

[21789005] |In recent contract negotiations with Pemex management, Mr. Guzman Cabrera accepted major concessions that greatly curtail the union's role in subcontracting, long a source of millions of dollars in illicit earnings.
[21789006] |And with the quiet pragmatism of Mr. Guzman Cabrera replacing the prickly populism of La Quina, government technocrats have been given a free hand to open the petrochemical sector to wider private and foreign investment.

[21789007] |Mr. Guzman Cabrera's new order hasn't arrived without resistance.
[21789008] |Brawls between union factions still erupt at Pemex installations.
[21789009] |Leftist leader Cuauhtemoc Cardenas publicly questioned Mr. Guzman Cabrera's "moral quality," suggesting he is part of a conspiracy to turn over the country's oil, a symbol of Mexican nationalism, to foreigners.

[21789010] |The 61-year-old Mr. Guzman Cabrera takes such criticisms in stride.
[21789011] |"This isn't a new kind of union leadership, it's a new Mexico.
[21789012] |We're no longer afraid of associating with private or foreign capital," he says.

[21789013] |Pemex, which produces 40% of government revenue, desperately needs new investment.
[21789014] |Since world oil prices collapsed in 1982, the government has siphoned Pemex's coffers to make payments on Mexico's $97 billion foreign debt.
[21789015] |Little money has been returned to upgrade Pemex's aging facilities.
[21789016] |While the government drains Pemex from above, the union has drained it from below.
[21789017] |A bloated payroll and pervasive graft caused Pemex's operating costs to balloon to 95 cents of each $1 in sales, far above the industry norm.

[21789018] |The declines in investment and efficiency explain in part why Mexico has been importing gasoline this year.
[21789019] |Some projections show Mexico importing crude by the end of the century, barring an overhaul of operations.
[21789020] |"Whatever you tried to change, whether it was cutting costs or attracting new partners, the big obstacle was the old union leadership," says oil consultant George Baker.

[21789021] |Enter Mr. Guzman Cabrera, who has a clear understanding of where union leaders fit in the pro-enterprise regime of President Salinas.
[21789022] |"I'm the secretary-general, if there is one," he says, greeting a visitor to his office.
[21789023] |Beginning as a laborer in a refinery, Mr. Guzman Cabrera put in more than 40 years at Pemex before being pushed into retirement by La Quina after a dispute two years ago.

[21789024] |Though he also long benefited from the system built by La Quina, Mr. Guzman Cabrera says union perks had simply gotten out of hand.
[21789025] |They are "at the base of all of the problems of corruption," he says.

[21789026] |Thus, in recent contract negotiations, Mr. Guzman Cabrera gave up the union's right to assign 40% of all of Pemex's outside contracts -- an enormous source of kickbacks.
[21789027] |The union also ceded the 2% commission it had received on all Pemex maintenance contracts.
[21789028] |(The union will keep a 2% commission on construction projects.)

[21789029] |The new contract also eliminates the $15 monthly coupon, good only at union-owned grocery stores, that was part of the salary of every worker, from roughneck to chief executive.
[21789030] |About 9,800 technical workers, notably chemists and lawyers, were switched to non-union status.
[21789031] |Also, because of its reduced capital budget, Pemex has phased out about 50,000 transitory construction workers, reducing the work force to about 140,000, the union leader says.
[21789032] |Mr. Guzman Cabrera says the union's sacrifices will be offset by a wage and benefit package that amounts to a 22% increase in compensation.

[21789033] |But Pemex managers are the ones most thrilled by the contract.
[21789034] |"We are retaking the instruments of administration," says Raul Robles, a Pemex subdirector.
[21789035] |Pemex officials wouldn't say how much money the new contract would save the company, but one previous government estimate pegged savings at around $500 million a year.

[21789036] |Pemex's customers also are pleased with the company's new spirit.
[21789037] |Grupo Desc, a big conglomerate, has long depended on Pemex petrochemicals to produce plastic packing material.
[21789038] |But when the Pemex plant shut down for an annual overhaul, it would never give notice to its customers.
[21789039] |"The capriciousness would completely disrupt our operations," says Ernesto Vega Velasco, Desc's finance director.
[21789040] |This year, for the first time, Desc and other customers were consulted well in advance of the Pemex plant's shutdown to ensure minimal inconvenience.

[21789041] |Taming the union complements previous moves by the government to attract private investment in petrochemicals, which Mexico has been forced to import in large quantities in recent years.
[21789042] |In May, the government unveiled new foreign investment regulations that create special trusts allowing foreigners, long limited to a 40% stake in secondary petrochemical companies, to own up to 100%.
[21789043] |Later, the government reclassified several basic petrochemicals as secondary products.

