Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1941-01-30
j. :. Indicts IS,
Charging Cartel
In Magnesium
Aluminium Company
Among Defendants
Named in Combine
BY ]. A. FOX.

Charging that German-Ameri.
can combine has stifled the produc-
ton Of magnesium, vital element
In aircraft construction, the Govern
ment today obtained indictments in
Federal District Court in New York
City accusing six corporations and
nine individuals of exercising un-
lawful controls in the industry.
The prosecution was brought I'M
der the Sherman Antitrust Act, and
In announcing the charges the JUS
tice Department named these cor
porate defendants:
The Aluminium Co. of America,
the I. G. Farben Industrie, a German
corporation; the Dow Chemical Co.,
the American Magnesium Corp. the
Magnesium Development Co. and the
General Aniline and Film Co.
Individuals named included
Arthur v. Davis, chairman; Roy A..
Hunt, president, and Irving W..
Wilson, vice president of the Alumi-
mum co. of America; Karl Hoch-
swender, president, and Wilfred D.
Keith, director, of the Magnesium
Development Corp; Willard H.
Dow, president, and Earl w. Ben
nett, vice president, of the Dow
Chemical Co., and Hermann
Schmitz and Gustave Piston of
Farben. Mr.. Wilson also is presi-
dent Of the American Magnesium
Corp.
Shortage of Foundry Supplies.
AS result of the reputed con-
spiracy, the Justice Department said
that there is now serious shortage
of foundry facilities available for
the fabrication of magnesium prod
ucts with the result that the pro-
duction of aircraft and other de-
Tense material in which the use
OF magnesium is necessary has been
seriously impeded and delayed"
Other allegations in the indict-
ment are that the controls have
led to shortage of facilities in the
period of national defense for the
production Of magnesium; that the
development and use of magnesium
and magnesium products in the
manufacture of airplanes and other
products has been restricted; that
the price of magnesium in this
country has been maintained at I'M
reasonably high levels, and that
the reputed conspiracy has resulted
In the maintenance of a single pro-
Queer of magnesium in the United
States.
The indictment cited four re-
strictive measures that the combina-
ton was said to have produced.
These included: pooling the patents
on the basic process of manufacture
and fabrication to give three Amer
lean corporations virtual monopoly
in the American magnesium indus
try; maintenance of domestic prices
at a level that discouraged the Use
of magnesium in the manufacture
of planes automobiles and other
products; requiring American con-
Germs which used magnesium to pur-
chase their full requirements from
the Dow company and by limiting
the sale of magnesium to a single
British company.
May Seize Patents.
The department statement said
that the Antitrust Division has
been investigating restrictions on
materials essential to national de-
Tense and that this inquiry has
shown startling evidence of German
influence in domestic industries es-
sential to national defense" Be-
cause of cartel arrangements, the
statement continued, there are nu-
merous instances of agreements pre-
venting American business from
operating even within this country
without agreeing to minimum con-
ditions imposed by foreign monop-
olies."
This particular combination it was
added, has brought about shortage
In the production of magnesium
both in the United States and Eng
land.
It was understood that the Gov
eminent might implement the New
York indictments by Selling the
y,oo oci,1r,o fonts