The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-07-01

MMN0n OtklCl A0yp T CbCA
 R. Nehemkis, Jr., one of the OPM brass hats, went so far as to say that 10 entire indus tries whose supplies have been cur- tailed must either close down or en- ter new line of production. For a time, as the wartime economy gains momentum, small business will be hit to such an extent that un- employment may actually go up and the number of idle machines act- ually increase, he said. MT. Nehemkis has been picking up dead cats ever since, for many of the dollar-a-year men in the Oh1ce of Production Management don't think things are going to be that bad, and they started throwing things at the colleague who spoke out of turn. Nehemkis did put the finger on the critical condition of companies making aluminium pro- ducts, for instance, or the compan- ies doing nickel and chrome plating. With their material supplies cut of by defense work, they're up against it. Plants in the New York City area have been particularly incon- venienced this way.
 This is the predicament of the small business squeezed out by pri- critics, but there is another angle that has attracted attention of the Justice Departmen anti-trus division the cases of samll businesses squeezed out by monopolistic con- l petition from big business.
 BIG BOYS GOT
 ! THERE EARLY
 Attention has already been called to concentration of defense orders placed with major manufacturing companies. In the rush to get de- fense started, it was perhaps natural to turn to the companies with the biggest plants, Also, if the major in- dustrialists had the best organiza- ton to get the business, it was na- natural for them to get the orders. If, however, this combination of cir cumstances, plus monopolistic prac- tices, is used to freeze teh independ- ent manufacturer out of the de- fense effort then the economic bal- ance is thrown out of gear. Thurman w.. Arnold, assistant attorney general in charge of the antitrust division, sees four dan gers to the little man from such 8 set-up.
 First, the system of priorities con- trol may be used to prevent the small manufacturer from getting supplies.
 Second, the small manufacturer may not be allowed to share in the national defense production, to the detriment of both the little man and defense.
 Third, the independents may be caught by artificially fixed prices and distribution costs as in the re- cent Rocky Mountain region lumber and cement cases where little men not belonging to the ring and fol- lowing its policies could not get a fothold in business.
 Fourth, the threats from big labor "a few of the unions which, like big business combines, dictate the amount of labor, materials and tools that the small businessman must use.
 GOOD MAN
 HARD TO FIND
 It is to protect little business from hardships like these that the anti- trust division proposes to set up its new section. A program of this kind has never been attempted before. Finding the right man to head 1t, an economist, with contacts among the independent business men and the small businessmen's associations, is one of the first problems. There will be no formula for operations, and no speech making about what all can be done, until the problems of little business have been survey ed and studied.
 To get at the problem, Arnold is willing to receive complaints from small businessmen who have been subjected to squeeze plays in the de- fense effort. He admits frankly that he cannot begin to answer, individ- ually, all complaints received. He ex- poets to get a sizeable proportion of crackpot letters presenting imagin- ary grievances about which nothing can be. done, but out of the mass of correspondence the antitrust di- vision does receive it hopes to be able to find out what the problems of the little businessman are in this period.
 When the new organization is set lup, Arnold hopes that 1t will be a friend of the little businessman in the long halls of government. Big business has always had its repre- sentatives in Washington. Small business has not Antitrust division hopes it can fill the gap. Its work ir enforcement of the Sherman anti trust law is now beginning to be known generally. It is in cases where violation of that law puts the little business man at 8 disadvantage that the antitrust division will get in its first and best licks.