[21789044] |But Pemex's courtship with private companies, and especially foreign ones, is controversial in a country where oil has been a symbol of national sovereignty since foreign oil holdings were nationalized in 1938.
[21789045] |"They are preparing the workers for what's coming: foreign control," wrote Heberto Castillo, a leftist leader.

[21789046] |Mr. Guzman Cabrera and government officials insist that foreigners will be limited to investing in secondary petroleum products.
[21789047] |But the new union leader makes no apologies for Pemex's more outward-looking attitude.
[21789048] |"If we do not integrate into this new world of interdependence, sooner or later we're going to become victims of our own isolation," he says.

[21790001] |Couple Counseling Grows to Defuse Stress

[21790002] |MORE EXECUTIVES and their spouses are seeking counseling as work and family pressures mount.
[21790003] |Some employers initiate referrals, especially if work problems threaten a top manager's job.

[21790004] |Many couples "are like ships passing in the night," a communications gulf that sparks problems on the job and at home, says psychologist Harry Levinson.
[21790005] |His Levinson Institute in Belmont, Mass., has seen in recent years a doubling in the number of executives and spouses at its weeklong counseling program.
[21790006] |Employers foot the bill, he says, figuring what's good for the couple is good for the company.

[21790007] |One East Coast manufacturing executive, faced with a job transfer his wife resented, found that counseling helped them both come to grips with the move.
[21790008] |And the vice president of a large Midwestern company realized that an abrasive temperament threatened his career when his wife confided that similar behavior at home harmed their marriage.

[21790009] |More dual-career couples also are getting help, with men increasingly bringing their working wives for joint counseling.
[21790010] |"The level of stress for a woman is often so high, it's the husband who says, 'I'm worried about her,'" says psychologist Marjorie Hansen Shaevitz.
[21790011] |Her Institute for Family and Work Relationships in La Jolla, Calif., has noted a doubling in the number of couples seeking help the past two years.

[21790012] |"No matter how competent and smart you both are, the relationship almost certainly will erode if you don't have time to talk, to have fun and to be sexual," says Ms. Shaevitz.

[21790013] |She urges client couples to begin a "detoxification" period, purging social and other nonproductive activities and setting time apart for themselves.
[21790014] |"Putting those times on the calendar," she says, "is as important as remembering business appointments."

[21790015] |Power of Suggestion Stronger in Japan

[21790016] |HERE'S ONE more explanation for why Japan is a tough industrial competitor: Two of three Japanese employees submit suggestions to save money, increase efficiency and boost morale, while only 8% of American workers do.

[21790017] |And the Japanese make far more suggestions -- 2,472 per 100 eligible employees vs. only 13 per 100 employees in the

[21790018] |Data for 1987 from the National Association of Suggestion Systems and the Japan Human Relations Association also indicate that Japanese employers adopt four of five suggestions, while their U.S. counterparts accept just one in four.

[21790019] |In Japan, small suggestions are encouraged.
[21790020] |Each new employee is expected to submit four daily in the first few months on the job.
[21790021] |U.S. companies tend to favor suggestions "that go for the home runs," says Gary Floss, vice president of corporate quality at Control Data Corp.

[21790022] |That helps explain why American employers grant an average award of $604.72 per suggestion, while Japan's payment is $3.23.
[21790023] |Still, suggestions' net savings per 100 employees is $274,475 in Japan vs. $24,891 in the U.S.

[21790024] |U.S. companies developing management teams are wrestling with how to handle individual suggestion systems.
[21790025] |Control Data, for one, plays down its employee suggestion program because it favors the team-management focus.

[21790026] |Merger Fallout: Beware Employee Dishonesty

[21790027] |CORPORATE security directors increasingly worry that merger mania spawns a rise in employee dishonesty.

[21790028] |A Security magazine survey places the effect of takeovers and buy-outs among the industry's 10 biggest challenges.
[21790029] |"If it causes management to take their eye off the ball, inventory shrinkage is going to be affected," says Lewis Shealy, vice president for loss prevention at Marshall Field's, the department store chain.

[21790030] |A separate study of the extent of employee misconduct linked general job satisfaction to property loss.
[21790031] |Co-author Richard Hollinger cites what happened at one family-owned company absorbed by a foreign giant.
[21790032] |Pilferage climbed dramatically as many angry employees "felt abandoned by the former owners," says the University of Florida sociologist.

