The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 15

FINANCIAL Th Boston Globe Friday, May 24, 1974 15 Alleghany, USM rift unresolved US abandons plan to scrap old price index users in business, labor and government." Two indexes, however, will cost more. Several weeks ago Shiskin estimated to a Senate subcommittee that the tab could run as high as $2 million to start and anoth- er $1.5 million or so a year. Shiskin said the need or a Consumer Price Index that more broadly measures the cost of living is "compelling." Besides the 5 million or so workers out of 20 million union members whose wage increases are determined partially or completely by. Consumer Price Index moves, Shiskin said, 44 1 million more persons including Social Security beneficiaries and retired Federal workers also are covered by escalation agreements. Panelists (from left) Mary Newman, the state's secretary of man- WNAC-TV and Ellsworth Culver of the Involvement Corps discuss power affairs; Robert Palmer of Polaroid Gordon MacKay of volunteer programs and corporate responsibility at yesterday's pro-New England Mutual Life Insurance James Coppersmith of gram in Boston's Hynes Auditorium.

(Globe photo by Ellis Herwig) Social responsibility called good business By John Robinson Globe Staff A meeting of USM Corp. board members and Alleghany Corp. president Fred Kirby ended yesterday without resolution of differences between the two companies concerning a possible Alleghany takeover of USM. USM is a 75-year-old Boston-based International manufacturer of machinery with 1974 revenues of $634.6 million and net earnings of $20 million. Alleghany is a diversified New York-based company with net asset value in excess of $140 million.

A USM spokesman said: "No conclusions were reached, but further discussions will be undertaken." Robert W. Maynard, USM vice president and general counsel, said there is no agenda for the talks. However, published reports indicate that the major differences between the two companies involve the degree of Alleghany representation on the USM board and whether Alleghany should continue to buy USM stock. Alleghany has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission an amendment to its schedule 13B indicating that it seeks "to obtain control of USM." The company has two representatives on the 17-member USM board and controls 30 percent of USM's 4.16 million shares outstanding. USM has publicly requested that Alleghany remain a minority shareholder in USM.

public relations in the area of corporate good works," Palmer told about 60 persons attending the afternoon panel in a room off the exhibition hall where 208 organizations were represented. Several thousand persons visited the all-day event, sponsored by the Governor's Com- est employees and gets social action programs into gear. So far the firm has set up programs for 27 companies in western and midwestern states. "Ten years ago, I would have been laughed out of a company if I tried to do this," Culver said. "But now there's a swing in the.

I suspect that corporate social responsibility just might be profitable. We have 217 ex-offenders working at Polaroid. Initially the program was expensive to set up, but across the board j'it has saved money. We find, for example, that the absen-tism rate among the ex- Joblessness Mass. up lic relations guys talk a lot and do nothing.

"But more and more I'm finding that corporations are getting involved with their employees, learning what their interests are, letting them call the tune." Mary Newman pointed out that area businesses were receptive to the Massachusetts loaned executive program, which needed private sector expertise in running the state government. And Coppersmith said he felt the idea of time off in the community with pay was being encouraged. "We haven't arrived yet," MacKay summerized. "But we're past the shouting and screaming stage and down to some serious organizing. We're past the charity and good-wcrks level.

We're available. We're open. We know we have to be to survive." By Susan Trausch Globe Staff Corporate social responsibility isn't just nice. It's survival, money and gut-level bottom-line good business. The five panel members discussing the subject at yesterday's volunteer job fair in Hynes Auditorium were quick to point that out.

No public-r elatlons Pollyanna's among Mary Newman, secretary of the Bay State's Office of Manpower Affairs; Gordon MacKay, assistant vice president of public affairs at New England Mutual Life Insurance Robert Palmer, community relations director of James Coppersmith, gtneral manager of WNAC-TV; or Ellsworth Culver, executive director of The Involvement Washington, D.C. "I have a deep distrust of You don't sell good works. You just do them A company is in business to make a profit, and I suspect that corporate social responsibility just might be ROBERT PALMER of Polaroid The number of jobless persons in Massachusets increased in March to 100 from 205,400 the previous month, the Division 1 of Employment Security reported yesterday. Seasonally adjusted, the. I unemployment rate moved from 7.6 percent in Febru-ary to 7.8 percent in 1 March.

DES director John D. r. Crosier said the 0.2 per- cent boost was due to an increase in the number of persons entering the workforce. mission on Citizen Participation. "You don't sell good works; you just do them," Palmer said.

"I'm not really sure what Exxon wants us to know, but I'll tell you I'm very suspicious of it. "A company is in business to make a profit, and offenders is one-fifth of that for other employees." Culver said he's seen a change in attitude since his nonprofit firm was formed in 1969. The Involvement Corps is a professional volunteer organizing group that goes into companies, finds out what community activities inter- By James L. Rowe Jr. Washington Post WASHINGTON The Bureau of Labor Statistics has bowed to pressure from organized labor and scrapped its plans to abandon the Consumer Price Index in favor of a broader measure of the cost of living.

