Randolph W. McElroy , a vice chairman of this bank-holding company , was named to the additional position of chairman of its principal unit , Sovran Bank . Mr. McElroy , 54 years old , will remain president and chief executive officer of the unit . Sovran also named John B. Werner a vice chairman of the parent company and the unit and elected him to the newly created position of chief credit officer of Sovran Financial , increasing the number of corporate board members to 35 . Mr. Werner , 58 , was formerly senior executive vice president of the parent company and the unit . Moody 's Investors Service Inc. said it lowered the debt ratings of certain long-term debt held by this company . The debt-rating concern cited the bank 's move into the Texas market , noting its profitability and capital adequacy measurements will be depressed relative to the bank 's past performance . Moody 's also said it raised its rating on the Deposit Insurance Bridge Bank , now known as Bank One , Texas N.A. , reflecting the support of other banking affiliates and substantial assistance for the FDIC . Officials at the New York bank-holding company were n't available for comment on the debt-rating changes . At Lloyd 's of London , underwriters still scratch out policies using fountain pens and blotting paper . Visitors are ushered into the premises by red-frocked doormen known as waiters , a reminder of the insurance market 's origins in a coffeehouse in 17th century London . Such trappings suggest a glorious past but give no hint of a troubled present . Lloyd 's , once a pillar of the world insurance market , is being shaken to its very foundation . The 301-year-old exchange is battered by enormous claims from a decade-long run of unprecedented disasters , the most recent of which is last week 's earthquake in California 's Bay Area . At the same time , Lloyd 's is besieged by disgruntled investors and hamstrung by inefficient but time-honored ways of conducting business . The exchange is gradually being squeezed into narrow , less-profitable segments of the market by less hidebound competitors . `` Lloyd 's is on the ropes , '' says Peter Nutting , a Lloyd 's investor for 17 years who now leads a dissident group threatening to sue exchange underwriters for alleged mismanagement and negligence . `` It needs more discipline . It needs to sort itself out . '' Most troublesome is the shrinking pool of `` names , '' the well-heeled investors ( some of them royal ) who , as members of about 360 syndicates , underwrite policies . Some 1,750 members quit the exchange last year , more than triple the number of resignations in 1987 . Names are resigning at an even faster pace this year . Lackluster returns are one reason . The average after-tax return on investment in 1986 , the most recent year for which results are available , was 6.5 % , according to Chatset Ltd. , an insurance consulting firm in London . In 1985 , it was 2.1 % . Between 1981 and 1986 , the most recent five-year period for which figures are available , Lloyd 's reported over # 3.6 billion in claims and reserves against future losses ( $ 5.7 billion at today 's exchange rates ) , more than double the # 1.35 billion posted in the previous five-year period . Many of the 31,329 investors who remain are beginning to question one of the exchange 's most basic tenets , the concept of unlimited personal liability . Investors may reap huge profits when premiums exceed claims , but they are liable to their last pound or dollar in the event of a catastrophe . And catastrophes are getting ever more costly . Lloyd 's claims for the 1988 Piper Alpha oil-rig disaster in the North Sea , for instance , may reach $ 1 billion . During the five-year period ended 1986 , roughly 80 % of the names had money tied up in money-losing syndicates , according to Chatset consultants . The peril of unlimited liability looms large for a number of them now . `` I have wished I could die and be out of it -- that 's how bad it is , '' Betty Atkins , a secretary from suburban London , says . Ms. Atkins , whose Lloyd 's membership was a bonus from a former employer in 1981 , belongs to Mr. Nutting 's dissident group on the Outhwaite syndicate , which has been hard hit by asbestos reinsurance claims . Ms. Atkins , who underwrote # 20,000 , or about $ 32,000 , of insurance coverage on that syndicate , now faces potential losses of roughly # 70,000 , or $ 111,000 . `` If Lloyd 's wants # 70,000 out of me they will have to take everything I 've got -- and even then I do n't know if it will be enough , '' she says . Unease is widespread among exchange members . `` I ca n't think of any reason to join Lloyd 's now , '' says Keith Whitten , a British businessman and a Lloyd 's member since 1979 . `` The downside is very considerable , and at the moment the upside is very marginal . '' If profits do n't improve , Mr. Whitten says he may quit the exchange . Meanwhile , competition from rivals unencumbered by history is intensifying . Lloyd 's is being squeezed out of low-margin but more consistently profitable product lines such as primary property and marine insurance . Over the past decade , competitors have chipped away at the exchange 's share of the # 2.5 billion marine market in London , where half the world 's ships are insured . Lloyd 's 66 % stake in that market has shrunk to 50 % in that period , according to an official at the Institute of London Underwriters , a Lloyd 's competitor . ( The official asked not to be named . ) Much of the business has gone to the institute , an association of more than 100 insurers , including Cigna Corp. , Allianz Versicherungs AG of West Germany and Britain 's Commercial Union Assurance PLC . Lloyd 's has endured decades of genteel decline . At the peak of its power and influence a century ago , Lloyd 's dominated the insurance world with a 50 % stake . It virtually dictated how ships were to be built and it monitored commerce through a unrivaled intelligence network in ports around the globe . Today , Lloyd 's share of the world market , excluding life insurance , is about 2 % . ( Its stake is even smaller if life insurance is included . ) Bigger rivals , such as Aetna and Allianz , backed by armies of statisticians using computers in hundreds of branches , operate more efficiently and often can offer lower rates , brokers say . Though Lloyd 's pioneered such now-standard policies as worker 's compensation insurance , burglary insurance for homeowners and businesses , and bankers ' liability insurance , competitors now underwrite most of that business . Beyond that , many big oil , chemical and airline companies are siphoning off big chunks of the market by insuring themselves through `` captive '' offshore companies for industry-specific coverage . Even Lloyd 's specialty -- unusually risky ventures -- is being challenged . Only 10 years ago , for instance , Lloyd 's was the pre-eminent insurer of thoroughbred horses . But since 1981 , Kirk Horse Insurance Inc. of Lexington , Ky. has grabbed a 20 % stake of the market . Ronald Kirk , president , says Lloyd 's has suffered because its structure does n't allow underwriters to deal directly with clients ; brokers are required intermediaries . Thus , he asserts , Lloyd 's ca n't react quickly to competition . `` Lloyd 's has lost control of the situation , '' he says . `` They are n't controlling their destiny like they used to . '' Murray Lawrence , Lloyd 's chairman , agrees the exchange faces big challenges . `` This is a watershed time , and we are trying to plot our way ahead , '' he says . `` We have been a great market for inventing risks which other people then take , copy and cut rates . '' Lloyd 's , he says , is cut off from `` the vast body of premium down at the bottom end which acts as a steadying influence '' against catastrophic losses . By that , he means low-margin but low-risk products such as certain types of primary property insurance . The exchange , he says , must find new products and new markets . That wo n't be an easy task . Tradition is dictator at Lloyd 's . Three years ago , the exchange took up residence in a space-age tower of steel and glass -- evocative of the kind of modern architecture that Britain 's Prince Charles has denounced . ( Some exchange wags call the building `` the oil rig . '' ) But along with such treasured artifacts as Lord Nelson 's spyglass , Lloyd 's also brought its outmoded ways of doing business . The Lloyd 's market actively underwrites insurance just 4 1/2 hours a day , brokers say . Underwriting does n't get under way until after morning tea at 10 a.m . A two-hour lunch break follows . Things wind down at about 4:30 p.m. , just in time for afternoon tea . Lloyd 's vast trading hall houses a warren of well-polished desks . The hall 's few computers are used mostly to send messages . Sandwiched between desks , underwriters sit on benches surrounded by stacks of policies . Brokers clutching thick folders stand in lines , waiting their turn to speak to the underwriters . A broker may have to approach as many as 20 underwriters who insure the endeavors on behalf of the syndicates . It could take six months for a claim to be paid . `` The system , '' says Nicholas Samengo-Turner , a Lloyd 's broker who left the exchange in 1985 , `` is so ludicrously unprofessional it drives you mad . '' Some maintain underwriters also have been inept . John Wetherell , a Lloyd 's underwriter , says he and his fellow underwriters underestimated by as much as 50 % the premiums they should have charged for property risks from 1980 to 1985 . `` How unprofessional we must have appeared to the outside world -- how incompetent at risk assessment and evaluation , '' he says . Lloyd 's officials decline to comment on the matter . More recently , property rates have increased . Many at Lloyd 's expect the San Francisco earthquake will cause the industry to boost rates even further . But it will be years before it is clear whether higher rates will offset the payouts for such disasters . The magnitude of the exchange 's problems may not become known for some time because of Lloyd 's practice of leaving the books open for three years to allow for the settlement of claims . Lloyd 's only recently reported its financial results for 1986 . That year , it posted record pretax profit of # 650 million , a gain it attributes to higher rates and fewer claims . But Mr. Lawrence says reported profit will be down in 1987 , 1988 and 1989 , though he declines to specify how steep the decline will be . Insurance analysts say the exchange 's downturn in profitability is likely to be aggravated by more than $ 600 million in aviation losses ( including the 1988 Pan Am airline disaster over Lockerbie , Scotland ) and a still-uncalculated chunk of claims from September 's Hurricane Hugo . Lloyd 's says the departures of names is n't likely to hurt its underwriting capacity , currently about # 11 billion . Mr. Lawrence says the drain of funds has been offset by an increase in investments by the remaining names . Meanwhile , the exchange has been trying to lower costs . ( It recently cut its work force by 9 % , or 213 . ) But Lloyd 's is hampered in its efforts to overhaul operations by its reluctance to embrace modern technology . Mr. Wetherell , the underwriter , reckons half of his business could be transacted by computer , cutting costs at least 10 % . Though Lloyd 's has talked for years about computerizing underwriting transactions , the effort has n't gotten very far . Competition among underwriters and brokers makes them loath to centralize price and policy information . Both groups cling to traditional face-to-face dealings , even for routine policies . Lloyd 's overblown bureaucracy also hampers efforts to update marketing strategies . Some underwriters have been pressing for years to tap the low-margin business by selling some policies directly to consumers . Lloyd 's presently sells only auto insurance directly to the public , and such policies are sold only in limited markets such as the U.K. and Canada . But such changes must be cleared by four internal committees and dozens of underwriters , brokers and administrators before being implemented . The proposal to sell directly to the public remains mired in bureaucratic quicksand . Lloyd 's is moving forward on some fronts , though . Mr. Lawrence says the exchange is updating some procedures to make speedier payments on claims . By next year , all underwriters will be linked to a communications network that could reduce paper work on claims . Japan 's Daiwa Securities Co. named Masahiro Dozen president . Mr. Dozen succeeds Sadakane Doi , who will become vice chairman . Yoshitoki Chino retains his title of chairman of Daiwa , Japan 's second-largest securities firm . In Japanese firms , the president usually is in charge of day-to-day operations , while the chairman 's role is more a ceremonial one . The title of chief executive officer is n't used . While people within Daiwa , particularly internationalists , expected that Mr. Dozen , 52 , would eventually become Daiwa 's president , the speed of his promotion surprised many . It was only earlier this year that the jovial , easygoing executive -- he likes to joke with Americans about how his name is synonymous with twelve -- was appointed deputy president . Mr. Dozen is taking over the reins of a securities company that does very well in its domestic market but that is still seeking to realize its potential in global investment banking and securities dealing . Daiwa is one of the world 's largest securities firms . As of March 31 , the Daiwa group had shareholder equity of 801.21 billion yen ( $ 5.64 billion ) . For the six months ended Sept. 30 , Daiwa reported unconsolidated ( parent company ) net income of 79.03 billion yen ( $ 556.5 million ) on revenue of 332.38 billion yen ( $ 2.34 billion ) . Both figures were record highs . Several observers interpreted Mr. Dozen 's appointment as an attempt by Daiwa to make its international operations more profitable while preparing the firm for the effects of the continuing deregulation of Japan 's domestic markets , which should mean increased competition . All of Japan 's so-called Big Four securities firms -- Nomura Securities Co. Ltd. , the world 's largest , Nikko Securities Co. Ltd. , Yamaichi Securities Co. Ltd. and Daiwa -- have suffered setbacks in their attempts to break into foreign markets . While they have moved to the fore in underwriting fixed-income securities in the Eurobond market -- mostly for Japanese firms -- they have been only marginally profitable , if at all , in the U.S . American institutional investors have never had a large appetite for Japanese equities . And while the Japanese have stepped up their purchases of U.S. shares in the past several months , they have shown themselves in the past to be fickle investors . At the same time , Daiwa and its brethren have faced stiff competition from well-entrenched American competitors that have prevented them from building strong links to U.S. corporations and institutional investors . Mr. Dozen knows these problems firsthand . When he arrived in the U.S. in 1969 -- the start of an eight-year tour -- he tried selling Japanese yen-denominated bonds to U.S. investors . `` He made desperate efforts , using the yellow pages from beginning to end , '' said Koji Yoneyama , president of Daiwa 's U.S. unit . `` But not a single piece of paper was sold . '' By his own account , Mr. Dozen did n't do much better with U.S. bonds . In an interview a few months ago , he recalled how after some training at Salomon Brothers Inc. , he successfully bid for the opportunity to sell portions of 20 U.S. corporate bond issues . But he could n't sell any . `` Japanese stock salesmen selling American bonds ? Maybe it 's crazy , '' he said . Mr. Dozen even related the indignity suffered when he and two colleagues went on an overnight fishing expedition off the New Jersey shore and caught nothing . Upon returning to New York , `` Exhausted , I got into a taxicab , and the woman driver said : ` Americans make better fishermen , ' '' he recalled . Undaunted , Mr. Dozen said that Daiwa 's goal is to build `` a high-technology oriented international organization with maybe some Japanese flavor to it . '' He said that he was particularly interested in his firm gaining expertise in futures , options , mortgaged-backed securities , computerized trading and investment systems as well as mergers and acquisitions . Mr. Dozen said Daiwa 's strengths were its large capital base , its influential position in the Tokyo market and its links to Japanese corporations and institutional investors . Mr. Dozen joined Daiwa upon his graduation from Kyoto University in 1959 . Like many young recruits in Japanese securities firms , he began his career peddling stock to individual investors . In his climb to the top , Mr. Dozen also headed the company 's stock-exchange division , its fixed-income units and its international operations . `` He was constantly picking up new things to fill out his experience ; he is very well-balanced , '' said Takuro Isoda , chairman of Daiwa 's U.S. unit in New York . But it Mr. Dozen 's experience as a salesman that enabled him to gain the political support -- particularly from the retail sales force -- to accede to the presidency . Commission income from domestic stock and bond sales accounts form a large portion of Japanese securities companies ' earnings . And anybody who lacked the backing of the retail sales force `` would be fragile , '' said a Daiwa executive . If Mr. Dozen has a weakness , it may be his golf game . `` He digs in the sand instead of hitting the ball , like a farmer , '' said Mr. Yoneyama . Inco Ltd. posted a 35 % decline in third-quarter net income , a performance that was in line with analysts ' expectations . The nickel producer also raised its quarterly dividend to 25 cents a share from 20 cents and said it may buy back as much as 4.8 % of its common outstanding . Inco shares fell after the announcements . Analysts said some investors were disappointed that the cash-rich company had failed to announce a special dividend . Inco closed at $ 31.125 a share , down 62.5 cents , in New York Stock Exchange composite trading . Some analysts said Inco , which had cash reserves of $ 272 million as of Sept. 30 , could still announce a special dividend in the next few months , though it would be smaller than the $ 10-a-share special dividend it paid last year . The quarterly dividend is payable Dec. 1 to shares of record Nov. 3 . Inco 's net fell to $ 129.3 million , or $ 1.23 a share , in the third quarter from $ 200.3 million , or $ 1.88 a share , a year earlier . Sales rose 8.2 % to $ 848.7 million from $ 784.5 million . Excluding special gains from tax-loss carry-forwards , earnings in the latest quarter were $ 117.7 million , or $ 1.12 a share , compared with $ 187.4 million , or $ 1.76 a share . Inco said the drop in earnings resulted mainly from lower nickel prices for the period and a temporary cut in nickel output at the company 's Manitoba operations due to high levels of arsenic in the ore . Inco said it plans to buy back as many as five million common shares over the next 12 months if nickel market conditions are favorable . Under a previous buyback program , Inco has purchased 1.7 million of its shares since April . UAL Corp. 's board quashed any prospects for an immediate revival of a labor-management buy-out , saying United Airlines ' parent should remain independent for now . As a result , UAL 's chairman , Stephen M. Wolf , pulled out of the buy-out effort to focus on running the company . The two developments put the acquisition attempt back to square one and leaves the airline with an array of unresolved matters , including an unsettled labor situation and a management scrambling to restore its damaged credibility . The effort to create the nation 's largest employee-owned company began unraveling Oct. 13 when the labor-management group was unable to obtain financing for its $ 300-a-share , $ 6.79 billion offer . Just last week it suffered another major setback when British Airways PLC , the largest equity investor in the labor-management bid , withdrew its support . Takeover stock traders , focusing on the company 's intention to stay independent , took the announcement as bad news . UAL , which had risen $ 9.875 to $ 178.375 in composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange on reports of a new bid being prepared by the group , reversed course and plummeted in off-exchange trading after the 5:09 p.m. EDT announcement . Among the first trades reported by the securities firm of Jefferies & Co. , which makes a market in UAL after the exchange is closed , were 10,000 shares at $ 170 , 6,000 shares at $ 162 , 2,500 at $ 162 , and 10,000 at $ 158 . The rebound in UAL stock during regular trading hours Monday was its first daily gain after six consecutive losses left the price 41 % below its level before Oct. 13 , the day the group announced the bank financing could n't be obtained for the original deal . Twelve of UAL 's outside directors met at a five-hour meeting yesterday in Chicago to consider an informal proposal from the buy-out group for a revised bid . But the board said it was n't interested for now . That proposal , valued at between $ 225 and $ 240 a share , would have transferred majority ownership to employees while leaving some stock in public hands . The buy-out group had no firm financing for the plan . And , with no other offers on the table , the board apparently felt no pressure to act on it . The directors signaled , however , that they would be willing to consider future offers or take some other action to maximize shareholder value , saying they would continue to explore `` all strategic and financial alternatives . '' But it was clear that for the time being , the board wants the company to return to normalcy . The board said it concluded that `` the welfare of the company , its shareholders , its employees and the broader public ... can best be enhanced by continued development of UAL as a strong , viable , independent company . '' Mr. Wolf urged all employees to `` now turn their full attention '' to operating the airline . He also vowed to `` make every effort to nurture ... a constructive new relationship that has been forged with participating employee groups . '' But Mr. Wolf faces a monumental task in pulling the company back together again . Labor problems top the list . For a brief time , the buy-out effort seemed to solve his problems with United 's pilot union . In return for an ownership stake in the company , the pilots were willing to agree to a seven-year contract that included a no-strike clause and significant wage concessions and productivity gains the union previously resisted . That contract was tied to the success of the buy-out . As a `` good-will measure , '' the pilots had been working four extra hours a month and had agreed to fly UAL 's two new Boeing 747-400 aircraft . It 's uncertain if the pilots will continue to do so without a contract settlement . The union said late last night that it is still committed to majority employee ownership and that the labor disputes that faced the company prior to the buy-out effort `` still need to be addressed . '' The buy-out effort also worsened already-strained relations between United 's pilot and machinist unions . The machinists ' criticisms of the labor-management bid and their threats of a strike unless they received substantial wage increases this year helped cool banks ' interest in financing the transaction . The machinists previously had shown themselves to be an ally to Mr. Wolf , but he lost much of his credibility with that group when he teamed up with the pilot union . The machinists criticized the terms Mr. Wolf and management received in the buy-out . They paid $ 15 million for a 1 % stake and received an additional 9 % of the company at no additional cost . His credibility is also on the line in the investment community . Until the collapse of this bid , Mr. Wolf was regarded as one of the nation 's savviest airline executives after engineering turnarounds of Tiger International Inc. and Republic Airlines . But he and his chief financial officer , John Pope , sowed some of the seeds for the deal 's failure by insisting banks accept low financing fees and interest rates , while they invested in the transaction only a small fraction of the $ 114.3 million they stood to gain from sale of their UAL stock and options . The board 's actions leave takeover stock traders nursing some $ 700 million in losses and eager to respond to anyone who might make a new offer . It also inevitably leaves a residue of shareholder lawsuits . Arbitragers said they were disappointed the company did n't announce some recapitalization or other plan to maximize value . One takeover expert noted that arbitragers could force a recapitalization through the written consent process under which holders may oust the board by a majority vote . The machinists union has suggested it may propose a recapitalization that includes a special dividend for holders and a minority ownership stake for employees . Los Angeles investor Marvin Davis , whose $ 240-a-share offer for UAL in August triggered a bidding war , says he remains interested in the airline . However , he is restricted from making certain hostile moves by an agreement he signed to obtain confidential UAL data . Essentially , he ca n't make any hostile moves unless he makes a tender offer at least $ 300 a share . Tandy Corp. said it wo n't join U.S. Memories , the group that seeks to battle the Japanese in the market for computer memory chips . Tandy 's decision is a second setback for U.S. Memories . Last month , Apple Computer Inc. said that it would n't invest in the group . Apple said that its money would be better spent in areas such as research and development . U.S. Memories is seeking major investors to back its attempt to crack the $ 10 billion market for dynamic random access memory chips , a market dominated by the Japanese . Those chips were in dire shortage last year , hurting many U.S. computer companies that could n't get sufficient Japanese-supplied chips . Tandy said its experience during the shortage did n't merit the $ 5 million to $ 50 million investment U.S. Memories is seeking from each investor . `` At this time , we elected not to get involved because we have been able to satisfy our need { for DRAMs } from the market as a rule , '' said Ed Juge , Tandy 's director of market planning . Sanford Kane , U.S. Memories president , said the decision was `` disappointing , '' but does n't presage U.S. Memories ' failure . `` I would like to have had them , '' he said . But `` they were n't on my list of companies who were critical to be a part of it . '' Mr. Kane became president and chief executive officer of U.S. Memories last June , when the group was formed by seven electronics companies : Advanced Micro Devices Inc. , Digital Equipment Corp. ; Hewlett-Packard Co. ; Intel Corp. ; International Business Machines Corp. ; LSI Logic Corp. and National Semiconductor Corp . Mr. Kane said he expects two or three major corporations to announce their participation in U.S. Memories soon after the group finishes a business plan , probably late this week . U.S. Memories needs a catalyst , he said , to inspire others to join . But so far , most potential participants have n't decided . Sun Microsystems Inc. said it 's still actively evaluating U.S. Memories and plans to meet with U.S. Memories representatives later this week . American Telephone & Telegraph Co. said it was waiting to see U.S. Memories ' business plan . Personal-computer maker AST Research Inc. said it is still studying the situation . A Compaq Computer Corp. spokeswoman said that the company has n't made a decision yet , although `` it is n't under active consideration . In a startling turnabout , Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are complaining that someone in the executive branch is leaking on them . David Boren , the Intelligence Committee chairman , is upset that someone leaked a letter to the committee from the Reagan administration suggesting that the U.S. would undertake to warn Panamanian thug Manuel Noriega if it got wind of an impending coup that might result in his assassination . With due respect to `` highly classified correspondence '' and other buzzwords , the leakers are performing a public service . If the CIA has become a protection service for Mr. Noriega , the American people ought to know . What went wrong in Panama is a fitting subject for public and congressional inquiry . Naturally , Senator Boren and his committee would like free rein to blame the executive branch while stamping `` top secret '' on their own complicity . But there 's no danger of exposing sources and methods in disclosing the debate running up and down Pennsylvania Avenue . And if Congress is going to assume authority to micromanage foreign policy , it 's going to have to take some of the responsibility too . The President of the United States urged the Panamanian armed forces to move against Mr. Noriega . When they did , his commanders did n't have the initiative to do more than block a couple of roads . The executive branch bears the first responsibility for timidity . But what kind of initiative can you expect given the climate set by Congress ? For example , what exactly did the CIA tell Major Giroldi and his fellow coup plotters about U.S. laws and executive orders on assassinations ? What part did U.S. warnings play in the major 's unwillingness to pull the trigger when he had General Noriega in custody , but was under attack by pro-Noriega troops ? Mr. Noriega did n't suffer from any hesitation once he had the pistol . Maybe we need a CIA version of the Miranda warning : You have the right to conceal your coup intentions , because we may rat on you . Or maybe a Surgeon General 's warning : Confiding in the United States may be fatal . CIA chief William Webster , hardly a Washington malcontent , got the debate started last week by noting that the executive order banning assassinations had contributed to U.S. paralysis during the coup . The CIA 's Deputy Director of Operations , Richard Stoltz , tried to smooth things over a few days later , but instead simply underlined Mr. Webster 's point . `` The interpretation '' of the executive order , Mr. Stoltz said , `` and the way in which the various committees have over time interpreted it , has led in my view to a proper caution on the part of operators , including me . '' In other words , Congress wo n't let the CIA do much of anything anymore , and that 's fine with the CIA . The pay 's the same , and the duty 's lighter . And of course , doing anything that might be second-guessed by Congress carries heavy penalties . Witness the Walsh prosecution of Ollie North . The Intelligence Committee 's ranking Republican , Senator William Cohen , joined with Senator George Mitchell to write a best seller about Iran-Contra , deploring `` Men of Zeal . '' No doubt many people in the CIA , the Pentagon and the National Security Council have read it . What kind of initiative should anyone expect from people out on the line who 've read all this and know what can happen if they fail ? Who wants to end up as the protagonist in a Bill Cohen morality play ? The order against assassinations is another artifact of the same congressional mind-set , a product of the 1970s Vietnam syndrome against any executive action . President Bush would do himself and the country a favor by rescinding the order as an ambiguous intrusion on his ability to defend America 's national security . There are of course good reasons the U.S. should n't get into the assassination business , but rescinding the executive order is not the same thing as saying the U.S. should start passing out exploding cigars . The world being the nasty place it is , we want Presidents to have the freedom to order operations in which someone might get killed . In such situations , you can not write rules in advance , you can only make sure the President takes the responsibility . The executive order and the reported agreements with the Intelligence Committee are neither sensible nor moral . As it now stands , the U.S. can bomb Tripoli , but ca n't `` assassinate '' Colonel Gadhafi . It can send a fighter squadron to strafe terrorist hideouts in the Bekaa Valley , but ca n't shoot Abu Nidal . Both the assassination order and the quality of debate in Washington are telling the world that the only way the U.S. will kill a madman is by making sure we take some innocent civilians with him . We 've heard California 's property-tax-cutting Proposition 13 blamed for a lot over the years , but ABC 's Ted Koppel came up with a new wrinkle in his earthquake coverage last week when he asked Democratic Assemblyman Richard Katz if Prop. 13 had withheld money needed for road maintenance . Mr. Katz happily agreed , sliding over the fact that California 's roads and bridges are n't funded by property taxes but by state and federal gasoline taxes . Both have been raised at least 30 % in recent years , even while the price of gasoline has fallen . Dragging Prop. 13 into this story is a pretty long stretch . A series of explosions tore through the huge Phillips Petroleum Co. plastics plant near here , injuring more than a hundred and closing parts of the Houston Ship Channel . There were no immediate reports of deaths , but officials said a number of workers were still unaccounted for last night . The Bartlesville , Okla. , oil company late yesterday still had n't said officially what caused the explosions and fires , which sent columns of heavy black smoke billowing high into the air . One local Phillips manager said a seal blew in one of the plant 's reactors . Glenn Cox , Phillips ' president and chief operating officer , and other Phillips officials flew from Bartlesville to assess the damage and determine the cause of the afternoon explosions . In composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange , Phillips Petroleum shares fell $ 1.125 to $ 23.125 . The plastics plant is located on an 800-acre tract in the heart of the petrochemical corridor that reaches along the U.S. Gulf Coast . The U.S. Coast Guard closed six miles of the Houston Ship Channel , where about 150 companies have operations , because the thick , black smoke obscured the area . The Port of Houston closed its terminal for handling bulk cargo . Broken water lines and gas leaks hindered firefighters ' efforts , but by late yesterday authorities said they had the fire under control . The blasts blew out windows , spewed debris for miles and crumpled the ceiling in an area elementary school . The initial fireball was caught by cameras in downtown Houston , about 10 miles away . Nearby Pasadena , Texas , police reported that 104 people had been taken to area hospitals , but a spokeswoman said that toll could rise . The injured , including three in critical condition , were treated for burns , breathing problems and cuts from flying glass , hospital officials said . The plant employs between 800 and 900 on three shifts . The number working at the time of the blast was n't known . Yesterday 's explosions were the second round in two months at the plastics plant . In late August , four contract workers were injured and one Phillips employee died after an explosion at a fuel supply line near the facility 's boiler house . The Phillips facility manufactures polyethylene , polypropylene and K-resin , plastics used in a wide array of applications , including milk jugs and toys . Plastics are the cornerstone of Phillips ' chemicals operations , which is the biggest single contributor to the company 's profits . A federal judge in Manhattan has entered a judgment requiring a Chicago organized crime figure to pay the government $ 250,000 , representing alleged profits he gained from his involvement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters . Manhattan U.S. Attorney Otto Obermaier said it was the first time ever that the government had obtained any disgorgement from an organized crime figure indicted under the civil racketeering law . Joseph Lombardo , who the government alleged was the `` captain '' of organized crime in Chicago , was one of numerous defendants in the government 's sweeping racketeering suit against the Teamsters . In the suit , filed in June 1988 , the government accused the union 's leadership of depriving its 1.6 million members of their rights through a pattern of racketeering . Among other things , the government claimed that organized crime figures had routinely handpicked the union 's top officials . U.S. District Judge David Edelstein also permanently enjoined Mr. Lombardo from any future dealings with the Teamsters or any other labor union . Mr. Lombardo , the last of the defendants to settle the suit , agreed to pay the government the $ 250,000 within one week . Exxon Corp. said its third-quarter earnings slipped 9 % as profits from two of its three major businesses sagged . All cleanup costs from last spring 's Alaskan oil spill were reflected in earlier results , it said . Phillips Petroleum Co. and Atlantic Richfield Co. also reported declines in quarterly profit , while Ashland Oil Inc. posted a loss for the latest quarter . Amerada Hess Corp. and Occidental Petroleum Corp. reported higher earnings . Exxon Although Exxon spent heavily during the latest quarter to clean up the Alaskan shoreline blackened by its huge oil spill , those expenses as well as the cost of a continuing spill-related program are covered by $ 880 million in charges taken during the first half . An Exxon official said that at this time the oil company does n't anticipate any additional charges to future earnings relating to the cleanup of oil spilled when one of its tankers rammed into an underwater reef . She added , however , that charges already taken do n't take into account the potential effect of litigation involving the oil spill . She said that impact ca n't be reasonably assessed yet . Exxon 's net income during the third quarter dropped to $ 1.11 billion , or 87 cents a share , from $ 1.22 billion , or 93 cents a share , a year earlier . Revenue rose 8.1 % , to $ 23.65 billion from $ 21.88 billion . During the third quarter , Exxon purchased 8.34 million shares of its stock at a cost of $ 373 million . Exxon 's profitability , like that of many other oil companies , was hurt during the third quarter by declining returns from the chemicals and refining and marketing businesses . Exxon 's earnings from chemicals operations fell $ 90 million , to $ 254 million , while refining and marketing profits declined $ 180 million , to $ 357 million . Although crude oil prices were significantly higher this year , they were n't strong enough to offset the declining profits in those business sectors at most oil companies , said William Randol , oil analyst for First Boston Corp . He estimates that the price of West Texas