Something Extra

• Share

Said General Motors Corp. Chairman Alfred P. Sloan Jr. last week: "A dividend increase at this time will help to keep [stockholders'] returns since the war more in line with the increased cost of living." G.M.'s contribution to the cause: a fat $2.50 extra dividend on top of its regular $1.50 quarterly payment. All told, G.M. stockholders will get $176 million for the quarter, of which $40 million will go to Du Pont, biggest G.M. stockholder. G.M. dividends this year already amount to $7 a share v. 1949's total payment of $8.

Other big companies followed suit. U.S. Rubber tacked a 25¢ extra on its regular 75¢ dividend; International Paper gave its shareholders a 25% stock dividend plus 75¢ in cash; U.S. Gypsum doubled its $1 quarterly payment. By midweek this flood of dividends had stimulated another upsurge in the stock market. The Dow-Jones industrial average reached 216.97, highest since the Korean invasion, before traders began to cash in some of their profits.