CORPORATIONS: Santa Comes to Follansbee

Only hours before its death sentence was to be carried out last week, the little town of Follansbee, W.Va. got a reprieve—and then a full pardon. Follansbee's doom seemed to be sealed by the deal under which Promoter Frederick W. Richmond would buy out the town's major employer, Follansbee Steel Corp., and sell the mill and inventories to Republic Steel Corp. for dismantling and shipment down South (TIME, Sept. 27; Nov. 8). At the last minute, Federal District Judge Herbert S. Boreman stepped in. He declared last week that the Follansbee stockholders vote approving the deal was null and void on the ground that Follansbee management had omitted vital facts and figures from its proxy statement. Then Cleveland's Financier Cyrus Eaton appeared on the scene.

Eaton announced that he would buy the mill from Richmond for an undisclosed sum and keep it operating right where it is. Cy Eaton, who had put in a bid for Follansbee a month before, and failed, won the mill this time because Republic Steel agreed to call off its deal with Richmond. No news could have pleased Follansbee more. Said the steel company's general foreman, Boyd McCall: "This is the best Christmas present the people of Follansbee could get. And Mr. Eaton is the Santa Claus."