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University Daily Kansan
Monday, April 15, 1963
U.S. Steel May Sway Industry Prices Today
PITTSBURGH — (UPI) — The giant U.S. Steel Corp. today may disclose its position on the sensitive question of price increases in the industry. Two smaller firms already have announced price hikes.
Lukens Steel Co., of Coatesville, Pa., stirred the watchfulness of President Kennedy and the rest of the industry yesterday when it announced increases ranging from $5 to $7 a ton. Wheeling Steel Corp. had announced hikes last Tuesday.
U. S. Steel, the nation's No.1 producer and the leader of the industry, will influence the rest of the steel firms whichever way it moves.
IF IT RAISES prices, the rest of the industry may follow suit. This probably would precipitate new wage demands from the steelworkers Union, which is free to reopen talks for pay and fringe benefit increases on May 1.
If U.S. Steel stands pat, Lukens and Wheeling may have to back down on their increases, under threat of losing business from customers who would turn to cheaper sources of supply.
U. S. Steel refrained from comment on the Wheeling and Lukens price increases. It was U.S. Steel that aroused the administration when it announced a price hike of $6 a ton. An angry President Kennedy forced the big firm to rescind the increase.
What U.S. Steel—and the rest of the industry—was studying was the Presidential reaction to the Lukens and Wheeling hikes.
THE WHITE HOUSE commentary was cautious following the Lukens announcement yesterday. A Presidential spokesman reiterated a statement made by Kennedy last week
Campus Life Offers A Few Advantages During Vacation
Spring vacation for most students means loading clothes into cars or onto trains or buses to head home for ten days of leisure before the big push into final week.
But many foreign students, most Lawrence students, and a few others stay.
IF THE CAMPUS seemed desolate, those who stayed enjoyed some rare advantages:
- Driving on campus was permitted and parking space was plentiful.
- Good seats at the movies were easy to find, even if good movies weren't.
- The grocery stores weren't jammed aisle to aisle, but the socially oriented student found most of the favorite watering spots closed for want of customers.
- The bowling lanes and pool tables were open to ready use without waiting, and for the conscientious there was no waiting line at the library—when it was open.
BUT SHORTLY after noon Sunday, KU showed signs of returning to normal.
Taxicabs and autos disorged girls at the doors of sororities and dormitories; fraternity and dormitory men drove into the parking areas, the back of their cars loaded with freshly-launered clothes and unopened books.
And about ten o'clock Sunday night the most reliable barometer of student population registered "full house"-the drive-in restaurants on West 23rd Street were packed.
Things have returned to normal.
STUDENTS
Grease Jobs . . $1.00
Brake Adj. . . . 98c
when Wheeling raised its prices an average of $6 per ton.
Automotive Service Motor Tune-Ups, Wheel Balancing
Recognizing the needs of the industry, the President endorsed "selective" increases, but said it was important "for the industry and the country that overall price stability should be maintained."
Kennedy made it clear that he again would oppose an across-the-board increase, such as U.S. Steel precipitated last year.
It was not clear just how "selective" the Lukens hike was. The company said less than half its sales would be affected by the increase. But White House economic experts studying the move were said to feel that "quite a majority" of Lukens' products would be involved.
THE LUKENS INCREASE, effective today, would affect plate and steel alloy plates. The company is the country's third largest producer of steel.
7 a.m.-11 p.m.
Waiting in the wings to see what Kennedy and U.S. Steel would do were at least three other giant producers — National, Jones & Laughlin and Republic.
Bethlehem Steel, the second ranked producer, had no comment on the Lukens increase. But last Tuesday, just before the Wheeling announcement, Bethlehem board chairman Arthur B. Homer told the firm's stockholders he did not feel a price hike was timely now.
The million-member steelworkers union was more cautious than the big steel firms in the present touchy situation. It made no comment on the Wheeling and Lukens announcements.
