Evening star., 1947-11-09


armed forces. A memo Of the meet
ing recorded:
THE I. G.. Is bound by contract
to an extensive exchange Of expert
ence with Standard. This position
seems untenable as far as develop
mental work, which Is being carried
out for the Reich Air Ministry Is
concerned"
Two years later the position was
refined. Farben feared that its de-
liberate withholding of essential in
formation would bring about inde-
pendent developments in the United
States. 1t was decided, with the
approval of the German armed
forces, that some details could be
offered, providing that Farben's es-
sential "knoW-how" was retained.
Heinrich Buetefisch, another de-
fendant, who was director of the
Leuna plant at Merseberg, was made
personally responsible by Goering
for seeing that nothing Of military
or political Importance gets abroad" :"
Deal Evolved at Hague
AS war approached the double
dealing was speeded. Farben feared
its patents in Britain and France
would be conf1scated. 1t was
sloughing off companies wherever
1t could to Trustworthy persons" +"
Once hostilities had broken out,
Howard provided an ideal medium.
He was in France when war was
declared. With the aid Of French
contacts, he obtained priority pas
sage to London. He conferred there
with chemical allies. Then, with
the intervention Of United States
Ambassador Joseph E. Kennedy, he
went to The Hague to meet the
Germans.
t The deal they evolved there, a
month after Poland had been struck
down, provided that Farben would
turn over to Standard its interest
in the jointly owned company,
"JASCO," and assign to Standard
some 1000 of its patents, not only
in the United States but in Britain
and France as we'll. The transac-
ton was to date from September /.
Howard agreed later there might
be some difficulty in establishing
Standards claims.
What he didn't do was to look the
gift horse in the mouth. Before
the transfer was ever completed,
Farben had assured the German
Army high command that the
Americans were getting nothing,
and obtained the permission Of the
Nazi Army to go ahead.
Howard's own experts admitted
ruefully that only about so per cent
of the relevant patents had been
assigned. Howard himself wrote
that it wasn't patents, but technical
experience that counted. Of that
Standard got none.
Howard made one more try. He
met Farben officials in Switzerland
in May, 1910. He pleaded for the
information without which the
United States couldn't 60 ahead.
His answer was blunt, plain no"
Something for Nothing
Standard tried hard during the
war to conceal its unfortunate role.
An article by r. T. Haslam, COM
pany official, in the Petroleum
Times in 1943 said the secrets"
which the Americans had brought
from Germany had been turned
into mighty weapons" against them.
August Won Knieriem, Farben's
chief counsel and one of the defend
ants, wanted to know more about
this. His staff prepared a memo in
reply.
The Americans never received
technical cooperation on rubber
production, 1t said. Even with the
"JASCO" deal, they received moth
ing of any Importance, 1t went on.
Then it added the most sinister line
of all.
Farben in it's turn, 1t said, had
received from the Americans lover
and beyond the agreement many
very valuable contributions for the
fuels and fabrication oils, which
just now during the war are most
useful to us, and we also received
other advantages from them"
1t pointed gratefully to such
things as the knowledge to produce
lead-tetraethyl for stepping-up avi-
alton gas. Because it is so poison
Gus. its development had caused
many deaths in the United States
which, the report said. were spared
U.s."
Influenced 500 Companies
Standard isn't very happy yet
about its connections. The day