TIME CLOCK

LABOR SHORTAGE is pinching industry. Business is so good that the Labor Department lists only 19 labor surplus areas (e.g., Philadelphia, Fall River, Mass.) around the U.S., the lowest number since 1953. In Chicago, Los Angeles and half a dozen other cities, good jobs in such industries as shipbuilding, aircraft and farm machinery are going begging.

STOCK-SPLITTING WAVE is rolling higher. Montgomery Ward proposes a 2-for-1 of its 6,502,378 shares (now selling around $100), will also boost its quarterly dividend from 75¢ to $1 on present shares, and hand out a year-end extra of $1.25. Other splits last week: Federated Department Stores (Boston's Filene's, Manhattan's Bloomingdale's, etc.), which will split 3,598,067 common shares 2-for-1; Phillips-Jones Corp. (shirts, men's wear), which wants to split 263,805 shares 3-for-1.

THEATER BUSINESS is good. For the first six months of the 1955-56 season, Broadway theaters have grossed $15.2 million, 16% better than the previous peak, in 1954-55.

JET TRANSPORT RACE between Boeing and Douglas is getting hotter. Braniff Airways has given Boeing a boost with a $30 million order for five 707s packing Pratt & Whitney J75 engines (v. smaller J57s on earlier 707s), will use them on both overseas and domestic runs. Sales score to date: 69 of Douglas' DC-8s, 60 of Boeing's 707s, including an option for five from Belgium's Sabena Airlines.

WESTINGHOUSE STRIKE, already in its eighth week, will probably be a fight to the finish. Negotiations between Westinghouse and electrical workers are still snarled, and 40 of 98 plants are shut down. Westinghouse is clearing the decks by chopping executive salaries 40% to 50%, cutting purchases and research to the bone; company will also lay off large numbers of white-collar and nonstriking workers.

MACHINE-TOOL PRODUCTION will be stepped up under a new Air Force program. Instead of buying tools for stockpiling, the Air Force will buy $52.9 million worth of tools for immediate installation to replace obsolete equipment.

COLOR TV SALES, currently lagging because of high prices, will get a boost from a new CBS trade-in plan. To promote its big-screen—and high-priced ($895)—color set, CBS will credit buyers with the full purchase price of their old black and white receiver.

FLOYD ODLUM'S ATLAS Corp., already one of the biggest uranium miners, is growing still bigger. For $7,250,000 Atlas bought more than 50% of the Almar uranium mine through purchase of Almar Minerals Inc., which owns about 15,000 acres with at least 600,000 tons of ore in the Big Indian area of Utah. Total Atlas uranium investment: $37 million.

ALUMINUM EXPANSION will put Henry J. Kaiser in second place in the industry, bumping Reynolds back to third spot. Kaiser will spend $280 million on two new plants, one at Ravenswood, W. Va., and another at Gramercy, La., boost capacity 50% to 654,000 tons annually, right behind No. 1 producer Alcoa.