European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 9, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday october 9, 1977 the stars and stripes Page 5 steel Price hikes declared serious inflation source granted clemency Andres Figueroa Cordero release from jail after being granted clemency thursday by president Carter talks to reporters Friday at Springfield mo., Airport. At left interpreting for Cordero is Bishop an Tulip Parrilla of puerto Rico. Cordero who is reported to have terminal cancer is one of four puerto now about $54,700 rican nationalists Given prison term for taking part in a 1954 shooting spree in the House of representatives i Washington. From Springfield Cordero flew on to san Juan puerto Rico where he was Given a hero s Welcome by thou Sands of cheering Independence advocates. A photo Cost of new Homes Rose 6% in Quarter Washington up the average Price of new Homes sold in the United states Between april and june increased by 6 per cent to $54,700, the largest quarterly jump in four years the. Census Bureau said Friday. The new government statistics also said the Price Index for new single family Homes Rose to 158.3 during the second Quarter on a 1972 base of 100.that Means that a new Home which was purchased in 1972 for $50,000 would have Cost $79,150 during the april june Quarter of this year. The $54,700 average Price during the second Quarter compared with a $51,600 average Cost during the first three months of the year a 6 per cent increase. The last time new Home prices in creased that much during one Quarter was the april june period of 1973, when they went up 7 per cent. The housing Industry has been experiencing a building Boom during 1977. New Home construction was started at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of slightly More than 2 million units during August the latest figures available. That was 32 per cent higher than the rate a year ear Lier. The nation s Home builders have been pleased by the rapid construction Pace this year although some have voiced recent fears that the Pace May ease because of the High prices and shortages of building materials. Washington a the steel Indus try which has raised steel prices 79 per cent in the last five years is a source of serious inflationary pressures the White House Price monitoring Agency said Friday. The Agency said in a report that the 79 per cent increase was 24 per cent More than other Domestic Industrial prices during the period. The report said steel prices increased by 9.4 per cent alone in the 12 months ending in August of this year compared with 7.1 per cent for All other Industrial prices. In addition further hikes in steel Price s took effect in september. The study which was ordered by presi Dent Carter on aug. 5 after the Industry raised prices said much of the increase in prices results from higher costs especially for labor but also for the Cost of materials such As Coal Iron and steel scrap. Hourly employment costs have in creased 66 per cent since 1973, and the Gap Between the higher pay of steel and Coal workers and workers in other industries has widened sharply in recent years said the study which was prepared by the Council on wage and Price stability. It said the Industry was using Only 80 per cent of its potential productive capacity currently compared a with Peak of 97 per cent in 1973. Other industries also Are operating at less than capacity now however. Even with the Price hikes profits in the steel Industry Are less than half of what they were in 1974. They were equal to 3.6 per cent of sales last year compared to 6.4 per cent in 1974 and were substantially below the average of All manufacturing the report said. There have been substantial Job layoffs in the Industry in recent weeks. The government report came As the Industry reported Friday that steel imports in August hit a 32-month High with foreign producers accounting for one in every five tons of the . Supply during the month. Imports totalled 1,831,000 tons in August up 16 per cent from july and the highest since december 1974, when foreign ship ments reached 1.9 million tons the Ameri Billy Graham counts on seeing Elvis Charlotte . A evangelist Billy Graham says he thinks he will see Elvis Presley in heaven and is pretty sure he will die within the next 10 years. I never met him Presley. But i be Lieve i will see him in heaven because Elvis Presley was very deeply religious especially in the last two or three years Graham said. The Charlotte native made the remarks in an interview with David Lawrence jr., editor of the Charlotte observer. Graham said he foresees his own death in the next 10 years because of his family s Adams says 55 Speed limit is biggest lifesaving factor1 Washington up the 55-mile per hour Speed limit is the largest single lifesaving Factor among transportation department programs Secretary Brock Adams told Congress Friday. Asked if states Are enforcing the Speed limit Adama said it varies. In some states they Are in others they Are  sen. Quentin Burdick d-n.d., retorted it varies above 60  the Secretary said he never has had to use his authority to Cut off Federal Highway funds to states whose Legislatures raise the Speed limit or lower penalties for  time i be threatened they be either vetoed the Bill or killed it he told sen. Jennings Randolph . Agreeing with Randolph that the safety aspect of the 55-limit is even More important than the Energy saved Adams said it is the largest single lifesaving Factor that we have As a program operating in the department of transportation today. Far and away. We save More lives than we do in any other  he said 57,000 persons a year were dying on the roads before the 1974 Law went into effect and the number has dropped to 46, 000, mostly due to the Speed limit and partially due to improved conditions on interstate highways. History. My father had his first stroke at my age now 59. Well i have the same prob lems he had i be got High blood pressure and these other symptoms so i look for Ward to it. I mean death to me offers no fear at All it Only has anticipation. I d be glad to get away from the pres sure under which i live every Day and get in the presence of Christ and i Hope he lets me rest a while and then gives me an other Job somewhere else because i really believe that i am going to a literal heaven Graham said. Graham said he had no plans to retire but May give up his ministry s massive crusades in five or six years because i won t have the physical strength to do  he said he would continue to write. Graham said his Success in evangelism has taken away his privacy one of the greatest and most cherished things in the world. There s no amount of Money that any body can offer me that would make me a Well known person recognized by almost everybody in America and the other coun tries i be spent time in except in the work of the lord he said. Can Iron and steel Institute said. While the government study did not make recommendations on what to do about the ills of the Industry it made Clear there is Little expectation of rapid improve ment in the near future. No single Factor can be identified As a responsible for the Industry s difficulties and no single action by the government the companies or the workers can solve them it said. The report is not the Only one the government is preparing on the Industry. The president has ordered an inter Agency study of All aspects of the Industry s prob lems and what May be done about them. That report May take As much As six weeks More to Complete. In addition Carter plans to meet wit steel Industry and Union representatives next thursday to discuss their problems. The study said the . Position in world markets has deteriorated rapidly. While Overall world steel production expanded 153 per cent since 1955, . Output grew by Only 9 per cent. From the position of a net exporter of steel in 1955, the . Was importing 15 per cent of its consumption in the first half of this year. The study said steel production costs in Japan Are 15 to 20 per cent below . Costs although production costs in Europe Are comparable. But the study also said that a reduction of imports through tariffs or quotas which the Industry wants would not significantly improve the Domestic Indus try s economic position because the Impact on Domestic Industry and employ ment would be modest. The financial position of the Industry would be strengthened Only if the reduced import Competition allowed them to in crease prices it said. The study predicted Cost pressures in the steel Industry will continue to grow. Of time oct. 9, 1947 maj. Kenneth c. Plum Mer of the 150th Ord in pulled the Lucky number of the first of 500 winners in the annual yes Auto lottery at the red Cross Continental club in bad nauheim Ger Many. The first 100 winners May choose from anew 1947 Ford deluxe or a Volkswagen. The remaining winners get a vow. About14,000 persons bought lottery tickets. Oct. 9, 1957 Russia s baby Moon whirling around the Earth at 18,000 m.p.h., has signalled Goodby to Man on Earth but radio Moscow suggested that the sudden cessation of transmissions did not necessarily mean the sputnik had plunged to fiery death in the Earth s  observers said the batteries within the Craft have clearly run out. Oct. 9, 1967 Earl Atlee former Brit ish prime minister died at a London hos Pital at age 84. Atlee s labor party wrested control of the government in 1945, defeat ing Winston Churchill s conservatives