The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1945-10-19
WHAT ABOUT OUR OWN
CARTELISTS?

plies to carry on this war to victor
s firms in the form of royalties and div
dends on stocks, accruing from tn,
. sale of supplies to our own govern
e ment and to our allies!
: After the First World War royaltie
were paid to Krupp on steel armour
: plate to approximately s70.000,000
The Germans had hardly surrendered
in 1918 before they started taking val
liable assets out of the country-blue
prints, plans valuable documents, per
sonnet, equipment and machinery
There isn't any doubt they have done
the same thing this time-to what
: extent is anybodys guess.
T. G. Faben, the great German chem
ical trust, began its comeback after
! the first world war as a poor relation
of Standard Oil. The history of the
secret agreements between Standard
Oil and |. G. Farben, between foreign
industrialists and nearly every large
American corporation, proves that our
American industrialists, with few ex-
ceptions, do not believe in free enter
prise. About $50 of these cartel agree
ments have been discovered so far
Our American corporations are hold
ing thousands of patents and much
property which was turned over to
them for "safekeeping," by the Ger
mans to avoid seizure by our alien
property custodian. Twenty-Five hun
dred such patents were recently seized
/ by our alien property custodian from
Standard Oil alone! If the govern
ment can hold these patents it will be
fine but if not they will eventually
be returned to Germany. Most of
them cover chemicals and synthetics.
The extent of known German invest
ments in the United States has been
reported by the office of the apo.
There is every indication however that
we do not have the complete story
To illustrate: Swiss banking facilities
have expanded considerably since the
last war. In 1914 there were 295 Swiss
banks with deposits of about 7,000,-
100000 Swiss francs. In 1912 there
were 372 banks with deposits of over
16,000,000,O00 Swiss francs. All these
banks were in Switzerland.
The attraction of Swiss banking ia
cilities for non-Swiss subjects is con-
siderably enhanced by the Swiss Sc
crecy law which makes it crime for
a banking institution to reveal to any
one, even to the Swiss government it
self any financial and commercial in
formation of confidential character
Even at this late date, the Swiss
government is loath to take the neces-
sary steps to force banks and other |
cloaking institutions to disclose the |
Switzerland. This means that German
assets held in or through Switzerland |
will not be identified. Thus the true
picture of German financial and indus
trial penetration throughout the world
will be kept a secret By the same
profit by protecting, through their Sc
crecy laws, Germany's war potential
the hidden assets of its financiers
and industrialists! The people of the
United States have been exploited for
years by these same industrialists.
on practically every commodity we
buy: farm machinery, fertilizers, in
secticides, drugs and all kinds, rubber,
nearly all foods and their containers,
electric light bulbs, dyes, plastics and
5ynthetics of all kinds. Any natural
product of mining or agriculture, the ,
ownership of which can be concentrate
ed is subject to monopoly. Any pro-
cess of manufacture or any fabricated
product which can be held under pat
snts can be monopolized
In addition to holding up prices, re-
'tricting production and impairing
quality, these cartel agreements in
many instances call for 500 of royal
les on all sales be paid to German l
md Japanese firms or to any other I
oreign business that may be a party {
o the agreements.
This $3.50 control of American cor /
'orations was favorite device of Ger I
many to gain control of our industry c
nd secure funds to prosecute her Q
var aggression. Standard Oil con- n
ributed millions in deals with l. G. e
'aben. The American people unwit- {
ingly contributed millions because the c
ale of commodities to us that were e
nder cartel agreements gave funds Il
0 the German war machine. q
A number of articles have been writ q
en- recently defending the cartel as t
ecessary to us if we are to do bust a
ess with cartelized Europe. Actual Il
=, our business in Europe, South Il
.merica, Africa and Canada was strict d
: limited and in most cases entirely u
rohibited by the cartels. The theme n
{ the cartelists was: If you confine Z
our business to the exploitation of q
le American market, we in Europe 81
ill not enter it or give you any COM d
etitionl IL
We Americans boast of being well OF
formed. We are not well informed.
1e are thoroughly propagandized by pl
g business. 81
What we need is FREE press that
i'll inform us without fear or ia Sc
Or. With few expections, our press, o
controlled by the very Industrial W
is who prefer cartels to free enter tr
n u