Evening star., 1946-12-25
Unframed FBI Agents Probe
|MonopoIies, Report Charges

0OH NHOI9eS
tice Department for failure to act
against monopolistic activities of
labor. The department is said to
take the position that such prob
lens must be handled by IAN agency
with specific legislative authority in
the field of labor disputes"
"This would seem to be reversal
of the position adopted by the Anti
Trust Division before the war in its
efforts to rid the construction in
dustry of many of its monopolistic
practices" the report says. g" :
To claim lack Of Jurisdiction does
not solve the problem. If another
agency is to handle such violations,
it would seem desirable that such
a decision be made ."
The report accuses the Federal
Trade Commission of deliberately
avoiding aggressive and full-scale
attack on the monopoly problem.
Small Companies Are Target.
"A special report prepared for this
committee by the FTC shows rec
ord OF 414 antitrust cases since
1882" the report states. "By far the
largest percentage of these cases
were against small and relatively
unknown companies. A review of
the antitrust cases instituted by
the F'rC in the last five years shows
relatively even less activity against
the important areas Of concentra-
ton and against the important COM
panies. A disconcertingly large num-
ber of the cases seem to involve
small fish and seafood companies.
THE important fact to be borne
in mind is that antitrust action
during these five years was in cold
storage, while concentration -four
ished under the not-unfriendly eye
of the various procurement agencies
and the War Production Board
The report declares the FTC has
pursued this Intellectual policy de-
spite the fact that the agency told
the subcommittee that "the present
and growing concentration OF eco
romic power in the United States
constitutes today's greatest domestic
challenge to the American theory OF
competitive enterprise"
The report fatty charges the
Budget Bureau with sabotaglng
antitrust enforcement by slashing
enforcement funds.
SIashes Offset Support.
The report declares that while the
bureau gave verbal support to anti
trust enforcement, its record tells
an entirely different story. AS re-
suit of Budget Bureau slashes, the
report charges, the present budget
of the Antitrust Division is con-
siderably smaller than for the fiscal
year 194142.
The report accuses the War and
NAVY Departments with continuing
to give private firms huge research
contracts with exclusive rights to
patents resulting from such re-
search.
The Army and Navy have au-
thority as of July /, 1916 the re-
port declares, "to enter into long
term research contracts involving
over $500 ,OO0, 900. 1t Is our under
standing that the research contracts
being negotiated are, so far as pat
ent rights are concerned, similar to
those negotiated during the war.
"All kinds of business, big and lit
tie. contribute through taxes toward
this research. Yet the patents and
know-how resulting from this re-
search are not being made available
to industry generally. We thus
have, even during peacetime, the
entire anomalous situation OF Gov
ernment actively promoting eco
nomic concentration through the
operation of Government-flnanced
research projects and at the same
time Government trying to reduce
concentration through the operation
of the antitrust program.
Report Assails RFC.
The report castigates the RFC
not only for lack of positive action,
but also for lack of understanding
of the gravity of this problem.
The report also fires a hot blast
at Interior Secretary Krug. He is
not mentioned by name, but no
doubt is left as to who is meant.
The present National Petroleum
Council has been established since
the termination of hostilities," the
report declares. Apparently the
Interior Department does not con-
slider violations of the antitrust
laws sufficient to disqualify a man
for membership on a committee
which is to advise the Government
on oil policy. Moreover, apparently
the Attorney General does not
have the power to prevent such
situations"