[21790033] |But top management should watch for other tell-tale signs of employee misdeeds, like expense-account fudging and phone misuse.
[21790034] |Security consultant Dennis Dalton of Ventura, Calif., thinks mergers often trigger longer lunch hours and increased absenteeism, conduct which can sap the bottom line more than thefts.

[21790035] |New management can take several steps to reduce dishonesty.
[21790036] |Most important, experts say, is to show that a company's ethical tone is set at the top.
[21790037] |Mr. Dalton also recommends that the chief executive establish a rumor control center and move swiftly to bolster morale.

[21790038] |Consultant John Keller of Southlake, Texas, urges that top management adopt a "tough hands-on approach" with very tight controls and monitoring.
[21790039] |And security authority Robert L. Duston favors disciplining all employees who cheat.

[21790040] |Firms Walk Fine Line In Distributing Profits

[21790041] |ARE CORPORATE profits distributed fairly?
[21790042] |A survey by Sirota, Alper & Pfau, a New York consulting firm, underscores the difficulty for top management in satisfying employees and investors on that score.

[21790043] |Nearly seven of 10 investors think companies reinvest "too little" of their profits in the business.
[21790044] |And half the employees surveyed think companies dole out too little to them.
[21790045] |But both see a common enemy: About 66% of employees and 73% of investors think senior managers get too big a slice of the profit pie.

[21791001] |Bank of New York Co. said it agreed in principle to acquire the credit-card business of Houston-based First City Bancorp. of Texas for between $130 million and $134 million.

[21791002] |The move, subject to a definitive agreement, is part of a trend by big-city banks that have been buying up credit-card portfolios to expand their business.
[21791003] |Just last month, a Bank of New York subsidiary agreed to buy the credit-card operation of Dreyfus Corp.'s Dreyfus Consumer Bank for $168 million, a transaction that is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

[21791004] |First City's portfolio includes approximately 640,000 accounts with about $550 million in loans outstanding.
[21791005] |First City, which issues both MasterCard and Visa cards, has agreed to act as an agent bank.

[21791006] |At the end of the third quarter, Bank of New York's credit-card business consisted of 2.4 million accounts with $3.6 billion in loans outstanding.
[21791007] |Bank of New York is currently the seventh-largest issuer of credit cards in the

[21791008] |First City said that because of increased competition in the credit-card business, it had decided it either had to expand its own holdings substantially or sell them.
[21791009] |"We think there's a good prospect that competition is going to get pretty fierce in this market," said James E. Day, a First City vice president.
[21791010] |"We see it becoming a bargain-basement kind of business."

[21791011] |The company estimated that the transaction would enhance its book value, which stood at $28.55 a share on Sept. 30, by more than $100 million, or about $4 a share.
[21791012] |The company also said the transaction would bolster after-tax earnings by $3.25 a share when completed and boost its primary capital ratio to 7% from 6.63%.

[21791013] |First City, which recently purchased three small Texas banking concerns, said it would use the proceeds to pursue additional expansion opportunities in the Southwest and elsewhere.
[21791014] |With that possibility in mind, analysts said the transaction was a positive move for First City.

[21791015] |"I think they'll be able to move faster to make acquisitions in Texas," said Brent Erensel, an analyst with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.
[21791016] |"That's something they can do very well.

[21792001] |British Airways PLC said it is seeking improved terms and a sharply lower price in any revised bid for United Airlines parent UAL Corp. following the collapse of a $6.79 billion, $300-a-share buy-out bid.

[21792002] |Derek Stevens, British Air's chief financial officer, told Dow Jones Professional Investor Report a price of $230 a share is "certainly not too low," and indicated his company would like to reduce the size of its $750 million cash investment.

[21792003] |He added the airline isn't committed to going forward with any new bid, and hasn't participated in bankers' efforts to revive the transaction that collapsed.
[21792004] |"We're in no way committed to a deal going through at all.
[21792005] |We're not rushing into anything.
[21792006] |We don't want to be party to a second rejection," he said, adding that coming up with a revised offer could easily take several weeks.

[21792007] |Mr. Stevens's remarks, confirming a report in The Wall Street Journal that British Air wants to start from scratch in any new bid for the nation's second-largest airline, helped push UAL stock lower for the fourth straight day.

[21792008] |UAL fell $6.25 a share to $191.75 on volume of 2.3 million shares in composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange as concern deepened among takeover stock traders about the length of time it will take to revive the purchase.

[21792009] |Under the original buy-out approved by the UAL board Sept. 14, UAL's pilots planned to put up $200 million in cash and make $200 million in annual cost concessions for a 75% stake.
[21792010] |UAL management was to pay $15 million for 10%, and British Air was to receive a 15% stake.