Intermediate , the U.S. benchmark crude , was $ 4.04 a barrel higher during the third quarter of this year than in the same period last year . Ashland Oil A rash of one-time charges left Ashland Oil with a loss of $ 39 million for its fiscal fourth quarter . A year earlier , the refiner earned $ 66 million , or $ 1.19 a share . Quarterly revenue rose 4.5 % , to $ 2.3 billion from $ 2.2 billion . For the year , net income tumbled 61 % to $ 86 million , or $ 1.55 a share . The Ashland , Ky. , oil company reported a $ 38 million charge resulting from settlement of a 10-year dispute with the National Iranian Oil Co. over claims that Ashland did n't pay for Iranian crude it had received . In September , Ashland settled the long-simmering dispute by agreeing to pay Iran $ 325 million . Ashland also took a $ 25 million after-tax charge to cover anticipated costs to correct problems with boilers built by one of its subsidiaries . The oil refiner also booked a $ 15 million charge for selling Ashland Technology Corp. , one of its subsidiaries , at a loss . Amerada Hess Third-quarter earnings at Amerada Hess more than tripled to $ 51.81 million , or 64 cents a share , from $ 15.7 million , or 20 cents a share , a year earlier . Revenue climbed 28 % , to $ 1.18 billion from $ 925 million . Profits improved across Hess 's businesses . Refining and marketing earnings climbed to $ 33.3 million from $ 12.9 million , and exploration and production earnings rose to $ 37.1 million from $ 17.9 million . Hess 's earnings were up despite a $ 30 million charge to cover the cost of maintaining operations after Hurricane Hugo heavily damaged the company 's refinery at St. Croix . It is widely known within industry circles that Hess had to buy oil products in the high-priced spot markets to continue supplying its customers . Hess declined to comment . Phillips Petroleum Phillips Petroleum 's third-quarter earnings slid 60 % , to $ 87 million , or 36 cents a share , from $ 215 million , or 89 cents a share . Revenue rose 6.9 % , to $ 3.1 billion from $ 2.9 billion . Shrinking profit margins in chemical and refining and marketing sectors accounted for most of the decline , said Chairman C.J. Silas in a statement . Despite higher oil prices , exploration and production profits were off because of foreign-currency losses and some construction costs incurred in one of Phillips ' North Sea oil fields . A year ago , results were buoyed by a $ 20 million after-tax gain from an asset sale . Occidental Petroleum Occidental Petroleum 's third-quarter net income rose 2.9 % to $ 108 million , or 39 cents a share , from $ 105 million , or 38 cents a share , a year earlier . The latest quarter included an after-tax gain of $ 71 million from non-recurring items . Sales dropped 2 % , to $ 4.8 billion from $ 4.9 billion . The latest period included a $ 54 million gain from the sale of various oil and gas properties , a $ 22 million charge from the restructuring of Occidental 's domestic oil and gas operations , and tax credits of $ 42 million . Both periods included non-recurring charges of $ 3 million for early retirement of debt . Occidental said oil and gas earnings fell to $ 17 million from $ 20 million . The latest period includes net gains of $ 32 million in non-recurring credits from the sale of properties , indicating operating losses for the quarter in the oil and gas division . Chemical earnings fell 10 % , reflecting softening of demand . Atlantic Richfield Citing its reduced ownership in the Lyondell Petrochemical Co. , Atlantic Richfield reported that net income slid 3.1 % in the third quarter to $ 379 million , or $ 2.19 a share , from $ 391 million , or $ 2.17 a share , for the comparable period last year . Sales fell 20 % , to $ 3.7 billion from $ 4.6 billion . Arco 's earnings from its 49.9 % stake in Lyondell fell to $ 37 million from $ 156 million for the same period last year , when Lyondell was wholly owned . Offsetting the lower stake in Lyondell were higher crude oil prices , increased natural gas volumes and higher coke prices , the company said . Coal earnings rose to $ 26 million from $ 21 million . For the nine months , Arco reported net income of $ 1.6 billion , or $ 8.87 a share , up 33 % from $ 1.2 billion , or $ 6.56 a share a year earlier . Sales were $ 12 billion , off 13 % from $ 13.8 billion . Jeff Rowe contributed to this article . The following were among yesterday 's offerings and pricings in the U.S. and non-U.S. capital markets , with terms and syndicate manager , as compiled by Dow Jones Capital Markets Report : Imo Industries Inc. -- $ 150 million of senior subordinated debentures due 2001 , priced at par to yield 12 % . The issue will be sold through Morgan Stanley & Co . Other details were n't available . San Antonio , Texas -- $ 575 million of electric and gas system revenue refunding bonds , Series 1989 , 1989A and 1989B , tentatively priced by a First Boston Corp. group to yield from 6.15 % in 1991 to 7.30 % in 2009 . The issue includes current interest bonds due 1991-2000 , 2009 , 2012 , 2014 and 2016 , and capital appreciation bonds due 2001-2005 . The current interest serial bonds are priced to yield from 6.15 % in 1991 to 7.10 % in 2000 . There are about $ 100 million of 7 % term bonds due 2009 , priced to yield 7.30 % , which is the issue 's high yield . There are also about $ 124 million of 6 1/2 % bonds priced to yield 7.25 % in 2012 ; about $ 97 million of 6 % bonds priced to yield 7.20 % in 2014 ; and about $ 26.5 million of 5 % bonds priced to yield 7.15 % in 2016 . All of the term bonds are original issue discount bonds , according to the lead underwriter . The capital appreciation bonds are tentatively priced to yield to maturity from 7 % in 2001 to 7.10 % in 2003-2005 . The bonds are rated double-A by Moody 's Investors Service Inc. and Standard & Poor 's Corp . Maryland Stadium Authority -- $ 137.6 million of sports facilities lease revenue bonds , Series 1989 D , due 1992-1999 , 2004 , 2009 and 2019 , tentatively priced at par by a Morgan Stanley group to yield from 6.35 % in 1992 to 7.60 % in 2019 . Serial bonds are priced to yield to 7.10 % in 1999 . There are $ 15,845,000 of 7 3/8 % bonds priced at par and due 2004 ; $ 22,985,000 of 7 1/2 % bonds priced at par and due 2009 ; and $ 82.6 million of 7.60 % bonds priced at par and due 2019 . The bonds are rated double-A by Moody 's and double-A-minus by S&P . Interest on the bonds will be treated as a preference item in calculating the federal alternative minimum tax that may be imposed on certain investors . Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. -- $ 250 million of Remic mortgage securities being offered in 11 classes by Morgan Stanley . The offering , Series 107 , is backed by Freddie Mac 15-year , 9 % securities , and brings Freddie Mac 's 1989 Remic issuance to $ 32.8 billion and its total volume to $ 46.8 billion since the program began in February 1988 . The offering used at-market pricing . Federal National Mortgage Association -- $ 500 million of Remic mortgage securities being offered in 10 classes by Merrill Lynch Capital Markets . The offering , Series 1989-85 , is backed by Fannie Mae 9 % securities . Separately , a $ 400 million issue of Fannie Mae Remic mortgage securities is being offered in 15 classes by Bear , Stearns & Co . The offering , Series 1989-86 , is backed by Fannie Mae 9 % securities . Finally , a $ 300 million issue of Fannie Mae Remic mortgage securities is being offered in 12 classes by Smith Barney , Harris Upham & Co . The offering , Series 1989-87 , is backed by Fannie Mae 9 1/2 % securities . The three offerings together bring Fannie Mae 's 1989 Remic issuance to $ 32.4 billion and its total Remic volume to $ 44.5 billion since the program began in April 1987 . Credit Agricole ( CNCA ) ( French ) -- $ 250 million of 8 3/4 % bonds due Nov. 21 , 1994 , priced at 101.80 to yield 8.77 % annually less full fees , via IBJ International Ltd . Fees 1 7/8 . Hokuriku Electric Power Co . ( Japan ) -- $ 200 million of 8 7/8 % bonds due Nov. 20 , 1996 , priced at 101 3/4 to yield 8.90 % less full fees , via Yamaichi International ( Europe ) Ltd . Fees 1 7/8 . International Finance Corp . ( agency ) -- 10 billion pesetas of 11.6 % bonds due Nov. 30 , 1994 , priced at 101 5/8 to yield 11.60 % less full fees , via Citibank ( Madrid ) and Banco Espanol de Credito , Spain . Fees 1 5/8 . Royal Bank of Canada , Grand Cayman branch ( Canada ) -- 100 million Canadian dollars of 10 3/4 % deposit notes due Nov. 30 , 1994 , priced at 101 3/4 to yield 10.78 % less full fees , via RBC Dominion Securities International Ltd . Fees 1 7/8 . Union Bank of Finland -- 100 million Australian dollars of 9 % bonds due Nov. 9 , 1990 , priced at 94 to yield 17.20 % less full fees , via Banque Paribas Capital Markets Ltd . Fees 1 . Ford Motor Credit -- $ 2.57 billion of certificates backed by automobile loans with a coupon rate of 8.70 % , priced at 99 19/32 to yield 8.903 % through an underwriting group headed by First Boston Corp . The issue is the first by Ford Motor Credit , a unit of Ford Motor Co. , and the second largest in the four-year history of the $ 45 billion asset-backed market . The largest issue was a $ 4 billion offering of auto-loan securities by General Motors Acceptance Corp. in 1986 . The Ford issue , through Ford Credit 1989-A Grantor Trust , was priced at a yield spread of 95 basis points above the Treasury 7 3/4 % issue due July 1991 . The offering is rated doubleA-2 by Moody 's and double-A by S&P , based on the quality of the underlying auto loans and a guarantee covering 9 % of the deal from Ford Motor Credit . The certificates have an estimated average life of 1.8 years , assuming monthly prepayments at 1.3 % of the original balance . The final maturity is in five years . The Mouth is back . Morton Downey Jr. , who self-destructed as a talk-show host and frequently verbally abused his guests , has been signed to co-host a half-hour nightly program on the Consumer News and Business Channel , the cable channel partly owned by the General Electric Co. 's National Broadcasting Co . The premiere of `` Showdown , '' with Mr. Downey and Richard G. Carter , a columnist with the New York Daily News , is scheduled for Dec. 4 at 8 p.m . CNBC is available to 13 million cable households . Mr. Downey said he is not going to change his style , which some critics said was flamboyant and others deemed offensive . `` But I 'm going to proceed in a more logical way . I 'm not going to do anything that is not acceptable in anyone 's home . But that does n't mean I 'm not going to get angry . '' Michael Eskridge , president of CNBC , said that although there will be a studio audience , viewers will no longer have to endure the shouting of `` Mort Mort Mort '' But just how does Mr. Downey 's unorthodox style mesh with the sedate tone of CNBC 's business programming ? `` Ninety percent of Mort 's old show fits into our style , '' said Mr. Eskridge . `` That is consumer issues . '' Mr. Downey 's previous show , a one-hour shout fest , syndciated by MCA Inc. and produced by Quantum Media Inc. , was canceled in July after advertisers and stations abandoned it . Investors dumped stocks of big companies whose earnings fluctuate with the economy . Many of those `` cyclical '' issues are in the Dow Jones Industrial Average , which fell 26.23 to 2662.91 . Declining issues on the New York Stock Exchange outpaced advancers , 1,012 to 501 . Recession fears are springing up again among investors . Analysts say that the selling of cyclical stocks yesterday will be followed by a sell-off in shares of companies with big debt loads on their balance sheets . In an economic slowdown , heavy debt loads reduce the flexibility of companies because cash that would normally be used to keep the company buoyant must be diverted to interest payments . On the other hand , investors beat a clear path yesterday to blue-chip issues with proven earnings growth records . Among the 30 Dow industrials , they bought McDonald 's , Coca-Cola Co. and Procter & Gamble and sold Aluminum Co. of America . In another sign of slowdown fears , investors dumped technology shares . Many money managers are bracing for a decline in stocks of companies with big debt loads on their balance sheets . `` The junk bond market is being taken apart '' because of recession fears , said J. David Mills , senior vice president at Boston Company Advisers . `` Under this scrutiny , the first thing you do is sell your cyclical stocks and the second thing you do is sell your over-leveraged companies . '' In fact , much of the buying in blue chips yesterday was a pursuit of companies with lower debt levels . In a recent investment letter entitled `` Winners of the ` Leverage Wars , ' `` Edward Kerschner , chairman of PaineWebber 's investment policy committee , suggested that investors buy stocks of companies that have avoided loading up on debt . `` We 're saying companies have to pay increasing attention to balance sheets , '' said Mr. Kerschner . He suggested that investors buy the shares of Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea , J. Baker , McDonald 's , Philip Morris and Sara Lee . He said that all of these companies will be able to compete fiercely in an economic downturn . McDonald 's has long-term debt equaling 91 % of shareholder equity currently , but Mr. Kerschner said the company is carrying real estate assets at about $ 2.6 billion below their real value . Coca-Cola climbed 1 3/8 to 72 1/8 ; McDonald 's added 1 to 31 3/8 , and Procter & Gamble gained 3/4 to 130 5/8 . A&P fell 1 1/4 to 57 5/8 , and J. Baker gained 3/8 to 21 1/4 . Philip Morris slipped 1/2 to 43 7/8 , while Sara Lee closed unchanged at 60 1/8 . According to Salomon Brothers ' `` stub '' stock index of 20 companies whose debt is giant compared with shareholder equity , investors are already beginning to retreat from shares of debt-laden companies . From January to early September , the index of stub stocks -- the tiny portion of equity that 's publicly traded following a recapitalization -- outperformed Standard & Poor 's 500-stock index by about 20 % . But starting in early September , the index started to slide and now stands about even with the S&P 500 . `` Stocks that have a high default risk have started to underperform those stocks that have a lower default risk , '' said Eric Sorenson , director of quantitative analysis at Salomon Brothers . `` Companies that have the most exposure to the business cycle have underperformed since late last summer . '' Union Carbide , whose third-quarter earnings dropped about 35 % from a year earlier and fell short of analysts ' expectations , declined 1/2 to 24 1/2 . Also , Exxon went down 3/8 to 45 3/4 and Allied-Signal lost 7/8 to 35 1/8 even though the companies ' results for the quarter were in line with forecasts . Other weak blue-chip issues included Chevron , which went down 2 to 64 7/8 in Big Board composite trading of 1.3 million shares ; Goodyear Tire & Rubber , off 1 1/2 to 46 3/4 , and American Express , down 3/4 to 37 1/4 . Texas Instruments , which had reported Friday that third-quarter earnings fell more than 30 % from the year-ago level , went down 2 1/8 to 33 on 1.1 million shares . Motorola , another major semiconductor producer , dropped 1 1/8 to 57 1/2 . Pinnacle West Capital , whose earnings have been hurt by continued problems at its MeraBank unit , fell 1 5/8 to 9 1/8 on 2.1 million shares to lead the Big Board 's list of most active issues . Growing pressures on the Arizona real-estate market are affecting the thrift ; Pinnacle West told Dow Jones Professional Investor Report it may consider filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection if it ca n't reach an agreement with federal regulators to provide additional capital to MeraBank . Hercules dropped 2 5/8 to 41 3/4 on one million shares -- about six times its average daily trading volume -- after a disappointing third-quarter earnings report . Merrill Lynch and Prudential-Bache Securities both lowered the stock 's investment rating immediately after the results were issued Friday , according to PIR . Elsewhere in the chemicals sector , Dow Chemical fell 1 1/4 to 97 1/2 , Monsanto lost 1 7/8 to 118 , B.F. Goodrich slipped 2 1/4 to 44 3/4 and Olin slid 1 to 57 3/4 . Other stocks hurt by earnings-related selling included Tandy , which dropped 1 3/8 to 44 , and Eaton , which retreated 2 1/2 to 57 1/2 . Third-quarter earnings at both companies were below analysts ' forecasts . After declining about 41 % last week , UAL advanced 9 7/8 to 178 3/8 on 1.1 million shares on anticipation of a revised takeover offer from a labor-management group for the parent company of United Airlines . However , Delta Air Lines fell 1 1/2 to 67 1/2 and USAir Group dropped 3/4 to 42 1/2 . Ramada gained 7/8 to 11 1/4 after revamping the terms of its restructuring plan , which calls for the company to sell its hotel operations for $ 540 million and spin off its casino business to shareholders . The revision follows last month 's withdrawal of a $ 400 million junk-bond offering for the new casino company , Aztar Corp . Mead gained 1 to 37 7/8 . USA Today reported that the Rales brothers , Washington , D.C.-based investors who made an unsuccessful offer to acquire Interco last year , have bought nearly 3 % of Mead 's common shares . Entertainment and media stocks generally escaped the market 's slide as well . Paramount Communications rose 5/8 to 58 3/4 , Time Warner climbed 1 7/8 to 138 5/8 , Walt Disney advanced 3 1/8 to 127 1/2 , MCA rose 1 1/8 to 65 5/8 and McGraw-Hill added 1/2 to 67 1/8 . The American Stock Exchange Market Value Index lost 3.11 to 379.46 . Volume totaled 10,450,000 shares . Carnival Cruise Lines Class A fell 1 3/4 to 20 3/4 . The company said it had been notified unofficially that Waertsilae Marine Industries , a Finnish shipyard building three cruise ships for the company , is having financial trouble and may already have filed for bankruptcy . `` Hacksaw '' and `` Bonecrusher '' are the sort of nicknames normally associated with linebackers and heavyweight contenders . Who 'd have thought that the next group of tough guys carrying around reputations like that would be school superintendents ? Chicago 's new school chief is the hard-nosed Ted Kimbrough . At his old job in Compton , Calif. , he took a bitter teachers ' strike and nearly came to blows with a school-board member . At his first Chicago press conference , he berated the reporters . In New York City , the new Chancellor , Joseph Fernandez , has landed like a 16-inch shell in the middle of a system that has been impervious to serious reform . Both men fit the mood of the times -- the mood being one of a public fed up with officials ' rationalizations for why their schools do n't work . Former Patterson , N.J. , principal Joe Clark was no doubt the general public 's first experience with this new breed of no-nonsense administrator . The subject of the movie `` Lean on Me , '' Mr. Clark controlled his school with a bullhorn and a baseball bat . He may have gone overboard in his pursuit of good discipline , but is n't it interesting that some of the country 's biggest , most troubled school districts are choosing new chiefs from the same gravel-chewing mold ? Elena Scambio , the woman assigned to run the Jersey City school system that was taken over by the state , says her top priority will be to `` cut through the dead hand of bureaucracy . '' Mr. Fernandez does n't take control in New York until January , but already he 's roiling the waters . He 's attacked the concept of `` building tenure , '' one of the most disgraceful institutions in American public schools . It means it is virtually impossible to fire or even transfer incompetent principals . Once they are in the building , they stay . One South Bronx principal kept his job for 16 years , despite a serious drinking problem and rarely showing up for work . He was finally given leave when he was arrested for allegedly buying crack . Naturally , the principals ' union loves building tenure , and tenure has withstood previous challenge . We suggest that Mr. Fernandez find an incompetent principal , toss him out of the building and let the forces of the status quo explain to the parents whatever it is they 're defending . In his old job , as Dade County chief , Mr. Fernandez forced out 92 teachers and reshuffled 48 principals . He cut the dropout rate by 5.5 % . But the no-more-nonsense superintendents are going to have to be judicious as well ; incompetent principals and administrators should go , but the good ones ought to be left alone . The situation will be especially delicate for Mr. Kimbrough . He takes over a school system in the midst of radical reform . Chicagoans have just elected 540 neophyte school boards , one for each school . This of course led to disaster in New York City . Getting a community of parents to care again about its schools is essential , but in Chicago the new boards will make mistakes and Mr. Kimbrough will have to identify them . The rise of superintendents such as Joseph Fernandez and Ted Kimbrough suggests plainly the process of disintegration in many school systems . The schools ' central mission , educating children , became subsumed by the competing interests of bureaucrats , politicians and unions . The classroom itself operated on the periphery of this awful system , discipline collapsed , and kids stopped learning . Mr. Chips was a nice fellow , and maybe some day he 'll return . Until then , it 's clear that some of the people who 've been keeping big-city schools down are going to be dealing with the Terminator . Ingersoll Publications Co. agreed to buy the New Haven Register in a transaction valued at $ 275 million from Goodson Newspaper Group Inc . As part of the agreement , Goodson also terminated the contract under which Ingersoll manages Goodson 's 66 newspapers , ending a long association between the two companies that has turned increasingly bitter recently . Goodson has accused Ingersoll of paying less attention to its properties and more to such ventures as the recent launch of the St. Louis Sun . Under the terms of the accord , Ingersoll will pay about $ 255 million for the Register , a daily that Goodson bought for about $ 170 million in 1986 . Goodson will pay the additional $ 20 million in settlement of the management contract . Goodson also announced that it hired the former president and senior vice president of Ingersoll to run the Goodson papers . Both executives left the company after clashes with Chairman Ralph Ingersoll Jr . Goodson , which is based here , will use part of the proceeds to pay down debt associated with its purchase of the Morristown Daily Record for $ 155 million in 1987 . The New Jersey paper , like the New Haven , Conn. , paper , was purchased by Ingersoll on Goodson 's behalf as part of the management contract . Industry analysts have said that the purchase price for the paper was too high , causing a strain on Goodson 's finances . Investment bankers familiar with the company said Goodson is seeking a new bank credit line of $ 190 million and may have to sell additional newspapers . David N. Hurwitz , president and chief operating officer of Goodson , said in a telephone interview that the company does n't currently have any plans to sell additional newspapers . Goodson said David Carr , former president of Ingersoll Publications , and Ray Cockburn , former senior vice president , would head the new in-house management team at Goodson , which had revenue of $ 225 million in 1988 . The association between the two companies stretches back thirty years to a friendship between television producer Mark Goodson and Ingersoll founder Ralph Ingersoll . The latter 's son , Ralph Ingersoll Jr. , took over the company and has been managing the Goodson properties and acting as an agent in the purchase of newspapers for Goodson . But in recent years , Mr. Ingersoll began focusing more on expanding his own newspaper empire in partnership with investment banking firm Warburg , Pincus & Co . Ingersoll has 28 dailies and 200 other non-daily papers in the U.S. and Europe . The company said its revenue will exceed $ 750 million this year . Ingersoll President Robert M. Jelenic said in a statement that the company is `` delighted by the conclusion of the Goodson relationship '' and will be able to `` concentrate all our energies '' on Ingersoll 's own papers . Mr. Goodson , in his own statement , was less upbeat , saying `` unfortunately over the past few years , it has become increasingly clear that Ralph and I have different agendas , '' and that he feels `` more comfortable with a management team whose sole interest and responsibility is in the Goodson papers . Just five months after Ogilvy Group was swallowed up in an unsolicited takeover , Kenneth Roman , Ogilvy 's chairman and chief executive officer , said he is leaving to take a top post at American Express Co . Mr. Roman , 59 years old , abruptly announced he will leave the venerable ad agency , whose largest client is American Express , to become American Express 's executive vice president for corporate affairs and communications . He will succeed Harry L. Freeman , 57 , who has said he will retire in December . Mr. Freeman said in August that he would retire by the end of this year to take `` executive responsibility '' for an embarrassing effort to discredit banker Edmond Safra . American Express representatives apparently influenced the publication of unfavorable articles about Mr. Safra . The company later apologized and agreed to make $ 8 million in contributions to charities chosen by him . Although Mr. Freeman is retiring , he will continue to work as a consultant for American Express on a project basis . Ad industry executives were n't surprised by Mr. Roman 's decision to leave Ogilvy . The agency , under his direction , bitterly fought a takeover attempt by WPP Group PLC of London before succumbing in May . And although Mr. Roman and WPP 's chief executive , Martin Sorrell , have gone out of their way to be publicly supportive of each other , people close to Mr. Roman say he was unhappy giving up control of the company . Some executives also cite tension because of efforts by Mr. Sorrell , a financial man , to cut costs at the agency . Mr. Roman will be succeeded as the head of Ogilvy 's flagship ad agency , Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide , by Graham Phillips , 50 , who had been president of North American operations and who , like Mr. Sorrell , is British . Alexander Brody , 56 , will take on the newly created position of president of the world-wide agency and chief executive of its international operations . He had been president of the international operations . Mr. Roman also had overseen Ogilvy Group 's two other units , the Scali McCabe Sloves advertising agency and its research division , but those units will now report directly to WPP . Mr. Roman appears custom-made for the American Express job . Known as a traditional executive , he is very much in the conservative American Express mold . Moreover , after 26 years at Ogilvy he had honed a reputation for being squeaky-clean and a straight arrow -- which can only help American Express in the wake of the Safra incident . He also is close to American Express 's chairman and chief executive officer , James D. Robinson III . Aside from working with Mr. Robinson on the American Express advertising account for about 11 years , Mr. Roman serves on several of the same charities and boards as Mr. Robinson . The abrupt management change sparked widespread speculation that Mr. Roman had been pushed out of Ogilvy 's top spot by Mr. Sorrell . But Mr. Roman flatly denied the speculation , saying Mr. Sorrell had tried several times to persuade him to stay , offering various incentives and in one instance sending a note with a case of wine ( The wine , naturally , was Seagram 's brand , an Ogilvy client ) . `` He asked me not to resign . The implication that I was pushed aside would n't be accurate , '' Mr. Roman said . Mr. Sorrell , traveling in the Far East , could n't be reached . Mr. Roman said American Express 's Mr. Robinson first approached him about the job in late September . According to industry executives , Peter Sutherland , a former European Community commissioner from Ireland , was also a serious contender for the American Express job . Although it ultimately was n't offered to him , he will be on retainer to American Express as an adviser on international matters . After talking on and off for the past four weeks , Mr. Roman said , he agreed to take the job because `` it 's the right time , it 's a terrific opportunity , and I think I leave the company in very strong hands . It was my decision , not anyone else 's . '' Mr. Roman also brushed aside reports about infighting between him and Mr. Phillips , his successor at Ogilvy . The two executives could hardly be more different . Mr. Roman comes across as a low-key executive ; Mr. Phillips has a flashier personality . During time off , Mr. Roman tends to his garden ; Mr. Phillips confesses to a fondness for , among other things , fast cars and planes . Industry executives say that although the two executives used to clash more frequently , the WPP takeover brought them closer together . `` I 'm the guy who made him head of New York , head of the U.S. , president of North America , and recommended him { to Mr. Sorrell } as my successor . Would I have done all those things successively if I did n't think he was the right guy ? '' Mr. Roman asked . He labeled reports of friction `` ridiculous , '' and said that he spent part of the weekend on Mr. Phillips 's boat in Connecticut . Mr. Roman will oversee American Express 's public relations and government affairs , among other things , but he wo n't be involved in its advertising , which is handled by the operating units . `` I consider this a second career , '' he said . He also will sit on the company 's corporate planning and policy committee , made up of the top corporate and operating executives . Mr. Roman 's departure is n't expected to have any enormous repercussions at Ogilvy . American Express , Kraft General Foods , and Mattel executives said the move wo n't affect their relationships with the ad agency . `` General Foods 's relationships with its agencies are based on the agencies ' work , and will continue to be , '' said David Hurwitt , a vice president of Kraft General Foods . But some clients and analysts expressed concern that Mr. Phillips is n't as well-known to many clients . `` Ken was my key contact , '' said J. Nicholas Hahn , president and chief executive officer of Cotton Inc. , which represents cotton producers . `` I do n't know { Mr. Phillips } all that well . I have n't seen or talked to him in several years . '' And some analysts questioned whether Mr. Phillips would have the skills Ogilvy needs to turn the agency around . While the agency has done well in many parts of the world , its flagship New York office has had a dismal track record recently ; it has won few new accounts while losing big ones , including Maxwell House . `` I think { Mr. Phillips } is going to need some help . I think they need creative leadership , and I do n't think they have it , '' said Emma Hill , an analyst with Wertheim & Co . Ogilvy & Mather 's top creative executive , Norman Berry , left the agency earlier this year . `` Norm Berry was a creative inspiration at the company , and nobody has filled that void , '' said Ms. Hill . But other analysts said that having Mr. Phillips succeed Mr. Roman would make for a smooth transition . `` Graham Phillips has been there a long time , knows the culture well , is aggressive , and apparently gets along well with '' Mr. Sorrell , said Andrew Wallach , an analyst with Drexel Burnham Lambert . `` It 's probably a reasonable transition . Hopefully , he 'll be the answer to the problems they 've had in New York . '' Sale of Saatchi Unit Close Computer Sciences Corp. , El Segundo , Calif. , said it is close to making final an agreement to buy Cleveland Consulting Associates from Saatchi & Saatchi Computer Sciences would n't disclose the proposed purchase price for Cleveland Consulting , which counsels companies on logistics and supply . But David Lord , managing editor of Consultants News , an industry publication based in Fitzwilliam , N.H. , said an industry standard would suggest a purchase price of between one and two times Cleveland Consulting 's approximately $ 15 million annual revenue . Both Saatchi & Saatchi , which announced its intention to sell off most of its consulting business in June , and Cleveland Consulting declined to comment on the proposed sale . Ad Notes . . . . NEW ACCOUNT : AmBase Corp. , New York , awarded the ad account for its Home Insurance Co. unit to Biederman , Kelly & Shaffer , New York . Billings were n't disclosed . . . . Puerto Rico Telephone Co. awarded its $ 3 million account to West Indies & Grey , Grey Advertising 's office in Puerto Rico . DIET COKE : Coca-Cola Co. yesterday said singer Elton John signed to appear in an ad for Diet Coke . Details of the commercial , which will be part of the brand 's 1990 advertising campaign , were n't disclosed . Mr. John becomes the latest of many music stars , including George Michael and Whitney Houston , to appear in ads for the diet drink . Turner Broadcasting System Inc. said it formed a unit to make and distribute movies to theaters overseas and , eventually , to U.S. theaters , too . The operator of cable-television networks said the new Turner Pictures unit will produce movies that will premiere on Turner Broadcasting 's Turner Network Television channel , or TNT , and then will be released internationally in movie theaters . The unit 's first two offerings are slated to be `` The Secret Life of Ian Fleming , '' a dramatization about the former British spy who wrote the James Bond novels , and `` Treasure Island , '' produced by Charlton Heston , who also stars in the movie . Ted Turner , Turner Broadcasting 's chairman , was named chairman of Turner Pictures , and Gerry Hogan , president of Turner Entertainment Networks , was named president of the unit . In an interview , Mr. Hogan said the subsidiary 's primary mission will be to make movies for TNT and to distribute them internationally . But he said Turner Broadcasting already has found some ideas that might work well as films for theatrical release in the U.S . `` When that occurs , and when the time is right , we 'll release the films in the U.S. , '' he said , adding that Turner Pictures may develop such movies next year for domestic release in 1991 . Turner has made several movies , docudramas and documentaries for its networks in recent years , but the company has never acted as a full-fledged movie studio and released its own pictures to theaters . Mr. Hogan said `` The Secret Life of Ian Fleming '' and `` Treasure Island '' cost more than $ 6 million each to make , which is only about one-third the cost of most movies made for theatrical release . The Turner move is in line with a cable-TV trend toward more original programming -- and toward finding more ways to amortize the high cost of producing films . In July , Viacom Inc. formed Viacom Pictures to produce 12 low-budget movies a year that will premiere on Showtime network and be distributed later in various markets , including foreign theaters . In a sign the stock slump has n't quieted Europe 's takeover fever , Cie . Financiere de Paribas said it intends to bid for one of France 's other large financial and industrial holding companies , Cie. de Navigation Mixte . Paribas said that once it receives the go-ahead from French stock market authorities , it will offer to boost its Navigation Mixte stake to 66.7 % from the current 18.7 % . Its cash-or-shares bid values Navigation Mixte at about 22.82 billion francs ( $ 3.62 billion ) , making this one of France 's largest-ever attempted takeovers . The cost of buying the additional 48 % stake would be 10.95 billion francs ( $ 1.74 billion ) . The move would greatly boost Paribas 's stake in the insurance , transport and food businesses , where Navigation Mixte is strong . It also would make Paribas a major French ally of West Germany 's Allianz AG insurance group . Allianz holds a 50 % stake in Navigation Mixte 's insurance interests , acquired three weeks ago . Those include Rhin et Moselle Vie and Via Assurances . Long considered a potential takeover target , Navigation Mixte had hoped Allianz would help protect it from raiders . That idea may have backfired . Paribas is Allianz 's main French bank , and the Munich-based group said it intends to stay neutral . Navigation Mixte said it would n't have any comment until its board meets Wednesday . But Navigation Mixte is loosely held and hard to defend . `` The defensive options are limited , '' says Philippe Braye , a partner in portfolio management concern France Finance Quatre . `` Who would bid against Paribas ? '' If the Paribas bid succeeds , it will be the second time in two months a big French investment banking group has snapped up an insurance group . Last month , Paribas 's archrival , Cie . Financiere de Suez , won a battle for Groupe Victoire , France 's second-largest private-sector insurer , which itself had just acquired West Germany 's Colonia Versicherung AG . That complex bid was billed as France 's largest takeover ever ( this one is slightly smaller ) . Moreover , Suez had just finished winning an even larger battle last year for control of Societe Generale de Belgique . Paribas officials , once considered France 's toughest bankers , felt abashed at Suez 's success and its rapid growth . Although Paribas denies it , analysts say the new bid in part simply reflects the continuing rivalry between France 's two largest investment banking groups . It also reflects the broader pressure on companies in Europe to keep up as the European Community prepares to reduce internal trade barriers by 1992 . Although Paribas Chairman Michel Francois-Poncet would n't rule out eventually selling all of Navigation Mixte 's insurance operations to Allianz , he stressed the potential for the two groups instead to cooperate . He also told reporters the acquisition would give Paribas fresh diversity , bringing it properties in food and transport where it has been weak . Navigation Mixte has investments in a sugar company , a food and canning concern , a bakery and bus and trucking firms , among others . And Navigation Mixte has a huge hidden attraction . Payment by Allianz for the insurance interests it has just bought will help swell the French concern 's treasury to an estimated 11 billion francs . Paribas said it will bid 1,850 francs a share for Navigation Mixte shares that qualify for a full yearly dividend , and 1,800 francs for those created July 1 , which are eligible for partial dividends . Alternatively , it said it would offer three Paribas shares , themselves eligible for dividends as of next Jan. 1 , for one Navigation Mixte share . Paribas shares closed down 30 francs at 610 francs , and Navigation Mixte shares were suspended at 1,800 francs pending the outcome of the bid . Paribas said it would publish details of its bid once authorities clear it . This is one of the first bids under new takeover rules aimed at encouraging open bids instead of gradual accumulation of large stakes . Some financial sources said privately that Paribas blundered in failing to move sooner for the insurance and industrial group , bidding only after speculation had pushed up the price . Mr. Francois-Poncet responded that his group initially intended to take only a minority stake , striking an alliance with current management . When notoriously independent-minded Navigation Mixte Chairman Marc Fournier rejected Paribas 's offer and began buying Paribas shares in retaliation , Mr. Francois-Poncet said , he felt obliged to bid for control . He told reporters he had information that Mr. Fournier was preparing to buy as much as 20 % of Paribas , up from less than 5 % currently . A bid against Paribas could n't be ruled out . France 's second-largest government-owned insurance company , Assurances Generales de France , has been building its own Navigation Mixte stake , currently thought to be between 8 % and 10 % . Analysts said they do n't think it is contemplating a takeover , however , and its officials could n't be reached . Crude oil futures prices fell further as analysts and traders said OPEC oil producers are n't putting the brakes on output ahead of the traditionally weak first quarter . In trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange , the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude fell 39 cents a barrel to $ 19.76 for December delivery . Petroleum products prices also declined . Analysts pointed to reports that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is producing substantially more than its official limit of 20.5 million barrels a day , with some accounts putting the 13-nation group 's output as high as 23 million barrels a day . That level of production did n't take its toll on futures prices for the fourth quarter , when demand is traditionally strong . But because first-quarter demand is normally the weakest of the year , several market participants say , OPEC production will have to decline to keep prices from eroding further . The group plans to meet in a month to discuss production strategy for early 1990 . With prices already headed lower , news of a series of explosions at a major Phillips Petroleum Co. chemical facility on the Houston Ship Channel also was bearish for prices . Even though such facilities use a relatively small amount of crude , analysts say , now the facility wo n't need any , at a time of already high availability . The Phillips plant makes polyethylene , polypropylene and other plastic products . A company official said the explosions began when a seal blew out . Dozens of workers were injured , authorities said . There was no immediate estimate of damage from the company . Some petroleum futures traders say technical considerations now will help to put downward pressure on futures prices . For instance , one trader said that prices inevitably will go lower now that they 've fallen below $ 20 a barrel . `` Our technician is a little bearish now that we 've taken out $ 20 , '' he said . In other commodity markets yesterday : COPPER : The selling that started on Friday continued yesterday . The December contract fell 3.85 cents a pound to $ 1.1960 . London Metal Exchange warehouse stocks were down only 4,800 metric tons for the week to 84,500 tons ; expectations late last week were a drop of 10,000 to 15,000 tons . The New York market made its high for the day on the opening and when it dropped below the $ 1.23-a-pound level , selling picked up as previous buyers bailed out of their positions and aggressive short sellers -- anticipating further declines -- moved in . Fund selling also picked up at that point . According to Bernard Savaiko , senior commodity analyst at PaineWebber , the only stability to the market came when short sellers periodically moved in to cover their positions by buying contracts . This activity produced small rallies , which in turn attracted new short selling . Mr. Savaiko noted that copper had a steep fall in spite of a weak dollar , which would normally support the U.S. copper market . Such support usually comes from arbitragers who use a strong British pound to buy copper in New York . `` The sell-off would probably have been worse if the dollar had been strong , '' he said . Copper has been stuck in a trading range of $ 1.19 to $ 1.34 . Mr. Savaiko believes that if copper falls below the bottom of this range the next significant support level will be about $ 1.04 . PRECIOUS METALS : Platinum and palladium struggled to maintain their prices all day despite news stories over the weekend that recent cold fusion experiments , which use both metals , showed signs of producing extra heat . January platinum closed down $ 2.80 an ounce at $ 486.30 , nearly $ 4 above its low for the day . December palladium was off $ 1.55 an ounce at $ 137.20 . Platinum is believed to have good support around $ 480 and palladium at around $ 130 . Some traders were thought to be waiting for the auto sales report , which will be released today . Such sales are watched closely by platinum and palladium traders because both metals are used in automobile catalytic converters . Mr. Savaiko theorized that the news on cold fusion did n't affect the market yesterday because many traders have already been badly burnt by such stories . He said the traders are demanding a higher level of proof before they will buy palladium again . Also weighing on both metals ' prices is the role of the chief supplier , the Soviet Union . Many analysts believe that the Soviets ' thirst for dollars this year to buy grain and other Western commodities and goods will bring them to the market whenever prices rally very much . GRAINS AND SOYBEANS : Prices closed mixed as contracts reacted to largely offsetting bullish and bearish news . On the Chicago Board of Trade , soybeans for November delivery closed at $ 5.63 a bushel , down half a cent , while the December wheat contract rose three-quarters of a cent to $ 4.0775 a bushel . Supporting prices was the announcement late Friday of additional grain sales to the Soviet Union . But acting as a drag on prices was the improved harvest weather over the weekend and the prospect for continued fair weather this week over much of the Farm Belt . Strong farmer selling over the weekend also weighed on prices . SUGAR : World prices tumbled , mostly from their own weight , according to analysts . The March contract ended at 13.79 cents a pound , down 0.37 cent . For the past week or so , traders have been expecting India to buy between 150,000 and 200,000 tons of refined sugar , and there have been expectations of a major purchase by Japan . But with no reports of either country actually entering the market , analysts said , futures prices became vulnerable . Developing countries such as India , some analysts said , seem to have made it a point to stay away whenever sugar reached the top of its trading range , around 14.75 cents , and wait for prices to return to the bottom of the range , around 13.50 cents . But Erik Dunlaevy , a sugar analyst with Balfour Maclaine International Ltd. , said the explanation for the latest drop in sugar prices is much simpler : Speculators , he said , `` got too long too soon and ran into resistance around the old contract highs . '' A PaineWebber analyst said that in light of a new estimate of a production increase of four million metric tons and only a modest increase in consumption , sugar is n't likely to rise above the top of its trading range without a crop problem in a major producing country . COCOA : Futures rallied modestly . The December contract rose $ 33 a metric ton to $ 1,027 , near its high for the day . Gill & Duffus Ltd. , a British cocoa-trading house , estimated that the 1989-90 world cocoa surplus would be 231,000 tons , down from 314,000 tons for the previous year . Market technicians were encouraged by the price patterns , which in the past have preceded sharp rallies . Recent prices for cocoa have been near levels last seen in the mid-1970s . At such prices , according to Mr. Savaiko , bargain hunting and short-covering -- buying back of contracts previously sold -- by speculators is n't uncommon . But Mr. Savaiko expects stepped-up producer selling at around the $ 1,040 to $ 1,050 level . He also noted that a strong sterling market yesterday might have helped cocoa in New York as arbitragers took advantage of the currency move . Sandra Kaul , research analyst at Shearson Lehman Hutton , said the market pushed higher mainly in anticipation of a late harvest in the Ivory Coast , a major cocoa producer . Rockwell International Corp. bought out Ikegai Corp. 's interest in Ikegai-Goss , a joint venture of the two companies based in Tokyo . The price was 3.6 billion yen ( $ 25 million ) . The agreement provides that Ikegai Corp. will remain a supplier to Ikegai-Goss , which makes printing presses for the newspaper industry . The purchase was made by Rockwell Graphic Systems , a Chicago subsidiary of the El Segundo , Calif. , concern . Ikegai-Goss , which has about 200 employees , is among the industry leaders in keyless inking technology , which reduces time and materials waste when preparing a press for printing . The bond market , which sometimes thrives on bad news , cheered yesterday 's stock market sell-off and perceptions that the economy is growing weaker . Early in the day , bonds rose modestly on economists ' forecasts that this week 's slate of economic data will portray an economy headed for trouble . Such news is good for bonds because economic weakness sometimes causes the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates in an effort to stimulate the economy and stave off a recession . For example , today the Department of Commerce is scheduled to release the September durable goods report . The consensus forecast of 14 economists surveyed by Dow Jones Capital Markets Report is for a 1.2 % drop in September orders . That would follow a 3.9 % advance in August . Bonds received a bigger boost later in the day when stock prices moved broadly lower . The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 26.23 points to 2662.91 . `` Bond investors have been watching stocks closely , '' said Joel Marver , chief fixed-income analyst at Technical Data Global Markets Group . `` When you get a big sell-off in equities , money starts to shift into bonds , '' which are considered safer , he said . The Treasury 's benchmark 30-year bond ended about 1/2 point higher , or up about $ 5 for each $ 1,000 face amount , while the yield slid to 7.93 % from 7.98 % Friday . Municipals ended mixed , while mortgage-backed and investment-grade corporate bonds rose . Prices of high-yield , high-risk corporate securities ended unchanged . In more evidence of the growing division between `` good '' and `` bad '' junk bonds , a $ 150 million issue by Imo Industries Inc. was snapped up by investors while underwriters for Beatrice Co. 's $ 350 million issue are considering restructuring the deal to attract buyers . In the Treasury market , analysts expect bond prices to trade in narrow ranges this week as the market takes in positive and negative news . `` On the negative side , the market will be affected by constant supply in all sectors of the market , '' said William M. Brachfeld , economist at Daiwa Securities America Inc . `` On the other hand , we have economic news that is { expected to be } relatively positive for the bond market . We will go back and forth with a tilt toward slightly lower yields , '' he said . Today , the Treasury will sell $ 10 billion of new two-year notes . Tomorrow , Resolution Funding Corp. , a division of a new government agency created to bail out the nation 's troubled thrifts , will hold its first bond auction at which it will sell $ 4.5 billion of 30-year bonds . So far , money managers and other bond buyers have n't shown much interest in the Refcorp bonds . Analysts have mixed views about the two-year note auction . While some say the auction should proceed smoothly , others contend that yesterday 's sale of $ 2.58 billion of asset-backed securities by Ford Motor Credit Corp. may have siphoned some potential institutional buyers from the government 's note sale . The division of auto maker Ford Motor Co. made its debut in the asset-backed securities market with the second-largest issue in the market 's four-year history . The company offered securities backed by automobile loans through an underwriting group headed by First Boston Corp . The issue yields 8.90 % and carries a guarantee covering 9 % of the deal from the company . First Boston sweetened the terms from the original yield estimate in an apparent effort to place the huge offering . The issue was offered at a yield nearly one percentage point above the yield on two-year Treasurys . The only asset-backed deal larger than Ford 's was a $ 4 billion offering by General Motors Acceptance Corp. in 1986 . Treasury Securities Treasury bonds were 1/8 to 1/2 point higher yesterday in light trading . The benchmark 30-year bond ended at a price of 102 3/32 , compared with 101 17/32 Friday . The latest 10-year notes were quoted late at 100 17/32 to yield 7.90 % , compared with 100 3/32 to yield 7.97 % . The latest two-year notes were quoted late at 100 28/32 to yield 7.84 % . Short-term rates rose yesterday at the government 's weekly Treasury bill auction , compared with the previous bill sale . The Treasury sold $ 7.81 billion of three-month bills with an average discount rate of 7.52 % , the highest since the average of 7.63 % at the auction on Oct. 10 . The $ 7.81 billion of six-month Treasury bills were sold with an average discount rate of 7.50 % , the highest since the average of 7.60 % at the Oct. 10 auction . The rates were up from last week 's auction , when they were 7.37 % and 7.42 % , respectively . Here are auction details : Rates are determined by the difference between the purchase price and face value . Thus , higher bidding narrows the investor 's return while lower bidding widens it . The percentage rates are calculated on a 360-day year , while the coupon-equivalent yield is based on a 365-day year . Both issues are dated Oct. 26 . The 13-week bills mature Jan. 25 , 1990 , and the 26-week bills mature April 26 , 1990 . Corporate Issues Investment-grade corporates closed about 1/4 point higher in quiet trading . In the junk bond market , Imo Industries ' issue of 12-year debentures , considered to be one of the market 's high-quality credits , was priced at par to yield 12 % . Peter Karches , managing director at underwriter Morgan Stanley & Co. , said the issue was oversubscribed . `` It 's a segmented market , and if you have a good , strong credit , people have an appetite for it , '' he said . Morgan Stanley is expected to price another junk bond deal , $ 350 million of senior subordinated debentures by Continental Cablevision Inc. , next Tuesday . In light of the recent skittishness in the high-yield market , junk bond analysts and traders expect other high-yield deals to be sweetened or restructured before they are offered to investors . In the case of Beatrice , Salomon Brothers Inc. is considering restructuring the reset mechanism on the $ 200 million portion of the offering . Under the originally contemplated terms of the offering , the notes would have been reset annually at a fixed spread above Treasurys . Under the new plan being considered , the notes would reset annually at a rate to maintain a market value of 101 . Price talk calls for the reset notes to be priced at a yield of between 13 1/4 % and 13 1/2 % . Mortgage-Backed Securities Activity in derivative markets was strong with four new real estate mortgage investment conduits announced and talk of several more deals in today 's session . The Federal National Mortgage Association offered $ 1.2 billion of Remic securities in three issues , and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. offered a $ 250 million Remic backed by 9 % 15-year securities . Part of the reason for the heavy activity in derivative markets is that underwriters are repackaging mortgage securities being sold by thrifts . Traders said thrifts have stepped up their mortgage securities sales as the bond market has risen in the past two weeks . In the mortgage pass-through sector , active issues rose but trailed gains in the Treasury market . Government National Mortgage Association 9 % securities for November delivery were quoted late yesterday at 98 10/32 , up 10/32 ; and Freddie Mac 9 % securities were at 97 1/2 , up 1/4 . The Ginnie Mae 9 % issue was yielding 8.36 % to a 12-year average life assumption , as the spread above the Treasury 10-year note widened slightly to 1.46 percentage points . Municipals A $ 575 million San Antonio , Texas , electric and gas system revenue bond issue dominated the new issue sector . The refunding issue , which had been in the wings for two months , was one of the chief offerings overhanging the market and limiting price appreciation . But alleviating that overhang failed to stimulate much activity in the secondary market , where prices were off 1/8 to up 3/8 point . An official with lead underwriter First Boston said orders for the San Antonio bonds were `` on the slow side . '' He attributed that to the issue 's aggressive pricing and large size , as well as the general lethargy in the municipal marketplace . In addition , he noted , the issue would normally be the type purchased by property and casualty insurers , but recent disasters , such as Hurricane Hugo and the Northern California earthquake , have stretched insurers ' resources and damped their demand for bonds . A $ 137.6 million Maryland Stadium Authority sports facilities lease revenue bond issue appeared to be off to a good start . The issue was oversubscribed and `` doing very well , '' according to an official with lead underwriter Morgan Stanley . Activity quieted in the New York City bond market , where heavy investor selling last week drove yields on the issuer 's full faith and credit backed bonds up as much as 0.50 percentage point . Foreign Bonds Japanese government bonds ended lower after the dollar rose modestly against the yen . The turnaround in the dollar fueled bearish sentiment about Japan 's bond market . The benchmark No. 111 4.6 % bond due 1998 ended on brokers ' screens at a price of 95.39 , off 0.28 . The yield rose to 5.38 % . West German bond prices ended lower after a day of aimless trading . The benchmark 7 % bond due October 1999 fell 0.20 point to 99.80 to yield 7.03 % , while the 6 3/4 % notes due July 1994 fell 0.10 to 97.65 to yield 7.34 % . British government bonds ended slightly higher in quiet trading as investors looked ahead to today 's British trade report . The benchmark 11 3/4 % Treasury bond due 2003/2007 rose 1/8 to 111 21/32 to yield 10.11 % , while the 12 % issue of 1995 rose 3/32 to 103 23/32 to yield 11.01 % . `` The croaker 's done gone from the hook -- damn ] My language sure goes to pot down here on the coast . '' The husky blond guide with the Aggie cap twists his face in mock fury . `` I got to get back to school and straighten out my English . '' He has two more years at Texas A&M . Right now he takes people out to fish in the bays behind the barrier islands that curve for hundreds of miles along the eastern coast of Texas , enclosing milky green lagoons behind ridges of sand and grassy scrub that rim the deep blue of the Gulf beyond . There have been three days of hot , wind-swept rain , and now with the first sun we are after speckled seatrout , which with redfish provides most of the game fishing hereabouts . The little radio fizzes as other boats want to see if we have found any fish -- spotting location is everything in this sport . Negative answers crackle back . The fish often are plentiful around the pilings of the old gas wells that dot the flat surface like the remains of sunken ships . We go from one to the other . The sun is hot now though it 's only 8 in the morning . The great silver clouds on the horizon build themselves on the pale water . We cruise toward another set of pilings . The guide scoops into a pail and puts a frantically wiggling croaker on the hook . Then he casts out . `` Just wait for that tap-tap , that thump-thump . It comes real gentle before it pulls . Do n't forget , trout have very soft mouths . '' The radio queries again . `` Pickin ' one or two , '' says the guide , chuckling . `` You can tell they 've got nothin ' . '' A pair of black skimmers zig-zag past close to the surface . Soon we have our limit of the shimmering fish stippled in rose-gold and black . And we are the first back at the dock , where the great blue herons stand waiting by the cleaning benches . The guide is young and he knows this business but he wants a different life after college , such as working for IBM and wearing a necktie . This must be the last big stretch of the American seacoast that is `` undeveloped . '' There are a few ramshackle fishing towns with quiet atolls of resort houses nearby . People are not apt to be self-conscious about the place or themselves . Texas is big and beautiful and they live here , that 's all . Jutting out just to the north of us is the Blackjack Peninsula ( after the oak , not the game ) which forms the core of the Aransas Wildlife Refuge . It is famous as the winter home of the whooping crane , that symbol of the destruction of wild America . Last year a gunner shot a whooper by mistake thinking that it was a snow goose . He paid an immense fine and was lucky , according to a local wag , to escape the gas chamber . The peninsula comes off the vast southeastern alluvial plain with fields of rice and cotton and sorghum as far as the eye can see . Near the coast there are dense coverts of live oak interspersed with marshes and prairies . Deer , wild hog , armadillos and alligators are the glamour quadrupeds and the birds are innumerable , especially the herons and the spoonbills . Above the blossoms of lantana and scarlet pea the inky-brown and golden palamedes butterfly floats on its lazy wingbeat . Inland a few miles from the refuge there is a place called Tivoli , with a white church , a gas station and a grocery , the houses relatively close together for such a settlement in these parts . `` Tivoli Motel , '' I read a sign in the usual pronunciation of the name as we whoosh through . `` Here in south Texas we say Tie-vole-ee , '' my host gently corrects . Mr. King is the director of the Foreign Press Center in New York . AEG AG and Siemens AG said they will launch their previously announced joint venture for power semiconductors in January . The two West German electronics concerns said they have set up European Power Semiconductor Co. to merge their activities in the field . AEG and Siemens each will hold a 50 % stake in the venture . The joint venture will have nominal capital of 50 million marks ( $ 26.9 million ) and 700 employees . It will develop , produce and market high-performance electronic parts . Siemens is West Germany 's largest electronics group . AEG is 80 % owned by Daimler-Benz AG , the country 's biggest industrial concern . Dana Corp. said its third-quarter net income fell 27 % to $ 29.6 million , or 72 cents a share , from $ 40.7 million , or $ 1 a share , a year earlier . Sales dropped 4 % to $ 1.12 billion from $ 1.17 billion . The company , which supplies transmissions and other drive-train parts to auto makers , said about half the earnings drop came from the `` virtual collapse '' of the Venezuelan auto industry . The Venezuelan currency plummeted this year , making it difficult for auto makers there to afford imported parts . Dana also said it was hurt by slumping U.S. truck sales and by a strike at a parts supplier . The company , based in Toledo , Ohio , had said it expected reduced third-quarter profit . Mary Anne Sudol , an analyst at Fitch Investors in New York , said automotive suppliers were reporting lower profit almost `` across the board . '' Southwood J. Morcott , Dana 's president , said the company 's decision to approve its normal fourth-quarter dividend indicated its underlying strength . Norimasa Furuta , president of Japan 's Mazda Motor Corp. , said the Japanese car maker is planning joint production with Ford Motor Co. in Europe ahead of the European Community 's 1992 integration . Mr. Furuta did n't disclose further details of the arrangement at a news conference , but said the project would be undertaken with Ford 's European subsidiary . A Ford official confirmed in Tokyo that the U.S. motor vehicle maker is studying such an arrangement . At age eight , Josephine Baker was sent by her mother to a white woman 's house to do chores in exchange for meals and a place to sleep -- a place in the basement with the coal . At age 19 , she was a Paris sensation , transformed from unwanted child to international sex symbol in just over a decade . It is the stuff of dreams , but also of traumas . Only the bravest spirits survive such roller coasters . And , for Ms. Baker , the ride was far from over . Her bare breasts , her dancing , her voice , her beauty and , perhaps most famously , her derriere , were prominent attractions , but courage of a rare sort made her remarkable life possible . Bricktop , another American black woman who found a measure of fame in Paris , said : `` I do n't think I 've ever known anyone with a less complicated view of life , or whose life was more complicated than Josephine 's . '' Men were a constant complication . Baker had lots of them . But she did n't trust them and did n't reward trust . As she saw one key love affair , the problem was n't her infidelity , it was his jealousy . Her appetite for children also was large . She adopted 12 of assorted races , naming them the Rainbow Tribe , and driving her husband first to despair and then to Argentina . She made money , but spent more . Friends pitched in . Finally , Prince Rainier and Princess Grace saved her with the offer of a house in Monaco . Another lifelong complication , as Phyllis Rose makes clear in `` Jazz Cleopatra : Josephine Baker in Her Time '' ( Doubleday , 321 pages , $ 22.50 ) , was racism . Baker had the good luck to arrive in 1925 Paris , where blacks had become exotic . African art was in vogue and some intellectuals were writing breathlessly of a dawning age to be inspired by blacks . To be exotic was to be patronized as well as prized , but for the most part Paris was a friendly island in a racist world . Baker had bitter experience of bigotry from her St. Louis childhood and her days in New York theater , where she was judged too dark for an all-black chorus line ( performing of course for all-white audiences ) . Paris loved her at first sight . `` She just wiggled her fanny and all the French fell in love with her , '' sniffed the literary world 's Maria Jolas , not entirely inaccurately . `` One can hardly overemphasize the importance of her rear end , '' Ms. Rose writes . Ms. Rose , who teaches literature at Wesleyan University , quickly proceeds to overemphasize , claiming that Baker 's dancing `` had uncovered a new region for desire '' and thereby ignoring centuries of tributes to the callipygous . `` Jazz Cleopatra '' contains other , more important , false notes that undermine what is , for the most part , a lively account of a life already familiar from earlier works . It is easy to see why Baker , a free spirit who broke many of the restraints convention places on women , attracts Ms. Rose , the author of `` Parallel Lives , '' a wonderful study of Victorian marriage . Still , even the title raises questions about the author 's vision of her subject . Baker 's art was jazz only by the widest stretch of the term . To find parallels , other than sexual appeal , with Cleopatra , requires an equal stretch . Baker was 68 years old when she died in Paris , two days after the sold-out opening of her newest show : a movie-like ending to what was a cinematic life . In fact , Ms. Baker played scenes in Casablanca that could have made it into `` Casablanca . '' During World War II , her uncomplicated view of life led her to the conclusion that the Nazis were evil and must be resisted , a decision made by only about 2 % of French citizens . She was devoted to Charles de Gaulle 's cause , accepting great financial sacrifice and considerable risk to become first a spy and then a one-woman USO tour for the forces of Free France . In Humphrey Bogart 's nightclub , Victor Laszlo leads Free French sympathizers in `` La Marseillaise '' to drown out the Nazis . The night the Germans occupied all of France , Baker performed in Casablanca . The Free French wore black arm bands , and when she sang `` J'ai J'ai deux amours '' they wept . Ms. Rose is best on the early years and World War II . In her introduction , Ms. Rose writes that she feels she has much in common with Baker , but as `` Jazz Cleopatra '' goes on , it seems more rushed , as though the author were growing less interested . It does n't help that sometimes Ms. Rose 's language fails to deliver the effect she appears to want . One chapter opens : `` World War II was not one of France 's glorious moments . '' Elsewhere , in an attempt to explain without stating it plainly that Baker had a large gay following later in her career when she was an overdressed singer rather than underdressed dancer , Ms. Rose writes : `` She was a female impersonator who happened to be a woman . '' One devoted fan who fell under Baker 's spell in 1963 and began collecting Baker memorabilia was Bryan Hammond . In `` Josephine Baker '' ( Jonathan Cape , 304 pages , $ 35 ) , which was published in Britain last year and distributed in the U.S. this month , Mr. Hammond has used his collection to produce an album of photographs and drawings of the star . The text by Patrick O'Connor is a tough read , but the pictures make her magnetism clear and help explain why Ernest Hemingway called Baker `` The most sensational woman anybody ever saw . Or ever will . '' Mr. Lescaze is foreign editor of the Journal . Manville , having rid itself of asbestos , now sells fiberglass , forest products , minerals and industrial goods . Heady stuff it 's not . But Manville 's ownership is unusual , and it has caught the eye of some canny -- and patient -- investors . The Denver-based concern , which emerged from bankruptcy-law proceedings late last year , is controlled by the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust . The trust , which owns 80 % of Manville 's stock on a fully diluted basis , is a separate legal entity that is settling claims with asbestos victims . When and if the trust runs out of cash -- which seems increasingly likely -- it will need to convert its Manville stock to cash . But as an 80 % owner , if it tried to sell much of its stock in the market , it would likely depress the price of its shares . Some investors say there is a good chance that the trust will , instead , seek to convert the company 's shares to cash , in some sort of friendly restructuring that would n't involve just dumping stock on the market . `` Their principal asset is Manville common stock , '' says Jeffrey Halis , who runs Sabre Associates , an investment fund that owns Manville shares . `` If they tried to sell , they 'd be chasing their own tail . What makes the most sense is to find someone who wants to buy the whole company or cause a recapitalization of all shares . '' The trust is n't commenting on when it might need to liquefy its Manville stock . However , the trust 's cash flow from investments is far short of its payments to asbestos victims . Its cash and liquid securities fell by $ 338 million in the first six months of 1989 . The trust also will receive $ 75 million a year starting in 1991 on a bond it holds from Manville . And , beginning in 1992 , it will have a claim on as much as 20 % of Manville 's annual net income . Even so , the trust would seem to be facing a cash crunch . As of June 30 , it had settled only about 15,000 of the 81,000 received claims from asbestos victims , for an average of $ 40,424 each . ( The average should drop over time , since the most expensive claims are being settled first ) . And as of midyear , settled but unpaid claims amounted to $ 136 million -- more than half the trust 's total of $ 268 million in cash and marketable securities . `` At some point , we 're going to need an infusion of funds , '' a person close to the trust says . Even before then , the trust may be eager to unload Manville stock . It does n't pay a dividend , and this trust needs income . Moreover , with 88 % of its assets tied up in Manville , the trust is badly in need of diversification . `` Obviously , a diversified portfolio would have less risk , '' the person close to the trust says . Manville itself does n't rule out a restructuring . Though the ink is barely dry on its new , post-bankruptcy law structure , Bill Bullock , Manville 's head of investor relations , says the company is continually pondering `` whether there is a better way to be structured . We understand that the trust is ultimately going to need to sell some of our shares , '' he says . Of course , one option would be for Manville to buy out the trust 's shares -- which would do little to benefit public stockholders . But the trust , in most cases , is forbidden from seeking a buyer for only its shares before November 1993 . And both the trust and Manville are seeking to avoid the bad publicity that , in the asbestos era , tarred the Manville name . Thus , analysts say , the trust is unlikely to do anything that would hurt Manville 's other shareholders . `` This is a rare case of a company with a big majority holder which will probably act in the interests of the minority holders , '' one investor says . Even if there is no restructuring , Manville seems to be attractive long-term . Its stock , at 9 5/8 , trades at about 8 1/2 times estimated 1989 earnings -- an appropriately low multiple for a company with recession-sensitive customers . Mr. Bullock says 45 % of revenues are tied to construction . Analysts predict little or no near-term growth . They are , nonetheless , high on Manville 's management . `` It 's one of the best in the business , '' says Salomon Brothers analyst Stephen Dobi . And he says Manville has the financial flexibility to buy other companies at the best possible momentwhen other construction-related firms are hurting and selling cheap . With a conservative debt-to-equity ratio of 1-to-1 -- and $ 329 million in cash -- Manville is indeed actively on the prowl . So far , as a price-conscious shopper , Manville has n't bought much . Paul Kleinaitis , an analyst at Duff & Phelps , says , `` Even though they have borrowing power , they have been disciplined about acquisitions . '' And Mr. Kleinaitis says that with 80 % of its stock in friendly hands , Manville is the rare publicly traded company that can ignore short-term stock fluctuations and plan for the long haul . Manville ( NYSE ; Symbol : MVL ) Business : Forest products and roofing Year ended Dec. 31 , 1988 : Sales : $ 2.06 billions Net loss : $ 1.30 billion * Third quarter , Sept. 30 , 1989 : Per-share earnings : 30 cents vs. 44 cents ** Average daily trading volume : 74,351 shares Common shares outstanding : 120 million * Includes $ 1.29 billion extraordinary charge . ** Year ago figure is restated . Emerson Electric Co. and Robert Bosch G.m.b . H. said the Federal Trade Commission has requested additional information from the two companies about their announced intention to acquire Vermont American Corp. for $ 40 a share , or about $ 440 million . Yesterday , in composite trading on the American Stock Exchange , Vermont American common closed at $ 39.75 , off 25 cents . The FTC 's request was `` not unusual '' and Emerson will make a `` full and prompt '' response , according to a spokesman . Spokesmen for Emerson and Vermont American , which has agreed to be acquired , said they do n't anticipate `` any problems '' with the completion of the transaction . An FTC spokesman said the matter is `` in a non-public posture at this time '' and declined to comment further . Emerson and Bosch , through their joint acquisition arm , Maple Acquisition , have begun a cash tender offer for all of Vermont 's common shares outstanding . The offer , set to expire Nov. 1 , may be extended pending the timing and resolution of the FTC request , the companies said . St. Louis-based Emerson and Stuttgart-based Bosch make electrical and electronic products , including power tools . The Vermont American acquisition is designed to enhance their position in the accessories portion of the power-tool industry . Santa Fe Pacific Corp. is preparing a plan to sell a 20 % stake in its large real estate unit to a California public employee pension fund for $ 400 million , after which it would spin off the realty operation to shareholders . The plan places an indicated value on the real estate operation , Santa Fe Pacific Realty Corp. , of $ 2 billion . Santa Fe Pacific directors are expected to review the plan at a meeting today , according to people familiar with the transaction . If approved , the sale is expected to close by year 's end , with the spinoff occurring by the end of 1992 . In composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday , Santa Fe Pacific closed at $ 20.625 , down 25 cents . Santa Fe Pacific Realty is a major California land and building owner whose prime properties include 1,850 undeveloped acres in the San Francisco Bay area , and several office sites . A spokesman said the properties survived without significant damage in last week 's Northern California earthquake . As a result of the partial sale and spinoff , the $ 56 billion California Public Employees Retirement System would obtain two seats on the board of the real estate operation , according to officials of the fund , who described the plan . A spokesman for Chicago-based Santa Fe Pacific confirmed that negotiations were being held with the fund . Also holding two seats each on the board , they said , would be Olympia & York Developments Ltd. , controlled by the Reichmann family of Canada , and Itel Corp. , controlled by Chicago businessman Sam Zell . The Reichmanns and Mr. Zell , the largest holders of Santa Fe Pacific stock , have been looking for ways to raise the value of their investments , including possible spinoffs . Itel bought a 17 % stake in Sante Fe Pacific last year and Olympia & York later purchased about a 20 % stake ; they would have interests in the new realty company in line with their holdings in Sante Fe Pacific . The sale and spinoff of the real estate unit is the first phase of what could lead to the breakup of Santa Fe Pacific into free-standing companies for its railroad and energy operations , as well