Evening star., 1943-06-28
Three Chemical Firms
Accused Of Creatinq
Worldwide Cartel
Enemy Corporations
Were Included in Bloc,
Government Says
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
The Justice Department an.
nounced today that three Amer.
ican chemical companies, includ.
Ing the E. I. Dupont de Nemours
Co., had been charged in a Fed
eral grand jury indictment with
creation of a world wide carte.
in conspiracy with German, Brit
ish, Italian, japanese and other
foreign interests.
1t was charged that the carte
had been in operation since July 30
1920.
Tom Clark, Assistant Attorney
General in charge of the Anti Trust
Division Of the Justice Department,
said the cartel was in titanium COM
pounds used in the production of
strategic war materials.
Mr.. Clark, saying the companies
and four Of their officers were
charged specifically with violation
of the Antitrust Act, disclosed that
the indictment was returned by a
Federal grand jury in New York City
today.
Defendants Named.
Named as defendants were the
National Lead Co. and Fletcher w.
Rockwell, its president, and Claude
F-Garesche, general manager of the
tltanium division; E. I. du Pont de
Nemours & Co. and Carl H. Rup-
precht, general manager of the
Krebs Pigment Division; Titan Co.,
Inc, subsidiary of National Lead Co..
and Gastav Jebsen, vice president of
Titan Co., Inc.
A Justice Department statement
said substantially all the important
foreign chemical companies of the
world were named as co-conspira-
tors, among them:
I. G. Farbenindustrie of Germany,
Imperial Chemical Industries of
Great Britain, Montecatinin of italy
and Kokusan Kogyo Kaibushihi of
Japan.
Drive to Outlaw System.
Declaring cartels ARE not dead
but are planning a continuance of
their activities now as we'll as in
the postwar world" Mr.. Clark an
nounced the appointment of Her.
bert A. Berman as chief of the
divisions cartel section to direct a
campaign to outlaw the system.
The indictment charged the de-
PENDANTS and co-conspiratorS with
dividing up the world into exclusive,
non-competitive areas, suppressing
competition and obtaining monopo-
hstic control of the industry in the
United States through a pooling of
patents, and imposing a system of
restrictive production on the few
American manufacturers permitted
to continue in business, and subject
ing them to the control of the car
tel, Mr.. Clark said.
Titanium compounds are used as
pigments in the manufacture of
paints, class and rubber, displacing
other materials such as hthopone
end white lead. The department
estimated that SO per cent of the
compounds are employed for war
purposes.
Markets Charged Divided.
The indictment alleges that the
defendents divided world markets
into exclusive areas through agree
ments with foreign co-conspirators
and the formation of joint compan-
les under agreements initiated early
In the 1920s. The Justice Depart
nent described the operations this
way:
Titan Kogyo gabushihi Kaisha,
which is owned jointly by Koskusan
Kogyo Kaibushihi Kaisha, Titan
Co., Inc, holding company owned
oy National Lead, and I. G.. Far
oenindustrie. received the japanese
Empire as exclusive territory.
British Titan Products, Ltd, owned
Jointly by Imperial Chemical In
austries, Titan Co., Inc, and other
British companies, received the
British Empire.
TItangesellSchaft, owned Jointly bv
:. G. Farbenindustrie and the Ma
tlonal Lead Co., received exclusive
lights in Central and Eastern
Europe and the Far East. Italv
vas reserved for Montecatini. South
America was open territory for
1itangesllScaft, National Lead and
Du Pont, but TIE parties agreed
not to compete in this market and
assigned to each other certain Gus
toners.
War Cancelled Agreement.
AT the outbreak of this war. the
justice Department said, Titange-
seAschaft was unable to supply the
South American market and Na-
tional Lead agreed to supply the
customers and pay to the German
company the profits received from
such sales. This Arrangement was
Cancelled when the United States
entered the war,
The department said National
Lead and Du Pont and their custom
ers were prohibited from exporting
tltanlum compounds except to South
America, and all the foreign con-
cerned named were prohibited from
importing INTO or manufacturing
tltanlum compounds in the United
states. BY this means, the Defend
ants are charged with having OBJ
tanned a guarantee of no-competi-
ton in the United States from for
eign companies.
Inc statement added that sub
stantially all the important patents
IN the titanium field were pooled bv
National Lead and Du Pont for the
purpose of excluding every one else
from engaging in the titanium in
oustry In the United States.
Patent Transfer Alleged.
The indictment charges further
'nat after the outbreak of the pres
ent war National Lead and Titanpe-
SeilSchaft transferred their respec-
tive patents to each other in order to
prevent possible seizure of the
patents in the United States and
germany as enemy property.
Mr.. Clark described the power of
The cartel as sufficient to impose
a scheme of restrictive production
upon other American producers"
The vital Importance, both to our
wartime and our peacetime economy.