Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1948-08-13
FCT Reports Spotlight
Industry Concentration
By BRADFORD V. CARTER
LPA COlumnist

scuffe of the OF the special
session of Congress made public by the
Federal The result of long and careful study
by these reports give sober but alarm
ing statement of the of industrial concentraon-whch
mockery out of the propaganda of the free enter
prisers"
The basic document, titled THE Merger Movement warns
that ether giant corporations will ultimately take over the
country the government will be mpeed to step in and
impose some regulation in the public interest
Only escape from this dema in the FTCs opinion the
plugging of oophoes the Clayton antitrust law which nave
permitted large corporations to purchase the pca assets Oh
smaller competitors The of the act is evaded by this
process the prohibits expansion based upon the ac
qustion of stock control
Sometimes big has evaded the law by getting
corporations stock then using that control to pur
its real assets before the C could get an order against
the stock deal
mining companies have been absorbed by giant industry lhee
businesses accounted for over So of all American manu-
featuring About 27% of all of these purchases were
made by 1913 of our largest corporations.
Nearly threefhs of the recent MERGERS have been in SIX
groups food and beverages textiles and apparel
chemicals non-elecal machinery petroleum and ranspora
equipment Many other industries have gone thru the
development in earlier periods FAC puts It, The new
of mergers has been supermposed upon plateau of
concentration which already prevailed in this
Both HORIZONTAL vertical have taken
place In other words large firms have absorbed companies
competing directly against them horizontal mergers and
firms which furnish their supplies or process their products
vertical" mergers.
only important companies in the field
Harvester holding assets than the other
The Commission notes that the ability of the
industry profits since the without Initiating
its prices to the extent that most producers have is due to It's
"killing" on government contracts during the war.
American participation international cartels is story
in itself Part told in FTCs report the steel and cleo
trcal equipment cartels
General Westinghouse the most influential
electrical equipment business in the world They
with foreign producers which effectively
prevent foreign competition with them in the American mar
ket while giving them slice of the foreign market
"These companies particularly GE" the report points
out took initiative in forming international carels to
include British other companies The extent to
their position to keeping others from
using foreign patents experience difficult to
is certain however that they have made their patent
change contracts of direct income thru royalties
In 1928 u Steel and Bethlehem took the initiative in
bringing entire American eel industry into the various
international steel of which sought to control
production and markets others sticking to the
monopolizing of specialized steel products
profits of the industry reflect the of its mergers
and its international fnagng Return investment after all
federal taxes $50 in l946 and 9.549o in 1947
We still don't know the whole story steel The steel
trust has FTC the copies of its inter
which the Commission has repeatedly
asked for
In addition recommending changes in patent laws FTC
special session that for three legislation
introduced by Joseph OMahoney Cd. Wyo) and Rep
3D. Tenn) to plug the Clayton Act loophoe
has been gathering in Congressional pigeonholes
FTC be congratulated not only for the technical
excellence of reports but for stating its conclusions forth
rightly all the good too that has the finger on
Congress Unfortunately there hope this 80th Con-
gress will tackle the problem Maybe elect Congress
A~tv,