The Penn's Grove record., 1919-08-29
How Germany Killed American Dye
Industry
Continued from page /

q LlGos III III
doing business under his own name
Sweitzer registered as a trade name
the chemical Exchange Association
which was described as a copartner,
shin consisting of himself and Richard
XIV. XIV was the father-in-law OF
George Simon of the Heyden Chemlca
Co., and was the ostenslble proprietor
of the Kny-Scheerer Co, one OF the
most important manufacturers IN this
country of surgical instruments. This
company, like the Heyden Chemlca
Works, was a purely German-owneo
concern, and both have since beer
taken over by me.
The result of all this was a profit tc
the Chemical Exchange Association OF
SS16,000, which was apparently equ,
allv divided between Schweitzer ano
Kny. Schweitzer's share of the profits
seems to have gone straight to the
German Government, but for some un-
explained reason Kny appears to have
been allowed to keep his. The at
tempt to prevent the use in explosive
manufacture of American phenol was
completely successful for a time. Inc
success of the venture was celebrated
in the latter part of 1916 by a dinner
given by Schweitzer and Kny at the
Hotel Astor in honor of DR.. Albert.
Among other guests were George
Simon, F. A. Borgemeister, Norvin K.
Lindheim, and Capt. Wolf Won lgel, of
the Germany Embassy-a typical gath
ering of the most active German pro-
pagandists in the country.
Less striking examples Of the same
- r. 4Ly,rr ,N,ioh+ ha aitnd nv the
score. An interesting instance is the
case of DR.. Isaac Strauss, organizer
and president of the Chromos Chemi-
cal Co. DR.. Strauss arrived IN this
country in September, 1914, apparent
ly with a direct mandate from the
German Government for propaganda
anon the Jews. He proceeded to es-
tablish a periodical known as the
american Jewish Chronicle Funds
to the amount of $4,000 were supplied
by DR.. Albert, and $4,000 by Won
Bernstorff, and his chemical company,
profting by the enormous war demand
and prices, rapidly began to supply
further sinews of war. Shortly after
the entry of the United States into the
war his conduct attracted the attention
of the military authorities, and the en-
suing Investigation led to his intern
ment, whereupon his Chromos Chemi-
cal Co. and the American Jewish
Chronicle were taken over by me.
At the time when | took office it, of
course, became the duty of all COM
panies in which any alien enemies held
stock to report such ownership. About
half of those American chemical en-
terprises which are now known to be
German owned, complied more or less
promptly with this requirement. The
rest, mostly relying upon pretended
transfers by which the stock had os-
tensibly been put into the hands of
American citizens paid no attention to
the act until the activities of the Bur
eau of Investigation had disclosed the
true facts. In some cases, however,
camoufage which concealed the true
ownership was of a much subtler and
more effective description. In the case
of more than one Of the companies
which promptly reported themselves
as entirely German owned, measures
had been taken to transfer, to compa-
MES which We're presumably beyond
the reach Of the trading with the enc
my act, the essential value of the Ger
man property and business.
The most conspicuous instance Of
this method was Bayer & Co. (Inc.).
This company at an early date report
ed all its stock as held by n of the
officers, Mr.. Seebohm, for three trus-
tees who in turn held for the benefit Of
the German parent house. 1t was, on
the whole, the most important of all
the German branches. Besides repre-
senting, as sales agent, n of the
three equal giant concerns at the head
of the German industry, it was the
only German branch which had estab-
lished any considerable manufacture in
this country. Through the purchase
of the stock of the Hudson River Ami
line Works, it had acquired and great
ly expanded a considerable plant near
Albany, N. Y, in which it produced a
few of the simpler coal-tar colors and
considerable quantities of pharmaceu-
ticals, especially the most valuable
single product of the German house
the drug known throughout the world
by it's trade name of Aspirin. This
was a patented coal-tar product on
which enormous profits have been
made. Practically the entire manage
ment of this company was in the hands
of German subjects. The leading
spirit, DR.. Hugo Schweitzer, was, as
has been stated, among the most ar
dent propagandists and German agents
in the country. The Albany plant
represented the expenditure of many
hundred thousand dollars, and the en-
terprise was exceedingly f1ourishing.
To conceal the profits for the pur-
pose of taxation another company was
organized, known as the Synthetic
Patents Co. Qnc.), all the stock of
which was also held by the German
concern, to which was conveyed all the
American patents of the German
house, approximately 1,200 in number,
and all the real estate, including the
plant. By contracts between Bayer &
Co. Qnc.) almost all of the profits of
the former were diverted to the later
in the form of rentals and royalties.
The investigation also covered a num-
Der of less legitimate evasions of the
TOW 1aTc apd reculted in the recOVerV