The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-11-08

not the one in New York. But this
Union League Club of Chicago is
the one that used to have an anti
New Deal room. all black, with a
star for every one Of the hundred
or more New Deal agencies. So the
laugh was still on Mr.. Berge.
Even if Thurman Arnold's success
sor as champion of the Sherman
antitrust law does like a Republi-
( can capitalists brand Of cigar, he is
giving no indications that he will
ease up on prosecutions of illegal
cartels, monopolieS and combina-
tons in restraint Of trade.
POST WAR PATTERN
The Merck case is the first of
what Mr.. Berge says will be a num-
Der like II to be developed during
the next year to keep alive the
American idea Of free enterprise and
open competition as a pattern for
planning postwar international
economy.
In the Merck case, the charge re-
duced to simplest terms is that the
American Merck Company in 1882
made treaty with German
Merck whereby the American COM
pany had use of the Merck trade
mark in the sale of some 400 chem
icalS and pharmaceuticals, including
quinine, sulpha drugs and the Vita
Minis, in the United States and Can
ada, while the German company re-
tanned exclusive rights for practical
ly all the rest Of the world. The
American company was, for in
stance, Shut out of the South Amer
lean market-that is, until the Bril-
ish blockade of 1899 made it impos-
sible for the Germans to deliver.
Then the American company re-
vived an old and inactive subsidiary,
Powers Weightman Rosenaarten
, corporation, to take over the Ger
man business in Latin America for
the duration, with every under
standing that all the Latin Amer
lean business would be returned to
the German company at the end of
the war. The Department Of Justice
suit Is to dissolve the treaty be-
tween the two companies and to en-
join American Mehck from refus-
ing to fill orders from established
dealers in drugs in foreign countries.
MEANING OF AGGRESSION"
1t so happens that while Mr..
Wendell Berge was explaining all
this in the Department. of Justice
in Washington, and while the actual
suit against the Merck companies
was being filed in Trenton, N. j. up
on Capitol Hill the Senate was
about to begin its fourth day of de-
bate on the Connolly postwar for
eign policy resolution. In that de-
bate, Senator Horld H. Burton of
Cleveland, O., made a speech for
broadening the Connolly resolution,
and he was questioned by Senator
Abe Murdoch of Beaver, Utah, on
the meaning of the word "aggres-
sion" in the text Of the resolution
where it declares:
That the United States g.
tShalD join in the establish
ment Of international author
ity to prevent aggression and
preserve the peace of the world
Was it just military aggression
as had been stated in the original
draft Of the resolution? Or was
economic aggression" also includ-
ed?
Without perhaps realizing 1t at
the time, the senators were then
considering the very essence of the
question Of international cartels --
the World-trusts such as those fos-
tered in Germany and participated
In by business monopolies of nearly
every nation, Economic aggression
Of this sort has been part and par
Gel OF the Nazi scheme of world
conquest which made it impossible
to do business with Hitler.