Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-20
BY J. GEORGE FREDERICK,
Author of Modern Industrial Consolidation

" UROPE'S earnest labors to form
and operate international cartels
are powerful and definite proof
IL of the existence of a new order
of things in its business life
and thought. The end of Europe's
predominantly political era is in sight;
an economic era is at hand.
Until recently England and other
European countries believed that higher
standards of living and economic we'll
being could be obtained through parlia-
ments and politics Then came the
general strike in England. Its failure
as labor policy formed a sharp con-
trast with the success of the economic
development policy of American labor.
The illusion was shattered. A swift
turnabout was evidenced and now has
been emphasized by the epoch-making
coming together of English capital and
labor under Lord Melchett'S leadership.
Europe has begun to abandon pollti-
cal hopes, programs and agitations. 1t
has turned to technical economics of
production and consumption. In search
of higher standard of living, as well
as political peace, 1t at last Is listening
to its own economic experts, who long
have cried out the warning that politi-
cal approaches must be scrapped; that
Europe cannot have the benefits OF
modern big business technique unless
the scope of such big business is much
broader than the little states of Europe.
A United States Steel Corporation
compelled to operate only in the State
of Delaware or Rhode Island, or even
Massachusetts, could never be United
States Steel Corporation such as 1t is
today. 1t would not even be able to
find the raw material it needs in such
little State. 1t obtains ore and coal
today from Minnesota, Alabama, Penn
sylvania and many other States. The
same is true of any other American
big business; 1t can ignore State lines
entirely and operate as a unit from
the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Huge Economic Tool.
The cartel is a huge and decisive
economic tool cutting across the politi-
cal boundaries of Europe as boldly as
the lines of sales territories of large
American corporations cut across State
lines. And in these international car
| tells are to be found the laboratories,
| the crucibleS of a possible new Europe.
Their success or failure will be crucial.
At the present moment they are in
! that precarious infant period when the
mortality rate is high and the situation
tense with possibilities of infant dis
eases and infant alarms. All big bust
| ness indeed, seems to be born amid
political thunderstorms and rumblings;
the birth of big business in America
at the beginning of the twentieth CEN
fury was marked by crude struggle
to overturn the predominating political
approach to life and progress and to
substitute the economic approach.
! The European cartel is slowly develop
| ing strength and mastering the over
towering political, racial and traditional
attitudes which hamper it tremendously.
It is slowly conquering one obstacle
after another, even though negotiations
appear to break down and stalemate
results occasionally for year or two.
Two or three great international car
| tells are setting the pace, even though
| these giants themselves have not yet
mastered their problems.
The steel cartel Is one Of these out
standing organizations, and its method
is the basic principle behind nearly all
of Europe's cartels. The crude steel
makers of Germany, France, Belgium,
Luxembourg and the Saar Valley agreed
| to set percentage quota of the total
production for each country to market.
They also agreed to accept penalty for
deviation from this quota. An initial
difficulty was Gernany's very large pro-