Time Clock, Jun. 23, 1958

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LIGHT, COMPACT CAR with aluminum rear engine may be brought out by General Motors by late 1959. Detroit buzzes that car will be low and short (102-to 108-in. wheelbase), may get 30-40 miles per gallon. Expected price: $1,800-$2,200.

HIGH MEAT PRICES will stay all year because output, already low, is dropping farther than most forecasters had expected. Per capita meat production in U.S. this year will be 151 Ibs. v. 159 lbs. last year.

FAIR TRADE COMEBACK will be tried by General Electric, which ostensibly gave up its longtime crusade for list prices last winter (TIME, March 10). As a start, company will sell a quality-type electric blanket only to stores that sign contracts agreeing to factory-set prices ($47.95 for a double-bed size).

ARISTOTLE ONASSIS has been sued by U.S. Government on charges that he reneged on promise to build $50 million worth of tankers in U.S. yards. Onassis made the pledge in return for Government's permission to transfer 14 of his U.S.-flag ships to cut-rate Liberian registry (TIME, July 16, 1956). Government wants ships returned, plus the $20 million in estimated profits they made in last year and a half.

SOIL-BANK PAYMENTS will be boosted from average $10 per acre to $13.50 to induce more farmers to withdraw land from production. Farmers so far have signed up for only half of the $325 million appropriated to program for fiscal 1958.

TWO LUXURY SHIPS will be built for $200 million—55% paid by Government—and will bolster domestic lines that have been losing tourist trade to foreign-flag ships. A 2,000-passenger ship, similar to S.S. United States, will go to United States Lines to replace aging S.S. America on North Atlantic run. The other will go to American President Lines for use in Pacific.