Evening star., 1941-02-14

Thurman Ar I.
mold, head of ID
the anti trust
division Of the David Lawrence.
Justice Department, who revived
the idea of criminal prosecutions
and now has bureaucracy OF more
than 200 lawyers engaged in making
life miserable for nearly every major
industry in the country. has asked
for more money and more power.
Mr.. Arnold has under indictment
or in criminal proceedings $500 de-
acknowledgements and individ-
uals-and only few of these are
labor unioniStS. The Supreme Court
last week removed virtually all the
labor executives from prosecution
under the Sherman law, so Mr.. Ar
mold now wants more money to go
after business.
The odd part of Mr.. ArnoldS pres
entation is that he told the COM
mittee that business really likes to
be prosecuted and is in favor OF his
program. He said:
Two and a half years ago when
We started, the tone of the press
was unanimously hostile to all OF
our prosecutions. Now think 1t can
be said that we have a good
press
business "Not Hostile"
Fortune Magazine took a poll
among the management and eXecu-
tives and attorneys Of $50 AA corpo-
rations in the United States, rep
resenting, suppose, seven or eight
thousand people. " - was amazed
to find that 56 per cent OF those
businessmen favored the present
antitrust program as opposed to the
N. r. A.
so there certainly has been that
swing in business, and think l can
say that business is not hostile TO
the antitrust program as in the
present setup."
On the broad question OF break
ing I'D trusts and monoponeS, bus
inessmen have always favored pro-
per steps, but this is far cry from
saving that the use Of criminal IN
dictments as a means of forcing
concessions through consent DEGREES
concessions far beyond the terms
of the law itself-is relished by bus
inessmen or approved by any con-
siderable number of them.
Yet Mr.. Arnold, in his desire to
get appropriations, not only gave
such an impression-that business
vas all for his ideas-but that the
press was, too. He went even
further in ballyhoOing his request
for more money by giving the i'm
preston that many American COM
panies were in some way dlsloyal to
the defense program because they
had previously entered into patent
agreements with Germans.
Justified in Law.
ANYBODY who wants to be fair
about the patent problem will con-
cede that the patent laws permit
foreigners to come into America
and take out patents and that
Americans are bound by these re-
strictions. Thus, German interests
come into possession of important
business secrets in manufacturing,
and so do the American companies.
When it comes to selling in world
markets, the German companies
and American companies frequently
exchange patents and if the Ger
man company has a better patent J
on something it eXacts a stronger
bargain for itself in regard to
sales in foreign markets.
All this went on in peacetlme and
has been the custom for many years. |
It's a part of the cartel system
which grew up in foreign countries
and which American competitors
have been compelled to face. In |
fact, Congress at one time recog-
nized this difficulty when it passed !
the Webb -Pomerene law enabling |
domestic producers to enter into |
combinations for export purposes
so as to present a united front ,
against foreign cartels.
But, according to MI Arnold, this /
would seem to be something related .
to the national defense situation
of today, and, while he does not .
say so in as many words, he creates |
the impression that the Nazis and |
the American companies are in COL
fusion to defeat the American de-
fense program, when nothing could |
be further from the truth. 1t Is |
simply a matter of American COM
panies trying to get the best patents
for their own use.
Asks S750,O00 More.
The Arnold plea now is for a
considerable amount of money to .
bring more criminal proceedings
against executives of important de-
fense industries. He is asking for |
grand jury Investigations because
he says that these threats often
scare companies into lowering their
prices.
If Mr.. Arnold's methods of ham
ding the antitrust question are ap-
proved by the press and by the
majority of American businessmen,
it certainly is news of major i'm
portance to most of us here in
Washington. But a congressional
committee Is asked to believe it and
Is requested now to increase by
s750,000 the antitrust appropria-
ton, which was about 81 100000 last
year. The Budget Bureau has
turned down the increase, but Con-
gress Is now being told, in effect,
that business wants to be prosecuted
and enjoys the experience, and that
the men whose names are Haunted
in the headlines when indicted pre-
sumably relish the experience. Mr..
Arnold is one of the best natured
officials in Washington and it is
sometimes difficult to tell when he
Is serious and when he is joking.
He isn't joking about the extra
funds for his bureaucracy, anyway.