Instead, according to Commr. Julius Shiskin, the bureau will issue two indexes, beginning in April 1977. One will be an updated version of the percent index. This measures the movement in prices of goods and services bought by the families of urban wage-earners and cleiical workers about 45 percent of the population. The other will be the broader index proposed in March by the buerau.

This will gauge the movement in prices of all urban households including professional, self-employed, unemployed and retired workers as well as wage-earners and clerical workers. It will cover roughly 80 percent of the population. Organized labor had fought replacing the narrower index, fearing that the broader one would rise more slowly in inflationary periods. This would adversely affect the pay of workers whose raises are determined by escalator clauses tied to the Consumer Price Index. Shiskin said he will propose two indexes because he is convinced "that a single index cannot fully meet the diverse needs of ISTAIUSHIO 1 Dow keeps above 800 while many stocks dip 3 Associated Press NEW YORK The Dow Jones industrial average kept its head above the 800 level yesterday, but many individual stocks continued sinking.

The widely watched Dow, made up of 30 blue-chip issues, twice came within a fraction of sliding below 800 during the session but each time bobbed upward again. It finished at 805.23, up 2.66 from the 1974 closing low it hit on Wednesday. The New York Stock Exchange's composite index of some 1500 common stocks also posted a small advance, rising 0.03 to 45.94. But declines broadly outnumbered advances, 874 to 532, among the 1782 other direction. I've talked with officers at about 250 companies, and I still find the companies that do nothing, and I also find the companies involved with the community because of pressure.

They throw out guilt money or' mad money, and the pub issues traded on the Big Board. Volume on the NYSE slipped to 14.77 million shares from Wednesday's 15.35 million- In the parlance of technical analysts, the Dow appeared to be establishing a "support level" at the 800 mark. John J. Smith at Fahne-stock Co. attributed the scattered buying yesterday to bargain-hunting by investors attracted to "an oversold market." Evans Products was the Big Board volume leader, down at 6 in trading that included a block at 6V4.

Gold, silver and copper issues were mostly lower as prices of the metals continued to decline in world markets. $495 billion through March 31, 1975. The Nixon Administration had requested a $505 billion limit through June 30, 1975. If the debt measure isn't passed, the present limit will expire June 30, dropping the ceiling to its "permanent" level will of $400 billion and leaving the government unable to pay its bills. consent," when Overmyer transferred the 249 shares to First National Bank ownership.

Fifield said that because of the pending bankruptcy actions involving other Overmyer properties, he could not disclose the exact amount of the First National loan. "Let's just say it's a few million," he said. hike in US debt lid squeaks by House, 191-190 now is the time OUR EXCLUSIVE COTTON SEERSUCKER in suits and colorful sportwear The demand for this most comfortable of lightweight materials is greater every season. Woven exclusively for-us in Switzerland, this year our cotton seersucker Odd' Jackets and Trousers come in Glenurquhart plaids, checks, classic and textured stripes in many colorings. Seersucker suits are featured in blue-white and grey-white stripes.

Cotton Seersucker Jackets, 7 0 Seersucker Suits, $90 Trousers, 2 5 Bermuda Length Shorts, 9 in- ii-miar mi Massive kettle used to cook hops as part of the employees in Carling Brewing Natick facility. process dwarfs two (Photo by David L. Ryan) United Press International WASHINGTON The House yesterday approved a $19.3 billion increase in the ceiling on the national debt, with Speaker Carl Albert (D-Ok.) breaking a 190-190 tie vote. The House measure, which now goes to the Senate, would increase the national debt limit from its present $475.7 billion to broadcasting firms, to transfer 249 of the 500 shares to the bank. Fifield said that Federal Communications Commission regulations barred the bank from seeking more than a minority interest in the station.

Last Friday, according to Fifield, the case was withdrawn "by mutual The First breaks into (Ohio TV) show biz on loan default A 1111 BANK NOTES LAURENCE COLLINS ATLANTA CHICAGO CINCINNATI DF.THOIT HOUSTON LOS ANGELEI KEWYOUK rr. louis SAN riUNCISCO SCARSDALE WASHINGTON, D.C First National Bank of Boston has found a new way to break into show business. The bank has moved in on a defaulted loan and picked up a 49 percent ownership of a television station. The bank held all 500 shares of the station, WHDO-TV, a UHF outlet in Toledo, Ohio, as collateral on a multimillion Hcnstrpoysfurnishings.Hatsf hoes 46 NEWBURY STREET COR. BERKELEY BOSTON, MASS.

021 16 First National was in default, according to First National senior vice president Ralph D. Fifield Jr. Two weeks ago the bank filed suit in Lucas County commons pleas court in Toledo to force Danial H. Overmyer, owner of both the warehousing and loan to the station's parent company, D. H.

Overmyer a nationwide warehousing chain currently in financial difficulty. Several of the Overmyer warehousing operations already have filed for bankruptcy and the parent company's loan from the 111.