Evening star., 1942-01-26
v. The Bottle Of
Economics

ngnterS are meetlng TIC AXIS
throughout the world, action has
been Joined on still another front.
This silent land stubborn battle
may well be the most decisive
Of all. 1t is the battle of eco
nomics. 1t is war Of commerce
and shipping, OF barter and buy
ing, Of loans and agreements. Of
blacklist and blockade. 1t is
starvation for our enemies and
food for our friends.
The term economic warfare"
with all its exciting, If vague,
connotations, has become famil-
lar to the average citizen in re-
cent months. Just what does 1t
mean? 1t means fighting the
Messerschmitt before 1t is Mes
serschmitt, fighting the tank be-
fore 1t is a tank, smashing the
submarine before 1t can go to
sea. It means preventing the
manufacture of Axis weapons OF
war by preventing the Axis from
getting raw materials. 1t means
getting raw materials for our own
production.
In the days of the Napoleonic
wars, indeed of our own Civil
War, the technical equipment of
armies was relatively modest, and
belligerent nation could furnish
its own metal and supply, To
prosecute war successfully today
to build planes, ships, arma-
ments-raw materials must be
brought from every corner of
the earth.
Metal Needed for War Tools.
The production of the tools Of
war is an endless adventure into
chemistry and metallurgy. Ar
NOR plate for battleships and
tanks requires not only steel but
manganese, nickel, chromite,
tungsten and Mountaineering
from Latin America, Canada,
Turkey, Africa and China. Ar
r-piercing bullets and high
speed tools depend upon tungsten
that comes from China, Bolivia
and the Argentine. Platinum is
needed in the manufacture Of
Smokeless powder. Platinum
comes from Colombia, Canada.
South Africa and the Soviet
Union. South Americas bauxite
becomes aluminium for airplanes.
For more than 18 months
host of Government agencies,
each working in its own special
lied field, has been laying the
battle lines to see that We get
these necessities, and that the
Axis doesn't.
One of our most important
moves in this battle Of economies
has been to counter the enemy's
attacks upon us. He has worked
for many years to~weakeh our
military potential. Through pat
ent CONTROLS and cartel agree
ments he succeeded In limiting
American production and export
of many vital materials. He kept
the prices of these materials up
and the output down. He was
waging war, and he did his work
well, decoying important Ameri-
can companies into agreements,
the purpose of which they did not
sense Our businessmen we're
peaceful traders. The enemy's
businessmen were and are, all
over the world, agents of aggres-
sion.
The list of materials affected
is long-beryllium, optical instru-
ments, magnesium, tungsten car
bide, pharmaceuticals, hormones.
dyes and many more. When you
match each product with its mill
tary use, the significance of the
attack becomes clear, Beryllium
is a vital element for alloys that
make shell springs; magnesium
makes airplanes and incendiary
bombs; tungsten carbide is es-
sential for precision machine
tools.
Enemy Long Unchecked.
Concealed behind dummy cor
porations, the enemy went un-
checked for years, using our own
legal machinery to hamstring us.
In the summer of 1888 our Gov
ernment began to fight back.
Investigation, exposure, antitrust
indictments and DEGREES have
broken up many of the agree
ments that bound us. Each prod
uct listed above is now free from
restrictions.
Our Government also has
worked to break cartel arrange
ments under which certain of our
products were shut off from
South America and other mar
kets of the world.
Not all our action on the
economic front has been defen-
sive. Since April of 1910 we also
have carried the economic battle
to the enemy.
More than $1,000, ,000, 900 of as
sets of SO foreign countries have
been frozen in the United States
Such action automatically sewers
normal economic relations be-
tween the United States and
these countries.
Foreign funds control helps our
friends and harms Our enemies.
When Germany invaded Den
mark and Norway, the President
by executive order, froze Danish
and Norwegian assets in this
country. Thus, the assets of these
countries are prevented from fall