[21792011] |The buy-out fell through when Citicorp and Chase Manhattan Corp. unexpectedly failed to obtain bank financing.
[21792012] |Since then, UAL stock has fallen 33% in what may rank as the largest collapse of a takeover stock ever.

[21792013] |The tenor of Mr. Stevens's remarks seemed to indicate that British Air will take a more active, high-profile role in pursuing any new bid.
[21792014] |He said he believes UAL management was badly advised on the funding of its original transaction.

[21792015] |Mr. Stevens said British Air hasn't received any new buy-out proposals from the labor-management group, led by UAL Chairman Stephen Wolf, and hasn't received any indication of when one might be forthcoming.
[21792016] |"As far as we're concerned, we're waiting for the dust to settle," he said.

[21792017] |Although British Air is waiting to see what the buy-out group comes up with, Mr. Stevens said a revised transaction with less debt leverage is likely to be more attractive to banks.
[21792018] |He said the original proposal is dead, and all aspects of a revised version are up for change, in light of the changes in UAL's market price, the amount of debt banks are willing to fund, and the price British Air would be willing to pay.

[21792019] |Mr. Stevens said he expects the new price will be considerably lower, but declined to specify a figure.
[21792020] |Asked whether a $230-a-share figure circulating in the market yesterday is too low, he said, "It's certainly not too low."

[21792021] |He added the original offer was "a pretty full price," and that British Air's contribution "was quite a large chunk for us."
[21792022] |British Air was originally attracted to the chance of obtaining a 15% stake in the company, but wasn't particularly happy with paying $750 million.

[21792023] |"If the {new} deal had us putting up less money but still having 15%, that would be a point in our favor," he said.
[21792024] |In any new proposal, British Air would expect a greater rate of return than the 20%-plus in the original proposal.

[21792025] |In the event that the buy-out group stalls in reviving its bid, the UAL board could remain under some pressure to seek another transaction, even without any legal obligation to do so.
[21792026] |Roughly one-third of its stock is believed held by takeover stock traders, who could vote to oust the board if they become impatient.

[21792027] |Meanwhile, the buy-out group's task of holding its fragile coalition together, in the face of the bid's collapse and internal opposition from two other employee groups, has been further complicated by an apparent rift in the ranks of the pilot union itself.

[21792028] |A pilot representing a group of 220 pilots hired during United's 1985 strike filed suit Friday in Chicago federal court to block the takeover.
[21792029] |The dissident pilots oppose the plan because it would cause them to lose their seniority.

[21792030] |UAL's management agreed to reduce the seniority of those pilots in exchange for the support of the United pilot union for the buy-out proposal.
[21792031] |The 220 pilots involved in the suit aren't members of the union.
[21792032] |The airline had allowed them to move ahead of some union members in seniority following the 1985 strike, a move the union had contested in a previous lawsuit.

[21792033] |Judith Valente contributed to this article.

[21793001] |Corporate efforts to control health-care costs by requiring evaluations prior to planned hospitalization and surgery haven't been sweeping enough to reduce the long-term rate of cost increases, according to a study by the Institute of Medicine.

[21793002] |In the last decade, many corporations have embraced the "utilization management" cost containment strategy as a way to control health-care costs for employees.
[21793003] |These programs vary widely, but often require second opinions on proposed surgery, preadmission reviews of elective hospitalizations and reviews of treatment during illnesses or recovery periods.
[21793004] |Between 50% and 75% of today's workers are covered by such plans, up from 5% five years ago.

[21793005] |"Although it probably has reduced the level of expenditures for some purchasers, utilization management -- like most other cost containment strategies -- doesn't appear to have altered the long-term rate of increase in health-care costs," the Institute of Medicine, an affiliate of the National Academy of Sciences, concluded after a two-year study.
[21793006] |"Employers who saw a short-term moderation in benefit expenditures are seeing a return to previous trends."

[21793007] |While utilization management frequently reduces hospitalization costs, these savings are often offset by increases in outpatient services and higher administrative costs, according to the report by a panel of health-care experts.

[21793008] |The report suggested that current review programs are too narrow.
[21793009] |"The unnecessary and inappropriate use of the hospital, and not the actual need for a particular procedure, has been the main focus," the panel said.
[21793010] |"As a general rule, prior-review programs have not made case-by-case assessments of the comparative costs of alternative treatments or sites of care."
[21793011] |The report said that utilization management should have more of an impact as federal research on the effectiveness of medical treatments helps lead to medical practice guidelines.

