CORPORATIONS: Dial Three for One

Some 12,000 stockholders gathered in a Bronx armory last week for the annual meeting of American Telephone & Telegraph Co., by far the biggest such meeting in history. Previous record: 4,700 at Standard Oil (N.J.) meeting last year. The big drawing card: a vote on the proposed three-for-one stock split. On hand to keep the proceedings moving smoothly were 250 ushers and hostesses, plus a catering staff of 200 that served box lunches (ham, beef and nut-bread sandwiches, cottage cheese salad, frozen peaches and cake).

Although some stockholders arrived in chauffeured limousines, the great majority, as in past years, trudged up...