ANTI-TRUST ACT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25428, 8 January 1944, Page 6

ANTI-TRUST ACT

ALLEGED VIOLATION CHEMICAL COMPANIES CHARGED • ■ WASHINGTON, Jan. 6. The Justice Department has filed a civil suit charging du Pont de Nemours, the Remington Arms Company, and Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., with maintaining an international cartel agreement violating the Sherman Antitrust Act The Attorney-general, Mr Francis H. Biddle, said the complaint alleged restraint of trade in the manufacture of chemical products, firearms, and ammunition. The complaint also named as defendants the high executives ot the companies, including Lord McGowan and Lord Melchett, president and deputy chairman respectively ot Imperial Chemical Industries. The complaint described du Pont as the largest manufacturer of chemicals in the United States, with total assets of 1,000,000.000 dollars, including 23 per cent, of the stock of General Motors. It said Remington was the largest manufacturer of sporting arms and ammunition in the United States, and since 1933 was controlled by du Pont. It also described Imperial Chemical Industries as having a virtual monopoly of the chemical industry in BntalThe complaint alleged that some time prior to 1920 du Pont and Imperial Chemical Industries reached an understanding for the elimination of competition in the sale of explosives throughout the world. Du Pont was allocated the United States and Central America, and Imperial Chemical Industries was allocated the rest of the world excepting Canada, Newfoundland, and South America. Both companies agreed to refrain from manufacture in or export to each others exclusive markets, while Canada, Newfoundland, and South America were shared by both companies on a noncompetitive basis. The South American profits were divided equally. Canadian Industries, Ltd., jointly owned by both, operated in Canada. The complaint quoted Lord McGowan’s letter to Lammot du Pont in 1933 in which he said no prospective political or legislative action on the part of Governments is permitted to influence the relations between du Pont and Imperial Chemicals Industries. “If any legislation or international agreements affect these relations, I am sure we will be able to adjust ourselves so as to get continued benefit of our agreement. . Lord McGowan in a statement in London on the anti-trust suit said: “Imperial Chemical Industries or the predecessor companies for the past 40 years have pursued a policy o£ cooperation with du Ponts. This policy stands on two legs; first, a patent processes agreement under which the two companies disclose to each other the fruits of their respective large research organisations in defined fields of chemical science, and cross-licence them to each other for use in defined territories: secondly, the joint investment under which the two companies are at present the major stockholders in chemical manufacturing companies in Canada, the Argentine, and Brazil. I believe this policy of co-operation has been of public benefit to the United States and the British Empire as well as the South American countries.’’