[21793012] |Howard Bailit, a panel member and a vice president of Aetna Life & Casualty, said that utilization management will also do a better job of containing costs as it spreads to cover medical services delivered outside of hospitals.
[21793013] |"There's pretty good evidence that utilization management has reduced inappropriate hospitalization," he said.
[21793014] |But at the same time, spending on physician services and ambulatory care have mushroomed.
[21793015] |"It's like squeezing a balloon," Dr. Bailit said.

[21793016] |David Rahill of A. Foster Higgins & Co. said that clients of his consulting firm report that utilization management reduces their hospital care bills by about 5%, but he agreed that for the health-care system as whole, some of these savings are offset by administrative and outpatient care costs.

[21793017] |Jerome Grossman, chairman of the panel, agrees that administrative costs of utilization management programs can be high.
[21793018] |"You have a whole staff standing ready" to evaluate the appropriateness of recommended treatment, he said.
[21793019] |Dr. Grossman, who also is president of New England Medical Center Hospitals in Boston, noted that the hospitals he runs deal with more than 100 utilization management firms and that many of them have different procedures and requirements.
[21793020] |The panel urged greater efforts to reduce the complexity, paperwork and cost of utilization review.

[21793021] |"Utilization management needs to better demonstrate that it reduces the wasteful use of resources, improves the appropriateness of patient care and imposes only reasonable burdens on patients and providers," the panel concluded.

[21794001] |Renault and DAF Trucks NV announced a preliminary agreement to jointly manufacture a line of trucks in Britain and France.

[21794002] |Philippe Gras, a Renault managing director, said the new line will cover trucks of between 2.5 tons and 4.2 tons and will be built at Renault's Bapilly plant in France and at DAF's British plant.
[21794003] |The French state-controlled auto group and the Dutch truck maker plan to incorporate the new trucks into their product lines when they begin production toward the middle of the 1990s.

[21794004] |Mr. Gras said he expects a definitive agreement between the two companies to be completed in the next few months.
[21794005] |The venture is the latest example of the trend toward cooperative projects in Europe ahead of the 1992 deadline for eliminating trade barriers within the European Community.

[21794006] |Renault and DAF are expected to invest a total of about three billion French francs ($157.8 million) in the venture, including FFr1 billion for design and development costs.
[21794007] |In addition, the companies will each spend about FFr1 billion on tooling up their plants.

[21794008] |Mr. Gras said the joint venture represents considerable savings for both Renault and DAF, since both companies would in any case have had to renew their existing ranges of light goods vehicles.
[21794009] |By pooling their resources, the two groups have effectively halved the design and development costs that would otherwise have been entailed, he said.

[21794010] |Renault officials said the potential European market for light trucks in the 2.5-ton to 4.2-ton range is between 700,000 and 800,000 vehicles annually, and Renault and DAF are aiming for a combined market share of about 11%.

[21794011] |Both Renault and DAF will have world-wide marketing rights for the new range of vans and light trucks.
[21794012] |Under a separate arrangement, British Aerospace PLC's Rover Group PLC subsidiary will also be able to offer the vehicles through its dealers in the U.K., and Renault's truck-building subsidiary Renault Vehicles Industriels will have similar rights in France.

[21794013] |DAF is 16%-owned by British Aerospace, with a further 6.5% held by the Dutch state-owned chemical group NV DSM.
[21794014] |The van Doorne family of the Netherlands holds an additional 11% of DAF's capital.

[21795001] |The Federal Reserve System is the standard object of suggestions for organizational and institutional changes, for two reasons.

[21795002] |First, its position in the government is anomalous.
[21795003] |It has an unusual kind of independence from elected officials and still has authority over one of the most powerful of government's instruments -- the control of the money supply.
[21795004] |Thus we have a condition that is easily described as undemocratic.
[21795005] |Second, the responsibilities of the Federal Reserve as guardian of the currency, which means as guardian of the stability of the price level, sometimes lead it to take measures that are unpopular.
[21795006] |As former Fed Chairman William McChesney Martin used to say, they would have to take the punch bowl away just as the party is getting interesting.

[21795007] |So the Federal Reserve is an attractive target for complaint by politicians.
[21795008] |The Fed is easily assigned the blame for unpleasantness, like high interest rates or slow economic growth, while the politicians can escape responsibility by pointing to the Fed's independence.

[21795009] |This leads to proposals for "reform" of the Fed, which have the common feature of making the Fed more responsive to the administration, to the Congress and to public opinion -- without, however, any assumption of additional responsibility by the politicians.
[21795010] |These proposals include changing the term of the chairman, shortening the terms of the members, eliminating the presidents of the Federal Reserve Banks from the decision-making process, putting the Secretary of the Treasury on the Federal Reserve Board, having the Fed audited by an arm of Congress (the General Accounting Office), putting the Fed's expenditures in the budget, and requiring prompt publication of the Fed's minutes.
[21795011] |Some of these ideas are again under consideration in Congress.

