Evening star., 1944-09-08
United Nations Action
Aimed Against CarieIs
Sought by Roosevelt

PRESIDENT Roosevelt Is seeking
Joint action by the United Ma
tions to prevent the resurgence
|of foreign cartels In the postwar
world, he disclosed at hts news
conference today.
In . letter to Secretary Hull the
President called for cooperation to
restrict cartels generally. Specincal-
ly, he said. those fostercd by the
German gCyernment - and which
made deep 1nroads into the Amer
ican ecoriCaMic structure before the
war--must be wtped out.
In making public the letter to Sec
retary Hull In which the broad plan
was announced, Mr.. Roosevelt told
his conference this is a very import
ant subject and that 1t Is going to
be one Of the most important ele-
ments toabe dealt with in the next
six month";
The Justice Department for months
has warre6 on cartel arrangements
between Americans and foreign in
dustry-priucipally Germany-and q
special subcommittee OF the Senate
Military Affairs Committee is now
studying this entire subject.
Recites War on Monopolies.
In the letter to Mr.. Hull, the Pres
ident said this Government for the
last half century has been warning
on private monopolies, explaining
that in protecting the consumer
against monopoly We have guaran-
teed the benefits of competition.
This policy, the President said, fits
in with liberal principles of inter-
national trade" for which Secretary
Hull has stood.
UNFORTUNATELY" he continued, "a
number of foreign countries, par
ticularly In continental Europe, do
not possess such q tradition against
cartels. On the contrary, cartels
have received encouragement from
some Of these governments. Espe-
cially is this true with respect to
Germany. Moreover. cartes were
utilized by the Nazis as govern
mental instrumentalities to achieve
political ends The history of the
use of the I. G. Farben trust by the
Nazis reads like detective story.
"The defeat of the Nazi armies
will have to be followed by the erad-
ication Of these weapons Of economic
warfare. But more than the elm
ination Of the political activities Of
German cartels will be required.
Cartel practices which restrict the
free flow of goods in foreign COM
merce will have to be curbed. With
international trade involved, this
end can be achieved only through
collaborative action by the United
Nations.
II hope that you viii. keep your
eye on this whole subject of inter-
national cartels because we are ap-
preaching the time when discussions
will almost certainly arise between
US and other nations"
Meanwhile. q Justice Department
spokesman told the Senate commit
tee investigating cartels that for 10
years before Pearl Harbor "a con-
slant stream" Of technical and eco
nomic data "of the utmost impor-
tance to Japan's armed forces"
flowed to the japanese as a result
OF Japanese transactions with Amer
lean firms. ,g'
James S. Martin, chief of the de-
partments Economic Warfare Sec
tion testified that the japanese
were able to get technical know
how on some processes for produc-
ton of 100-octane aviation gasoline
before they we're generally svatlable
to American firms"
Japs Learned Of Oil Shipments.
He said also that Japanese OBJ
servers in America were able "in al
least one case, as late as June, 194l
TO find out through commercial
channels the amount of our oil and
gasoline shipments to Pearl Harbor a
Mr.. Martin said the branches of
industry especially involved Gin the
commercial transactions were the
oil, aircraft and aircraft parts, ma
chinery and tools, and some spe-
cialized branches of the electrical
and electronics industries"