The Washington times., 1937-04-28
.S.0VERLO0KS
C0LLUSI0N0N
STEEL BIDS
By EARL GOODWIN

EAo 1d4 do bAAS OAAASNA ObNSSS wv
ernment is concerned there is not
the slightest intention right now
of launching any heavily barbed
shafts against the Steel Trust or
any other giant of big business for
collusive bidding with respect to
purchases by the Government.
The President, making public
Attorney General Cummings long
letter in which he meets the col
lusive bid question by a recon-
mendation e a commission 10
study the antitrust laws, appar-
emily puts silent but effective
OK on the collusive practices
which caused Secretary 1ckeS to
complain.
The matter started more than
:. a year ago. Public Works Admin
istrator Ickes needed great deal
. of steel for some of his public
works and advertised for bids
which came in from various large
steel concerns and they were all
identical in price.
The steel costs were figured out
to fractions of a cent and even
the fractions which ran into
thousandths of cent were iden-
tical in every bid.
Old Type of Bidding
. This was the old type of col
lusive bidding which led Secretary
of the Navy Daniels in the World
War era to break up collusive bid
ding by opening Government
owned armor plate plant near
4 Charleston, w. Va.
6 PWA Administrator 1ckes did
not like this apparent colluSion;
he deemed it was not competition
4 and the law provides that bids for
, Government business must be
competitive; and the Government
takes the low bidder provided he
is OK and can deliver the goods.
: In this case all were OK; all
could deliver the goods; and the
T. PWA Administrator followed the
practice of ordering the stuff from
the steel fabricator furtheSt away
E so as to make it just as expen-
sive as possible for the bidder.
Mr.. Ickes complained to the
President, who turned the thing
over to the Department of Justice
where it soon disappeared from
view. A few days ago, not long
after Attorney General Cummings
charged the Supreme Court with
being dilatory in it's calendar,
newspaper man asked the Pres
.ident what had become of the col
lusive bid matter.
The President thanked his ques-
" toner and said he had forgotten
all about it-but would look into
it. This matter, getting into the
q news, is said to have caused a
( Supreme Court justice to say:
j., "Why, Cummings is a year
: late in getting that information
= to the PreSident-and yet Cum
mings is the man who complains
2 this Court is behind in its home
work."
FOLLOW OLD CODE
: The report which Attorney Gen
7eral Cummings makes to the Pres
%ident reminds the President that
there is colluSion in bids. That
: seems to be something well known
to the steel industry which is fol
slowing something like the old NRA
e,steel code which permitted a gen.
= eral understanding on prices.
: In brief, the Department of JUS
stice admits colluSive bidding and
eidentical prices and declares there
sis a difficulty in proving anything
wrong in court. The best that can
{ be done is to turn the matter back
to the Federal Trade Commission
: and to ask for commission to
study the whole antitrust question
,again.
8 The Attorney General points out
that after nearly half a century
of trying to keep the trusts in
hand, there is need for a general
new view of the whole business.
There are lots of good in the trusts
the Attorney General implies; and
lot to be learned. And that's
just where the matter rests. The
President may appoint commit
tee or commission to take up the
whole business of trusts and prices
Or he may not.