Wall Street: Aniline, My Aniline

The 36 financiers, lawyers and Government officials gathered in the arch-ceilinged office of Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach fell suddenly silent. Ceremoniously, an aide sliced open an envelope and passed its contents to Katzenbach, who read aloud the figure on a slip: $29,476. The audience buzzed with surprise, and one onlooker gasped: "Incredible! Let them have it." The figure, said the Justice Department's key financial adviser, was "beyond their wildest dreams."

So last week, after 23 years of courtroom haggling, foreign intrigue and Wall Street speculation, the U.S. Government finally unloaded General Aniline & Film Corp., the giant industrial combine that...