Evening star., 1951-06-03

in Italy, Geneva and Zurich in
Switzerland, Paris in France, Rot
terdam and Antwerp in the low
countries, Copenhagen in Den
mark, Marrakech in Morocco. Jo-
hannesburg in South Africa and
even such far-off places as Mont
real in Canada and Mexico City
as well as Hong Kong and Singa-
pore in Southeast Asia.
Russia has set up front men"
in many of the worlds greatest
capitals and seaports to purchase
those materials so absolutely es-
sential to an industrial society.
Variety of Items
Here are some of the items this
correspondent has been able to
verify: Tin, rubber, nickel, zinc,
lead, aluminium, ball bearings, in
dustrial diamonds, scientific in
struments, high-precision machine
tools, high-tensile steels, on pipe
line tubing. medicinal drugs,
latest American inventions and
models in specialized machinery
such as automatic equipment and
controls.
Neither Russia nor any satellite
has native sources for chromium,
cobalt, tungsten, vanadium and
molybdenum. Those are enough
missing elements to take the
starch out of any Industrial So
ciety.
The entire Czechoslovakian steel
industry depends on the annual
import Of almost a million tons of
special ore, to point up a typical
case of dependence. The Czech
industry is getting this ore now,
however, in an open and legit-
innate trade agreement with Swe-
den, just as Russia is getting tur-
bines, generators and steel proc
essing plants, legitimately, from
other sources.
Next, the Communist world
needs steel and more steel. Al
though it is building great steel
industries in North and South
Russia. in the Urals, in Western
Siberia and even in the Far East,
1t is still desperately short.
Above all it needs oil-prefer-
ably both from the Middle East
and in Southeast Asia.
This smuggling Of strategic ma
terials is business running to
hundreds of millions and perhaps
billions Of dollars. Until the Vests
blockade f1rmed up, much of this
undercover business was paid for
in barter and in American green
backs. Russia ran the gamut to
get these dollars-from legitimate
trade to cigaret black marketeer-
ing.
Gold Most Vital
But gold is now "Mr. Big" ac-
cording to the men who deal in
such matters. Throughout more
than half the worlds surface, gold
has always been anybody's money,
anywhere and at any time. Pres
ent tensions have increased that
conviction.
The gold rush began last No
vember. Rumors began circulat-
ing out of Beirut, Hong Kong
Paris and other key cities about
an enormous upsurge in secret
gold trade on international mar
kets.
Gold smuggling moved into
high gear. Prices in Milan and
Paris hit $42 an ounce compared
to the United States set selling
price of $35. In Cairo, Calcutta,
Penang and Singapore it rose to
$45.
At the present time, some
million ounces a month are
bought off by the international
free market, according to Swiss
banking sources.
Underground traffic has reached
such proportions in Europe that
the old border smuggler, the re-
spected Alpine or Pyrenees peas
ant who packed the stuff over on
his. back, is obsolete. Gold now
goes over borders as automobile
tenders. gas tanks, cushion springs
headlights and a dozen other
items.
Here's how one section of this
giant network operates:
Out of the mines of South At
rica and the Belgian Congo az
much as SO per cent of the golo
is now marketed at premium
prices. A syndicate in Amsterdam
gets a big chunk of this a:
transit gold"-meaning the stuff
can pass through the country fol-
processing"
French Sell to All Buyers
1t is then shipped to Switzer.
land as industrial gold for further
transit processing" The Swiss
processing factories get 50-cent-
announce rakeoff. This still
doesn't make the Swiss as guilty
as the French, whose official bank
sells gold at premium rates to any
buyer. despite stipulations of the
Breton Woods Convention.
Anyway. much of this golc
reaches Milan, Italy. just south
of the Swiss border. Here the au-
tomobile tenders and what not arr
reconVerted into bars.
And why is this devious route
through Europe necessary? Ont
expert Smilingly answered tn,
question as follows: Because ytht
Swiss-Italian frontier is the only
place where the simpler formal
ties on the Italian side enable golc
to get to its Milan destination
without close scrutiny"
From Milan the gold moves int,
a dark labyrinth-to Rome, Genoa
Naples, Trieste, North Africa, tn
French Riviera, the Middle Eas