Evening star., 1941-02-13
u. ). Faces Obstacles
In Move 10 freeze
Foreign Assets
Nozi Dye Trust Takes
Steps to Make Company
An American Property
BY EDGAR ANsEL MOWRER.


Administrator heSitancy-not to
say timidity-in not helping Great
Britain with all financial and COM
mercial measures short of war" is
allegedly resulting in the flight
from this continent of considerable
German, Italian ana japanese
money whose sequestration would
have been a blow to the axis powers,
and a rush to get the permanent
axis investments here safely behind
the protective colorage of hastily
devised sinon-pure American own
ership.
For the third time, it would ap-
pear. the American administration is
on the verge of freezing in" foreign
assets in this country and thereby
getting a standlehold on the COM
merce of countries whose foreign
policies threaten the United States.
The first time was last October-and
the election stood in the way. The
second threat was made around the
turn of the year-and blocked by
the State Department, whose bu-
reaus have been afraid of "proyok-
ing" the axis powers into further
aggression" The third attempt
this time restricted to European con-
tinental assets-stands before us
and Judging by the speed with which
the owners of certain foreign COM
panies and their American allies are
moving to wrap themselves in the
Stars and Stripes it may have some
chance of being put into effect.
Deal Believed Completed.
Snappiest at quick change leger-
demain is believed to be the world
wide German Chemical and Ex-
plosives Trust, the recipient of at
least one and presumably more de-
fense contracts from the War De-
partment in Washington, which
calls itself I. G. Farben. Negotia-
tions are believed to have been
completed recently by Hugh Will
hanson, a vice president OF the
German giants American company,
for making I. G. Farben an "Ameri-
can property" by having a sub
sidiary of the American company
purchase from I. G. Farben's Swiss
holding company the 81 per cent OF
its own common stock now owned"
by the Swiss company-allegedly
for I. G. Farben in Germany.
With this accomplished the Amer
lean company would be in much
stronger position to resist American
control, possible immediate "freez-
ing" and confscation, in event the
United States were provoked into
going to war.
I. G.. Farben is known in Germany
simply as the Dye Trust" its rami-
fications spread as those of the live
oak. The American company, now
called the General Anilin and Film
Corp, is the third largest producer
of dye stuffs in this country. 1t
comes second in Photographic sup
plies. I. G. Farben patents cut
deeply into lines of production es-
sential to national defense, notably
chemicals for munitions, explosives,
plastics (conceivably the basis of the
coming production war air.
plane and light metals. l. G. Far
ben subsidiaries have been men,
toned as partly responsible for the
restriction on magnesium production
In this country and as such they
have been made the object of in
vestigation and criminal indictment
by the Federal Government.
Controls Oil-Cracking Processes.
I. G. Farben in Germany controls
the oil-cracking processes essential
to Germany's wartime fuel supplies.
They are the greatest single factor in
the world drug field and the sale of
drugs in South America is a great
source of foreign exchange for Nazi
propaganda on that continent.
Foreseeing the coming of the war
(Which they did so much, techni-
cally. to prepare) the I. G. Farben
people early set about a series of
transformations of the swastika into
Swiss neutrality" and then into
the shelter of the U. S. A.
BY a complicated procedure, the
Swiss company, I. G. Chemie, was
made to appear Swiss in ownership.
While a bare 100000 out of $4,000
total shares went into Swiss hands,
this block, plus about $4,000 shares
owned by the American company,
made the majority foreign" while
remaining strictly under I. G. Far
ben Germany control. I. G.
Chemie's lawyer, Felix Islin, Swiss,
was promoted to the presidency of
the company in the place of
the German president, Hermann
Schmitz. Now I. G. Chemie owns
81 per cent of the American COM
pany (Which in turn owns the said