May 31, 1994

Onstage at the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday night, the orchestra swung into "In the Mood," and the floor began to fill with dancers, mostly gray-haired English men and women, many wearing the crisply tailored World War II tunics of British and even United States military officers. Above the arena, over-age soldiers in the white helmets, brown boots and white puttees of United States Army M.P.'s stood stiffly at the doors while women wearing pillbox hats circled the dance floor, carrying trays piled high with sugared doughnuts.

Draped in his red robes, waving and shaking hands with dignitaries, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York appears many times each year on the steps of St. Patrick's Cathedral reviewing the marching bands, the ethnic dancers, the units of police officers, firefighters, veterans and trade unionists that come parading up Fifth Avenue. It is a classic New York image, a colorful mixture of religion, ethnicity, politics and civic pride that symbolizes the traditional power of the church here and in other cities of the East and Midwest that were heavily populated with Catholic immigrants.

Breaking months of silence about the Federal investigation that has tarnished his 42-year career as an elected official, a defiant Dan Rostenkowski said today that "truth is on my side" and vowed to fight an imminent Federal indictment on corruption charges and remain in the House of Representatives until his vindication. Rejecting a proposed plea agreement that had been reached last week between Federal prosecutors and his lawyers, the 66-year-old chairman of the Ways and Means Committee insisted once again that he was innocent and that he was prepared to be tried on a large number of allegations of political graft.

Summer in New York is not a date. People ignore the calendar the way they ignore the DO NOT WALK sign. Summer in New York is a 4-year-old girl who wiggles to reggae in the warm grass of Astoria Park in Queens, and 60,000 Dominicans who dance to salsa at Riverside Park near 155th Street.

The Economy Some old assumptions about inflation may no longer hold. Business is booming at the Georgia-Pacific linerboard plant near Monticello, Miss., which is running at beyond 100 percent of its intended capacity. But the plant exhibits few characteristics of previous boom times. Defying the conventional inflationary assumptions, American factories appear to be undergoing a profound shift that finds them doing more with less. [ Page A1. ] The Federal Communications Commission is about to overhaul its plan for selling off radio frequencies covering a new generation of wireless telephone and data "personal communication services" in an effort to make the licenses more attractive to bidders. [ D1. ] After 12 years of perceived neglect by the Federal Communications Commission, the role of members of minority groups in broadcasting has moved up on the agenda as the commission tries to increase minority ownership and employment. [ D1. ] International Responsibility for millions of dollars in damages from certain types of nuclear accidents outside the United States could shift from private companies to the Federal Government, under a draft proposal for a new international nuclear liability treaty sought by the Clinton Administration. [ D1. ] Germany's medical establishment is in turmoil over accusations by the nation's biggest health insurer that medical supply companies bribed surgeons at public hospitals to overcharge the national health care system by millions of dollars annually for artificial heart valves. [ D1. ] Six years after Vietnam began changing to a market economy, the country's scientists have lost their Government subsidies for research and are now struggling to feed their families. [ C9. ] Companies Farm equipment makers are repeatedly surprising Wall Street lately with sharp earnings increases, thanks to stronger-than-expected sales of tractors, combines and other equipment, and following more than a decade of drastic cost-cutting, losses and consolidation. [ D1. ] Forget Karl Malden. Soon, if you leave home without them, you can buy your American Express travelers checks at the automated teller machine. [ D6. ] Markets International financial markets were mixed in light trading, with exchanges closed for holidays in the United States and Britain. The dollar was up against leading European currencies. [ D4. ] Today's Columns Efforts to root out welfare fraud with electronic fingerprinting are generating renewed interest in companies that make the almost-foolproof systems. Market Place. [ D4. ] Time again to ask 20 questions inspired and provoked by advertising and marketing. Stuart Elliott: Advertising. [ D7. ]