March 23, 1984

FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 1984 The Economy Factory orders for durable goods fell 1.2 percent in February, the first decline in seven months. But analysts said that, amid the many recent signs of strength in the economy, the Commerce Department report should not be read as an indication that expansion had stalled. Much of the decline came in orders for steel and other metals, though those for household goods also slid. (Page D1.)

The Government reported today that factory orders for durable goods fell in February for the first time in seven months, but analysts said the 1.2 percent decline was not a sign that the economic recovery had stalled. The Commerce Department reported that new orders for durable goods - defined as products expected to last three or more years - fell $1.2 billion in February, to $99.7 billion. Much of the decline came from an 8.8 percent decline in orders for steel and other primary metals, a category that rose sharply in January. Orders for household goods also fell - by a sharp 11.8 percent - in a possible indication that pent-up consumer demand dating back to the recession has been largely satisfied.

The leaders of the Legislature said today that they had reached agreement on the outlines of a $35 billion state budget that would sharply raise spending on education. They said the spending plan would not cut taxes, but they held out the hope that reductions might be considered later in the year. Governor Cuomo, in sharp contrast to last year's process, played no role in the negotiations on the budget that he proposed in January. A 10-Minute Meeting The Governor was told of the agreement in a 10-minute meeting this morning with the leaders.

A dispatch from Denver on Wednesday about the conflict between the governor of New Mexico and a conservative coalition in the state senate misidentified the state's first Hispanic governor. He was Jerry Apodaca, who served from 1974 to 1978.

-styled authority on the Russian avant-garde as it flourished in the first quarter of this century. One of the other, earlier and far from disreputable Russian activities that have found few to defend them in this country is the school of realism that flourished in the second half of the 19th century. The realism in question was weighty in its execution, moralistic in its overtones and based upon the kind of exact social observation that we find in the great Russian novels of the same period (and in others, which, though not so great, are still wonderful). Symbol and metaphor had no place there, except by implication, and the paintings that resulted stood on their own two feet and told it how it was.