FAIR PROFIT?

The article discusses the concept of fair profits in the United States with a focus on a war-surplus deal involving Texas Eastern Transmission Corporation. Controversy over the Texas Eastern Transmission Corp.'s stock flotation in November 1947 is based on the more than $9 million in paper profits on an original investment of $150,000 and a question of whether the management was acting in the public interest or destroying confidence in business leadership. Data is given concerning the original purchasers of the company's common stock and the deal for Big Inch and Little Inch pipe lines. Topics include financial risks taken by investors, legality of the deal under Securities and Exchange Commission policy, and the potential of conflict of interest among corporate directors.