[21795012] |But these proposals do not rest on a view of what the Fed's problem is or, if they do, they rest on an incorrect view.
[21795013] |They would not solve the problem; they would make it worse.
[21795014] |The problem is not that the Fed is too unresponsive to the public interest.
[21795015] |On the contrary, it is too responsive to an incorrect view of the public interest.

[21795016] |The price level in the U.S. is now about 4 1/4 times as high as it was 30 years ago.
[21795017] |On average, something that cost $100 30 years ago now costs $425.
[21795018] |Or, a wage that was $100 30 years ago would buy only $23.53 worth of stuff today.
[21795019] |On two occasions the inflation rate rose to more than 10% a year.
[21795020] |In each case the ending of this unsustainable inflation caused a severe recession -- the two worst of the postwar period.

[21795021] |The enormous inflation over the past 30 years was largely due to monetary policy.
[21795022] |At least, it would not have happened without the support of monetary policy that provided for a 10-fold increase in the money supply during the same period.
[21795023] |And that increase in the money supply would not have happened without the consent of the Federal Reserve.

[21795024] |The basic problem of monetary policy, to which reform of the Fed should be addressed, is to prevent a recurrence of this experience.

[21795025] |There were two general reasons for the mistaken monetary policy of the past 30 years:

[21795026] |1. To some extent the Federal Reserve shared the popular but incorrect view that expansionary monetary policy could yield a net improvement in employment and output.

[21795027] |2. Even where the Fed did not share this view it felt the need to accommodate to it.
[21795028] |Despite all the formal provisions for its independence, the Fed seems constantly to feel that if it uses its independence too freely it will lose it.

[21795029] |The common proposals for reforming the Fed would only make the situation worse, if they had any effect at all.
[21795030] |Putting the Secretary of the Treasury on the Board of Governors, one of the leading proposals today, is an example.
[21795031] |The secretary is the world's biggest borrower of money.
[21795032] |He has a built-in, constant longing for lower interest rates.
[21795033] |Moreover, he is a political agent of a political president, who naturally gives extraordinary weight to the way the economy will perform before the next election, and less to its longer-run health.
[21795034] |These days, the secretary suffers the further disqualification that he is a member of a club of seven finance ministers who meet occasionally to decide what exchange rates should be, which is a diversion from the real business of the Federal Reserve to stabilize the price level.

[21795035] |How should a reasonable member of the Federal Reserve Board interpret a congressional decision to put the secretary on the board?
[21795036] |Could he plausibly interpret it as encouragement for the Fed to give primary emphasis to stabilizing the price level?
[21795037] |Or would he interpret it as instruction to give more weight to these other objectives that the secretary represents -- low interest rates, short-run economic expansion, and stabilization of exchange rates at internationally managed levels?
[21795038] |The answer seems perfectly clear.

[21795039] |(True, a succession of Fed chairmen has given color to the notion that the Secretary of the Treasury belongs on the Fed.
[21795040] |By their constant readiness to advise all and sundry about federal budgetary matters the chairmen have encouraged the belief that fiscal policy and monetary policy are ingredients of a common stew, in which case it is natural that the Fed and the Treasury, and probably also the Congress, should be jointly engaged in stirring the pot.
[21795041] |The Fed's case for its own independence would be a little stronger if it were more solicitous of the independence of the rest of the government.)

[21795042] |The Fed's problem is not that it is too independent, or too unpolitical.
[21795043] |The Fed is responsive to, and cannot help being responsive to, the more overtly political part of the government.
[21795044] |The Fed exercises a power given to it by Congress and the president.
[21795045] |But Congress and the president accept no responsibility for the exercise of the power they have given the Fed.

[21795046] |Critics of the present arrangement are correct to say that it is undemocratic.
[21795047] |What is undemocratic is the unwillingness of the more political parts of the government to take the responsibility for deciding the basic question of monetary policy, which is what priority should be given to stabilizing the price level.
[21795048] |To leave this decision to an "independent" agency is not only undemocratic.
[21795049] |It also prevents the conduct of a policy that has a long-term rationale, because it leaves the Fed guessing about what are the expectations of its masters, the politicians, who have never had to consider the long-term consequences of monetary policy.