PRESIDENT KENEDY has vigorously urged labor to do its part in maintaining price stability and preventing an upward spiral of costs and wages in the industry.
PAGE CREIGHTON
FINA SERVICE
1819 W. 23rd
A price hike would trigger new wage demands only if it was felt the market could support them. The market now is good; steel output last week was 2,450,000 tons, and next week's may be the highest since March of 1960.
KU Student Killed While Visiting Wife
A KU student was killed during the spring vacation while home visiting his wife and three children.
Fitzpatrick had planned to move his wife and children to Lawrence this summer.
He was Richard Fitzpatrick, 25 of Hardin, Mont. He was a sophomore in the College.
York's Condition Listed as Critical
Fitzpatrick had attended KU from 1957-1959. He then joined the military before returning to KU in February.
The car Fitzpatrick was driving collided with the rear of another car, according to Everett Bullis, a coroner. The accident occurred on U.S. 87, four miles south of Hardin.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — (UPI) — Sgt. Alvin York, one of America's mightiest fighting men, lay in critical condition today with both heart and lung trouble.
The 75-year-old World War I hero was brought to the St. Thomas Hospital here Saturday by ambulance from his Pall Mall, Tenn., home.
The hospital last night said that York's condition was still critical but noted that his blood pressure, which had been fluctuating, was back to normal.
York has been paralyzed from the waist down for the past eight years. He had been brought to St. Thomas in March this year when he had chest pains and it was feared he may have cracked a rib in falling out of his bed at home.
Doctors were to get the results of tests this afternoon to determine whether the old soldier suffered permanent heart damage and to pinpoint other troubles.
York won the nation's highest military honor—the Medal of Honor—for his World War I exploits. A mountain man who didn't want to fight, York was credited with single-handedly killing 25 Germans and taking 132 prisoners in a battle in the Argonne Forest 45 years ago.
OTTAWA — (UPI) — Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and Liberal Leader Lester B. Pearson meet today to talk about switching jobs.
Diefenbaker, Pearson Plan Transfer of Power
A GOVERNMENT spokesman said no date for the transfer of power would be known until after the meeting, but it was expected that Pearson would become Prime Minister and Diefenbaker opposition leader sometime this week.
The 130-seats, including the two picked up Saturday with the armed forces vote results, the Liberals won in the election left the party only three seats short of a majority in the 265-seat House. But the elections left Dieffenbaker's Conservative Party with only 94 seats and with no alternative but to hand over the reins of power to Pearson.
Diefenbaker, Prime Minister for nearly six years, and Pearson, opposition leader since 1957, were scheduled to meet in Diefenbaker's office to discuss "the date of the change-over of government."
To outvote the Liberals in the Commons, Diefenbaker would have needed the constant support of two parties which repudiated him in February when his government was topped—the 24-member right-wing Social Credit Party and the 17-
After the meeting Diefenbaker's next step would be to submit his resignation to Governor General George Vanier, the queen's representative in Canada.
The 67-year-old Prime Minister telegraphed Pearson on Saturday that he was conceding defeat in last Monday's national elections which saw his Conservative Party end up with fewer House of Commons seats than the Liberals.
LAWNMOWER REPAIRS
BLEVINS BIKE SHOP 7th & Michigan
FORUM ROOM in Union
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member left-wing New Democrat Party.
MEANWHILE three of six Social Credit members-elect from Quebec have repudiated a notarized pledge of support for a liberal government, which was sent to Governor-General Vanier yesterday.
Yesterday, the party's House of Commons whip, Dr. Guy Marcoux, said Robert Beaule, Lucien Plourde, and Fierre Andre Boutin, all members-elect for Quebec City area ridings, had been "tricked" into signing the document. Marcoux said the three members signed the pledge of support in the presence of a notary, on the understanding it was for a party caucus and would not be made public.
All six, however, said they would remain as members of the Social Credit Party and would support Pearson only in the interests of a stable government.
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411 W. 14th VI 3-1571
AL LAUTER
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