August 17, 1985

When President P. W. Botha addressed white followers in Durban Thursday night to speak of what he calls racial reform, he told them South Africa was crossing the Rubicon. The message was not lost on the black majority, either. But where Mr. Botha seemed to build visions, or a chimera, of a new and harmonious nation on the other side of the momentous divide, the signal to blacks was different. Excluded last year from a new Parliament opened to limited participation by Asians and people of mixed race, and with some black townships under virtual siege by the army and the police, some blacks saw Mr. Botha's speech as possibly the final rebuff. Result Could Be War His talk struck many as a distillation of white intransigence heralding war, not peace, and a sign, if one was needed, that South Africa's leader would not talk to those whom blacks consider leaders of equal or greater stature, such as the imprisoned nationalist Nelson Mandela.

Like many other farmers here in the grain belt, E. W. Dixon was smiling today as he examined long, fat ears of corn in fields that now seem sure to give him one of the best crops he has ever produced. ''You have to feel good,'' he said, ''when all your planning and work and expense pays off with a crop like this.'' Seven out of 10 corn producers will benefit, like Mr. Dixon, from an enormous corn crop this year, despite declining prices. Not only did they sign up last spring for a Government program that provides subsidies to help offset the price slump, but the benefits they receive under that program will also be multiplied by their increased yields. Fear of Increased Spending But the size of the national crop is dismaying news for the remaining corn growers, who declined to seek the Government price protection. For many of those farmers, increased yields cannot offset the price slump.

Despite spot power problems Thursday in lower Manhattan and northern New Jersey, the utilities serving both areas have access to far more electricity than they are likely to need this summer and have little fear of systemwide blackouts, according to officials. But, those officials said, demand has grown enough to overwhelm electrical distribution equipment in scattered areas. Utility spokesmen said yesterday that they were not sure of the precise causes of Thursday's problems, but that any equipment that was prone to fail by overheating would be most likely to do so on a day like Thursday, when the weather reached 95 degrees and when record demand strained cables and machinery. The officials, however, stressed that, even if parts of the distribution system failed to handle the load, there was enough generating capacity and enough large transmission lines to provide power where it was needed.

The collective farm chairman lost his job and his Communist Party membership and now faces trial on criminal charges. Three of his subordinates also lost their jobs. Their crime: feeding bread to pigs. The very notion has an almost sacrilegious ring to Russian ears. Pigs, after all, are pigs, and bread is not only scarce, but a national symbol. In the phrases of songs and poems often heard here, bread is gold, it is the motherland, it is the hard work of the masses, it is life itself. Bread is credited with saving the starving people of Leningrad during the blockade in World War II. One poet put it this way: Bread, that pure, that sacred word. Bread, our very lives. In a village cafeteria in Siberia hangs a poster that reads: ''Bread is the warmest, kindest of words. Write it always with a capital letter, like your own name.''

Construction of new housing, an important gauge of future economic activity, fell a surprising 2.4 percent in July, the Commerce Department reported yesterday. The drop in what are known as housing starts - the beginning of construction on new single or multifamily dwellings - was the latest in a series of indicators showing that the economy is not rebounding from the disappointing first six months of the year. Building permits, an indicator of future activity, fell nine-tenths of 1 percent in July following a 3.7 percent decline in June. And in another indication that the economy is failing to regain momentum, the Government reported yesterday that factory operating rates were unchanged in July for the fourth consecutive month. [Page 36.] 1.65 Million Annual Rate The Commerce Department reported that, in July, new housing was started at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.65 million units.