JOURNAL'S HISTORY FILLED WITH TRIALS.

Byline: Associated Press 

Consumer Reports magazine has a solid reputation among readers who turn to it for advice on buying everything from baby food to stereo speakers to cars.

But the magazine had a rocky start 60 years ago; it was the product of rancor and disagreement that has occasionally resurfaced through the years.

Consumer Reports was the offshoot of Consumers' Research Bulletin, a magazine formed in the late 1920s and devoted to testing products for the benefit of consumers. In 1935, three Consumers' Research employees formed a union and were fired by founder Frederick Schlink. The same year, 40 Consumers' Research workers struck, and in February 1936, they formed Consumers Union.

The first issue of what was then called Consumers Union Reports had 24 pages, with the results of tests on stockings (S.S. Kresge's Fine Hosiery had ``the unpleasant feeling that their stockings were always coming down''), breakfast cereal, soap and toothbrushes. The magazine also looked at whether high-octane gas and Grade A milk were worth their premium prices.

It was aimed at union members - pages 20 and 21 contain an article on whether manufacturers are unfair to labor, and a list of products made by companies that were the target of unfair labor charges by unions.

CU's beginnings and ties to labor made it the target of charges that it was communist. The accusations continued from the '30s into the '50s. In 1954, the same year Sen. Joseph McCarthy was censured for his anti-communist crusade, CU was dropped from the list of subversive organizations maintained by the House Un-American Activities Committee.

In 1942, the magazine changed its name to Consumer Reports to make clear to readers it was targeting all consumers, not just union members.

Over the years, Consumer Reports' ups and downs have reflected the times. When current technical director R. David Pittle joined Consumers Union in 1982, the organization - whose $130 million operating budget is funded through subscriptions, publication sales and donations - was in a severe cash crunch.

Pittle says the increase in consumerism in the 1980s - when money was easy and baby boomers were on a shopping spree - helped the magazine's paid circulation double. It went from 2 million in 1979 to a high of 4.86 million in 1993. It is now about 4.6 million - compared with the 40,367 on the magazine's first birthday.