as real estate . The debt-laden parent has been under pressure from large shareholders to boost the company 's share price . At the same time it has been caught in an earnings squeeze . The California pension fund 's planned investment in the real estate unit is unusual . Pension funds rarely own as much as a 20 % stake in what is expected to be a publicly traded company . In addition , pension funds are rarely given seats on company boards and most often try to avoid them because of legal concerns . But fund officials said the Santa Fe Pacific Realty investment provides an opportunity to buy a stake in a large real estate portfolio heavily weighted with California properties . It also marks a `` major commitment to { real estate } development , which we have n't been involved with before , '' said Dale Hanson , the fund 's executive director . Under the proposed plan , the fund would also lend Santa Fe Pacific Realty $ 75 million in the form of a note that would be convertible into additional shares of the realty company after the second year at the then-prevailing market price . The note would accrue interest at the rate of 13.5 % a year , which would be payable to the fund after five years , according to Stephen E. Roulac , a real estate consultant working for the fund . The purpose of the note is to provide added capital for the spun-off company in a form that will save it spending cash on immediate interest payments , Mr. Roulac said . The spun-off concern `` clearly will be one of the dominant real estate development companies with a prime portfolio , '' he said . For the last year , Santa Fe Pacific has redirected its real estate operations toward longer-term development of its properties , hurting profits that the parent had generated in the past from periodic sales from its portfolio . Real estate operating income for the first nine months fell to $ 71.9 million from $ 143 million a year earlier , the company said . In a statement late yesterday , Santa Fe Pacific 's chairman , Robert D. Krebs , said that Santa Fe Pacific Realty would repay more than $ 500 million in debt owed to the parent before the planned spinoff . That would help reduce Santa Fe Pacific 's remaining debt to about $ 600 million from a high of $ 3.7 billion in early 1988 . It was n't clear where Santa Fe Pacific expected to obtain the payment of more than $ 500 million , which would be well above the $ 400 million that California pension fund officials say they plan to provide . The realty unit might take on new debt or obtain additional investors , among other possibilities . The Santa Fe Pacific spokesman declined to comment on that aspect , saying the deal was still under negotiation . Santa Fe Pacific Realty owns 2.8 million acres of property , including 219 buildings with more than 11 million square feet of space . It also holds nearly 40,000 acres of raw land with development potential , but under a previously announced strategy , the company has targeted building on 5,400 acres in California , Arizona and the Chicago area . Among those are the 1,850 acres in the San Francisco Bay area , including 208 acres in the Mission Bay area . The California pension fund , which has $ 16 billion already invested in real estate and mortgages , could be a valuable funding source for that development , although it is n't obliged to make further investments . The fund is the nation 's largest public employee fund , and it has a growing cash flow now topping $ 3 billion a year . Fund officials negotiated the final structure of the proposed deal with Santa Fe Pacific , but they were approached with the idea by real estate brokers JMB Realty Corp. of Chicago . JMB officials are expected to be hired to represent the pension fund on the Santa Fe Pacific Realty board , Mr. Roulac said , to insulate the fund from potential liability problems . GAF , Part III is scheduled to begin today . After two mistrials , the stakes in the stock manipulation trial of GAF Corp. and its vice chairman , James T. Sherwin , have changed considerably . The first two GAF trials were watched closely on Wall Street because they were considered to be important tests of the government 's ability to convince a jury of allegations stemming from its insider-trading investigations . In an eight-count indictment , the government charged GAF , a Wayne , N.J. , chemical maker , and Mr. Sherwin with illegally attempting to manipulate the common stock of Union Carbide Corp. in advance of GAF 's planned sale of a large block of the stock in 1986 . The government 's credibility in the GAF case depended heavily on its star witness , Boyd L. Jefferies , the former Los Angeles brokerage chief who was implicated by former arbitrager Ivan Boesky , and then pointed the finger at Mr. Sherwin , takeover speculator Salim B. Lewis and corporate raider Paul Bilzerian . The GAF trials were viewed as previews of the government 's strength in its cases against Mr. Lewis and Mr. Bilzerian . Mr. Jefferies 's performance as a witness was expected to affect his sentencing . But GAF 's bellwether role was short-lived . The first GAF trial ended in a mistrial after four weeks when U.S. District Judge Mary Johnson Lowe found that a prosecutor improperly , but unintentionally , withheld a document . After 93 hours of deliberation , the jurors in the second trial said they were hopelessly deadlocked , and another mistrial was declared on March 22 . Meanwhile , a federal jury found Mr. Bilzerian guilty on securities fraud and other charges in June . A month later , Mr. Jefferies was spared a jail term by a federal judge who praised him for helping the government . In August , Mr. Lewis pleaded guilty to three felony counts . Nevertheless , the stakes are still high for the players directly involved in the GAF case . The mistrials have left the reputations of GAF , Mr. Sherwin and GAF Chairman Samuel Heyman in limbo . For Mr. Sherwin , a conviction could carry penalties of five years in prison and a $ 250,000 fine on each count . GAF faces potential fines of $ 500,000 for each count . Individuals familiar with the case said that throughout September , defense attorneys were talking with the government in an effort to prevent a trial , but by the end of the month the talks had ended . There is much speculation among attorneys not involved that the strategy of GAF 's attorney , Arthur Liman , and Mr. Sherwin 's counsel , Stephen Kaufman , will include testimony by Mr. Sherwin or Mr. Heyman . Neither testified at the previous trials . For now , defense attorneys are tight-lipped about their plans . Max Gitter , another GAF defense attorney , said yesterday , `` As we go in for the third time , Yogi Berra 's famous line is apt : ` It 's deja vu all over again . ' '' DALKON SHIELD CLAIMANTS hope to stop reorganization-plan appeal . Attorneys for more than 18,000 women who claim injuries from the Dalkon Shield contraceptive device have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to refuse to hear an appeal of the bankruptcy-law reorganization plan for A.H. Robins Co. , which manufactured the device . The dispute pits two groups of claimants against each other . Baltimore attorney Michael A. Pretl and 17 other attorneys representing 18,136 claimants in the U.S. and abroad argue that the appeal would delay -- and perhaps even destroy -- a $ 2.38 billion settlement fund that is the centerpiece of the reorganization plan . The bankruptcy-court reorganization is being challenged before the Supreme Court by a dissident group of claimants because it places a cap on the total amount of money available to settle claims . It also bars future suits against Robins company officials , members of the Robins family and Robins 's former insurer , Aetna Life & Casualty Co . The latter provision is `` legally unprecedented , '' said Alan B. Morrison , a public interest lawyer in Washington , D.C. , who is challenging the plan on behalf of 900 claimants . More than 100,000 claims against Robins are pending . The company made and marketed the Dalkon Shield in the early 1970s amid mounting evidence that it could cause serious injuries . Robins has been in proceedings under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code since August 1985 ; such proceedings give it protection from creditor lawsuits while it works out a plan for paying its debts . American Home Products Corp. wants to acquire Robins , but only if all legal challenges to the plan are exhausted . In a brief filed with the Supreme Court last week , Mr. Pretl criticizes the appeal for raising `` abstract '' and `` theoretical '' legal issues , while jeopardizing the proposed reorganization and the settlement payments to claimants . The Supreme Court is scheduled to consider the case Nov. 3 and may issue a decision as early as Nov. 6 . JURY ` S CRIMINAL CONVICTION under Superfund law is a first . Charles A. Donohoo , sole proprieter of a Louisville , Ky. , demolition company , was found guilty of violating the Superfund law as well as the Clean Air Act . Criminal convictions under the federal Superfund law are rare , and the decision is the first jury verdict in such a case . Under Superfund , those who owned , generated or transported hazardous waste are liable for its cleanup , regardless of whether their actions were legal at the time . Environmental lawyers say virtually all of the Superfund cases to date have involved civil penalties designed to insure cleanup of past polluting activities . But Superfund also contains a criminal provision concerning the release of toxic substances into the environment . In 1986 Congress strengthened the penalty by making it a felony . Mr. Donohoo was convicted in Louisville late last month of violating Superfund by failing to report the release of asbestos into the environment from a building he was demolishing . He was also convicted of failing to properly remove asbestos from the building , a violation of the Clean Air Act . The government sought a criminal penalty because `` no cleanup is possible here . Once { asbestos } is released into the environment , it can lodge anywhere , '' says Richard A. Dennis , the assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case . Mr. Donohoo is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 11 . His lawyer could not be reached for comment . Mr. Donohoo faces as much as three years in prison and a $ 250,000 fine for the Superfund conviction and as much as one year in prison and a $ 100,000 fine for the violation of the Clean Air Act . TED BUNDY'S LAWYERS switch to victims ' side in death-sentence case . Wilmer , Cutler & Pickering , the Washington , D.C. , law firm that spent over $ 1 million fighting the execution of mass-murderer Ted Bundy -- who eventually was executed -- has taken on another death penalty case before the Supreme Court , this time on the side of the family of four murder victims in Arkansas . The law firm has filed a friend-of-the-court brief jointly with the Washington Legal Foundation , a conservative legal group . The key issue in the case , which the law firm is handling without a fee , or pro bono , is whether a person sentenced to death can voluntarily waive his rights of appellate review . The murderer , Ronald Gene Simmons , was convicted of killing 14 people . Another murderer on death row has appealed Mr. Simmons 's death sentence in a `` next friend '' capacity . Wilmer Cutler 's brief argues that there is no mandatory appellate review of capital sentences and that the inmate who filed the appeal lacks proper standing . P.J. Mode , Wilmer Cutler 's managing partner , says the trial team that represented Mr. Bundy was asked by the firm 's pro bono committee whether the new case posed a conflict and that no objections were raised . The coupling of the law firm and the Washington Legal Foundation is odd also , because Wilmer Cutler was one of the firms singled out for criticism two years ago by the conservative legal group for displaying a liberal bias in its pro bono work . `` We give them a lot of credit for taking this case , '' says WLF 's Alan Slobodin . THE CASE OF THE FAKE DALIS : In federal court in Manhattan , three defendants pleaded guilty to charges of fraud in connection with the sale of fake Salvador Dali lithographs . James Burke and Larry Evans , formerly owners of the now-defunct Barclay Gallery , and Prudence Clark , a Barclay sales representative , were charged with conducting high-pressure telephone sales in which they misrepresented cheap copies of Dali artwork as signed , limited-edition lithographs . The posters were sold for $ 1,300 to $ 6,000 , although the government says they had a value of only $ 53 to $ 200 apiece . Henry Pitman , the assistant U.S. attorney handling the case , said about 1,000 customers were defrauded and that Barclay 's total proceeds from the sales were $ 3.4 million . Attorneys for Messrs. Burke and Evans and Ms. Clarke said that although their clients admitted to making some misrepresentations in the sales , they had believed that the works were authorized by Mr. Dali , who died in January . The posters were printed on paper pre-signed by Mr. Dali , the attorneys said . Westamerica Bancorp. said Richard W. Decker resigned as president and chief executive officer after only a year on the job because of `` differences '' with the board . The banking company could n't be reached to comment beyond a written announcement . It did n't specify the nature of the differences , saying only that they related to `` management style '' and `` strategic objectives . '' Westamerica said Mr. Decker 's posts were assumed by David Payne , Westamerica 's chairman , who at 34 years of age becomes one of the youngest chief executives of a sizable bank in the country . Mr. Decker is about 45 years old . Neither Mr. Payne nor Mr. Decker could be reached to comment . Westamerica has about $ 1.3 billion of assets and is the largest independent bank in northern California . It controls about 35 % of the affluent Marin County market across the Golden Gate bridge from San Francisco . Mr. Decker 's resignation surprised many industry officials . He was brought to the company in September 1988 after 15 years at Los Angeles-based First Interstate Bancorp . The bank had been suffering in late 1987 from a slew of bad real estate loans made in Arizona . When he was hired , Mr. Payne lauded Mr. Decker 's `` extraordinary ... skills '' and his `` outstanding reputation as one of the West 's brightest bankers . '' Though the bank is n't performing as well as some of its competitors in the lucrative California market , its condition has improved since Mr. Decker took over . For the six months ended June 30 , it earned $ 3.1 million , or 61 cents a share , compared with net income of $ 2.4 million , or 41 cents a share , a year earlier . Its stock also has risen lately , at least partly because it is considered a possible takeover candidate . Interstate banking is scheduled to begin in California in 1991 , and larger California banks , such as Wells Fargo & Co. , have been paying fat premiums to buy smaller banks to control markets before any out-of-state banks enter the fray . In American Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday , Westamerica closed at $ 22.25 a share , down 75 cents . Varian Associates Inc. , Palo Alto , Calif. , reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit plunged more than 95 % to $ 1 million , or five cents a share , from $ 24.2 million , or $ 1.10 a share , in the year-earlier quarter . The diversified electronics company blamed the decline in the quarter ended Sept. 29 , on previously reported operating problems in its Electron Devices & Systems Group . For the full fiscal year , Varian posted a 13 % profit rise to $ 31.5 million , or $ 1.53 a share , up from $ 27.8 million , or $ 1.27 a share , last year . Sales for the year rose almost 15 % to $ 1.34 billion from $ 1.17 billion last year . A profit last year in both the quarter and year included a net gain of $ 9.6 million , or 44 cents a share , from the sale of a division . Additionally , the full-year profit last year reflected an after-tax restructuring charge of $ 22.8 million , or $ 1.04 a share . Shares of Varian , which last month warned there would be a fourth-quarter plunge , closed at $ 22.75 , down 62.5 cents in composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange . Sales rose 18 % in the fiscal fourth quarter to $ 364.1 million from $ 307.9 million on the strength in semiconductors and other products . In a last-ditch effort to keep its sales force and customer base , Integrated Resources Inc. said it agreed in principle to transfer ownership of its broker-dealer subsidiary to two of its top executives . The financial-services firm , struggling since summer to avoid a bankruptcy-law filing after missing interest payments on about $ 1 billion of debt , will retain the right to regain the subsidiary . It said it will exercise that right only if it sells substantially all of its other core businesses . It also can sell the right to regain the subsidiary to another party . Also , the broker-dealer subsidiary , Integrated Resources Equity Corp. , was renamed Royal Alliance Associates Inc . Because of Integrated 's widely reported troubles , the unit 's representatives had been requesting a name change . Royal Alliance , to which the 3,900 representatives ' licenses will be transferred , is a shell company Integrated owns . In the transaction , Integrated will transfer 100 % ownership of the subsidiary to Gerard M. Lavin , executive vice president of Integrated and head of back-office operations at the subsidiary , and Gary W. Krat , executive vice president of the parent and president of the subsidiary . Integrated will pump $ 3.5 million to $ 4 million into Royal Alliance as initial funding . In an interview , Mr. Krat said that based on criteria yet to be determined , he expects to distribute 49 % of Royal Alliance to the representatives , who sell Integrated 's insurance and mutual-fund products . If Integrated regains Royal Alliance , the representatives will retain their 49 % ownership . Mr. Krat indicated that completion of the transaction could take several weeks , and it was n't immediately clear what would happen to the broker-dealer subsidiary if Integrated files for bankruptcy-law protection in the meantime . The subsidiary is n't expected to be profitable for at least one year . If Integrated regains the unit , it would receive any profit the unit reports , even while the unit is independent . If the deal closes , the two officers will draw salaries from the independent operation , not from Integrated . Many aspects of the agreement were worked out Wednesday in Chicago , when Integrated senior managers met with about 150 representatives . `` I think it was something that we and they thought was constructive , '' said Stephen D. Weinroth , chairman and co-chief executive officer of Integrated . Integrated made its announcement after the market closed . In New York Stock Exchange Composite trading , Integrated shares closed at $ 1.125 , up 12.5 cents . The dollar weakened in indecisive trading as foreign-exchange dealers awaited fresh economic news that they hope will jolt the U.S. unit out of its narrow ranges . The Canadian dollar climbed to its highest level against the U.S. dollar since late August , prompting the Bank of Canada to sell the Canadian currency on the market . Traders say that after a week of nervously tracking every development on Wall Street , the foreign-exchange market has settled back to catch its breath ahead of new U.S. economic data . They noted , however , that a 26-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average gave the dollar a sharp nudge downward late in the day . In late New York trading yesterday , the dollar was quoted at 1.8470 marks , down from 1.8578 marks late Friday , and at 141.90 yen , down from 142.43 yen late Friday . Sterling was quoted at $ 1.6030 , up from $ 1.5885 late Friday . In Tokyo Tuesday , the U.S. currency opened for trading at 141.80 yen , down from Monday 's Tokyo close of 142.40 yen . The market 's attention is especially focused on a preliminary report on the U.S. third-quarter gross national product , due out Thursday , which could show the economy is continuing to expand at a relatively brisk pace . The consensus view on real GNP , the total value of the U.S. output of goods and services adjusted for inflation , calls for a 2.3 % gain on an annual basis , slowing somewhat from the second quarter 's 2.5 % , but still fairly strong . Few market participants expect the U.S. unit to rally sharply on the news , if it turns out as expected . Many contend that the report may overstate the economy 's health and predict the third-quarter figures may be the last vigorous statistics for some time to come . `` Everyone is waiting for GNP , '' says Walter Simon , an assistant treasurer with Bank Julius Baer & Co . `` Yet even a relatively strong number -- 2.8 % to 2.9 % -- wo n't alter the market 's view that the economy is softening . '' Hubert Pedroli , managing director of foreign exchange at Credit Suisse in New York , adds , `` The market sees this as the last piece of good news . '' Mr. Pedroli notes that the GNP deflator , a measure of inflation , is expected to slow , which would give the Federal Reserve more room to ease key U.S. rates . Analysts predict a 3.5 % rise in the deflator , after climbing 4.6 % in the second quarter . They note that when an unexpectedly sharp widening in the U.S. trade gap in August was reported earlier this month , hopes for a sustained narrowing of the trade deficit were dashed and sentiment gripped the market that the U.S. economy was losing its momentum . A 190-point plunge in U.S. stock shares compounded the view , they say . `` Everyone is extremely convinced the economy is slowing , '' says one senior New York dealer . `` If we 're not headed for a recession , we 're certainly headed for a major slowdown . '' While the market expects little reaction from news of U.S. durable goods orders , scheduled for release today , participants note that the figures will probably serve to reinforce this bearish sentiment . U.S. durable goods orders are expected to show a decline of 1.2 % in September , according to economists . The anticipated drop follows a 3.9 % rise in August . Traders , however , are quick to point out that while there is little enthusiasm for buying dollars , the U.S. unit has found a `` natural bottom '' at about 1.85 marks and 140 yen . Its resilience around these levels is pegged to persistent investor demand for the greenback , especially in Japan . On the Commodity Exchange in New York , gold for current delivery settled at $ 367 an ounce , down 30 cents . Estimated volume was a very light one million ounces . In early trading in Hong Kong Tuesday , gold was quoted at $ 366.79 an ounce . Liz Claiborne Inc. , New York , said its third-quarter net income jumped 62 % , citing continued strength in apparel sales and the start of shipments of its new product lines : a men 's fragrance , large-size women 's apparel and casual knitwear . The big apparel maker and retailer said that its net income in the latest quarter increased to $ 51.1 million , or 58 cents a share , from $ 31.7 million , or 36 cents a share , a year earlier . Sales in the quarter gained 29 % to $ 410.4 million from $ 317.7 million a year earlier . Claiborne shares closed yesterday at $ 25.125 , up 50 cents , in national over-the-counter trading . Claiborne 's directors also declared its regular cash dividend payment of five cents a share payable on Dec. 5 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Nov. 13 . For the nine months , net income rose 48 % to $ 124.2 million , or $ 1.41 a share , from $ 83.8 million , or 96 cents a share a year earlier . Sales gained 16 % to $ 1.03 billion from $ 894 million . Tokyo stocks closed firmer Monday , with the Nikkei index making its fifth consecutive daily gain . Stocks also rose in London , while the Frankfurt market was mixed . In Tokyo , the Nikkei index added 99.14 to 35585.52 . The index moved above 35670 at midmorning , nearly reaching the record of 35689.98 set Sept. 28 . But the market lost part of the early gains on index-linked investment trust fund selling . In early trading in Tokyo Tuesday , the Nikkei index rose 1.08 points to 35586.60 . On Monday , traders noted that some investors took profits against the backdrop of the Nikkei 's fast-paced recovery following its plunge last Monday in reaction to the Oct. 13 drop in New York stock prices . But overall buying interest remained strong through Monday , with many observers saying they expect the Nikkei to continue with moderate gains this week . Turnover remained relatively small . Volume on the first section was estimated at 600 million shares , down from 1.03 billion shares Friday . The Tokyo stock price index of first section issues was up 7.81 at 2687.53 . Relatively stable foreign currency dealings Monday were viewed favorably by market players , traders said . But institutional investors may wait a little longer to appraise the direction of the U.S. monetary policy and the dollar , traders said . Hiroyuki Wada , general manager of the stock department at Okasan Securities , said Monday 's trading was `` unfocused . '' He said investors were picking individual stocks based on specific incentives and the likelihood of a wider price increase over the short term . The selective approach blurred themes such as domestic-demand issues , large-capitalization issues or high-technology shares , which had been providing at least some trading direction over the past few weeks , Mr. Wada said . Investors took profits on major construction shares , which advanced last week , shifting their attention to some midsize companies such as Aoki Corp. , Tobishima and Maeda . Aoki gained 60 yen to 1,480 yen ( $ 10.40 ) . Some pharmaceutical shares were popular on rumors related to new products to be introduced at a cancer conference that opened in Nagoya . Teijin was up 15 at 936 , and Kyowa Hakko gained 30 to 1,770 . Mochida advanced 40 to 4,440 . Fujisawa continued to attract investors because of strong earning prospects stemming from a new immune control agent . Fujisawa gained 50 to 2,060 . Kikkoman was up 30 to 1,600 , receiving investor interest for its land property holdings near Tokyo , a trader said . London prices closed modestly higher in the year 's thinnest turnover , a condition that underscored a lack of conviction ahead of a U.K. balance of payments report Tuesday . Limited volume ahead of the September trade data showed the market is nervous , but dealers added that the day 's modest gains also signaled some support for London equities . They pegged the support largely to anticipation that Britain 's current account imbalance ca n't be much worse than the near record deficits seen in July and August . `` It 's a case of the market being too high to buy and too afraid to sell , '' a senior dealer with Kleinwort Benson Securities said . `` It 's better to wait . '' The Financial Times 100-share index finished 10.6 points higher at 2189.7 . The 30-share index closed 11.6 points higher at 1772.6 . Volume was 276.8 million shares , beneath the year 's previous low of 280.5 million shares Sept. 25 , the session before the August trade figures were released . Analysts ' expectations suggest a September current account deficit of # 1.6 billion ( $ 2.54 billion ) , compared with August 's # 2.0 billion deficit . Dealers , however , said forecasts are broadly divergent with estimates ranging between # 1 billion and # 2 billion . `` The range of expectations is so broad , '' a dealer at another major U.K. brokerage firm said , `` the deficit may have to be nearer or above # 2 billion for it to have any impact on the market . '' Lucas Industries , a British automotive and aerospace concern , rose 13 pence to 614 pence after it said its pretax profit for the year rose 28 % . Share prices on the Frankfurt stock exchange closed narrowly mixed in quiet dealings after recovering most of their early losses . The DAX index eased 0.99 point to end at 1523.22 after falling 5.5 points early in the session . Brokers said the declines early in the day were partly caused by losses of the ruling Christian-Democratic Union in communal elections in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg . The start of a weeklong conference by the IG Metall metal worker union in Berlin is drawing attention to the impending wage negotiations , which could boost companies ' personnel costs next year , they said . But there was little selling pressure , and even small orders at the lower levels sufficed to bring the market back to Friday 's opening levels . Traders said the thin trading volume points to continued uncertainty by most investors following last Monday 's record 13 % loss . The market is still 4 % short of its level before the plunge , and analysts are n't sure how long it will take until the DAX has closed that gap . But Norbert Braeuer , chief trader at Hessische Landesbank Girozentrale ( Helaba ) , said he expects share prices to move upward in the coming weeks . Banking stocks were the major gainers Monday amid hope that interest rates have peaked , as Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank added 4 marks each to 664 marks ( $ 357 ) and 326 marks , respectively . Commerzbank gained 1 to 252.5 . Auto shares were mixed , as Daimler-Benz firmed 2 to 723 , Bayerische Motoren Werke lost the same amount to 554 , and Volkswagen inched down 1.4 to 451.6 . Elsewhere , prices closed higher in Amsterdam , lower in Zurich , Stockholm and Milan , mixed in Brussels and unchanged in Paris . Shares closed higher in Hong Kong , Singapore and Manila , and were lower in Sydney , Seoul and Taipei . Wellington was closed . Here are price trends on the world 's major stock markets , as calculated by Morgan Stanley Capital International Perspective , Geneva . To make them directly comparable , each index is based on the close of 1969 equaling 100 . The percentage change is since year-end . Last week 's best and worst performing stocks among those issues that make up 80 % of the world 's stock market capitalization ( in local currency ) ISSUE ( COUNTRY ) CLOSE %CHG Source : Morgan Stanley Capital Intl . Enviropact Inc. said it entered into an agreement in principle to sell its pump and tank division and drilling division to GSX Chemical Services for $ 4 million . The Miami-based environmental engineering concern said GSX Chemical also will assume about $ 1.6 million in debt related to those divisions . Further , GSX will buy $ 1 million of Enviropact common stock , at $ 2.625 a share , plus an option to acquire an additional $ 1.5 million of common at the same price , the company said . In American Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday , Enviropact closed at $ 3 a share , up 25 cents . Enviropact said the two divisions account for about $ 8 million of the company 's $ 20 million in annual revenue . The transaction is expected to close within about 20 days , the company added . Enviropact said the proceeds will be used as working capital for expansion and to pay its existing tax liability of about $ 1.5 million that was due Sept. 15 . GSX is a unit of Laidlaw Transportation Ltd. of Burlington , Canada . Monday , October 23 , 1989 The key U.S. and foreign annual interest rates below are a guide to general levels but do n't always represent actual transactions . PRIME RATE : 10 1/2 % . The base rate on corporate loans at large U.S. money center commercial banks . FEDERAL FUNDS : 8 3/4 % high , 8 11/16 % low , 8 11/16 % near closing bid , 8 3/4 % offered . Reserves traded among commercial banks for overnight use in amounts of $ 1 million or more . Source : Fulton Prebon ( U.S.A . ) Inc . DISCOUNT RATE : 7 % . The charge on loans to depository institutions by the New York Federal Reserve Bank . CALL MONEY : 9 3/4 % to 10 % . The charge on loans to brokers on stock exchange collateral . COMMERCIAL PAPER placed directly by General Motors Acceptance Corp. : 8.50 % 2 to 44 days ; 8.25 % 45 to 69 days ; 8.40 % 70 to 89 days ; 8.20 % 90 to 119 days ; 8.05 % 120 to 149 days ; 7.90 % 150 to 179 days ; 7.50 % 180 to 270 days . COMMERCIAL PAPER : High-grade unsecured notes sold through dealers by major corporations in multiples of $ 1,000 : 8.575 % 30 days ; 8.50 % 60 days ; 8.45 % 90 days . CERTIFICATES OF DEPOSIT : 8.09 % one month ; 8.09 % two months ; 8.06 % three months ; 8 % six months ; 7.94 % one year . Average of top rates paid by major New York banks on primary new issues of negotiable C.D.s , usually on amounts of $ 1 million and more . The minimum unit is $ 100,000 . Typical rates in the secondary market:8.60 % one month ; 8.60 % three months ; 8.40 % six months . BANKERS ACCEPTANCES : 8.50 % 30 days ; 8.32 % 60 days ; 8.32 % 90 days ; 8.16 % 120 days ; 8.05 % 150 days ; 7.96 % 180 days . Negotiable , bank-backed business credit instruments typically financing an import order . LONDON LATE EURODOLLARS : 8 3/4 % to 8 5/8 % one month ; 8 11/16 % to 8 9/16 % two months ; 8 3/4 % to 8 5/8 % three months ; 8 5/8 % to 8 1/2 % four months ; 8 9/16 % to 8 7/16 % five months ; 8 9/16 % to 8 7/16 % six months . LONDON INTERBANK OFFERED RATES ( LIBOR ) : 8 3/4 % one month ; 8 3/4 % three months ; 8 9/16 % six months ; 8 1/2 % one year . The average of interbank offered rates for dollar deposits in the London market based on quotations at five major banks . FOREIGN PRIME RATES : Canada 13.50 % ; Germany 9 % ; Japan 4.875 % ; Switzerland 8.50 % ; Britain 15 % . These rate indications are n't directly comparable ; lending practices vary widely by location . Results of the Monday , October 23 , 1989 , auction of short-term U.S. government bills , sold at a discount from face value in units of $ 10,000 to $ 1 million : 7.52 % , 13 weeks ; 7.50 % , 26 weeks . FEDERAL HOME LOAN MORTGAGE CORP . ( Freddie Mac ) : Posted yields on 30-year mortgage commitments for delivery within 30 days. 9.86 % , standard conventional fixed-rate mortgages ; 7.875 % , 2 % rate capped one-year adjustable rate mortgages . Source : Telerate Systems Inc . FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION ( Fannie Mae ) : Posted yields on 30 year mortgage commitments for delivery within 30 days ( priced at par ) 9.80 % , standard conventional fixed-rate mortgages ; 8.75 % , 6/2 rate capped one-year adjustable rate mortgages . Source : Telerate Systems Inc . MERRILL LYNCH READY ASSETS TRUST : 8.56 % . Annualized average rate of return after expenses for the past 30 days ; not a forecast of future returns . Bankers Trust New York Corp. , as expected , reported a third-quarter loss of $ 1.42 billion , or $ 17.39 a share , following its $ 1.6 billion boost in reserves for losses on loans to less-developed countries . The loss compares with net income of $ 162.1 million , or $ 2.01 a share , in the year-earlier period . Interest income rose 29 % to about $ 1.35 billion from $ 1.05 billion . The New York bank holding company 's assets at Sept. 30 climbed to $ 59.4 billion from $ 57.9 billion . Excluding the increase in loan-loss reserves , Bankers Trust said third-quarter net income would have increased 11 % to $ 180 million . A number of major banks have posted big losses after sharply increasing loan-loss reserves . Most of the loans in question are to Third World countries in South America . In New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday , Bankers Trust fell 12.5 cents to $ 50.50 . BRISTOL-MYERS SQUIBB Co . ( New York ) -- Gerald C. Beddall , 47 years old , was named president of the Clairol division of this pharmaceuticals and health-care company . He succeeds C. Benjamin Brooks Jr. , who will retire Nov. 1 . Mr. Brooks declined to give his age , but he said his leaving is a normal retirement . Mr. Beddall had been executive vice president of the division since April . Clairol , which makes hair and skin products , was a division of Bristol-Myers Co. before that company 's merger with Squibb Corp . Annualized interest rates on certain investments as reported by the Federal Reserve Board on a weekly-average basis : a-Discounted rate . b-Week ended Wednesday , October 18 , 1989 and Wednesday October 11 , 1989 . c-Yields , adjusted for constant maturity . American Telephone & Telegraph Co. said it will spend $ 20 million to build a factory in Guadalajara , Mexico , to make telephone answering machines . Construction of the 265,000-square-foot facility will begin next year , with production expected to start in late 1991 . When fully operational , the Guadalajara factory will employ about 1,500 workers and have annual operating expenses of $ 5 million to $ 6 million . An AT&T representative said that the Guadalajara factory will make a full line of answering machines . AT&T already has a factory in Matamoros , Mexico , to make electrical devices . It also purchases data systems products from a manufacturer based in Monterrey . Lucas Industries PLC , a British maker of industrial parts and systems , reported a 28 % rise in pretax profit for the year to July 31 , helped in particular by a 32 % jump in operating profit at its aerospace division . Pretax profit in the latest year climbed to # 187.1 million ( $ 297.1 million ) from # 146.3 million ( $ 232.3 million ) . Profit after taxes and minority interests but before extraordinary items climbed 27 % to # 143.4 million from # 112.5 million , with earnings per share rising to 85.1 pence ( $ 1.35 ) from 79.4 pence ( $ 1.26 ) . The results were at the upper end of market expectations , which ranged from # 185 million to # 188 million . TW Services Inc. posted a $ 3.3 million third-quarter net loss , compared with a $ 24.9 million profit , reflecting $ 60 million of expenses related to its much-publicized proposed takeover by Coniston Partners . The per-share loss for the Paramus , N.J. , food-services concern totaled seven cents , compared with earnings of 51 cents a share a year earlier . Revenue rose 5 % to $ 981.7 million from $ 934.7 million . Coniston , a New York investment partnership , awaits a vote by TW 's shareholders , scheduled for Friday , on Coniston 's $ 34-a-share , or $ 1.66 billion , offer for TW . Nine-month net income dropped 47 % to $ 26.3 million , or 54 cents a share , from $ 49.7 million , or $ 1.02 a share . Revenue rose 6 % to $ 2.79 billion from $ 2.63 billion . Cummins Engine Co. , Columbus , Ind. , hurt by a drop in engine orders from heavy-truck makers , reported a third-quarter loss of $ 39.7 million , or $ 4.12 a share , on essentially flat sales of $ 807.6 million . In the year-earlier period , the maker of diesel engines and parts had a narrower deficit of $ 17.6 million , or $ 1.84 a share , with sales of $ 808.3 million . A spokeswoman said shipments of truck engines , which provide a higher margin than most of the company 's other products , declined 16 % from a year earlier . Although Cummins 's stock stumbled last month after the company projected a `` substantial '' third-period loss , the stock also fell $ 1.125 in composite New York Stock Exchange trading yesterday , to $ 51.75 . It traded as high as $ 64 a month ago , before the loss projection . For the nine months , the latest loss trimmed net income to $ 3.6 million , which after payment of preferred dividends represented a 31-cent loss a common share . The year-before loss was $ 8.4 million , or $ 1.36 a common share . Exxon Corp. filed suit against the state of Alaska , charging state officials interfered with the oil company 's initial efforts to treat last spring 's giant oil spill . The action is a counterclaim to a suit filed by Alaska in August against Exxon and six other oil companies . The state 's suit alleges that Exxon 's response to the spill failed to prevent contamination of hundreds of miles of shoreline along Prince William Sound . That suit and Exxon 's countersuit were filed in a state court in Anchorage . Neither suit lists specific dollar claims , largely because damage assessment has n't yet been completed . Legal strategists say that damage claims against the oil giant and others could well exceed $ 1 billion . Litigation , if not settled out of court , could drag on for years . Exxon said in its suit that it will seek reimbursement from the state for that part of the cleanup costs and damage claims it says resulted from the state 's conduct . The oil company claims that Alaskan officials prevented Exxon from spraying dispersant onto the almost 11 million gallons of oil dumped when one of its tankers ran into an underwater reef . Craig Tillery , an Alaska assistant attorney general , said in an interview last night that Exxon 's accusations `` are not new . Exxon has made them before , at which point the state demonstrated they were untrue . The state will vigorously defend against any counterclaim . '' Since the spill last March , Exxon and the state have been wrangling over whether spraying dispersant on the oil in the first hours after the spill , when the weather was clear and calm , would have helped limit the environmental damage . Exxon claims that use of dispersants , which break an oil slick into microscopic droplets , was a crucial part of its immediate-response plan and that state officials banned their use during the two days of fair weather following the spill . The oil company claims that it had permission from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency prior to the spill to use dispersant during such an incident at the discretion of the U.S. Coast Guard . The state 's opposition to the use of dispersants , Exxon says , caused the Coast Guard `` to delay granting permission . '' Alaskan and Coast Guard officials say Exxon 's charges are n't relevant because tests conducted during the first two days following the spill showed that the dispersant was n't working anyway . Use of dispersants was approved when a test on the third day showed some positive results , officials said . Meson Investment Ltd. , a Vancouver , B.C.