Scrap Game

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With a deep sigh of relief, the U.S.

Maritime Commission got rid of its biggest white elephant—the Normandie. The once-proud liner had cost the French $60 million to build, had cost the U.S. Government another $11 million to salvage and maintain. Last week the Commission sold her for scrap. Price: $161,680.

The buyer: Lipsett, Inc., a Jamestown, N.Y. steel scrap firm. Lipsett intends to cut the Normandie down to the waterline, then raise the hull and break it up. Total cost of the operation: between $600,000 and $750,000.

Lipsett expects the Normandie to yield about 40,000 tons of steel scrap (worth some $15 a ton), which will just about cover scrapping costs. Any profit will depend upon how much brass, copper, lead, etc. (worth up to $240 a ton) he can salvage. Said company President Morris Lipsett: "It's just like a crap game

You never know how these things pan out."