Thomas Cochran, partner in J. P. Morgan & Co., arrived last week on the swift Mauretania. Reporters wasted no time in cornering him. Said he: "I have a statement ready. It is six words long. Take it down carefully. 'A singed cat dreads the fire.' That is all."

The cat was Mr. Cochran. The fire was The Press. The singeing was an incident in August 1926, when Mr. Cochran, sailing for Europe, was reported by a ship news reporter as having said that General Motors stock would go higher, much higher. Wall Street, on reading the word of Mr. Cochran, promptly sent General Motors skyrocketing to a then-record-high of $213.75.

Since then, speculators in General Motors have pitched their ears to the tune of the words of tycoons. John J. Raskob once said that General Motors would go to $225; the stock jumped upward, but not to $225.

Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr., president of General Motors, before sailing for Europe on the Olympic last week, issued a long statement, of which the meat was that General Motors would cut a very fat melon in November. The stock did not soar, because some such statement had long been expected in Wall Street and the stock had already completed a steady rise to $218.75.

Mary Josephine Lauder, fiancee of retired Fisticuffer James Joseph Tunney, sailed on the Saturnia for Italy, where a wedding loomed.

Sir Thomas Esmonde and his Lady Anna Frances delayed the sailing of the Cedric for eight minutes, because they had forgotten some jewels as ancient as King Charles II. A taxicab race was a feature of the recovery.

Charles Evans Hughes, Republican, sometime admirer of Alfred Emanuel Smith, returned to Manhattan on the Conte Biancamano. said: "I will not discuss politics."

Norman Rockwell, artist, and Mrs. Dorothy Caruso, widow of the tenor, with her daughters, Gloria and Jacqueline, also arrived on the Conte Biancamano.

Capt. Sir George Hubert Wilkins sailed on the Southern Cross for South America, where he will establish a base for Antarctic exploration and a flight to the South Pole. He had verified his engagement to Suzanne Bennett, actress, just before sailing.

Major Georges Scapini, blind World War veteran, member of the French Chamber of Deputies, arrived in Manhattan on the lie de France, to be guest of honor at the American Legion convention, which opens in San Antonio, Tex., on Oct. 8. For the same purpose, Field Marshall Sir Edmund Allenby, Viscount of Megiddo and of Felixstowe, conqueror of Jerusalem, sailed from England on the Majestic.