Free-Enterprise Plants

President Eisenhower last week approved a plan of the RFC to get the U.S. out of the synthetic rubber business (TIME, March 16). Under the plan, the Government's 28 plants (annual capacity: 806,500 long tons), which now supply nearly all of the nation's synthetic rubber needs, would be sold to private industry through negotiated prices, instead of sealed competitive bidding. Reported asking price for the plants: $350 million, some $200 million less than their original cost. With swift congressional approval almost certain, the synthetic rubber industry might be in private hands within a year.

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