The Perfect 18

The figure 18 1/2 had come to be almost as popular as the figure of Jane Russell. Within four months, it had become fashionable to settle industrial disputes with an 18 1/2-c--an-hour wage increase. So far, it had been granted to workers in steel, rubber, electrical plants (G.E. and G.M.), and was the average raise in the auto industry.

Last week its captivating (and mysterious) charms once more caused 18 1/2-c- to be voted the labor-management figure of the year.

This time a Government fact-finding board, prodded by a strike, recommended it as a wage increase to 31,370 C.I.O. Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers and a ladleful of A.F. of L. Metal Tradesmen.

Who discovered the charms of 18 1/2-c-? Harry Truman himself. On Jan. 17 he offered the figure as a compromise in the steel controversy. Its upward curve proved just right: plump enough for Phil Murray (who had demanded 25-c- an hour), slender enough for Ben Fairless (who had refused to give more than 15-c-). The perfect 18 1/2 has been the darling of most strike arbiters ever since.

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