The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-11-29

ports which Ia.
 Manum claadeg aveEyhody in town - and cay "Alumlnslnl req. quick, like that The argument will vStart at once, end eSsa up nc telling where, for tlae subject la su broad and % complicated that poo~ pl0 will he writing books about lt for tho next generation,
 The scrap goes back Co April, l02T, when the government began atS antl-tSNSt suit against the Alum- mum Company Of America, which suit the government lost, The dA- ienSe angles date from about Mo- velnher, IeA0, when the first ot tho famous under-esellnAtee of defense requirements for aluminium was made.
 HYSTERHCAL HEIGHTS
 The dispute Is still on, but the climax Of hysteriA on the subject came In September when IokeS sereeched Into the picture with a letter which attempted to give Jones unShirteei, public hell for Q tS2 mil- Ion contract JoneS' Defense Plant Corporation negotiated with tho Aluminium Company for eonstrue. ton and operation of one 400 nall- lion pound Alumlna plant in Arkan- saE, and three aluminium plants at MassenA, N, F., Bonneville Dam Ore, and some place in ArkaneAs- the combined output Of which would Do $40 million pounds of aluminium year, Alumina, as you know, ls the intermediate stuff, made out oi bauXlte clay, from which aluminium, iS made.
 IekeS charged that this was c "dNmnable contract" because lts provisions d4d not protect tho gov- ernment's interest, but instead strengthen and extend the nlonep- ollEtie position of the Aluminium Company of America" Jones has not made public his reply to tho Iekes letter.
 Privately, Mir. Jones states that thlS IS one of the best contracts the goovernment ever made. In- stead of extending AlcoaS "monop oly"---A monopoly which c United States court has now declared aon- exlStent--lt Ia JCHlee' position that this contract finally gives the gov. ernment power to control national production of aluminium, and there. by to break whatever control Alcoa had on production and price. At the time this contract was made, Jones also negotiated an agreement with Alcoa to cut the price on alum mum ingot 2 cents Q pound to sAve the government and other coSaumv CTS from SIS million to t2S million year,
 PLANTS TO SPARE
 The Jones theory on which ths battle.GcAFfed aluminium contract vas negotiated Is that tor normal business purposes the country ia now building excess plant capacity. h 1889, the eompany's total aluminium consumption was 800 million pounds, Defense plans call for Q total annual production capacity of Ave times that amount by i0AS.
 In this aluminium contract, the company leasing the government owned plants agrees to keep tho plants operating ct the same rate which the firm operates It's own plants. Thus, If demand for alunai. nun after the war iS only 50 per cent of the defense requirements, both Alcoas plants and the gov. ernment plants will he operated at half capacity instead of the goV- ernInent plants closing down and permitting Alooa to get oil the huSi- ness, If demand should fall to % per cent of capacity, or below, the lease may be canceled, but there Is nothing to prevent the govern ment from leasing its plants to other operators, staying in the alu- minum business as competitor to Alcoa and selling government alu. minum at any price it chooses to break possible Alcoa price rise.
 While the contract Is in force, Acoa is to act as sales agent for the government. SS per cent of the profits going to the Defense Plant Corporation, acting for the govern. meE1t, IS per cent to Alcoa.
 lckes himself has estimated this might yield the government q profit of $S,S26 900 from the operation of the Bonneville plant alone. But if DPC decides that Alcoa is making too mush money from operation O. the government plants, then the government can force Alcoa to cut Its price under threat of canceiia- ton of the lease.
 Those are some of the reasons -ones thinks he has driven e typi- cal Jones bargain and made a good contract for the government.