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For years Singer's sales and profits were a secret, and most of the stock was held by descendants of the company's founders and early executives. But after Singer President Douglas Alexander, who had bossed the company for 44 years, died in 1949, things changed. Milton C. Lightner, 61, who was born in Detroit and went to the University of Michigan and Harvard Law School, stepped up after 21 years as a vice president, and let outsiders peek into the company's books. Even though its trade behind the Iron Curtain is closed, Singer in 1950 netted $18.8 million, highest earnings in 20 years. It had an earned surplus of $77 million, and paid a dividend ($3 a share) to its 4,500 stockholders, as it has every year since 1864.