-based investment firm , said it raised its stake in Verit Industries to 8.9 % of the common shares outstanding . In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing , Meson said it holds 67,400 Verit common shares , including net purchases of 8,100 shares bought from Oct. 10 , 1988 , to Oct. 11 , 1989 , for $ 3.875 to $ 7 each . Meson is the personal holding company of Steven Morfey , a Vancouver securities dealer . He said the transaction was made for investment purposes . Officials for Sun Valley , Calif.-based Verit could n't be reached for comment . In composite trading on the American Stock Exchange , Verit closed unchanged yesterday at $ 3.875 a share . The House Appropriations Committee approved an estimated $ 2.85 billion in emergency funding to assist California 's recovery from last week 's earthquake and to extend further aid to East Coast victims of Hurricane Hugo . The package was termed excessive by the Bush administration , but it also provoked a struggle with influential California lawmakers who sought unsuccessfully to add nearly $ 1 billion more and waive current restrictions to expedite the distribution of funds . By a 26-7 margin , the committee scuttled the more expensive alternative , and the debate forced a strained confrontation between Appropriations Committee Chairman Jamie Whitten ( D. , Miss . ) and his party 's largest state delegation in the House . `` I have no regrets about going forward , '' said Rep. Vic Fazio ( D.,Calif. ) , who sought later to play down the sometimes hostile tone of the long evening meeting . `` We are the Golden State , '' Mr. Fazio said , `` and there is a certain amount of jealousy . '' The $ 2.85 billion package incorporates $ 500 million for small-business loans , $ 1 billion in highway construction funds , and $ 1.35 billion divided between general emergency assistance and a reserve to be available to President Bush to meet unanticipated costs from the two disasters . The funding is attached to a stopgap bill to keep most of the government operating through Nov. 15 . The measure is expected to come before the House today , and Congress is under pressure to complete action before midnight EDT tomorrow , when the current continuing resolution expires . Given California 's size and political importance , the White House is eager to appear generous . But in private meetings yesterday , Budget Director Richard Darman argued that only $ 1.5 billion in new federal appropriations are needed to supplement existing resources . A White House budget office analysis estimates that $ 500 million -- or half the level in the committee bill -- is needed for highway assistance to meet California 's needs , and the administration rejects the notion that new appropriations are needed to finance disaster loans by the Small Business Administration . `` Everybody appreciates that it is a national disaster and that we 've got to address it , '' said Mr. Darman , who came to the Capitol to meet with Mr. Whitten and California lawmakers before the committee session . `` I would hope very much that we would n't end up in a kind of situation where you have a bidding war and then a veto threat . '' Although this White House pressure was clearly a factor among committee Republicans , no single influence was greater than Mr. Whitten . A master of pork-barrel politics , he had crafted the $ 2.85 billion package in vintage style and used the full force of his chairmanship to keep the proposal intact and dismiss any alternative . When Mr. Fazio offered the California-backed $ 3.84 billion plan , Mr. Whitten insisted that the full 14 pages be read aloud by the panel 's clerk to underscore the range of legislative changes also sought by the delegation . On the chairman 's motion , the California package was subsequently reduced to less-binding report language , and even when this was accepted as such on a voice vote , Mr. Whitten pointedly opposed it . More important than money in many cases are waivers California is seeking on current restrictions covering federal highway funds , such as a $ 100 million cap on how much any single state can receive in emergency funds in a year . Mr. Whitten 's package appears to accomplish this purpose , but the state faces more resistance in its bid for an extended waiver on having to put up any matching funds on repairs completed in the next six months . A member in the House leadership and skilled legislator , Mr. Fazio nonetheless found himself burdened not only by California 's needs but by Hurricane Hugo amendments he accepted in a vain effort to build support in the panel . The California Democrat appeared embarrassed by provisions inserted on behalf of owners of private beaches in the Virgin Islands , and lumber interests sought to add another $ 100 million in federal aid to plant timber on private land in North and South Carolina . California 's high-priced real estate puts it in an awkward position , too . One provision last night would have raised the cap on disaster loans to $ 500,000 from $ 100,000 per household to accommodate San Francisco losses . Kurzweil Music Systems Inc. said it retained Kidder , Peabody & Co. to study financial alternatives , including the possible sale of the financially struggling company . Kurzweil , Waltham , Mass. , makes digital electronic keyboard instruments used by professional recording musicians . It recently introduced a line for the home market . However , Raymond C. Kurzweil , chairman and chief executive , said `` The company continues to require additional funding to realize the potential of its technology . '' In the year 's first six months , Kurzweil had a loss of $ 6.9 million on sales of $ 11.2 million . Last month its president , John S. Donnelly , resigned citing `` management differences '' with Mr. Kurzweil . Amtech Systems Inc. , Tempe , Ariz. , said its preliminary year-end results of operations indicate `` substantial improvement '' over the previous fiscal year . Amtech , which makes an automated process system that improves the yields of semiconductor manufacturers , said profit for the year ended Sept. 30 rose to more than $ 800,000 from $ 446,000 last year . Per-share earnings are estimated at more than 40 cents , up from 22 cents for fiscal 1988 . Total revenue is expected to double to more than $ 22 million from $ 10.8 million . Amtech , which also provides technical temporary employment services to aerospace , defense , computer and high-tech companies in the Southwest and Baltimore-Washington areas , said its final audited results are due in late November . The company attributed the improvement to strong demand in the semiconductor equipment segment as well as the acquisition of Echelon Service Co. and the inclusion of a full year 's results of operations for RTS Inc. , compared with seven months ' results for the prior year . LDI Corp. , Cleveland , said it will offer $ 50 million in commercial paper backed by lease-rental receivables . The program matches funds raised from the sale of the commercial paper with small to medium-sized leases . LDI termed the paper `` non-recourse financing , '' meaning that investors would be repaid from the lease receivables , rather than directly by LDI Corp . LDI leases and sells data-processing , telecommunications and other high-tech equipment . SHEVARDNADZE ADMITTED that Moscow violated the 1972 ABM treaty . In a foreign-policy address before the Soviet legislature , the foreign minister conceded that the radar station in Krasnoyarsk breached the superpower Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty and said it would be dismantled . Shevardnadze said it took Gorbachev 's government four years to determine that the station 's location in Siberia violated the accord , as Western arms-control officials have long contended . He also denounced Moscow 's nine-year involvement in the war in Afghanistan , saying it involved `` gross violations of ... civil norms and ethics . '' Secretary of State Baker , in his first major arms-control speech , called for a new military relationship with Moscow to reduce `` first strike '' nuclear arms . BAY AREA COMMUTERS BATTLED earthquake-related transportation snarls . Travelers crowded into subways , sat in traffic jams on major freeways or waited for buses in the rain , but the massive gridlock anticipated by officials in the San Francisco Bay area never materialized . As the death toll from last week 's temblor climbed to 61 , the condition of freeway survivor Buck Helm , who spent four days trapped under rubble , improved , hospital officials said . Rescue crews , however , gave up hope that others would be found alive under the collapsed roadway . The House Appropriations Committee approved a $ 2.85 billion aid package for the quake region , less than the $ 3.8 billion sought by California officials . Hungary declared itself a democracy and for the first time openly commemorated the anniversary of the 1956 anti-Stalinist uprising that was crushed by the Soviet Union . A crowd estimated at 100,000 held a torch-lit march through Budapest as Acting President Szuros delivered a nationally televised address rejecting communist dominance . About 200,000 East Germans marched in Leipzig and thousands more staged protests in three other cities in a fresh challenge to the Communist leadership to introduce democratic freedoms . In an East Berlin suburb , meanwhile , employees at an electronics plant formed an independent trade union called Reform , a worker spokesman said . The space shuttle Atlantis landed at a desert air strip at Edwards Air Force Base , Calif. , ending a five-day mission that dispatched the Jupiter-bound Galileo space probe . The five astronauts returned to Earth about three hours early because high winds had been predicted at the landing site . Fog shrouded the base before touchdown . Explosions shook a Phillips Petroleum Co. plastics plant near Pasadena , Texas , hurling debris and causing a fire visible from 10 miles away . More than 100 people were injured , and a number of workers were missing . Parts of the Houston Ship Channel were closed . The White House said Bush is conferring with leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee to ease differences over guidelines for CIA agents . The statement came after officials said Bush complained at a private meeting last week that a strict interpretation of a policy requires the U.S. to notify foreign dictators of certain coup plots . Lebanon 's Gen. Aoun placed Christian military forces on alert in case of renewed fighting with Syrian-backed Moslems after Lebanon 's two main Shiite militias rejected an Arab-sponsored peace accord . The plan , approved by lawmakers and rejected Sunday by Aoun , includes political changes aimed at ending the 14-year-old civil war . NATO defense ministers are expected to call for a reduction in nuclear forces in Europe when the alliance 's nuclear planning group convenes a two-day session today in Portugal . The ministers are to reshape NATO 's defenses in Western Europe amid fast-paced changes in the Soviet bloc . Iran 's President Rafsanjani offered to help gain freedom for Western hostages in Lebanon , but said the assistance was contingent on U.S. aid in resolving the cases of three Iranians kidnapped in Lebanon in 1982 or the release of frozen Iranian assets . Washington rejected the bid , saying the hostages were n't linked to other issues . PLO leader Arafat asked Egypt to seek clarifications from the U.S. on Secretary of State Baker 's plan for Mideast peace talks , an aide to Egyptian President Mubarak said . The official stressed that the PLO has n't rejected the five-point formula . Commonwealth leaders turned to issues ranging from drugs to the world economy after Zimbabwe 's President Mugabe called Thatcher 's views on South Africa `` despicable . '' At a meeting in Malaysia , Australia and Canada also assailed the British prime minister for criticizing the 49-nation group 's call for Pretoria to ease apartheid . CMS Enhancements Inc. said it estimates that sales and earnings for the fiscal first quarter ended Sept. 30 fell somewhat from the year-earlier period . Jim Farooquee , chief executive officer of the Tustin , Calif. , computer accessories supplier , said he was `` comfortable '' with analysts ' expectations that CMS would earn between six cents and eight cents a share on revenue of about $ 42 million . A year earlier , CMS posted profit of $ 1.1 million , or 13 cents a share , on sales of $ 48 million . This time , there are 30 % more shares outstanding . Mr. Farooquee attributed the decline to an industrywide softening of demand for computer enhancement products . Property Capital Trust said it dropped its plan to liquidate because it was n't able to realize the value it had expected . It said it will buy back two million shares , or 18.4 % , of the total outstanding , and continue operations buying and managing real estate . Property Capital , which is based in Boston , had told shareholders it expected to distribute at least $ 21 a share , or $ 229 million , in a liquidation , based on an expected asset sale price of $ 290 million or more . The company said it did n't receive an offer it wanted to accept . As a result of dropping the liquidation plan , shareholders will have to treat dividends received this year as ordinary income or capital gains rather than as tax free returns of capital , the company said . The share repurchase will be funded mostly from borrowings . A.H. Belo Corp. said its net income was $ 3.1 million , or 15 cents a share , in the third quarter , more than four times its profit of $ 663,000 , or three cents a share , last year . Included in the results was an adjustment to the Dallas-based company 's tax rate that reduced net income by about 10 cents a share , or approximately $ 2 million . Belo said it increased its effective tax rate to 52 % from 47 % to account for potential liabilities related to an Internal Revenue Service investigation of its tax returns for the years 1984 through 1988 . The newspaper and television owner said it expects the tax adjustment to reduce its net income for the full year by 14 cents , or approximately $ 2.8 million based on its 20.2 million shares outstanding . For the third quarter , Belo said its revenue increased 11 % , to $ 101.5 million from $ 91.2 million last year . For the nine months , the company had net income of $ 15.1 million , or 74 cents a share , up 98 % from $ 7.6 million , or 38 cents a share last year . Revenue grew almost 8 % to $ 301.9 million from $ 279.8 million last year . A federal judge granted a temporary stay of the California Student Aid Commission 's emergency action to stop guaranteeing loans for National Technical Schools , a unit of United Education & Software Inc . The California Student Aid Commission took the action Oct. 15 after a government audit cited National Technical Schools for having courses too short to be eligible for the educational loan program and having a student drop-out rate far in excess of federal standards , and it alleged other serious violations of law and regulations . United Education & Software , a Los Angeles education services company , called the commission 's action `` precipitous and unwarranted . '' The court set a hearing on the emergency action for Oct. 30 . United Education & Software posted a $ 250,000 bond against potential losses to the student aid commission and to taxpayers in guaranteeing any more loans for National Technical Schools students prior to the hearing . A decline in Allied-Signal Inc. 's automotive business contributed to flat sales and only slightly higher earnings in the third quarter . Allied-Signal reported that net rose 1.7 % to $ 121 million , or 81 cents a share , from $ 119 million , or 80 cents a share , the year earlier . Sales slipped 1.3 % to $ 2.82 billion from $ 2.86 billion . For the nine months , the Morris Township , N.J.-based company , with businesses in aerospace , automotive products and engineered materials , earned $ 413 million , or $ 2.77 cents a share , up 15 % from $ 359 million , or $ 2.40 a share . Sales eased 0.2 % to $ 8.88 billion from $ 8.90 billion . Chairman Edward L. Hennessy Jr. said that a drop in sales of auto and truck parts contributed to lower earnings in the automotive unit . He also cited unfavorable foreign-exchange rates and a lower tax rate . Earnings for the group declined to $ 11 million from $ 33 million last year . Earnings at Allied-Signal 's aerospace business rose to $ 55 million from $ 41 million a year ago , primarily on higher sales and profit in its engines and auxiliary power units . In New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday , Allied-Signal shares closed at $ 35.125 , off 87.5 cents . The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it will start enforcing stiffer regulations Jan. 31 for so-called gray-market imports of vehicles . The regulations , required under legislation enacted by Congress last year , will apply to imports of vehicles that were n't built to meet U.S. government auto safety standards and were intended for use in Europe or elsewhere abroad . U.S. officials estimated that gray-market imports total about 2,100 units a year , a small part of the more than three million vehicles exported to the U.S. each year . According to the NHTSA , the new regulations will prohibit anyone other than an importer that has registered with the U.S. government , or a person who has a contract with a registered importer , from permanently importing a vehicle that does n't meet the U.S. auto safety standards . The registered importer would be required to bring such vehicles into compliance with the U.S. safety standards , compared with the current situation in which anyone can bring in such vehicles and modify them to meet the U.S. standards . Congress tightened auto safety standards for gray-market imports after U.S. auto dealers , including franchised foreign-car dealers , complained that they often were blamed when the second and third buyers of such vehicles found that the cars could n't meet U.S. auto safety standards . Legent Corp. said it expects to report net income between $ 6.4 million and $ 6.9 million , or between 32 cents and 34 cents a share , for its fourth quarter ended Sept. 30 . In the year-ago quarter , the software developer reported pro forma earnings of $ 4.8 million , or 24 cents a share . Vienna , Va.-based Legent said it expects to post revenue for the quarter of more than $ 31 million , compared with pro forma revenue of $ 25.2 million in 1988 . For the fiscal year , the company said it anticipates reporting earnings of $ 23 million , or about $ 1.15 a share , including a charge of about $ 5.9 million , or 22 cents a share , related to the merger that created Legent out of Duquesne Systems Inc. and Morino Inc. in March 1989 . Revenue for fiscal 1989 is expected to exceed $ 124 million . Pro forma earnings for fiscal 1988 were $ 19.6 million , or 99 cents a share , on revenue of $ 97.2 million . The company attributed much of the growth in earnings to increased demand for its systems productivity software . Archive Corp. said it expects to report net income for its fiscal year ended Sept. 29 of a record $ 15 million , or $ 1.15 a share , up 43 % from $ 10.5 million , or 80 cents a share , for the prior year . The Costa Mesa , Calif. , maker of computer tape drives also projected record revenue for the year of $ 181 million , up from $ 122.7 million for the previous year . Archive attributed the gains to strong demand for its products , continued growth of the reseller market and the acquisition of Maynard Electronics in February , which accounted for about 14 % of the company 's revenue . Detrex Corp. said a reserve it is establishing to cover expected pollution cleanup costs at an Ohio plant reduced its third-quarter net income by $ 1.9 million . Detrex , which has annual sales of about $ 100 million , declined to say if it would post a loss in the third quarter . The Southfield , Mich.-based company earned $ 774,000 in the quarter last year . Detrex is setting aside $ 3.1 million for the cleanup , but said the reserve reduced its quarterly income by only $ 1.9 million because of tax considerations . In addition , the manufacturer said it signed a consent decree with Ohio to build a $ 1.4 million pollution-control facility at the Ashtabula chemical manufacturing plant by Aug. 1 , 1990 . Detrex said it is one of at least 17 companies notified by the Environmental Protection Agency that they may be potentially responsible for cleaning up the Fields Brook watershed near Detrex 's Ashtabula plant at a total cost the EPA estimates at $ 48 million -- a figure Detrex said the companies dispute . First Executive Corp. said about 96 % of the rights to purchase its depositary shares and warrants have been exercised . Of the 17.6 million rights units issued , just under 17 million were exercised before the Oct. 10 expiration of the offering , the insurance holding company said . Remaining units will be sold to the underwriters , Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. and Kidder , Peabody & Co. , which will also purchase an over-allotment of 2.3 million additional units . First Executive said the offering will raise about $ 299 million -- minus underwriting fees and other expenses -- that the company plans to use to write new life insurance and annuity business . In addition , analysts have viewed the rights offering as a takeover defense that prospectively balloons the number of shares outstanding . Each of the units consists of two warrants , each of which could be used to purchase a half-share of common stock , and one depositary preference share . Depositary shares are convertible into common stock on a 1-to-1 basis . Currently , the company has about 88.1 million common shares outstanding . In over-the-counter trading Monday , the stock closed at $ 10.625 , off 37.5 cents . UNITED AIR'S PARENT quashed any prospects for an immediate revival of the labor-management buy-out , saying UAL should remain independent for now . Also , UAL Chairman Stephen Wolf pulled out of the buy-out effort to focus on running the company . The two developments leave the airline with several problems , including an unsettled labor situation . Stock prices fell and bonds rose as worries mounted about the economy and the junk bond market . The Dow Jones industrials sank 26.23 points , to 2662.91 . The dollar also declined . The turmoil in junk bonds may last for years , investors and traders say . Even Drexel is pulling back . Santa Fe Pacific plans to sell 20 % of its large real estate unit to a California pension fund for $ 400 million and spin the rest off to shareholders . The proposal values the company 's real estate operation at $ 2 billion . Time Warner reported a $ 176 million loss for the third quarter , reflecting the cost of the recent merger and a method of accounting for the deal . Thrifts continued to shed assets in August , mainly to comply with stiffer capital rules under the S&L bailout law . Also , withdrawals exceeded deposits by $ 5.1 billion in the month . Exxon 's profit fell 9 % in the third quarter , hurt by sagging results at two of its three main businesses . Phillips and Arco posted declines . Ashland had a loss . Amerada Hess and Occidental Petroleum had gains . Ogilvy 's chairman , Kenneth Roman , is leaving to take a top post at American Express . His resignation follows a hostile takeover of the ad agency in May by WPP of Britain . The Justice Department took steps that could restrict the use by prosecutors of criminal racketeering charges against white-collar defendants . Shearson was sued by money manager George Soros , who claimed one of his funds was defrauded out of $ 60 million during stock-index futures trading just after the 1987 crash . Drexel 's efforts to settle its legal troubles are being resisted by at least 10 states . Some may try to revoke the firm 's license to sell securities . Prime Computer plans to dismiss 20 % of its work force to cut costs following its recent leveraged buy-out . The action renews concern about buyouts in high-tech industries . Paribas plans a bid for another big French financial and industrial firm , Navigation Mixte , a sign Europe 's takeover fever has n't cooled . Qintex Australia unveiled plans to restructure and sell assets to try to ease its financial problems . Union Carbide 's earnings plunged 35 % in the third quarter , reflecting weakness in the company 's core chemicals and plastics businesses . Japan 's Daiwa Securities named Masahiro Dozen president . The rapid advance of the 52-year-old executive surprised many at the company . Markets -- Stocks : Volume 135,860,000 shares . Dow Jones industrials 2662.91 , off 26.23 ; transportation 1236.66 , up 5.86 ; utilities 215.35 , off 0.13 . Bonds : Shearson Lehman Hutton Treasury index 3411.08 , up Commodities : Dow Jones futures index 129.49 , off 0.13 ; spot index 131.64 , up 0.30 . Dollar : 141.90 yen , off 0.53 ; 1.8470 marks , off 0.0108 . The Justice Department has revised certain internal guidelines and clarified others in a move that could restrict the use of criminal racketeering charges against white-collar defendants . The most significant changes in department policy are new requirements that federal prosecutors avoid disrupting `` the normal business functions '' of companies charged under the racketeering law , a senior department official said . Another important revision of department policy is a new guideline warning prosecutors `` not to take steps that would harm innocent third parties '' in a case brought under the racketeering law , the official , David Runkel , said . The department distributed the revisions and clarifications to U.S. attorneys around the country this summer as part of a routine process of updating prosecutorial guidelines , Mr. Runkel said . The changes apply to prosecutions brought under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law . Under that law , defendants who allegedly commit a pattern of crimes by means of a `` criminal enterprise '' may be charged with racketeering and forced to forfeit the proceeds of the enterprise . The RICO law has come under criticism from some defendants and defense lawyers . They argue that the rights of RICO defendants and third parties not named in RICO indictments have been unfairly damaged . The department 's most significant clarification of existing RICO policy is a directive to prosecutors that they should seek to seize assets from defendants `` in proportion '' to the nature of the alleged offense , Mr. Runkel said . `` That means that if the offense deals with one part of the business , you do n't attempt to seize the whole business ; you attempt to seize assets related to the crime , '' he explained . In general , the thrust of the department 's directive is to encourage prosecutors to limit pretrial asset seizures if there are less intrusive means of protecting assets the government may subsequently be able to seize after a conviction , Mr. Runkel said . It was the kind of snubbing rarely seen within the Congress , let alone within the same party . Sen. Alan Cranston trekked over to the House side of Capitol Hill a few days ago and volunteered his testimony to fellow Democrat Rep. Henry Gonzalez . It was offered as an expression of cooperation to Mr. Gonzalez , who is investigating the $ 2.5 billion failure of Lincoln Savings & Loan Association . But instead of thanks , Sen. Cranston was treated with cool formality . `` Every witness receives a formal subpoena , '' Rep. Gonzalez told him . Seldom have House hearings caused so much apprehension in the Senate , where California Sen. Cranston and four other senators were already writhing in the glare of unfavorable publicity over the alleged looting of Lincoln by their friend and political benefactor , Charles Keating Jr. , principal stockholder of Lincoln 's parent company , American Continental Corp. of Phoenix , Ariz . At the first day of the House Banking Committee 's hearings last week , William Seidman , chairman of the Resolution Trust Corp. , the federal agency created to sell sick thrifts , said the agency is investigating whether Lincoln made illegal political contributions . Mr. Keating arranged nearly $ 1 million in donations to Sen. Cranston and his various political causes , and hundreds of thousands more to other lawmakers . Future witnesses include a former federal S&L regulator who has accused the five senators of attempting to `` subvert '' the regulatory process by intervening on behalf of Mr. Keating . Unlike many lawmakers , Chairman Gonzalez says he considers intervening with regulators to be improper . `` When you reach a point where a policy-making body is trying to shape administrative decisions , then that 's a no-no in my book , '' the Texas lawmaker says . And he has attached himself to the Lincoln story tenaciously . `` Unless the questions are answered , I will keep on going . '' Lawmakers often are reluctant to embarrass colleagues , even those of opposing political parties . In the recent Housing and Urban Development Department scandal , for example , Rep. Thomas Lantos , the California Democrat who led the hearings , tiptoed through embarrassing disclosures about HUD grants secured by Sen. Alfonse D'Amato , a New York Republican . But Chairman Gonzalez is a genuine maverick . He comes from the same political line as Wright Patman , a bank-baiting Texas populist who chaired the Banking Committee until 1974 . Mr. Gonzalez is also a stickler for ethical standards who refuses to accept honorariums and who believes in conducting official business in the open . Early in his political career , as a city councilman in San Antonio , he walked out of a meeting when political supporters asked that the police chief be replaced , denouncing the closed-door affair publicly as a `` bat-roost meeting . '' The immediate target of Rep. Gonzalez 's inquiry is Danny Wall , chairman of the Office of Thrift Supervision . As the principal regulator of the thrift industry , Mr. Wall delayed seizing Lincoln S&L for more than two years after his staff told him that the California thrift was insolvent and that potential losses to taxpayers were growing rapidly . Rep. Gonzalez seems primed to lash out at Mr. Wall when hearings resume Thursday with testimony by two federal regulators from San Francisco , William Black and Mike Patriarca . Mr. Wall relieved them of responsibility for supervising Lincoln in 1988 . Mr. Gonzalez expressed concern over a report that the two had been summoned to Washington by Mr. Wall last week to discuss their testimony in advance . `` I think he is trying to improperly influence a witness , and by God I 'm not going to tolerate it , '' he says . Mr. Wall , however , is a self-proclaimed `` child of the Senate '' and former staff director of its Banking Committee . An inquiry into his handling of Lincoln S&L inevitably will drag in Sen. Cranston and the four others , Sens. Dennis DeConcini ( D. , Ariz. ) , John McCain ( R. , Ariz. ) , John Glenn ( D. , Ohio ) and Donald Riegle ( D. , Mich . ) . They all attended a meeting in April 1987 questioning why a federal audit of Lincoln S&L had dragged on for two years . `` I 'm certain that in the course of the hearings the names { of the senators } will be brought out , '' Mr. Gonzalez says . This is raising eyebrows . `` When I first got a glimpse at the witness list , I could n't believe that they were going to go ahead and do this , '' says Michael Waldman , director of Congress Watch , a consumer group . `` There are some witnesses who will be forced to testify about their meetings with senators . '' And a Democratic aide to a Banking Committee member remarks , `` I too am astounded by it , because Gonzalez has certainly placed a lot of Democratic senators in a very bad position . '' All the senators say they merely were trying to ensure fairness for a constituent . Mr. Keating lives in Phoenix , and the California thrift 's parent is an Ohio-chartered corporation with holdings in Michigan . Chairman Gonzalez expresses sympathy for Sen. Riegle , his counterpart as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee . `` He 's wise , he 's good and I know he 's an honest man , '' the Texan says . But at the same time , Mr. Gonzalez has n't forgotten a confrontation over Mr. Wall during House-Senate negotiations over SNN&L bailout legislation during the summer . The Senate negotiators included Sens. Cranston and Riegle and Mr. Wall 's principal sponsor , Republican Sen. Jake Garn of Utah . They were willing to trade important provisions in the bailout legislation to preserve Mr. Wall 's job and to avoid a reconfirmation hearing in which he would be called upon to testify about Lincoln S&L . Most importantly , the Senate traded away the Bush administration 's controversial plan to finance the bailout , which was partly reinstated later . At the time , Mr. Gonzalez said several senators told him that they `` could get some roadblocks out of the way if there could be some understanding on Garn 's insistence on Wall . '' Now Mr. Gonzalez is holding the equivalent of reconfirmation hearings anyway , under the guise of the Lincoln investigation . `` In a way , that 's what this is , '' Mr. Gonzalez concedes . Even some House Banking Committee members could suffer from the fallout . Mr. Keating raised $ 20,000 for Rep. Doug Barnard 's 1986 re-election campaign while the Georgia Democrat was taking his side against regulators who wanted to curb risky investments and wholesale deposit brokering . He recently voted `` present '' when the committee authorized a subpoena to compel Mr. Keating to testify , then changed his vote to yes . But the chairman 's supporters have the upper hand as federal regulators press a $ 1.1 billion fraud suit against Mr. Keating and others . Rep. Jim Leach ( R. , Iowa ) says the Lincoln S&L affair is `` the biggest bank heist in history , '' and adds : `` The great question that remains to be resolved is whether we have a congressional Watergate in the making . '' A witness set to testify on Thursday was quoted in a news report over the weekend as saying Lincoln `` laundered '' campaign contributions illegally . But the witness , William Crawford , California 's chief state thrift regulator , denies saying that . `` I do n't know whether it was done properly or not , because I 'm not a lawyer , '' he said in a telephone interview yesterday . But he said he is prepared to testify that executives of Lincoln and its parent corporation got unusually high salaries and frequent calls directing them to make specific contributions . The committee also has summoned Mr. Wall 's predecessor , Edwin Gray . He has characterized the five senators ' roles as `` tantamount to an attempt to subvert the ... regulatory process , '' and he is n't expected to back down even though the five senators have disputed his account of a 1987 meeting . So the senators must brace themselves . Sen. Cranston , as he returned to the capital last week from a one-day trip to inspect earthquake damage in San Francisco , sighed to an aide : `` Well , back to Keatingland . When Anne Volokh and her family immigrated to the U.S. 14 years ago , they started life in Los Angeles with only $ 400 . They 'd actually left the Soviet Union with $ 480 , but during a stop in Italy Ms. Volokh dropped $ 80 on a black velvet suit . Not surprisingly , she quickly adapted to the American way . Three months after she arrived in L.A. she spent $ 120 she did n't have for a hat . ( `` A `` A turban , '' she specifies , `` though it was n't the time for that 14 years ago . But I loved turbans . '' ) Since then she has become wealthy . Her husband and older son -- a computer prodigy profiled in The Wall Street Journal in 1981 , when he was 13 -- run a software company with expected sales this year of $ 10 million . Most recently , she has become the publisher of Movieline , a four-year-old Los Angeles magazine that began national distribution last month , with an initial press run of 100,000 copies . Distributed by the Hearst Corp. 