Time Clock, Oct. 20, 1958

HUGE MISSILE CONTRACTS go to Boeing, named over Convair and Douglas to be prime contractor for solid-fuel Minuteman system, with variable ranges from 500 to 5,500 miles (TIME, March 10). In next few years, Boeing will share in $10 billion to $12 billion worth of Minuteman business.

NEW CREDIT-CARD DEAL will allow holders of American Express cards to charge auto parts and service with Big Three dealers. Letters endorsing the plan were mailed by General Motors to 16,000 dealers, by Ford to 8,900 dealers, by Chrysler to 8,000 dealers.

SAHARA PIPELINE CONTRACT is expected to go to Bechtel Corp. of San Francisco, which is now negotiating with French. Pipe will start pumping in 1960, have top yearly capacity of almost 100 million bbl., carry oil 475 miles from rich Algerian fields near Edjele (TIME, Aug. 5, 1957) to Mediterranean port of Gabes, Tunisia.

NEXT FTC TARGET will be phony bargains based on false markups. Commission has ordered intensified drive against merchants who claim "50% off" or "wholesale prices," unless sale item has been regularly sold at the higher price.

JET PLANE RESERVATIONS are booming. Pan Am, due to start daily jet flights to Paris Oct. 26, has booked about 3,300 jet passengers for winter season ending in March (225% more traffic than on its North Atlantic run a year ago). American, which plans New York-West Coast jet service beginning Jan. 11, already has 1,000 reservations. BOAC, with once-a-week flights to Europe, has 500 jet bookings.