Evening star., 1944-01-07
Du Pont President
Disputes Conspiracy;
SAYS u. ). Benefited
Ey the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
The Justice Department yesterday
accused E. L. du Pont de NemourS,
the Remington Arms Co. and Bri-
tain's Imperial Chemical Industries
of conspiring to restrain trade "in
chemical products, arms, including
war materials, and ammunition.
Du Points president, Walter S.
Carpenter, jr., promptly disputed the
charge and said the American public
and the war effort had benefited,
rather than suffered, from his COM
pany's activities.
The Government action, a civil
suit filed in New York, was summar-
lied by Attorney General Biddle as
charging that the big chemical and
arms firms have been and now are
parties to contracts and agreements
= violation of the Sherman Anti
,iust Act"
Berge Sees Major Blow"
Assistant Attorney General Wen
dell Berge, in charge of the Antitrust
Division, issued a statement saying
that it is "a major blow against the
cartel system" of dividing world
markets.
Mr.. Carpenter, at Wilminton
(Del) Offices of Du Pont, issued this
statement:
"The Department of Justice an
nounces it has begun proceedings
against the Du Pont company aris-
ing out of its relations over the
years with Imperial Chemical In
dustries, Ltd, of England and with
other European chemical companies
Since no process has yet been served
on the Du Pont company and since
1t is not familiar with the specific
offenses with which it is charged
any statement at this time as to
the legal aspects of the proceedings
would obviously be premature.
The action Of the Department of
Justice again focuses attention on
the existence of so-called 'cartels'
involving American companies and
European companies. The Du Pont
company denies that it is now or
ever has been a party to any cartel
arrangement using the term cartel
In its generally accepted sense.
Called agreement"
THE Du Pont company has for
years had an agreement with I'M
per1al Chemical Industries provid-
Ing for a mutual opportunity to
acquire patent licenses and tech
nlcal and scientific information re-
latlng to the chemical industry. It
is asserted unequivocally that this
agreement has been of the greatest
benefit In giving to the American
public products and processes which
have materially raised the standard
OF living. Even more Importantly
In connection with the present war
effort, the knowledge resulting from
this agreement and the products
made available as result of it
have been of inestimable value.
agreement of similar char
Acter but limited to specific chemi-
cal fields have been made from time
to time with continental European
companies. And again from the ex-
change of scientific data many val
liable products have resulted for the
use OF the American public and
necessary to our armed forces in
this war. Du Pont chemists have
materially improved and have fur
ther developed the scientific data
growing from these contractual ar
rangements. The scientific and
technical information stemming
from these agreements has con-
tributed substantially to American
progress and to the success of
American arms.
Cites Nitrogen Process.
Among the more important prod
ucts which have resulted from these
agreements and to which reference
may be made without disclosing mil
itary secrets are the following: De-
velopments incident to synthetic
ammonia made from nitrogen eX-
tracted from the air without which
we could not have smokeless powder
and INT In anything like the GUAM
titles needed; process from manu-
featuring metallic sodium which is
indispensable in making tetraethyl
lead; the development of methyl
methacrylate. the glasslike inclo-
sures to be found on every combat
alrplane; a new Decreasing process
vital to quantity production of air.
craft engines, and a new plastic
polythene-Which has gone into pro-
duction of electrical items urgently
needed by the Army and Navy: not
to mention rayon, dyes, cellophane,
'zelan' water-repellent for military
apparel and many other products,
all improved and perfected here but
stemming originally from abroad.
Nor has mention been made of the
fact that the information obtained
has lessened certain lines of re-
search, releasing our chemicals so
they may concentrate on unexplored
and promising fields.
Surely it cannot be the policy OF
the Department of Justice to at
tempt to prevent the continuance
ana expansion of such immensely
beneflclal arrangements which have
been a common practice in Ameri-
can industry. But if such be the policy
the Du Pont company asserts that
1t will defend its previous course of
action in this regard, firmly believ-
Ing such action to be in the public
welfare and in the interest of ma
tional defense.
The existence of the agreements
which are the subject of the present
attack has never been concealed
Copies have been in the possession
OF Government agencies for approx
mately 10 years. They have been
before several investigatory COM
mttees OF Congress. They have
been the subject of comment in
company statements. With the Gov
ernment having had full possession
OF these agreements over consider
able period Of time the action of the
Department OF Justice at this partic-