's Eastern News , the glossy publication melds Vanity Fair 's gossipy archness and Premiere 's earnest delving into behind-the-scenes minutiae , with a special emphasis on Tinseltown as fashion trendsetter . It 's being sold through bookstores , newsstands and some video stores . Though Ms. Volokh is a small woman , she has an outsized personality and dramatic flair that seem perfectly suited to capitalism as it is practiced in Hollywood . Certainly life for her has changed considerably since the days in Kiev , when she lived with her parents , her husband and her two sons in a 2 1 apartment in what she calls `` silent internal immigration , '' dreaming of escape . Now , for example , she owns 48 hats . However , she remembers the lean years and recalls with relish wearing her first major American purchase -- that turban10 years later and having a Los Angeles boutique owner ask her if it was a Chanel . With obvious satisfaction , she says she told him : `` No darling , I just give it a Chanel look . '' She keeps track of the rest of her hats by stapling Polaroid snapshots to the outside of each hatbox . Are the hats merely part of her new L.A. persona , along with the many ultra-thin Capri cigarettes she smokes , the parties she throws for 500 people , the Chekovian feasts she offers guests at her weekend place in Santa Barbara ? `` No , darling , '' she said recently in her fluent , slightly affected English , during a trip East to promote Movieline 's national expansion . `` You have to be born with it . I used to wear hats in Russia , but I had to make them and my dresses . On the hat side I was n't getting what I wanted . '' Now 48 years old , Ms. Volokh has definite ideas about what she wants . At Movieline , she wants `` specific paragraphing , specific tone , a specific attitude -- bright and bold and tongue-in-cheek . '' In restaurants ( in this case , the Russian Samovar , a New York restaurant operated by and for Soviet emigres ) , she did n't want the chirpy , folkish music bouncing through the room . `` You people here think this is Russian music , '' she said with disdain , and called over to the waitress : `` Could you turn it off ? '' That done , Ms. Volokh spoke with rampant eloquence about the many attributes she feels she was born with : an understanding of food , business , Russian culture , human nature , and parties . `` Parties are rather a state of mind , '' she said , pausing only to taste and pass judgment on the Georgian shashlik ( `` a little well done , but very good '' ) . `` If you are born to give parties , you give parties . Even in Russia we managed to give parties . In Los Angeles , in our lean years , we gave parties . '' As publisher of a magazine devoted to movies as guideposts for fashion and other fantasies , Ms. Volokh sees her party-giving as an important part of business . She has thrown extravagant soirees for crowds of people , but prefers more intimate gatherings . `` At American cocktail parties everyone 's always looking over your shoulder to see who they can talk to next . I like rather tea , because it is at the end of the day . '' She serves high Russian tea , at 5 p.m . `` It 's supposed to be later but I just moved it . In Los Angeles , it 's important to catch people just after work . '' She also frequently invites directors , producers , actors , writers and other show business people for `` coffee and clips in the pleasure dome . '' Guests bring movies on tape , and show their favorite three-to-five minute segments on the screen that unrolls from the ceiling of the Volokhs ' art-nouveau library ( `` the pleasure dome '' ) . They eat `` sinful and sensual things '' -- and explain their clips . `` It 's very revealing and soul baring , '' said Ms. Volokh . The idea for Movieline actually was dreamed up by an old friend of the Volokhs , Boris Krutchensky ( who has the title of co-publisher ) , and Laurie Halpern Smith , now the magazine 's co-editor . Mr. Krutchensky approached Ms. Volokh five years ago about backing the publication , which started out as a listing guide . She was interested only if she could guide it editorially as well . `` Anne does n't believe in blandness , '' said Ms. Smith . `` She wants things to be exciting . And she has this inexhaustible energy . She 'll think of an idea the editorial people think is impossible , then she 'll have us make it work . '' In fact , Ms. Volokh was n't just a rich lady who needed a hobby . Back in the Soviet Union she was a respected journalist , writing a weekly column about the national cuisine for Sunday Izvestia . Those columns -- vivid discussions of the cultural and literary reverberations of food as well as practical advice on how to glamorize dreary Sovietized meals -- became the basis for her erudite and entertaining cookbook , `` The Art of Russian Cuisine , '' brought out in 1983 by Macmillan Publishing Co . `` I do n't trust people who do n't eat , '' said Ms. Volokh , though she herself stopped eating lunch a few years ago to drop 25 pounds . `` Look at Dostoevski and Kafka . No one ever eats in their books and look at them . . . . Tolstoy 's characters eat , Pushkin 's , Gogol 's . '' In her cookbook , which Macmillan is bringing out in soft cover this month ( with the blini recipe revised so it works ) , she introduces each chapter with appropriate quotations from Russian literature : Pushkin on blini , Goncharov on piroghi . In life , she offers practical dieting advice : `` Divide your meals into important and unimportant . In a great restaurant , do n't deprive yourself . The other meals do n't matter . '' Amusing as she is , and frivolous as she can seem , this is a serious person with some difficult memories . She was the child of relative privilege . Her mother was a translator ; her father was `` the eternal vice director . '' `` I emigrated to wear better hats , do better parties , '' she said with a giggle . `` But we should n't leave out political reasons , number one . You try to maintain your dignity under difficult circumstances . One can not imagine how you live when you live those double and triple lives . '' By 1973 , after their second child was born , it had become clear to Ms. Volokh and her husband Vladimir , a computer scientist , that they wanted to leave the U.S.S.R. Ms. Volokh quit her job , to remove herself from the public eye . The wait was miserable . Before granting Ms. Volokh 's parents a visa , the government required her mother to obtain permission from her first husband , whom she had divorced 38 years earlier . Mr. Volokh was fired from his job , and had to endure hours of organized verbal abuse from his co-workers , accusations of sabotage and counterrevolutionary activities . The Volokhs were afraid that they 'd end up like a friend of theirs who 'd applied for a visa and waited for 10 years , having been demoted from his profession of theoretical mathematician to shipping clerk . They did n't . Their visa came in relatively short order , and they moved to Los Angeles . Mr. Volokh soon found work in his field , but Ms. Volokh refused the obvious and available occupation-as translatorfor a Russian who spoke fluent English . `` That 's always looking back , '' she said . `` I wanted to be in business . '' On the way to that goal , she received her first U.S. paycheck for proofreading a book of Polish poetry , attended secretarial school , then went to work for a fund-raising organization . Soon she was running the office . When her husband and son founded their computer company , Vesoft , she worked as business manager , bookkeeper and publicist . Now Movieline is located in the same building as Vesoft . `` Things work out unexpectedly in life , '' said Ms. Volokh . `` You never know if you 'll be chosen to be the scapegoat or the lucky one . We were lucky . William D. Forrester , president of the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Trade and Economic Council , has a warning for U.S. companies trying to do business in the Soviet Union . `` It 's an extremely complex market , and you have to be prepared to make a big commitment , '' Mr. Forrester says . `` We are not trying to encourage everyone . '' Undeterred by such words of caution , corporate America is flocking to Moscow , lured by a huge untapped market and Mikhail Gorbachev 's attempt to overhaul the Soviet economy . Doing business with the Russians , once the pursuit of a handful of hardened veterans , has become the goal of such major companies as General Motors Corp. , Federal Express Corp. and Procter & Gamble Co. , as well as a cluster of smaller firms . Reflecting the new-found interest , more than 140 U.S. companies are taking part in a Moscow exhibition organized by Mr. Forrester 's trade group . But while U.S. interest may be big and growing , the difficulties that have stymied deals in the past show no sign of abating . Alongside the old problems of a non-convertible currency and an inpenetrable bureaucracy , Western business executives must now grapple with new complexities linked to perestroika , the restructuring of the Soviet economy . Executives say Mr. Gorbachev 's moves to break up the government 's foreign trade monopoly have created uncertainties as well as opportunities . Changing legislation has opened the field to thousands of inexperienced Soviet players , many who promise more than they can deliver . And some foreign firms are finding that even when they manage to overcome such hurdles , their ventures now have to be endorsed by such unpredictable bodies as the Soviet parliament and the governments of the nation 's republics . `` You have to go out to all your constituents , '' says James H. Giffen , who is spearheading the most ambitious attempt by U.S. firms to break into the Soviet market , involving investment of more than $ 5 billion in some two dozen joint ventures . As part of that attempt , by the American Trade Consortium , Mr. Giffen says he spends a lot of time lobbying . Growing public fears about the Soviet environment is one new factor affecting some joint-venture plans . Over the past two years , Soviet ministries have been talking to international firms , including Occidental Petroleum Co. and Combustion Engineering Inc. of the U.S. , Montedison S.p . A. of Italy and several Japanese groups , about jointly building and operating several big petrochemical plants . The plans have come under fire from Soviet environmentalists , and officials say many are likely to be scaled back or dropped . Whatever the difficulties , Mr. Gorbachev remains committed to increasing foreign trade . For political as well as economic reasons , U.S. companies are at the top of his priorities -- a point he underscored by spending two hours walking around the U.S. trade show last week . Talking to a small group of U.S. executives afterwards , Mr. Gorbachev appeared impatient for a big expansion in U.S.-Soviet trade , which now amounts to a meager $ 3 billion annually . The U.S. ranks fourth of countries that have concluded joint ventures , behind West Germany , Finland and Italy . According to several people present at the meeting , Mr. Gorbachev also supported the idea of concluding several commercial accords with the U.S. , possibly at his next summit meeting with President Bush . Judging by the crush at the exhibition , deprived Soviet consumers are more than ready for U.S. products . Hundreds of people lined up every day at the Colgate-Palmolive Co. stand to receive a free tube of toothpaste , a commodity in chronically short supply here . And unruly crowds at RJR Nabisco Inc. 's booth almost knocked over a glass showcase in the rush to get a free Camel cigarette sticker . Some U.S. products are filtering into the Soviet market under an emergency import program . Both Colgate and Procter & Gamble have received big orders for toothpaste , soap and detergents . The American Trade Consortium says it is planning to ship some $ 500 million of consumer goods , financed by bank credits , in the first few months of next year . But the current Soviet purchasing spree may be a one-time affair . The goal of most U.S. firms -- joint ventures -- remains elusive . Because the Soviet ruble is n't convertible into dollars , marks and other Western currencies , companies that hope to set up production facilities here must either export some of the goods to earn hard currency or find Soviet goods they can take in a counter-trade transaction . International competition for the few Soviet goods that can be sold on world markets is heating up , however . Shelley M. Zeiger , an entrepreneur from New Jersey who buys Soviet porcelain and `` matryoshka '' nesting dolls for export to the U.S. , says West German companies already have snapped up much of the production of these items . Seeking to overcome the currency problems , Mr. Giffen 's American Trade Consortium , which comprises Chevron Corp. , RJR , Johnson & Johnson , Eastman Kodak Co. , and Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. , has concocted an elaborate scheme to share out dollar earnings , largely from the revenues of a planned Chevron oil project . Several medical concerns , including Pfizer Inc. , Hewlett-Packard Co. , Colgate and Abbott Laboratories intend to pursue a similar consortium approach . `` It 's hard to invest capital here on the same basis as investing in other countries , '' says Dennis A. Sokol , president of Medical Service Partners Inc. , who is putting the medical consortium together . Some U.S. entrepreneurs operate on a smaller scale . One group seeks to publish a U.S.-Soviet medical journal in conjunction with the U.S.S.R. Ministry of Health . According to Richard P. Mills , a Boston-based official of the U.S. partner , 10,000 copies of the quarterly will be printed in Russian from next year . It will be financed by advertisements from U.S. companies and by simultaneous publication of an English-language journal containing details of Soviet medical advancements . `` We found a market niche , '' Mr. Mills boasts . `` It 's truly entrepreneurial . General Electric Co. was given an $ 89.6 million Navy contract for nuclear propulsion parts . Westinghouse Electric Corp. also won a $ 75.5 million Navy contract for nuclear propulsion parts . Federal Data Corp. was issued a $ 14.5 million Navy contract for computer systems . American Telephone & Telegraph Co. was awarded an $ 11.5 million Navy contract for oceanographic services . Cray Research Inc. said it sold one of its newest and largest computer systems , the Cray Y-MP/832 , to the United Kingdom Meteorological Office . The system is the first to be sold through the joint marketing agreement between Cray and Control Data Corp . The supercomputer , which lists for $ 18.5 million , will be installed in the first quarter of 1990 in the meteorological office 's headquarters in Bracknell , England . Shareholders of Nuovo Banco Ambrosiano S.p . A. voted to accept a bid of 5,500 lire ( $ 4.03 ) a share by France 's Credit Agricole for 13.32 % of the bank , rejecting an earlier , equal offer by Italy 's Assicurazioni Generali S.p . A . The move will give Nuovo Banco a badly needed foreign presence , and make Credit Agricole the bank 's largest shareholder . It also opens a rift in the bank 's shareholders ' syndicate that could lead to a battle for control of the concern . Nuovo Banco will become Italy 's biggest private-sector bank when it completes its scheduled merger with Banca Cattolica del Venetoen by year end . Credit Agricole asked a Milan court to sequester the Nuovo Banco shares , the Italian news agency ANSA reported . The tribunal is scheduled to rule on the request Friday . No reason for the request was given . Credit Agricole officials could n't be immediately reached for comment . The decision to accept Credit Agricole 's bid , valued at 283.3 billion lire ( $ 207.4 million ) , came after a stormy weekend meeting . Nuovo Banco 's second largest shareholder , the Fiat S.p . A.-controlled investment concern , Gemina S.p . A. , fought to have Generali 's offer approved . Gemina , which owns 13.26 % of Nuovo Banco , abstained in the final vote on Credit Agricole , which was nonetheless approved by a majority of shareholders . The linkup with Credit Agricole will give Nuovo Banco its first foreign presence since it was formed from the wreck of the old Banco Ambrosiano , which collapsed amid scandal after the death of Chairman Roberto Calvi in 1982 . Since then , the bank has strengthened its Italian network , and has posted strong results . `` The shareholders felt we needed a foreign presence more than we needed links with an insurance company , '' an Ambrosiano spokeswoman said . Gemina said in a statement that `` it reserves the right to take any action to protect its rights as a member of the syndicate . '' A company spokeswoman said the company had n't decided what measures to take , but did n't rule out legal action . Generali , Italy 's biggest insurer , last month offered 5,500 lire a share for the Nuovo Banco stake held by Banco Popolare di Milano , the bank 's largest shareholder , which announced plans to sell the holdings earlier this year . A Generali spokesman declined to comment on Nuovo Banco 's rejection of the insurer 's offer . On the Milan stock exchange , Nuovo Banco 's shares jumped to 4,830 lire each from 4,695 lire Friday . Qintex Australia Ltd. , a media and resorts concern controlled by Australian entrepreneur Christopher Skase , announced a plan to restructure and sell assets to try to ease its financial problems . Mr. Skase , a 41-year-old former newspaper reporter who chairs the company , said in a statement that Qintex will sell its 51 % stake in its upscale Mirage resorts in Australia and Hawaii as well as three Australian television stations . The sales are expected to raise more than 600 million Australian dollars ( US$ 462.2 million ) , Mr. Skase said . Qintex Australia has n't disclosed its borrowings , but analysts estimate the company 's debt at A$ 1.2 billion . Mr. Skase also said the restructuring plan calls for the merger of Qintex Australia with Qintex Ltd. , which owns 55 % of Qintex Australia . He said the move will `` significantly reduce administrative and operating costs , '' but he did n't provide details of the merger . Company officials said over the weekend that Qintex Australia 's bank creditors have become concerned about a barrage of bad news at the company , including a failed US$ 1.5 billion plan to buy MGM/UA Communications Co. , a Beverly Hills , Calif. , movie and television production concern . Friday , Qintex Entertainment Inc. , a 43%-owned U.S. affiliate , filed for protection from creditor lawsuits under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code . Analysts predicted that the move would further shake creditor confidence in Qintex Australia and force it to sell assets . The company 's latest moves were disclosed after the Australian Stock Exchange suspended trading in shares of Qintex Australia and Qintex Ltd. because the companies had n't answered an exchange inquiry about the extent of their loans , investments and deposits at Qintex Entertainment . Mr. Skase 's statement was addressed to the stock exchange and appeared to be a response to the inquiry . It said Qintex Entertainment owes Qintex Australia US$ 38.1 million in loans not secured by specific assets . Qintex Australia also said it has an investment of A$ 83.3 million in Qintex Entertainment shares . In the statement , Mr. Skase said that on the basis of current interest rates in Australia , the company 's asset sales would reduce interest expense by about A$ 120 million a year in addition to eliminating certain liabilities . In March , Qintex sold 49 % of the three Mirage resorts to Japan 's Nippon Shinpan Co. and Mitsui & Co. for A$ 433 million . Yesterday 's statement did n't say whether the Japanese companies will acquire Qintex 's remaining stake in the resorts . Before its shares were suspended from trading , Qintex Australia plunged to 16 Australian cents ( 12 U.S. cents ) a share yesterday from 33 Australian cents Friday . The shares traded at about A$ 1.50 in March , when the plan to acquire MGM/UA was announced . Qintex Ltd. shares sank to A$ 1.50 yesterday from A$ 3.05 Friday . Mr. Skase 's statement cited four recent problems that he said had cut group cash flow by more than A$ 200 million . They were what he called an `` unlawful termination '' by MGM/UA of the acquisition agreement with Qintex , high Australian interest rates , a pilots ' strike at Australian domestic airlines that cut revenue at the company 's Australian resorts and delays in completing a sale of two regional TV stations in Queensland state . MGM/UA has sued Qintex Australia for breach of contract and fraud over the collapsed acquisition agreement , and Qintex Australia has threatened a countersuit . Qintex Australia has n't yet reported results for the fiscal year ended July 31 . In his statement , Mr. Skase said preliminary accounts showed that group profit before interest , tax and depreciation `` will exceed A$ 170 million . '' He gave no further details . Shareholders ' funds as of July 31 were estimated at more than A$ 1 billion , Mr. Skase said , compared with A$ 725 million a year earlier . The company will make `` adequate provisions '' to cover costs of the dispute with MGM and any loss from the investment in Qintex Entertainment , he said . Mr. Skase also disclosed a disagreement among directors of Qintex Australia over certain fees claimed by Qintex Group Management Services Pty. , a management-services concern in which Qintex Australia executives have an interest . Qintex Australia paid the management company A$ 32.6 million in the latest fiscal year . Mr. Skase said most of the money went to other parties for expenses such as rent and travel , but a smaller portion is owed to senior executives and others for management services . Non-executive directors of Qintex Australia , who must approve payments to the senior executives , balked at the amount . Two of the directors resigned , Mr. Skase said , so the payments have n't yet been approved . Chip 's Memory Is Here Today , Here Tomorrow TWO COMPANIES plan to market a new chip with ceramic circuits that store data even when the power is off . Today 's most widely used data-storing chips have `` volatile '' memories -- their data disappear if they are n't fed a steady diet of electricity , so they need external power supplies . National Semiconductor Corp. and a start-up named Ramtron Corp. plan to start shipping so-called ferroelectric memories , which can remember data for at least 10 years without any current flowing to them . The chips use materials , such as lead zirconate titanate , to form microscopic switches that retain their data without electricity . Developers caution that broad applications are several years away because the technology is n't fully refined . But Ramtron of Colorado Springs , Colo. , plans to start shipping commercial quantities of simple ferroelectric chips in December . The company expects the chips eventually to be used in devices that mimic a whole range of computer memory equipment , including floppy-disk and hard-disk drives . National Semiconductor is getting ferroelectric technology from Krysalis Corp. in Albuquerque , N.M . National says it agreed to acquire Krysalis 's assets and will start shipping commercial quantities of its first chips , including a 4-kilobit memory , next year . Once production hurdles are overcome , the chips could take over a significant part of the market . In addition to not needing an outside power source , they are potentially cheaper to make because they require fewer manufacturing steps than conventional chips . Military buyers have shown interest , National says , because ferroelectric chips resist atomic radiation . And while today 's non-volatile chips -- such as electronically erasable programmable read-only memory chips -- ca n't be used in a computer 's central memory because they `` learn '' data slowly , ferroelectric chips accept data at very high speeds . Showing Up in Court Without Being There AN AUSTIN , Texas , company plans to make it easy for you show up in court a thousand miles away without leaving town . Witnesses often must travel long distances to give face-to-face depositions before lawyers and court reporters . That means huge travel bills . And telephone or videotape depositions just do n't match physical encounters . That could change , thanks to lower long-distance rates and cheaper electronics . Video Telecom Corp. , which markets videoconferencing systems , is working with court reporters to wire a nationwide network to allow depositions by live television . The company installed a prototype system that connects Dallas with Miami over digital phone lines . And it is preparing to set up shop in Chicago , New York and 10 other cities where court-reporting agencies can tie conference rooms into the network . While lawyers arranged individual tie-ups before , the formal network of court reporters should make things easier and cheaper . An attorney will be able to use the network for an hourly fee of between $ 200 and $ 400 , depending on the quality of the picture , to take depositions from witnesses in any of the connected cities . Japanese Reverse Tack On Patent Protection JAPAN'S MISUSE of U.S. patents has been a sore point for American chip makers . Now at least one Japanese company is turning the courtroom tables . Until now , most Japanese charges have been responses to suits against them . But last year Hitachi Ltd. surprised Japan 's electronics industry when it accused Korea 's Samsung Electronics Co. of using Hitachi technology to make dynamic random-access memory chips . ( A settlement was reached but was n't made public . ) And Hitachi went on the offensive against the U.S. 's Motorola Inc. earlier this month with a suit charging that Motorola 's new MC88200 chip infringes on a Hitachi patent . Another recent Hitachi suit accuses Motorola of reverse engineering a Hitachi technology -- a turnabout from a nation of champion reverse engineers . The moves illustrate the more aggressive attitude toward patent protection that patent experts say Japan is starting to take . Hitachi made the reverse-engineering charges in an amendment to a counterclaim filed in a federal district court in Texas after Motorola sued Hitachi for patent violation . Hitachi charges Motorola `` has engaged in fraudulent and inequitable conduct in the procurement of certain Motorola patents '' used in Motorola 's MC68030 microprocessor chip . Translation : Motorola appears to have taken a Hitachi technology that is patented in the U.S. , Hitachi says , and `` tried to make it look like a new technology . '' Motorola either denied or would n't comment on the various charges . Odds and Ends COMPUTER chips that simulate human vision have been developed by Japan 's Sharp Corp . They mimic the brain by `` looking '' at an image , extracting the fundamentals -- boundaries , corners and lines -- and translating them into computer data . Sharp says the set of chips could improve fax machines , graphics computers or identification systems that recognize facial features . . . . An N.V . Philips unit has created a computer system that processes video images 3,000 times faster than conventional systems . Using reduced instruction-set computing , or RISC , chips made by Intergraph of Huntsville , Ala. , the system splits the image it `` sees '' into 20 digital representations , each processed by one chip . Tandy Corp. , citing sluggish sales of consumer-electronics goods , said net income dropped 3.3 % for the first quarter ended Sept. 30 . The results , which represented the fifth consecutive quarter of flat-to-lower earnings for the big electronics retailer , disappointed analysts and traders . Tandy 's stock fell $ 1.375 a share to close at $ 44 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading . Net for the quarter was $ 62.8 million , or 73 cents a share , down from $ 64.9 million , or 72 cents a share , a year earlier . The company said earnings would have increased if it had n't been actively repurchasing its shares , thus increasing its interest expense and reducing its interest income . Tandy had 86.3 million shares outstanding at Sept. 30 , down from 90 million a year earlier . Revenue rose 5 % to $ 986 million from $ 937 million . Tandy said consumer electronics sales at its Radio Shack stores have been slow , partly because of a lack of hot , new products . `` Radio Shack continues to be lackluster , '' said Dennis Telzrow , analyst with Eppler , Guerin & Turner in Dallas . He said Tandy `` has done a decent job '' increasing sales by manufacturing computers for others and expanding sales of its Grid Systems Corp. subsidiary , which sells computers to bigger businesses , but `` it 's not enough to offset the problems at Radio Shack . '' Sales at Radio Shack stores open more than a year grew only 2 % in the quarter from a year earlier , he said . As a result , Mr. Telzrow said he cut his fiscal 1990 per-share earnings estimate for Tandy to $ 4.05 from $ 4.20 . Tandy earned $ 88.8 million , or $ 3.64 a share , in the year ended June 30 . Barry Bryant , an analyst with Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. , said Tandy also has suffered from lethargic sales of its computers aimed at the home and small-office market , which are less-advanced and cheaper than computers aimed at the corporate market . Tandy has added several new products to that line , including a laptop computer priced around $ 1,000 , and is focusing its advertising on the easy-to-use software that is packaged with its machines . Mr. Bryant and other analysts hope all those moves will combine to help Tandy 's results improve in the important Christmas quarter . `` They 've been promising 13 % to 15 % growth based on the strategic moves they 've made , '' he said . `` If the earnings acceleration is to take place , that should be the quarter . At a private dinner Thursday , Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. chief executive Frederick Joseph delivered a sobering message about the junk bond market to officials of Prudential Insurance Co. of America . Mr. Joseph conceded the junk market was in disarray , according to people familiar with the discussion . He said Drexel -- the leading underwriter of high-risk junk bonds -- could no longer afford to sell any junk offerings if they might later become troubled because Drexel risked losing its highly lucrative junk franchise . The dinner was a stark confirmation that 1989 is the worst year ever for the $ 200 billion junk market . And investors and traders alike say the current turmoil could take years to resolve . Amid the market disorder , even Drexel , which has the widest and most loyal following of junk bond investors , is pulling in its horns . Although the big investment bank still dominates the junk market , Drexel has been unable to stem the fallout from growing junk bond defaults , withdrawn new offerings , redemptions by shareholders in junk bond mutual funds and an exodus of once-devoted investors . For many money managers , the past four months have been humiliating . `` This is the worst shakeout ever in the junk market , and it could take years before it 's over , '' says Mark Bachmann , a senior vice president at Standard & Poor 's Corp. , a credit rating company . In the third quarter , for example , junk bonds -- those with less than an investment-grade rating -- showed negative returns , the only major sector of the bond market to do so . Since the end of last year , junk bonds have been outperformed by all categories of investment-grade bonds , including ultra-safe Treasury securities . The junk market , which mushroomed to $ 200 billion from less than $ 2 billion at the start of the decade , has been declining for months as issuers have stumbled under the weight of hefty interest payments . The fragile market received its biggest jolt last month from Campeau Corp. , which created its U.S. retailing empire with more than $ 3 billion in junk financing . Campeau developed a cash squeeze that caused it to be tardy on some interest payments and to put its prestigious Bloomingdale 's department store chain up for sale . At that point , the junk market went into a tailspin as buyers disappeared and investors tried to sell . In an interview , Mr. Joseph says his dinner discussion with the Prudential executives acknowledged problems for junk . `` What I thought I was saying is that the market is troubled but still viable and , appropriately enough , quite quality-conscious , which is not at all bad , '' he says . `` Nobody 's been perfect in their credit judgments the past couple years , and we 're going to make sure our default rates are going to be in the acceptable parameters of the market . '' What has jolted many junk buyers is the sudden realization that junk bonds can not necessarily be bought and sold with the ease of common stocks and many investment-grade bonds . Unlike the New York Stock Exchange , where buyers and sellers are quickly matched , the junk market , where risky corporate loans are traded , is sometimes closed for repairs . At closely held Deltec Securities Corp. , junk bond money managers Amy K. Minella and Hannah H. Strasser say the problems of the junk market go deeper than a temporary malaise . In recent months , they say , there has been heavy selling of junk bonds by some of the market 's traditional investors , while new buyers have n't materialized to replace them . Wall Street securities firms , `` the primary source of liquidity for the high yield market , '' have been net sellers of junk bonds because of trading losses , Deltec said in a recent , grim report to customers . Mutual funds have also been net sellers of junk bonds as junk 's relatively poor performance and negative press coverage have produced `` above-normal '' redemptions by shareholders , Deltec said . Investors , trying to raise cash , have sold `` large liquid issues '' such as RJR Holdings Corp. and Kroger Co. ; declines in these benchmark issues have contributed to the market 's distress . And , Deltec said , buying has been severely reduced because savings and loans have been restricted in their junk purchases by recently passed congressional legislation . `` In fact , savings and loans were sellers of high yield holdings throughout the quarter , '' Deltec said . Ms. Minella and Ms. Strasser say they are managing their junk portfolios defensively , building cash and selectively upgrading the overall quality . Meanwhile , Prudential , the nation 's largest insurer and the biggest investor in junk bonds , has seen the value of its junk bond portfolio drop to $ 6.5 billion from $ 7 billion since August because of falling junk prices . `` We certainly do have a lack of liquidity here , and it 's something to be concerned about , '' says James A. Gregoire , a managing director . `` I have no reason to think things will get worse , but this market has a knack for surprising us . This market teaches us to be humble . '' The junk market 's `` yield hogs are learning a real painful lesson , '' he says . Although the majority of junk bonds outstanding show no signs of default , the market has downgraded many junk issues as if they were in trouble , says Stuart Reese , manager of Aetna Life & Casualty Insurance Co. 