[21795050] |The greatest contribution Congress could make at this time would be to declare that stabilizing the price level is the primary responsibility of the Federal Reserve System.
[21795051] |Legislation to this effect has been introduced in Congress in this session by Rep. Stephen Neal (D., N.C.).
[21795052] |It is not the kind of thing that is likely to be enacted, however.
[21795053] |Congress would be required to make a hard decision, and Congress would much prefer to leave the hard decision to the Fed and retain its rights of complaint after the fact.

[21795054] |People will say that the nation and the government have other objectives, in addition to stabilizing the price level, which is true.
[21795055] |But that is not the same as saying that the Federal Reserve has other objectives.
[21795056] |The government has other agencies and instruments for pursuing these other objectives.
[21795057] |But it has only the Fed to pursue price-level stability.
[21795058] |And the Fed has at most very limited ability to contribute to the achievement of other objectives by means other than by stabilizing the price level.

[21795059] |The two objectives most commonly thought to be legitimate competitors for the attention of the Fed are high employment and rapid real growth.
[21795060] |But the main lesson of economic policy in the past 30 years is that if the Fed compromises with the price-stability objective in the pursuit of these other goals, the result is not high employment and rapid growth but is inflation.

[21795061] |A former chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, Mr. Stein is an American Enterprise Institute fellow.

[21796001] |Republic New York Corp. joined the list of banks boosting reserves for losses on loans to less-developed countries, setting out a $200 million provision and posting a $155.4 million third-quarter net loss as a result.

[21796002] |The per-share loss was $5.32.
[21796003] |In the year earlier period, the New York parent of Republic National Bank had net income of $38.7 million, or $1.12 a share.
[21796004] |Excluding the provision, Republic earned $44.6 million, up 15% from a year ago.

[21796005] |The bank's medium-term and long-term loans to less-developed countries total $293 million, of which $146 million aren't accruing interest, the bank said.
[21796006] |Republic's total of nonperforming assets was $167 million at Sept. 30, with its reserve for loan losses now standing at $357 million.

[21797001] |Abortion-rights advocates won last week's battles, but the war over the nation's most-contentious social question is about to pick up again on turf that favors those seeking to restrict abortions.

[21797002] |Strict new regulations seem certain to pass the state House in Pennsylvania next week, with easy approval by the Senate and by Democratic Gov. Bob Casey expected shortly thereafter.
[21797003] |Legislation to require the consent of parents before their daughters under the age of 18 can have abortions will probably pass both houses of the Michigan legislature and set up a grinding battle to override the expected veto of Democratic Gov. James Blanchard.

[21797004] |The short-term shift in the political climate surrounding abortion reflects two factors that are likely to govern the debate in the next several months: the reawakening of the abortion-rights movement as a potent force after years of lassitude, and the ability of each side to counter the other's advance in one arena with a victory of its own elsewhere.

[21797005] |The action in Pennsylvania, for example, will follow last week's collapse of a special session of the Florida legislature to enact restrictions on abortions in that state, and the vote here in Washington by the House to permit federally paid abortions for poor women who are victims of rape or incest.
[21797006] |But President Bush is expected to veto the congressional legislation and that, along with the easy approval of the Pennsylvania measure, is likely to mute the abortion-rights activists' claims of momentum and underline the challenges faced by this resurgent movement.

[21797007] |"It's great to feel good for once in 15 years," says Harrison Hickman, a consultant to abortion-rights advocates, reflecting the relief of his compatriots after last week's victories, the first major events since the Supreme Court, in its July 3 Webster decision, permitted the states to enact restrictions on abortions.
[21797008] |"But how many more times we're going to feel good in the next 15 is another question."

[21797009] |Indeed, abortion-rights activists still face their greatest tests.
[21797010] |"The pro-choice movement has shown -- finally -- that it can mobilize," says Glen Halva-Neubauer, a Furman University political scientist who specializes in how state legislators handle the abortion question.
[21797011] |"But it still hasn't shown that it can win in a state like Pennsylvania or Missouri, where abortion has been clearly an electoral issue and where it's been an emotional issue for a long time."

[21797012] |The foes of abortion hold the strong whip hand in Pennsylvania, where abortion-rights activists are so much on the defensive that their strategy is less to fight the proposed legislation than it is to stress how the state legislature doesn't reflect the viewpoints of the state's citizens.

[21797013] |As a result, GOP state Rep. Stephen Freind of Delaware County, the legislature's leading foe of abortion, has been given all but free rein to press a strict seven-point plan to restrict abortion and, he hopes, to force the Supreme Court directly to reassess its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established the right of abortion in the first place.