's $ 17 billion investment-grade public bond portfolio . `` But we think the risks are there for things getting a lot worse . And the risks are n't appropriate for us , '' he says . The big insurer , unlike Prudential , owns only about $ 150 million of publicly sold junk bonds . The string of big junk bond defaults , which have been a major cause of the market 's problems this year , probably will persist , some analysts say . `` If anything , we 're going to see defaults increase because credit ratings have declined , '' says Paul Asquith , associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 's Sloan School of Management . Mr. Asquith , whose study on junk bond defaults caused a furor on Wall Street when it was disclosed last April , says this year 's junk bond defaults already show a high correlation with his own findings . His study showed that junk bonds over time had a cumulative default rate of 34 % . One indication of a growing number of junk defaults , Mr. Asquith says , is that about half of the $ 3 billion of corporate bonds outstanding that have been lowered to a default rating by S&P this year are junk bonds sold during the market 's big issue years of 1984 through 1986 . These bonds , now rated single-D , include junk offerings by AP Industries , Columbia Savings ( Colorado ) , First Texas Savings Association , Gilbraltar Financial Corp. , Integrated Resources Inc. , Metropolitan Broadcasting Corp. , Resorts International Inc. , Southmark Corp. and Vyquest Inc . `` Obviously , we got a lot more smoke than fire from the people who told us the market was n't so risky , '' says Bradford Cornell , professor of finance at University of California 's Anderson Graduate School of Management in Los Angeles . Mr. Cornell has just completed a study that finds that the risks and returns of junk bonds are less than on common stocks but more than on investment-grade bonds . Mr. Cornell says : `` The junk market is no bonanza as Drexel claimed , but it also is n't a disaster as the doomsayers say . '' Despite the junk market 's problems , Drexel continues to enjoy a loyalty among junk bond investors that its Wall Street rivals have n't found . During the past three weeks , for example , Drexel has sold $ 1.3 billion of new junk bonds for Turner Broadcasting Co. , Uniroyal Chemical , Continental Air and Duff & Phelps . Still , the list of troubled Drexel bond offerings dwarfs that of any firm on Wall Street , as does its successful offerings . Troubled Drexel-underwritten issues include Resorts International , Braniff , Integrated Resources , SCI TV , Gillette Holdings , Western Electric and Southmark . `` Quality junk bonds will continue to trade well , '' says Michael Holland , chairman of Salomon Brothers Asset Management Inc . `` But the deals that never should have been brought have now become nuclear waste . As Helen Boehm , who owns an art porcelain company , sipped her luncheon cocktail , she reeled off the names of a few pals -- Prince Charles , Princess Diana , Sarah Ferguson , John Kluge , Milton Petrie . Then , flashing a diamond ring as big as the Ritz ( `` my day diamond , darling '' ) , she told her two companions that she is on the `` board '' of the Vatican Museum in Rome . As it turns out , the board has a lot of important members , including Winton Blount ( former postmaster general of the U.S. ) , Mrs. Henry Gaisman ( widow of the inventor of auto-strop razor ) and Vincent Murphy ( an investment banker at Merrill Lynch & Co . ) But Mrs. Boehm did n't mention any of them . `` Helen Boehm has a way with names , '' says James Revson , a gossip columnist for Newsday ( and son of Joseph Revson , a founder of Revlon ) . Like which are droppable and which are not . With the fall social season well under way , name-droppers are out in force , trying to impress their betters and sometimes put down their lessers . But the truth is that almost everyone , from real-estate agents to city fathers , name-drops ; and a surprising number of people have an ancient uncle who claims he lived next door to the cartoonist who did the Katzenjammer Kids . ( In case you have forgotten , his name was Rudolph Dirks . ) `` Name-dropping is pervasive and getting more so as society becomes more complex and alienating , '' says Herbert Freudenberger , a New York psychoanalyst , with a high-powered clientele . `` It can be an avenue of entrance to a certain sector of society . . . . It provides some people a needed sense of affiliation and can help open up a conversation with someone you do n't know . '' Like the Long Island matron in the theater district the other day who swore to a stranger that she once met Liza Minnelli . `` I was having a drink in Sardi 's , when all of a sudden I saw a woman 's backside coming up the steps on the second floor and she was wearing sequined slacks . I knew it was someone important , so I followed her into the ladies room and sure enough , it was Liza . So I said , ` Hello . ' And she said , ` Hello . ' Can you imagine ? Liza said hello to me . '' Some people must drop names -- call it an irresistible impulse . `` They ca n't help talking about the big important people they know , even if they do n't really know them , '' says Dr. Freudenberger . Beauregard Houston-Montgomery , a New York writer who changed his name from William Stretch in 1980 , is an inveterate name-dropper . `` I do it innately and pathologically , and while it may occasionally get me into trouble , it 's also gotten me access to parties and society , '' he says . Name-dropping recently helped Mr. Houston-Montgomery crash a party Fame magazine threw for 100 of the 2,809 people mentioned in the diaries of the late Andy Warhol . `` I guess I might have asked Beauregard to leave , but he drops so many good names , we decided to let him stay , '' says Steven Greenberg , publisher of Fame . `` After all , Warhol was the ultimate namedropper , dropping five a day in his diaries . And Beauregard was mentioned twice -- although very briefly and in passing . '' Mr. Houston-Montgomery says that at the party he waved to Malcolm Forbes , publisher of Forbes magazine ( `` We've been in the columns together '' ) , Mary Boone , a New York art dealer ( `` I `` I think she knows me , but I 'm not sure `` ) and Bridget Fonda , the actress ( `` She knows me , but we 're not really the best of friends '' ) . Mr. Revson , the gossip columnist , says there are people who actually plan whose names they are going to drop before attending a party . These droppers do n't flaunt only their friendships with the Trumps , Brooke Astor or Georgette Mosbacher . `` They even drop semi-obscure names like Wolfgang Flottl , whom everybody these days apparently has heard of but no one really knows , '' says Mr. Revson . `` It 's the one-upsmanship of name-dropping that counts . '' But name-dropping has other benefits , often civic . In the name of civic pride and from the desire to nullify a negative image , some city promoters seek to link their municipality with the most recognizable names the city has to offer . Take Cleveland . It has gotten a bad rep because its once heavily polluted Cuyahoga River caught fire , because former Mayor Ralph Perk set his hair on fire with an acetylene torch and because its proposed Rock'n ' Roll Hall of Fame was recently refused an urban-development grant . Some people call it `` The Mistake on the Lake '' -- Lake Erie , that is . `` It helps to point out how many important people came through Cleveland on their way to the top , '' says George Miller , executive director of the New Cleveland Campaign , a nonprofit organization devoted to citing the city 's strengths . Mr. Miller notes that actor Paul Newman 's family owned a sporting-goods store in Cleveland , that the late actress Margaret Hamilton , who played the bad witch in `` The Wizard Of Oz , '' once ran a nursery school in Cleveland and that comedian Bob Hope 's father , a stonemason , once worked on a church next to Severence Hall , Cleveland 's main concert hall . `` Power names like that do n't hurt the city 's reputation , '' Mr. Miller says . In Hollywood , an average family can gain cachet from moving into a home vacated by the famous or near famous . `` Why we even just sold a three-bedroom house in Van Nuys and were able to keep the price firm in a weak real-estate market by noting that the original Lone Ranger lived there , '' says David Rambo , a sales associate with Jon Douglas Co. , a Los Angeles real-estate agency . `` Most people ca n't even remember his name . '' ( It is John Hart . ) Mr. Rambo says that a 3.2-acre property overlooking the San Fernando Valley is priced at $ 4 million because the late actor Erroll Flynn once lived there . `` If Flynn had n't lived there , the property might have been priced $ 1 million lower , '' says Mr. Rambo , noting that Flynn 's house has been bulldozed , and only the swimming pool remains . Press agents and public-relations practitioners are notorious name-droppers . And some even do it with malice aforethought . Len Kessler , a financial publicist in New York , sometimes uses it to get the attention of journalists who try to avoid him . He says that when Dan Dorfman , a financial columnist with USA Today , has n't returned his phone calls , he leaves messages with Mr. Dorfman 's office saying that he has an important story on Donald Trump , Meshulam Riklis or Marvin Davis . He admits he has no story on any of them on these occasions . `` But it does get him to return my calls , and it makes me feel better for the times he 's given me the brushoff , '' Mr. Kessler says . There are , of course , obvious dangers to blatant , unsubstantiated name-dropping . Jeffry Thal , a publicity agent for the Lantz Office in Los Angeles , warns that dropping the wrong name labels the dropper as a fake and a fraud . `` Get caught and you 're dead in the water , '' says Mr. Thal . Mr. Thal says that Elizabeth Taylor , a client , `` hates being called ` Liz . ' . . . If directors or producers phone me and say they know ` Liz , ' I know they 've never met her . She prefers ` Elizabeth . ' '' In New York society , Pat Buckley , the very social wife of author William Buckley , has the nicknames `` Mrs. Buckles '' and `` Patsy . '' And her husband sometimes calls her `` Ducky . '' `` But call her ` Patty , ' and it 's a sure giveaway you 're not in her circle , because she does n't use that name , '' says Joan Kron , editor-in-chief of Avenue magazine , a monthly publication sent to all the right names . John Spencer Churchill , a nephew of the late Sir Winston Churchill , former prime minister of Great Britain , is n't that impressed with most name-droppers he meets . That 's because they only drop `` mere names , '' says Mr. Churchill . Currently writing his memoirs , Mr. Churchill , an artist , tells how tycoons such as the late Jean Paul Getty , the oil billionnaire , were , in fact , known only by one initial , their last . `` When you 're at the club , you ask whether they 've spoken to ` G . ' Now they know who you mean and you know who you mean . But no one else does . Now that 's name-dropping , if you know what I mean . Part of a Series } SMYRNA , Ga. -- The auto-dealer strip in this booming suburb runs nearly five miles along Cobb Parkway , stretching from the Perimeter highway that circles Atlanta to the `` Big Chicken , '' a pullet-roofed fast-food restaurant and local landmark . Twenty years ago , in the infancy of suburban sprawl , just a handful of dealerships were here . Now there are 23 . Alongside such long-familiar names as Chevrolet , Ford and Dodge are nameplates that did n't exist until three years ago : Acura , Sterling , Hyundai . Under construction is the strip 's 24th showroom , the future home of Lexus , a luxury marque launched by Toyota Motor Corp. just two months ago . The 1980s have spawned an explosion of consumer choice in America , in everything from phone companies to colas . And especially , as the Cobb Parkway strip attests , in cars . Americans now can choose among 572 different models of cars , vans and trucks , up from just 408 when the decade began , according to Automotive News , a trade publication . For car marketers , it has become a much tougher battle to keep loyal customers from defecting to one of the new makes on the block . For American car buyers , the proliferation of choice is both liberating and confusing . Malcolm MacDougall , vice chairman of the Jordan , McGrath , Case & Taylor advertising agency in New York , calls the proliferation `` nameplate mania . '' He says the number of automobile choices is causing stress among consumers today , and that people will simply ignore new models that lack a well-defined image . `` The winners , '' he predicts , `` will be brands from car makers that have traditionally been associated with quality and value . '' He says it 's important for a new make to be as distinctive as possible while still retaining links to the parent company 's quality image . He applauds Toyota and Nissan Motor Co. for creating separate divisions for their new luxury models , rather than simply adding more nameplates to their standard car lines . Some auto executives believe the benefits of more choice outweigh the drawbacks . `` There 's more noise out there , and the consumer may have to work harder to cut through it , '' says Vincent P. Barabba , executive director of market research and planning at General Motors Corp . `` But the reward is that there 's less need to make tradeoffs '' in choosing one 's wheels . Jeanene Page , of North Salt Lake City , Utah , likes the broader selection . She wants something big , and already has looked at the Chrysler New Yorker and Lincoln Town Car . Now , the 55-year-old car shopper is zeroing in on a full-sized van , figuring that it 's just the thing to haul nine grandchildren and pull a boat at the same time . `` That seems to be what all my friends are using to take the grandkids to the lake , '' she says . Market segmentation in cars is n't new , but it 's far more extensive than when Alfred P. Sloan Jr. conceived the idea 50 years ago . The legendary GM chairman declared that his company would make `` a car for every purse and purpose . '' Now there are many cars for every purse and purpose . Just four years ago , GM planners divided the combined car and truck market into seven segments . Today , they identify 19 distinct segments for cars , and another 11 for trucks and vans . The number of makes has mushroomed because the U.S. is the world 's biggest and richest market for automobiles ; virtually every auto maker wants to sell here . For every brand like Renault or Fiat that has been squeezed out , others such as Isuzu , Daihatsu and Mitsubishi have come in . Detroit tries to counter the foreign invasion with new brands of its own . GM launched the Geo marque this year to sell cars made in partnership with foreign auto makers , and next year GM 's long-awaited Saturn cars will make their debut . Ford Motor Co. created the Merkur nameplate in 1985 to sell its German-made touring sedans in the U.S . But slow sales forced Ford to kill the brand just last week . When consumers have so many choices , brand loyalty is much harder to maintain . The Wall Street Journal 's `` American Way of Buying '' survey found that 53 % of today 's car buyers tend to switch brands . For the survey , Peter D. Hart Research Associates and the Roper Organization each asked about 2,000 U.S. consumers about their buying habits . Which cars do Americans favor most these days ? It 's hard to generalize , but age seems to be the best predictor . Adults under age 30 like sports cars , luxury cars , convertibles and imports far more than their elders do . Three of every 10 buyers under 30 would prefer to buy a sports car , compared with just 16 % of adults 30 and over , according to the Journal survey . Young consumers prefer luxury cars by a 37 % to 28 % margin -- even though older buyers , because of their incomes , are more likely to actually purchase a luxury car . Perhaps most striking , 35 % of households headed by people aged 18 to 44 have at least one foreign car . That 's true of only 14 % of households headed by someone 60 or older . Generally , imports appeal most to Americans who live in the West and are well-educated , affluent and , especially , young . `` For many baby boomers , buying a domestic car is a totally foreign experience , '' says Christopher Cedergren , auto-market analyst with J.D. Power & Co. of Agoura Hills , Calif . Such preferences persist even though many Americans believe differences between imported and domestic cars are diminishing . Only 58 % of Americans now believe that foreign cars get better gas mileage than domestic models , the Journal survey found , down from 68 % in 1987 . Some 46 % give foreign cars higher quality ratings , down from 50 % two years ago . On the other hand , only 42 % say foreign cars are less comfortable than U.S. models , down from 55 % in 1987 . People in the automotive business disagree over how susceptible younger Americans are to brand switching . `` Once buying habits are formed , they 're very hard to break , '' declares Thomas Mignanelli , executive vice president for Nissan 's U.S. sales operations . But out on Cobb Parkway , Ted Negas sees it differently . `` The competition is so intense that an owner 's loyalty to a dealership or a car is virtually nonexistent , '' says Mr. Negas , vice president of Ed Voyles Oldsmobile , one of the first dealerships to locate on the strip . Thus the very fickleness of baby boomers may make it possible to win them back , just as it was possible to lose them . The battle for customer loyalty is evident along the Cobb Parkway strip . Ed Voyles Olds recently established a special section in the service department for owners whose cars are less than a year old , so they get quicker service . Just down the street , Chris Volvo invites serious shoppers to test-drive a new Volvo to any other dealership along the strip , and compare the cars side-by-side . Manufacturers , too , are stretching further to lure buyers . GM 's Cadillac division , ignoring Detroit 's long-held maxim that safety does n't sell , is airing television commercials touting its cars ' safety features . Cadillac may be on to something . Some 60 % of the survey respondents said they would buy anti-lock brakes even if they carry a medium or high price tag . More than 50 % felt the same way about air bags . Both features appealed most to buyers under 45 . In contrast , dashboard computers , power seats and turbo-charged engines had little appeal . But even a little appeal has a lot of attraction these days . GM 's Pontiac division is offering a turbo-charged V-6 engine on its Grand Prix model , even though it expects to sell only about 4,000 cars equipped with that option . The reason : Items with narrow appeal can be important in a market as fragmented as today 's . Americans spent more than $ 190 billion on new cars and trucks last year , and just 1 % of that market exceeded Polaroid Co. 's sales of $ 1.86 billion . `` Even if it 's only 1 % , '' says GM 's Mr. Barabba , `` would you throw away sales the size of Polaroid ? '' ( All buyers 47 % American Telephone & Telegraph Co. said it will lay off 75 to 85 technicians here , effective Nov. 1 . The workers install , maintain and repair its private branch exchanges , which are large intracompany telephone networks . It 's a California crime saga worthy of an Erle Stanley Gardner title : The Case of the Purloined Palm Trees . Edward Carlson awoke one morning last month to find eight holes in his front yard where his prized miniature palms , called cycads , once stood . Days later , the thieves returned and dug out more , this time adding insult to injury . `` The second time , '' he says , `` they left the shovel . '' No garden-variety crime , palm-tree rustling is sprouting up all over Southern California , bringing big bucks to crooks who know their botany . Cycads , the most popular of which is the Sago Palm , are doll-sized versions of California 's famous long-necked palms , with stubby trunks and fern-like fronds . Because the Sago is relatively rare and grows only a couple of inches a year , it 's a pricey lawn decoration : A two-foot tall Sago can retail for $ 1,000 , and taller ones often fetch $ 3,000 or more . `` Evidently , somebody has realized it 's easy money to steal these things , '' says Loran Whitelock , a research associate specializing in cycads at the Los Angeles State and County Arboretum . Just last week , would-be thieves damaged three Sagos at Mr. Whitelock 's home in the Eagle Rock section before something frightened them off , foiled . `` It 's hard to think someone is raping your garden , '' he says . Police suspect that the criminals , who dig up the plants in the dead of night , are selling them to nurseries or landscapers . The Sago has become a popular accent in tony new housing tracts , apparently giving the rustlers a ready market for their filched fronds . Thieves are going to find `` anybody who has enough bucks to plant these things in their front yard , '' says William Morrissey , an investigator with the police department in Garden Grove , Calif. , where five such thefts have been reported in the past several weeks . The department is advising residents to plant Sagos , if they must , in the back yard and telling nurseries to be on the lookout for anyone trying to palm one off . But for those Californians who want exotic gardens out front where neighbors can appreciate them , there 's always Harold Smith 's approach . After three Sagos were stolen from his home in Garden Grove , `` I put a big iron stake in the ground and tied the tree to the stake with a chain , '' he says proudly . `` And you ca n't cut this chain with bolt cutters . Program trading on the New York Stock Exchange in September rose to its highest recorded level as a percentage of total monthly trading volume . September program trading amounted to 13.8 % of average daily New York Stock Exchange volume of 151.8 million shares , the largest percentage since the exchange began making such figures public in July 1988 . A daily average of 20.9 million shares traded in program strategies in September , the second-highest level ever . The highest level was in June 1989 , when a daily average of 22.1 million shares traded in program strategies . Average daily trading volume in June of 180.3 million shares was considerably higher than in September . Program trading amounted to 12.3 % of average daily volume in June . The Big Board says program trading describes a variety of strategies involving the purchase or sale of a basket of 15 or more stocks . The most controversial of these is stock-index arbitrage , in which traders buy or sell baskets of stocks and offset the position with an opposite trade in stock-index futures to lock in profits . It 's the most controversial form of program trading because it can create abrupt price swings in the stock market . Salomon Brothers Inc. was the top program trader in September , but most of the firm 's activity involved portfolio trading strategies other than stock-index arbitrage . Overall , Salomon reported program trading volume of 75.2 million shares . The top stock-index arbitrage firm last month was Morgan Stanley & Co . Of Morgan Stanley 's 66.8 million shares in program trades for the month , 53.1 million were in stock-index arbitrage trades . Behind second-place Morgan Stanley were Kidder , Peabody & Co. , Goldman , Sachs & Co. and CS First Boston Inc. 's First Boston Corp. unit . A group of shareholders filed suit against Imperial Corp. of America , Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. , First Executive Corp. and others , charging them with artificially inflating Imperial 's stock price to protect certain major investors . The complaint , filed in federal district court , accuses Imperial and other defendants of issuing false and misleading financial data . It also charges that Imperial , the holding company for Imperial Savings & Loan , experienced major losses and writedowns because of improper assessment of the risks of junk-bond investments and wholesale consumer loan packages . The suit seeks unspecified damages . Imperial is in the midst of reducing its junk-bond holdings and getting out of the investment banking business in order to return to traditional thrift activities . The derivative suit is similar to a class-action complaint filed earlier this year . Imperial said in a statement it expects other complaints to be filed in the wake of the original suit and a recent article in Barron 's magazine that focused on the company 's problems . Although an Imperial spokesman said the company had n't yet been served with the derivative suit , he reiterated the company 's statement that it would vigorously defend itself against the class-action suit . Spokesmen at Drexel and First Executive said the companies had n't yet been served with the suit . In a separate complaint also filed in federal court here , shareholder Max Grill of New York charged Imperial , its top executives and directors with breach of fiduciary duty and squandering the company 's assets . Imperial said it had n't been served with this suit either . Companies listed below reported quarterly profit substantially different from the average of analysts ' estimates . The companies are followed by at least three analysts , and had a minimum five-cent change in actual earnings per share . Estimated and actual results involving losses are omitted . The percent difference compares actual profit with the 30-day estimate where at least three analysts have issues forecasts in the past 30 days . Otherwise , actual profit is compared with the 300-day estimate . Source : Zacks Investment Rhone-Poulenc S.A. , Paris , said it completed the purchase of the specialty chemicals operation of RTZ Corp. , a British mining and industrial group . Rhone-Poulenc , a chemical and pharmaceutical company , said RTZ Chemicals has annual sales of about $ 900 million . It did n't release terms of the transaction . Consumer spending in Britain rose 0.1 % in the third quarter from the second quarter and was up 3.8 % from a year ago , the Central Statistical Office estimated Friday . A group including Gene E. Phillips , former chairman of Southmark Corp. , and William S. Friedman , former vice chairman of Southmark , lowered its stake in the Dallas real estate concern to 7.7 % , according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission . The group said it sold 455,410 Southmark common shares from Sept. 5 to Oct. 5 for 18.75 cents to 25 cents a share . The filing said the group continues to hold 3,481,887 remaining shares . Eastman Kodak Co. , seeking to position itself in the potentially huge high-definition television market , unveiled a converter that can transform conventional motion-picture film into high-definition video . The move also helps the Rochester , N.Y. , photographic giant ensure that its motion-picture film business -- for which it holds a virtual monopoly , supplying every Hollywood movie company -- is n't made obsolete by the upstart HDTV business . While the prototype converter is costly , it 's being lauded by the infant HDTV industry as a way of increasing the number of high-quality shows that can be seen on the new medium . `` The industry has been waiting with bated breath for the machines to come along , '' says David Niles , president of Eleven Twenty Five Productions Inc. , a New York pioneer in high-definition programming . He notes that industry executives have until now worried that they would face a severe shortage of programs once consumers begin replacing their TV sets with HDTVs . Japanese electronic giants , such as Sony Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. , have focused almost entirely on HDTV hardware , and virtually ignored software or programs shot in high-definition . And only a handful of small U.S. companies are engaged in high-definition software development . It 's estimated that just about 250 hours of HD programming is currently available for airing . Kodak says its new CCD HDTV converter will help alleviate the problem by allowing programmers and broadcasters to convert movies and television programs shot in 35mm motion-picture film into high-definition video . Consumers will be able to switch on their HDTV sets and get all the viewing benefits the high-tech medium offers . Otherwise , they 'd be watching programs that are no different in quality from what they currently view on color TVs . It would be like `` watching a black and white movie on a color TV set , '' says Malcolm G. Saull , chairman of the film and video department at the Rochester Institute of Technology . The new converters are `` a critical link between film and the television domain , '' says Joerg D. Agin , vice president and general manager of Kodak 's Motion Picture and Audiovisual Products division . Kodak wo n't disclose the cost or when its converter will be on the market , but it 's estimated the machine may be available within two years . A similar machine already on the market , made by Rank Sintel Ltd. , a unit of Rank Organisation , costs about $ 500,000 . And the potential market is tremendous , industry experts say . If HDTV takes off in the U.S. , there will be demand for some 4,000 to 5,000 HDTV converters , known in the industry as telecines . Demand will come first from programming production companies and then from television stations . `` The converter is head and shoulders above anything else I 've seen , '' says Richard J. Stumpf , vice president-engineering and development at MCA Inc. 's Universal City Studios . And Mr. Niles , the program producer , contends that Kodak 's move is `` a sound marketing decision . They ca n't afford to stay out of HDTV . '' Indeed , the stakes are high . The U.S. electronics industry estimates that the HDTV market will total about $ 150 billion over the next two decades , with an additional $ 400 billion expected to go for related products . HDTVs break down images into more than 1,100 lines , compared with 525 for today 's televisions , providing considerably sharper detail . And the sets are wider , resembling the dimensions of a movie screen . But the financial rewards are n't expected soon , nor are they guaranteed . Experts estimate the first sets of HDTVs wo n't be available for another five to 10 years , and will probably retail for more than $ 3,000 each in today 's dollars . Some critics say they wo n't be quickly embraced by consumers because of the high price . Nevertheless , Kodak could n't risk letting HDTV turn its motion-picture film business into a dinosaur . `` Kodak understands HDTV is where everybody is going , '' says RIT 's Mr. Spaull . Yet another political scandal is racking Japan . But this time it 's hurting opposition as well as ruling-party members . And as it unfolds , it 's revealing some of the more tangled and seamier aspects of Japanese society . Already , ruling Liberal Democratic Party demands that opposition members testify under oath in parliament have stalled one budget committee session and forced the committee to plan a special two-day investigation at the end of the month . But the scandal itself is so convoluted that ruling-party members are divided between those who want to pursue the matter in hope of undermining the opposition and those who favor leaving well enough alone . `` The opposition can be the most hurt because everyone already figures the LDP is that kind of beast , '' says Shigezo Hayasaka , former aide to LDP kingmaker Kakuei Tanaka and now an independent analyst . But , he adds , `` We ca n't tell where it will go at all because we 're still in the middle of it . '' This time , the scandal centers on donations made by the not-quite-mainstream pachinko parlor industry . Pachinko , a kind of pinball , is Japan 's favorite form of legal gambling . The donations so far appear to be small , especially compared with the huge sums that changed hands in the Recruit Co . influence-peddling scandal that plagued the ruling party last year . But the implications could be great . Pachinko is slightly on the shady side , often linked to the lower ranks of Japan 's underworld and regularly at the top of annual lists of tax evaders . Recently the industry has faced the threat of new restrictions , and political donations may have been made with the intent to bribe . Also , about 60 % of pachinko parlor owners are Korean , many of whom maintain close ties with North or South Korean residents ' organizations , and donations by such foreign groups are illegal in Japan . To many Japanese , pachinko is benign or enticingly unsavory . Garish neon pachinko marquees blaze from the main streets and narrow alleys of cities and towns across the country . Devotees pass hours , watching the lights blink and listening to the metal balls ping , as much to gamble as to get a little time to be anonymous , alone with their thoughts . At 500 yen ( $ 3.60 ) for a handful of balls , pachinko is a common pastime , and has been since it took root as cheap entertainment in the years after World War II . But the total of all those pinging balls has created an industry with a reported annual income of 13 trillion yen ( almost $ 92 billion ) , or nearly the size of Japan 's vaunted automobile industry . And because the pachinko industry is regularly at the top of annual lists for tax evasion , some observers estimate the real income could be as much as 20 trillion yen . If that money were being taxed , it could bring the government a badly needed several trillion yen . In 1984 , an attempt was made to crack down on the industry with tougher restrictions . Then , in 1988 , a proposal to keep better track of income by selling prepaid cards for pachinko was fielded in parliament . The proposal split the industry in two , along the lines of national origin : North Koreans oppose the plan while South Koreans , Japanese and Taiwanese accept it or are neutral . In August , a conservative weekly magazine reported that a pachinko industry organization donated money to Japan Socialist Party members . The magazine alleged that in making the donations , the pachinko industry may have been offering bribes to win support in the battle against prepaid cards , or it may have been laundering money back and forth between the JSP and the North Korean residents ' organization , the Chosen Soren . The Chosen Soren and the JSP immediately denied the report . And at first , neither the opposition nor the LDP wanted to pursue the issue . But the press kept it alive ; as with the Recruit scandal , lists began circulating with names of people who had received money . Within a matter of weeks , less-conservative magazines reported that members of the ruling LDP had received much larger donations from pachinko organizations . So far , though , there have been no allegations that the contributions the LDP members received amounted to bribes . Then the two camps upped the ante : Reports that Chosen Soren had donated directly to JSP members were rapidly countered by statements that the South Korean residents ' organization had long been donating directly to LDP members . The JSP admitted Oct. 13 that its members received about eight million yen from the pachinko organization , and charged LDP members with receiving 125 million yen ( $ 880,000 ) and other opposition parties with taking about 2.5 million yen . On Friday , the chief cabinet secretary announced that eight cabinet ministers had received five million yen from the industry , including 450,000 yen ( $ 3,175 ) by Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu . No one has alleged that the donations were by themselves illegal . Direct donations from either of the residents ' organizations would be illegal because the groups are defined as foreign , but both groups deny making direct donations . They say its possible some of their members may be donating privately . The issue is further complicated because although the organizations represent Korean residents , those residents were largely born and raised in Japan and many speak only Japanese . That they retain Korean citizenship and ties is a reflection of history -- their parents were shipped in as laborers during the decades when Japan occupied Korea before World War II -- and the discrimination that still faces Koreans in Japanese society . Many Japanese think it only natural that the organizations or their members would donate to politicians , the way many Japanese do , to win favor or support . Both residents ' organizations admit to receiving some funding from abroad . But LDP members and supporters of the prepaid card idea tend to speak in innuendo about the JSP 's alleged donations , implying that North Korean money would be more suspect than South Korean because North Korea is communist and South Korea is an ally . When Robert McDuffie was 14 , he got a chance to play in the starting lineup for his high school basketball team in Macon , Ga . Unfortunately , his mother had tickets for a recital by Itzhak Perlman the same night , and she was adamant about his attending . `` I threw such a fit , '' says Mr. McDuffie , who had begun violin studies at the age of six . `` But once Perlman started playing , I did n't give a damn about basketball . . . . Afterwards , I went home and practiced for three hours . '' Today , it 's obvious that the brawny , six-foot , one-inch musician made the right choice . At 31 , Mr. McDuffie has a rich , full-bodied tone , an admirable rhythmic precision and an increasingly busy schedule . He 's currently in the midst of a 17-city U.S. tour with Yehudi Menuhin and the Warsaw Sinfonia , with stops including Charleston , S.C . ( Oct. 25 ) , Sarasota , Fla . ( Oct. 28 ) , Tampa , Fla . ( Oct. 29 ) and Miami ( Oct. 31 ) . Later this season he gives a recital at Washington 's Kennedy Center , and appears as soloist with several major orchestras . Yet Mr. McDuffie 's career has developed at a slower pace than those of some of his better known contemporaries . During the late 1970s , he was part of a musical `` brat pack '' -- a group of budding virtuosos who studied at the Juilliard School with the noted pedagogue Dorothy DeLay . His violin classmates included Shlomo Mintz , a protege of Isaac Stern who performed with major orchestras while still a student ; Cho-Liang Lin , who joined the roster of ICM Artists Inc. at the age of 18 ; and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg , who launched her career by winning the 1981 Naumberg Competition . `` I thought I was over the hill at 22 , '' recalls Mr. McDuffie , an outgoing man with pale blue eyes and a light Southern drawl . `` But I was n't ready for a career at that time . '' Young McDuffie 's first violin teacher was Henrik Schwarzenberger , a Hungarian refugee who taught in the Macon public school system . `` He taught me how to play like a gypsy , '' jokes the musician . `` I did n't learn to count until I got to Juilliard . '' After studies at that conservatory 's Pre-College Division with an assistant to the legendary instructor Ivan Galamian , he switched at the college level to Miss DeLay , Mr. Galamian 's longtime assistant and , ultimately , his rival . `` I think I had to prove myself to her , '' says Mr. McDuffie . `` But she was always encouraging . She only put her foot down twice , '' he continues . `` In my freshman year , my roommate was known as a party animal . She thought I was n't getting my practicing done . '' As the violinist tells it , his grandmotherly looking teacher `` put her hands on her hips , stomped her foot and said , ` You 've just got to get the { expletive deleted } out of there . ' '' The second incident took place after Mr. McDuffie gave an ambitious student recital and was feeling rather pleased with himself . Miss DeLay requested that he come to her studio with a tape of the recital . `` We listened to the Chausson ` Poeme , ' '' he recalls , `` and she said , ` You hear the first note , that B-flat ? That 's the only note that 's truly in tune . . . ' . '' `` That 's the most important experience I 've had with any teacher , '' he says , `` because she taught me how to listen . Now , when I play with orchestras , the musicians often compliment me on my intonation . '' It was also at Juilliard that Mr. McDuffie discovered his predilection for conservative , 20th-century American composers such as David Diamond and Samuel Barber . After winning a school competition with a performance of the latter 's `` Violin Concerto , '' Mr. McDuffie was invited to play the work for the composer , who was dying of cancer . `` Barber was seated by the fireplace looking very pale , '' recalls the violinist , who performed the work with a piano accompanist at the composer 's apartment . `` He did n't say much , but what he said was important because it 's not in the score . There 's a beautiful , Coplandesque motif -- he 'd kill me if he heard me say that -- throughout the first movement . . . The only time the violin has it is right at the end . It 's written ` marcato ' in the score , and I played it that way , kind of gigue-like . And he yelled out ` dolce dolce ' { ` sweet sweet ' } . '' `` So we did it over , '' he adds . `` I played very transparently , with the tip of the bow . If a conductor is sensitive enough to bring down the orchestra { volume } at that point , it makes the piece magical . I do n't know why Barber never told anybody else . On Isaac Stern 's recording it 's very biting . '' Since leaving Juilliard , Mr. McDuffie has made some smart moves and some controversial ones . His guest appearance on the NBC soap opera `` Another World , '' scandalized musical elitists . By contrast , he 's won kudos for his espousal of William Schuman 's `` Violin Concerto , '' which he recently recorded for Angel along with Leonard Bernstein 's engaging `` Serenade for Violin Solo , Strings and Percussion . '' Mr. McDuffie 's sweet tone , heartfelt lyricism and rhythmic punch make him an ideal interpreter of both works . Aided by the fluid playing of the St. Louis Symphony under Leonard Slatkin 's direction , this `` Serenade '' really swings . Mr. Schuman 's `` Violin Concerto , '' which sounds more like a mildly atonal rhapsody for solo violin with orchestral accompaniment , meanders until the propulsive `` Agitato , fervente . '' But there are ample rewards in its plaintive slow sections and virtuoso fireworks for soloist , brass and timpani . At Avery Fisher Hall here , Mr. McDuffie was heard recently with Mr. Menuhin and the Warsaw Sinfonia in more conventional fare -- Bruch 's overwrought `` Violin Concerto in G Minor . '' His performance was so effusive