[21797014] |The Freind legislation -- the state's House Judiciary Committee approved it in Harrisburg this week and the full Pennsylvania House is expected to take up the bill next Tuesday -- includes a provision to ban abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy, except to avert the death of the mother.
[21797015] |Mr. Freind calculates that the provision, which attacks the trimester standards that Roe established, will "make it necessary" for the Supreme Court to review Roe and, perhaps, to overturn it.

[21797016] |But the Pennsylvania measure also includes an "informed consent" provision that may become widely imitated by abortion foes who want to make women contemplating abortion as uncomfortable as possible with the procedure and with themselves.
[21797017] |Under this legislation, a woman must be informed 24 hours before the operation of the details of the procedure and its risks.

[21797018] |"Regardless of whether one supports or opposes the right to an abortion," Mr. Freind argues, "it is virtually impossible for any rational human being to disagree with the concept that a woman has the right to have all of the appropriate materials and advice made available to her before she makes a decision which, one way or the other, might remain with her for the rest of her life."

[21797019] |In Michigan, where the state Senate is expected to approve parental-consent legislation by the end of next week, Gov. Blanchard is the principal obstacle for anti-abortionists.
[21797020] |Susan Rogin, a consultant to abortion-rights activists in the state, takes comfort from the fact that the state's House abortion opponents "haven't been able to muster the votes to overturn a veto on abortion in 16 years."
[21797021] |But proponents believe they may be able to shake enough votes loose to override the veto if they are successful in portraying the legislation as a matter of parents' rights.

[21797022] |In Illinois, lawmakers will vote before next spring on legislation requiring physicians to perform tests on fetuses at 20 weeks to determine their gestational age, weight and lung maturity along with a provision requiring that, if fetuses survive an abortion, a second doctor must be on hand to help it survive.
[21797023] |The legislation failed by one vote to clear the House Rules Committee Tuesday, but anti-abortionists still may succeed in bringing the measure to the floor this fall.
[21797024] |Pamela Sutherland, executive director of the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council, says she and her allies are "cautiously optimistic" they can defeat it if it comes to a floor vote.

[21797025] |Abortion foes in Wisconsin, meanwhile, expect a parental-consent bill to be sent to the state assembly floor by early November and are hopeful of prevailing in both houses by next March.
[21797026] |In Texas, abortion opponents want to pass parental-consent legislation along with a statewide ban on the use of public funds, personnel and facilities for abortion, and viability tests for fetuses 19 weeks and older.
[21797027] |The anti-abortionists are urging GOP Gov. Bill Clements to press the issues in a special session scheduled to run Nov. 14 to Dec. 13.

[21797028] |"The prognosis is only fair," says Kathie Roberts, administrative director of the Texas Right to Life Committee.
[21797029] |"Next year is an election year and the legislators just don't want to do anything about this now."

[21797030] |This legislative activity comes as both sides are undertaking new mobilization efforts, plunging into gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey, and girding for next autumn's state elections.

[21797031] |At the same time, abortion foes have developed a national legislative strategy, deciding to move on what Jacki Ragan, the National Right to Life Committee's director of state organizational development, calls "reasonable measures that an overwhelming mainstream majority of Americans support."
[21797032] |These include bans on the use of abortion for birth control and sex selection, and the public funding of alternatives for abortion.
[21797033] |"Those who are on the other side can hardly oppose alternative funding if they continue to insist on calling themselves 'pro-choice' rather than `pro-abortion,'" says Mary Spaulding, the group's associate state legislative coordinator.

[21797034] |Over the weekend, the National Abortion Rights Action League singled out eight politicians, including Pennsylvania's Mr. Freind, as 1990 targets and held a Washington seminar designed to train its leaders in political techniques, including how to put the anti-abortionists on the defensive in state legislatures.
[21797035] |"We now see pro-choice legislators going on the offensive for the first time," says Kate Michelman, executive director of the group.

[21798001] |Wall Street

[21798002] |When I was just a child And confronted by my fears, The things that I thought would get me Had fangs and pointed ears.

[21798003] |Nothing much has changed -- My periodic scares Are still from hostile animals, Only now, they're bulls and bears.

[21798004] |-- Pat D'Amico.

[21798005] |Daffynition

[21798006] |Trained dolphins: pur-poises.

[21798007] |-- Marrill J. Pederson.

[21799001] |This maker and marketer of cartridge tape systems said it completed the sale of 2.85 million shares of common priced at $10 a share in an initial public offering.
[21799002] |The company said that it is selling two million shares and that the rest are being sold by certain stockholders.
[21799003] |Proceeds will be used for capital expenditures and working capital.
[21799004] |Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Montgomery Securities Inc. are co-managing the offering.