and driven that the phrases rarely breathed . The 35-member Sinfonia played adroitly with a big , lush sound that belied its size . Whatever he plays , Mr. McDuffie finds satisfaction in the music itself -- `` something greater out there than me , '' as he puts it during an interview at the Manhattan apartment he shares with wife , Camille , a literary publicist . `` A normal person did not write the Beethoven ` Violin Concerto , ' '' he declares . `` Even when I hear it played badly , I 'm still humbled by the piece . If I could ever feel I 've contributed to it in some way , then all the hard work has been worth it . '' Ms. Jepson is a free-lance music writer in New York . Are consumers too deep in hock ? A lot of observers think so , and , if they 're right , the whole economy as well as the spendthrifts among us could be hurt . A sudden , forced cutback by consumers , who normally account for about two-thirds of economic activity , would damp the economy at a time when plant-and-equipment spending is slowing and deficit-racked governments ca n't readily take up the slack . And another wave of bad loans would further batter many already-shaky lending institutions . The worriers cite some worrisome trends . During the almost seven-year-old economic expansion , inflation-adjusted gross national product , disposable personal income and personal consumption expenditures have risen 30 % , but inflation-adjusted consumer installment credit has surged 66 % . And the ratio of installment debt to disposable personal income -- personal income after taxes -- has hit a high of about 18 1/2 % . However , these figures do n't seem to worry Thomas A. Durkin , an economist at the Federal Reserve Board . In a paper presented at the recent annual meeting of the National Association of Business Economists in San Francisco , Mr. Durkin comments that `` installment credit always grows rapidly in cyclical advances , and growth in this cycle is very typical of earlier experiences . '' He adds : `` We are now witnessing a slowdown which , if history is a guide , could persist for a while . '' But what about the debt burden ? Mr. Durkin doubts that `` there is some magic level '' at which the ratio of installment debt to disposable income `` indicates economic problems . '' And , `` more importantly , '' he says , `` the debt burden measured other ways is not really in uncharted waters . '' The chart below shows why ( see accompanying illustration -- WSJ Oct. 23 , 1989 ) . The ratio of consumer installment credit to disposable income , though up a bit , has n't climbed steeply , and such debt as a percent of household assets is little changed . Moreover , the burden of consumer credit payments relative to disposable income may be `` lower in this cycle than earlier , '' Mr. Durkin says . He notes that some `` revolving credit-card credit is actually convenience credit '' being used simply as a handy way of paying bills rather than a handy way of borrowing . In addition , he says , `` longer maturities on automobile and other forms of installment credit boost the stock of debt faster than the flow of repayments and the accompanying payment burden . '' And if you `` consider the changing distribution of credit , '' Mr. Durkin says , `` much of the increase in debt in recent years is due to increasing credit use by higher-income families , '' that is , `` those probably best able to handle it . '' Citing figures on home-equity loans , he notes that `` 11 % of homeowners had home-equity credit accounts , but the proportion rises to 16 % of homeowners in the $ 45,000-$60,000 income range and 23 % of homeowners with income above $ 60,000 . '' And much home-equity credit is used conservatively . `` The most frequent use is home improvement , which presumably improves the value of the property , '' Mr. Durkin says . So , it is n't surprising that consumer-credit delinquencies at banks remain , as the chart shows , reassuringly below some earlier highs ( see accompanying illustration -- WSJ Oct. 23 , 1989 ) . A severe recession could , of course , raise delinquency rates , but so far the current levels of consumer debt do n't seem to loom as a major threat . In fact , the current weakness in auto buying and department-store sales and the gradual upturn in the household saving rate suggest that consumers , conservative as ever , are already clutching their purses a bit more tightly . In July , consumer installment credit outstanding fell for the first time since January 1987 . `` Consumers appear unwilling to add to their leverage to support their spending , '' Bruce Steinberg , a Merrill Lynch economist , says . `` As a result , household debt appears to be stabilizing at around 63 % of GNP . '' Consumers , credit cards in hand , are n't running amok through the shopping malls -- or putting the economy at any great risk . Maidenform Inc. loves to be intimate with its customers , but not with the rest of the public . The 67-year-old maker of brassieres , panties , and lingerie enjoys one of the best-known brand images , but its financial profile is closely guarded by members of the founding family . `` There are very few companies that can boast of such a close-knit group , '' says Robert A. Brawer , 52 years old , recently named president , succeeding Beatrice Coleman , his mother-in-law , who remains chairman . `` We are a vanishing breed , '' he muses . Mrs. Coleman , 73 , who declined to be interviewed , is the Maidenform strategist . Sales have tripled during her 21-year tenure to about $ 200 million in 1988 . Maidenform says it is very profitable but declines to provide specifics . The company sells image . Its current ad campaign , on which Maidenform has spent more than $ 15 million since fall 1987 , does n't even show its underwear products , but rather men like Christopher Reeve , star of the `` Superman '' movies , talking about their lingerie turn-ons . The Maidenform name `` is part of American pop culture , '' says Joan Sinopoli , account supervisor of the campaign by Levine , Huntley , Schmidt & Beaver , a New York ad firm . Maidenform generated such memorable campaigns as `` I dreamed I ... in my Maidenform bra , '' and `` The Maidenform woman . You never know where she 'll turn up . '' `` Capitalizing on the brand is key , '' says Mr. Brawer , whose immediate plans include further international expansion and getting better control of distribution outside the U.S . `` The intimate apparel industry is perceived to be a growth industry and clearly { Maidenform } is a force to be reckoned with , '' says David S. Leibowitz , a special situations analyst at American Securities Corp. in New York . Although working women are `` forced to wear the uniform of the day , to retain their femininity they are buying better quality , more upscale intimate apparel , '' he said . Although Mr. Brawer 's appointment as president was long expected , the move on Sept. 25 precipitated the resignation of Alan Lesk as senior vice president of sales and merchandising . Three days later , Mr. Lesk was named president and chief executive officer of Olga Co. , a competing intimate apparel division of Warnaco Inc . Warnaco also owns Warners , another major intimate apparel maker . Mr. Lesk could n't be reached to comment . But Maidenform officials say that after spending 24 years at Maidenform , Mr. Lesk , 48 , made it clear he wanted the top job . `` If you want the presidency of the company , this is n't the firm to work for , '' says James Mogan , 45 , who was named senior vice president of sales , assuming some of the responsibilities of Mr. Lesk . The company downplayed the loss of Mr. Lesk and split his merchandising responsibilities among a committee of four people . `` My style is less informal , '' Mr. Brawer says . Top officers insist Maidenform 's greatest strength is its family ownership . `` You ca n't go anywhere in this company and find an organizational chart , '' one delights . `` It is fun competing as a private company , '' Mr. Brawer says . `` You can think long range . '' Other major players in intimate apparel apparently feel the same way . Warnaco was taken private by Spectrum Group in 1986 for about $ 487 million . And last year , Playtex Holdings Inc. went private for about $ 680 million . It was then split into Playtex Apparel Inc. , the intimate apparel division , and Playtex Family Products Corp. , which makes tampons , hair-care items and other products . Publicly traded VF Corp. , which owns Vanity Fair , and Sara Lee Corp. , which owns Bali Co. , are also strong forces in intimate apparel . Buy-out offers for Maidenform are n't infrequent , says Executive Vice President David C. Masket , but they are n't taken very seriously . When he gets calls , `` I do n't even have to consult '' with Mrs. Coleman , Mr. Masket says . The company could command a good price in the market . `` Over the past three and a half years , apparel companies , many of whom have strong brand names , have been bought at about 60 % of sales , '' says Deborah Bronston , Prudential-Bache Securities Inc. apparel analyst . Mr. Brawer , along with Mrs. Coleman and her daughter , Elizabeth , an attorney who is vice chairman , are the family members involved in the operations of Maidenform , which employs about 5,000 . Mr. Brawer 's wife , Catherine , and Robert Stroup , Elizabeth 's husband , round out the five-member board . Each has an equal vote at the monthly meetings . `` We are all very amiable , '' Mr. Brawer says . Executives say Mrs. Coleman is very involved in the day-to-day operations , especially product development . In the late 1960s she designed a lightweight stretch bra that boosted sales . Her father , William Rosenthal , designed the then-dress making company 's first bra in the 1920s , which he said gave women a `` maiden form '' compared with the `` boyish form '' they got from the `` flat bandages '' used for support at the time . While Mr. Rosenthal introduced new undergarment designs , his wife , Ida , concentrated on sales and other financial matters . The name Maidenform was coined by a third business partner , Enid Bissett . The company has 14 plants and distribution facilities in the U.S. , Puerto Rico , other parts of the Caribbean and Ireland . Maidenform products are mainly sold at department stores , but the company has quietly opened a retail store of its own in Omaha , Neb. , and has 24 factory outlets , with plans to add more . Before joining Maidenform in 1972 , Mr. Brawer , who holds a doctoral degree in English from the University of Chicago , taught at the University of Wisconsin . As a senior vice president , he has headed the company 's designer lingerie division , Oscar de la Renta , since its inception in 1988 . To maintain exclusivity of that designer line , it is n't labeled with the Maidenform name . While the company has always been family-run , Mr. Brawer is n't the first person to marry into the family and subsequently head Maidenform . Mrs. Coleman 's husband , Joseph , a physician , succeeded Mrs. Rosenthal as president and served in that post until his death in 1968 . China could exhaust its foreign-exchange reserves as early as next year , a Western government report says , unless imports are cut drastically to help narrow the balance-of-payments deficit . According to the report , completed last month , if China 's trade gap continues to widen at the pace seen in the first seven months of this year , the reserves would be wiped out either in 1990 or 1991 . A country is considered financially healthy if its reserves cover three months of its imports . The $ 14 billion of reserves China had in June would cover just that much . The report by the Western government , which declines to be identified , concludes that `` a near-term foreign-exchange payment problem can be avoided only if import growth drops to below 5 % per annum . '' According to Chinese customs figures , import growth has slowed in recent months , dropping to 16 % in July and 7.1 % in August from the year-earlier periods , compared with an average growth rate of 26 % in the first half . But before import growth slowed , China 's buying spree in the first half already had taken its toll on foreign-exchange reserves . The $ 14 billion level in June marked a drop from $ 19 billion at the end of April . China 's last big import binge sent reserves tumbling to $ 10.6 billion in June 1985 from $ 16.6 billion the previous September . China might stave off a crisis if it acts as forcefully as it did to arrest the 1985 decline , when Beijing slammed the brakes on foreign-exchange spending and devalued the currency . But this time , China faces a more difficult battle because of economic forces that have come into play since the Tiananmen Square killings June 4 . For example , China 's hard-currency income is expected to suffer from the big drop in tourist arrivals since June 4 . Revenue from tourism this year is projected to total $ 1.3 billion , down from $ 2.2 billion last year . Because of this and the huge trade gap , the deficit in China 's current account , which measures trade in goods and services plus certain unilateral transfers of funds , is expected to widen sharply from the $ 3.8 billion deficit last year . The Western government report suggests a number of scenarios for China 's current-account balance , two of which are considered most likely . In one , imports and exports continue to grow at the respective average rates of 25 % and 5 % recorded during the first seven months , and the current-account deficit widens to $ 13.1 billion . In 1985 , China had a record deficit of $ 11.4 billion . The other scenario assumes that Beijing takes effective actions to curb imports in the coming months . In this case , China would still finish the year with a current-account deficit of $ 8.7 billion , based on projections that imports for all of this year grow 20 % and exports 10 % . If China were still on good terms with foreign lenders , it might be able to stem the drain on its foreign-exchange reserves by using some loan funds to offset the current-account deficit . But since June , foreign bankers led by international financial institutions have virtually suspended their new loans to China . Even if borrowing resumes , commercial bankers are n't expected to lend as much as before . In addition , economists are forecasting a slowdown in foreign direct investments as businessmen become increasingly wary of China 's deteriorating political and economic environment . On top of all this , foreign-debt repayments are expected to peak in 1991 to 1992 . With less capital coming in , China 's balance of payments would suffer . The Western government report 's first scenario assumes a 30 % reduction in foreign borrowing and a 5 % contraction in foreign direct investment . In the second , foreign borrowing is projected to grow 10 % and investment to drop 10 % . But in either case , the report says , China 's balance of payments would rapidly dry up foreign reserves , which are used to finance the imbalance . In the first scenario , the reserves would be exhausted next year , and in the second they would be wiped out in 1991 . Roche Holding AG , parent of the Swiss chemical and pharmaceutical group , said its group sales rose 22 % in the first nine months of the year to 7.32 billion francs ( $ 4.51 billion ) . The company reported good gains in all of its divisions . Roche also said it expects a `` considerable rise '' in 1989 group profit from the 641.5 million-franc ( $ 396 million ) net in 1988 . New Canaan Investments Inc. said it closed the acquisition of Carr-Lowrey Glass Co. from Newell Co. , a Freeport , Ill. , maker of do-it-yourself home products . Terms were n't disclosed . Carr-Lowrey , a maker of glass bottles for the cosmetics and toiletries industries , had sales last year of about $ 40 million . New Canaan Investments is a closely held investment partnership with interests primarily in the packaging industry . Ralph Brown was 31,000 feet over Minnesota when both jets on his Falcon 20 flamed out . At 18,000 feet , he says , he and his co-pilot `` were looking for an interstate or a cornfield '' to land . At 13,000 feet , the engines restarted . But knowing that mechanics would probably ground him for repairs , Mr. Brown skipped his stop in nearby Chicago and set course to get his load -- a few hundred parcels -- to the Memphis package-sorting hub on time . Had he been a little less gung-ho , `` I 'd have gotten the thing on the ground and headed for the nearest bar , '' Mr. Brown says . But he flies for Federal Express Corp. , perhaps the closest thing in corporate America to the Green Berets . Federal 's employees work long hours and seem to thrive on the stress of racing the clock . Like Mr. Brown , they sometimes go to surprising lengths to meet that overarching corporate goal : delivering the goods on time . They are a tribute to Federal 's management which , since the company 's founding 16 years ago , has had its way with its work force -- an unusual feat in the contentious transportation industry . That may soon change . This month , Federal 's 2,048 pilots , including some 961 acquired along with Tiger International Inc. in February , will decide whether to elect the powerful Air Line Pilots Association as their bargaining agent . The election , which would bring the first major union to Federal 's U.S. operations , has pitted new hires against devoted veterans such as Mr. Brown . It has also rattled Federal 's strongly anti-union management , which is already contending with melding far-flung operations and with falling profits . `` A union , sooner or later , has to have an adversary , and it has to have a victory , '' Frederick W. Smith , Federal 's chairman and chief executive , says with disdain . `` In our formula , we do n't have any losers except the competition . '' What managers really fear is that the pro-union movement could spread beyond the pilots . Under federal transportation law , a government mediator is attempting to reconcile the melding of Tiger 's job classifications into Federal 's . Depending on the outcome , the merged company may face union elections this fall among airplane mechanics , ramp workers , stock clerks and flight dispatchers . These groups constitute up to 10 % of its work force . `` Unions would have a profound effect on the whole culture of the company , '' says Bernard La Londe , a professor at Ohio State University at Columbus and a Federal consultant . That culture , carefully crafted by Mr. Smith , leaves little , if any , room for unions . Since founding the company , the charismatic Vietnam vet , who is still only 46 years old , has fostered an ethos of combat . Flights are `` missions . '' Mr. Smith 's managers have , at times , been called `` Ho Chi Minh 's Guerrillas . '' The Bravo Zulu award , the Navy accolade for a `` job well done , '' is bestowed on Federal 's workers who surpass the call of duty . Competitors are known as the `` enemy . '' To reinforce employees ' dedication , Mr. Smith pays well . He also lets workers vent steam through an elaborate grievance procedure and , as a perk , fly free in empty cockpit seats . He gives pep talks in periodic `` family briefings '' beamed internationally on `` FXTV , '' the company 's own television network . And , with many of his 70,000 workers , Mr. Smith 's damn-the-torpedoes attitude has caught on . James Cleveland , a courier who earned a Bravo Zulu for figuring out how to get a major customer 's 1,100-parcel-a-week load to its doorstep by 8 a.m. , considers himself far more than a courier . `` We do n't just hand the customer the package . That 's just the beginning , '' he says . `` In essence , we run the show . '' David Sanders , a longtime pilot , bristles at the mere suggestion that a union might tamper with his flight schedule . `` This is America , '' he says . `` Nobody has the right to tell me how much I can work . '' Such attitudes have given Federal flexibility , not only to rapidly implement new technology but to keep its work force extraordinarily lean . The company deliberately understaffs , stretching employees ' schedules to the limit . But though couriers work as many as 60 hours a week during the autumn rush , they leave early during slack times while still being assured of a minimum paycheck . Pilots , as well , routinely fly overtime to ensure that none are furloughed during seasonal lows . The operational freedom has also given Federal a leg up on archrival United Parcel Service Inc. , the nation 's largest employer of United Brotherhood of Teamsters members . UPS wo n't discuss its labor practices , but , according to Mr. Cleveland , a former UPS employee , and others , union work rules prohibit UPS drivers from doing more than carrying packages between customers and their vans . Because UPS drivers are n't permitted to load their own vehicles at the depot , say these couriers , packages often get buried in the load and are delivered late . Labor problems are the last thing Mr. Smith needs right now . Although the Tiger acquisition has brought Federal a long way toward becoming the global player it wants to be , it also has brought problems . It more than doubled Federal 's long-term debt to $ 1.9 billion , thrust the company into unknown territory -- heavy cargo -- and suddenly expanded its landing rights to 21 countries from four . Federal , on its own , had n't been doing very well overseas . It had hemorrhaged in its attempt to get into Asia , where treaty restrictions forced it to fly some planes half-empty on certain routes . On routes to South America , the company had no backup jets to ensure delivery when planes were grounded . In Europe , business suffered as Federal bought several local companies , only to have the managers quit . These and other problems squeezed Federal 's profit margins last year to 8 % , down from more than 13 % annually in the first half of the decade . Earnings have plummeted , too , in each of the past three quarters . In the fiscal first period ended Aug. 31 , profit fell 54 % to $ 30.4 million , or 58 cents a share , mostly because of the Tiger merger , Federal says . Federal 's stock price , however , has held up well , driven in part by the general run-up of airline stocks , analysts say . Since trading as low as $ 42.25 a share in May , Federal 's shares have rallied as high as $ 57.87 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading . They closed Friday at $ 53.25 , down 50 cents on the day . There 's a certain irony in the fact that Federal Express faces its first union problems as a result of its Tiger purchase . Tiger itself was founded by a band of gungho airmen who had airlifted supplies `` over the Hump '' from India to China during World War II . In the early 1970s , Mr. Smith modeled his fledgling company on Tiger 's innovation of hub-and-spoke and containerized-cargo operations . But from early on , Tiger 's workers unionized , while Federal 's never have . Federal Express officials acknowledge mistakes in their drive overseas but say it will pay off eventually . Analysts expect Federal 's earnings to improve again in its fiscal third quarter ending Feb. 28 , when the company should begin benefiting from Tiger 's extra flights , back-up planes and landing rights . Until then , they expect the cost of integrating the two carriers to continue crimping profits . For now , the union issue is the most nettlesome of Federal 's Tiger problems , management believes . Although encouraging dialogue between managers and workers , Mr. Smith does n't countenance what he considers insubordination . When a large group of pilots once signed petitions opposing work-rule and compensation changes , he called a meeting in a company hangar and dressed them down for challenging his authority . He then made most of the changes , pilots say . That sort of approach , however , has n't worked since the addition of Tiger . Its 6,500 workers , who had battled Tiger 's management for years over givebacks , were union members until the day of the merger , when most of their unions were automatically decertified . Soon after the merger , moreover , Federal 's management asked Tiger 's pilots to sign an agreement stating that they could be fired any time , without cause or notice . When the pilots refused , the company retracted it . Mr. Smith angered Federal 's pilots , too . In his haste to seal the deal with Tiger Chairman Saul Steinberg last August , Mr. Smith ignored a promise that he had made to his own pilots three years ago : that any fliers acquired in future mergers would be `` end-tailed '' -- put at the bottom of the pilot seniority list that determines work schedules , pay and career options . The Tiger merger agreement stipulated that the lists be combined on the basis of tenure . Mr. Smith is trying hard to allay the anger . And even some pro-union pilots say his charisma and popularity among the many former military fliers could be tough to beat . `` A lot of people are identifying a vote for representation as a vote against Fred Smith , '' says J.X. Gollich , a Tiger-turned-Federal pilot and union activist . Mr. Smith and other top Federal executives have met with Tiger workers in Los Angeles , Ohio , New York , Alaska , Asia and Europe . Recently , they have appeared every few weeks in talk-show type videos , countering pro-union arguments . In one video , Mr. Smith defended his agreement to merge the pilot-seniority lists . He said Mr. Steinberg had insisted that the merger talks move quickly . Regulators , as well , might have quashed the deal if Tiger 's pilots had n't been protected , he said . Furthermore , Mr. Smith added , `` our contract with our pilots says that we will manage our fleet operations with their advice . It does n't give any particular group the ability to veto change . '' Already , the fight has been costly . The seniority-list controversy , along with the job-classification dispute , has been turned over to the mediator . Meanwhile , the company is operating with two separate pilot groups and seniority lists , and that is costing Federal `` a big number , '' says James Barksdale , executive vice president and chief operating officer . The issue has also cost Federal management a lot of good will among its old pilots . `` They were willing to mistreat us because we had n't shown any moxie , any resistance , '' says William Queenan , a DC-10 pilot and 14-year Federal veteran . Adds John Poag , a 727 captain and past chairman of the company-sponsored Flight Advisory Board : `` They 've made all these magnanimous gestures to the Flying Tiger pilots , and for us , nothing . '' Such animosity could prove pivotal in the union vote . A large majority of the 961 former Tiger fliers support the union , according to a union study . But though most of the 1,087 Federal pilots are believed opposed , it is unclear just how much their loyalty to Mr. Smith has been eroded . The fight has turned ugly and , among pilots at least , has shattered the esprit de corps that Mr. Smith worked so hard to build . Anti-union pilots have held ballot-burning parties . Some younger pilots say they have had to endure anti-union harangues by senior pilots while flying across the country . And for now , at least , the competition is n't the only enemy . Barney Barnhardt , a 727 captain and leader of the pro-union forces , said he has received two anonymous death threats and been challenged to a fight with tire irons by a colleague . `` The pilots are either for us or extremely against us , '' he says with a sigh . Harsco Corp. said it obtained a $ 33.1 million export order for armored recovery vehicles and related support equipment . Harsco declined to say what country placed the order . The company said it received an order for 23 of the vehicles , which retrieve tanks and other heavy-tracked vehicles when they break down or are damaged , and an option for 16 more . Delivery is to begin in early 1991 . Harsco produces products for defense , industrial , commercial and construction markets . The Senate convicted U.S. District Judge Alcee Hastings of Florida of eight impeachment articles , removing the 53-year-old judge from his $ 89,500-a-year , lifetime job . Mr. Hastings 's case was particularly nettlesome because it marked the first time a federal official was impeached and removed from office on charges of which a jury had acquitted him . In 1983 , Mr. Hastings was found not guilty of accepting a $ 150,000 bribe in a case before him , the central charge on which the Senate convicted him . He was only the sixth federal judge ever ousted from office after an impeachment trial . With no floor debate , the Senate on Friday voted 69-26 to convict Mr. Hastings of perjury and conspiring to accept a bribe , five votes more than needed . Conviction on any single impeachment article was enough to remove Judge Hastings from office . He was found not guilty of three charges , involving accusations that he had improperly disclosed information about a sensitive , government investigation . The Senate did n't vote on six lesser charges . Although Mr. Hastings had been acquitted by a jury , lawmakers handling the prosecution in Congress had argued that the purpose of impeachment is n't to punish an individual . Instead , they argued that impeachment aims to protect public institutions from people who have abused their positions of trust , irrespective of the outcome of prior criminal or civil cases . Mr. Hastings faced the senators and sat impassively during the first two roll-call votes , then quickly left the chamber . In an impromptu news conference on the Capitol steps , he denounced the senators ' action . `` Their opinion is devoid of the wisdom of the forefathers ' teaching regarding impeachment , '' Mr. Hastings said . For the future , he said he would run for governor of Florida . Mr. Hastings was appointed to the federal bench by President Carter in 1979 and was one of the few black federal judges in the country . While he packed the Senate gallery with his supporters during some of the impeachment trial , most civil rights groups kept their distance from his case . Following the impeachment conviction , Dr. Benjamin Hooks , executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People , issued a restrained statement , warning that the Hastings case could set a `` dangerous precedent , '' but adding , `` We must respect the considered judgment of the Senate . When last we left him , FBI Agent Nick Mancuso had solved a murder mystery , unraveled a Washington political scandal , and racked up some pretty good ratings numbers in the miniseries `` Favorite Son . '' What next for the crusty FBI agent with the heart of gold ? A spinoff series , of course . There are plenty of worse inspirations for shows -- and most of them had already made the fall lineup : a nun raising some lovable orphans . A den mother raising some lovable teen models . A bunch of tans and bathing suits posing as lovable lifeguards . In that context , Robert Loggia 's riveting performance as the unlovable -- even crotchety -- veteran agent seems a better franchise for a series than most . Week by week on `` Mancuso FBI '' ( NBC , Fridays , 10 p.m . ET ) , he pokes around the crime styles of the rich , famous and powerful of the Washington scene -- a loose cannon on deck at the FBI . Over the first few weeks , `` Mancuso FBI '' has sprung straight from the headlines , which is either a commendable stab at topicality , or a lack of imagination , or both . The opening show featured a secretary of defense designate accused of womanizing ( a la John Tower ) . When his secretary is found floating dead in the pol 's pool , Mancuso is called in to investigate . Last week , a young black girl claimed she had been raped by a white police officer ( a la Tawana Brawley ) . In this week 's show , there 's an unsafe nuclear weaponsmaking facility ( a la Rocky Flats ) . Along the way , we 're introduced to the supporting cast : a blond bombshell secretary ( Randi Brazen -- her real name , honest ) , a scheming young boss ( Fredric Lehne ) , another blonde bombshell who 's also an idealistic lawyer ( Lindsay Frost ) , and a forensics expert ( Charles Siebert ) . If all of this seems a little stale , it 's redeemed in part by some tricky plot twists : The usual suspects are found to be guilty , then not guilty , then guilty -- but of a different crime . ( In last week 's rape case , for example , the girl turns out to have been a victim of incest , and the biggest villains are the politicians who exploit the case . ) Most of all though , the show is redeemed by the character of Mancuso . What makes the veteran FBI man so endearing is his hard-bitten cynicism -- earned , we discover , when he was assigned to the civil rights movement back in the 1960s . He was n't protecting the Freedom Marchers ; he was tailing them as subversives . This is not the `` Mississippi Burning '' scenario that thrills his young colleagues : `` Kid , you 've been reading Classic Comics too long , '' Mancuso says . `` Back in 1964 , the FBI had five black agents . Three were chauffeurs for J. Edgar Hoover , and two cleaned his house . '' At the core of Mr. Loggia 's Mancuso is his world-weary truculence . He describes a reporter as `` Miss First Amendment . '' He describes a drowned corpse as `` Esther Williams . '' And when he 's told `` Try a little tenderness , '' he shoots back `` I 'm going home to try a little linguine . '' Yet for all his cynicism , he 's at heart a closet idealist , a softy with a secret crush on truth , justice and the American Way . He 's the kind of guy who rescues trampled flags . If `` Mancuso FBI '' has an intriguing central character , it also has a major flaw : It 's wildly overwritten . Executive Producers Steve Sohmer and Jeff Bleckner ( and writer/producers Ken Solarz and Steve Bello ) have revved this show up to the breaking point . To start , there 's always a crisis -- and someone always worries , `` What if the press gets a hold of this ? '' At least once an episode we see protestors marching around screaming slogans . At least once Mancuso 's boss yells `` In here -- now , '' and proceeds to dress his investigator down : `` You are a dinosaur ... a hangover in a $ 10 suit . . . One more word and you are out on a park bench , mister . '' Finally , of course , the boss gives in , but he 's still yelling : `` I find myself explaining anything to Teddy Kennedy , you 'll be chasing stolen cars in Anchorage . '' In fact , throughout `` Mancuso FBI , '' we do n't get words or lines -- we get speeches . Witnesses shout , scream , pontificate : `` ... a dream that the planet could be saved from itself and from the sadistic dumb creatures who try to tear down every decent man who raises his voice . '' And Mancuso himself is investigating at the top of his lungs : `` How the hell can you live with yourself ? '' he erupts at a politician . `` You twist people 's trust . You built your career on prejudice and hate . The scars will be here years after the polls close . '' In each show , Mancuso gets to unleash similar harangues : `` Where the hell are they gon na live when people like you turn the world into a big toxic waste dump ? You 're the real criminal here ... and what you did was n't just a murder -- it was a crime against humanity . '' And , at least once a show , someone delivers the line `` Get off that soapbox . '' Now that 's advice the writers should take to heart . They have a series with a good character , some interesting , even occasionally surprising plot lines , and they 're ruining it . Why , when a key witness disappears , does Mancuso trash her apartment , tearing down drapes , smashing walls ? It 's a bizarre and totally inappropriate reaction , all to add more pizzazz to a script that 's already overdosing on pizzazz . That 's not plot . That 's not character . That 's hyperventilating . There is a scene at the end of the first week 's show where Mancuso attends the unveiling of the memorial to his dead partner David . Asked to say a few words , he pulls out his crumpled piece of paper and tries to talk , but he 's too choked up to get the words out . He bangs on the piece of paper in frustration , then turns and walks away . It was a profoundly moving moment for series television , and Robert Loggia 's acting resonated in the silence . There 's a pretty good program inside all the noise of `` Mancuso FBI . '' If the show 's creators could just let themselves be quiet for a little , they might just hear it . With a Twist of the Wrist Boys with tops , and Frisbee tossers , And P.R. types with bees in their bonnet , Have a goal in common , all of them try To put the right spin on it . -- George O. Ludcke . Net Gain Investment letters now abound , I really like to read them ; If I peruse enough , I 've found I 've no time left to heed them -- Bern Sharfman . Daffynition TV evangelist : salesparson . -- Marguerite Whitley May . Texaco Inc. has purchased an oil-producing company in Texas for $ 476.5 million , its first major acquisition since its legal brawl with Pennzoil Co. began more than four years ago . The White Plains , N.Y. , oil company said Friday that it had acquired Tana Production Corp. , a subsidiary of TRT Energy Holdings Inc. , for $ 95.1 million in cash , with the rest to be paid in shares of a new , non-voting issue of preferred stock . Tana , which holds properties in 17 oil and gas fields in south Texas , will provide Texaco with mostly gas reserves . The fields contain recoverable reserves of 435 billion cubic feet of natural gas and four million barrels of oil . `` This acquisition is another indication of Texaco 's commitment to increase the company 's reserve base , '' said Chief Executive Officer James W. Kinnear . Texaco has also been attempting to sell oil properties . At least two years ago , the company put 60 million barrels of oil reserves on the block . They were either too small or uneconomic to maintain , the company said . Not all of those parcels have yet been sold . Texaco acquired Tana before it completed those sales because Tana 's properties are high quality and near other fields Texaco already owns , a company spokeswoman said . Texaco , like many other oil companies , has been struggling to replace its falling oil and gas reserves . Texaco 's situation had become particularly complex because much of its effort had for years been focused on its brawl with Pennzoil and then on New York investor Carl C. Icahn 's attempt to take over the company . Pennzoil had sued Texaco for improperly interfering with its acquisition of a portion of Getty Oil Co . Eventually , Texaco , which was forced into bankruptcy proceedings by that litigation , settled its fight with Pennzoil for $ 3 billion in 1986 . Mr. Icahn , who played a key role in the settlement and attempted subsequently to take control of the company , sold his stake in Texaco just last summer . Completion of Texaco 's acquisition of Tana is subject to government approval under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act .