Mellon Alcoa Fights Anti-Trust Action in 'Race for Light Metals'
MUNRO, DAVID A.
Mellon Alcoa Fights Anti-Trust Action in 'Race for Light Metals' Monopoly Plays Politics As Court Jam Holds Up U.;S. Prosecution By DAVID A. MUNRO •"THIS war has often been dramatized as a race...
...Nobody knows the exact pattern of aluminum business after the war...
...Our committee is primarily concerned with two forms of discrimination in employment, both of which are fairly common...
...But from the brief it would seem that Alcoa chiefly suffers a deep personal injury...
...It is my privilege to serve as chairman of the committee, the other members of which include George Backer (vice-chairman), Christine Allen, Lawrence D. Bell, Dorothy Bellanca, Edward L. Bernays, John Brennan, Rev...
...Democracy in France, Italy and here in the United States permitted presssure groups to suppress or hide such vital ilncidents as the bombing, by Billy Mitchell in 1921, of the German flagship Ostf nesia-c...
...In general, among the plants in this region, Alcoa's Baton Rouge alumina plant is perhaps the best placed...
...Not by way of criticism, but solely by way of observation, I should like to point out one thing that does not seem in keeping with the whole spirit of this book...
...Alabama...
...This will put heery (Maines s pressure on both Reynolds and the smaller Olin Corporation...
...The Attorney-General and his staff, trained in legal procedure and practice, will insure that such an investigation will not turn out to be what so many Congressional in...
...John J. McClafferty, B. F. McLaurin, Richaid H. Pass, Emil Rieve, Dorothy Strauss, Chan-ning H. Tobias, George S. Van Schaick and Wilfred H. Winans...
...As for the "long-bow" men who thwarted the development of Air Power for the purpose of their own" service or interest, there is no rancor, but merely the demand for them to stand aside, and let Air Power be managed by men of long experience in aviation—not Army or Navy, gentlemen by Act of Congress, or fliers by virtue of a little silver wing on their breast...
...If only four Air officers out of one hundred and twenty-one who entered the Army War College in 1931 were airmen and two of these have already been killed, can it be possible that the high mortality in highranking officers and men of experience accounts for tie fart that a greater effort was not made in those days, and today, by Army and Navy Air Officers to make their superiors see the light...
...Shortly before the end of the year the Anti-Trust Division, through the Solicitor General, put in a "memorandum in opposition" both more realistic and more general in its implications, "Aluminum Limited, like former Canadian subsidiaries of Alcoa," it stated, "entered directly into world cartels...
...must be boxed off...
...The appointment of Wiley Rut-ledge makes it five qualified to sit...
...They are Jackson...
...A new Congressional Committee would hardly be useful, for, in the words of this book, every one of the seventeen already appointed have been complete failures...
...A great many Americans will be asking important questions with new perspectives and seriousness—: Should we stop building aircraft carriers completely...
...To do this the anti-trust action—the biggest case in the history of the Anti-Trust Division— must be fought off...
...Varying the present strict fairness of power allocations may later be a further means cf restricting Reynolds...
...The Government seeks comprehensive relief, including the dissolution of Aluminum Co...
...It is a challenge to the American people, to the Administration, to the Services, and to the Congress...
...Murray Shipley How-land, Frances Keller, Richard Lawrence...
...The Fight for Air Power"Record of 'AirPower' Sabotage Needs Gov't Inquiry By HAROLD E. HARTNEY Lieut.-Col., U. S. Army (Inactive) QN October 22, 1942, Colonel Hugh J. Knerr, - U. S. Army (Retired), was peremptorily recalled to active service by Secretary of War Stimson...
...They enable us to take positive action to remedy the situation...
...Result, in the first big expansion following the start of the war, lato in 1941...
...bert-sightedness, of encrusted hard-and-.»**t Army thinking set in a bureaucratic mold, •f lobbying and greed, of the battle for innovation by the younger air-trained officers...
...A postponement until after the war would be equally disastrous...
...about one and one-half million...
...Andrew G. Doyle is executive director...
...Ah» taken were two indispensable foreign naval "•fees, Hong Kong and Singapore, and priceless ¦atural resources in tin and rubber...
...And the competition of Reynolds Metals Co...
...are, of course, fully aware that strict ** precautionary measures must be taken to protect secret plans and secret processes which are vital to our war effort...
...our Navy remaining "as is...
...Naturally, the one great failing of Reynolds is in the matter of personnel...
...Without impeding production, how can we insure advance design at all times...
...Jesse Jones is the frank friend of Alcoa...
...In working towards this goal, our committee resorts ta force only as a least resort— when appeal and persuasion fail...
...Just what the connections are between Alcoa and the semi-official bagmen connected with the Democratic National Committee has not been revealed...
...FOLLOWING up this accidental advantage, *^ Alcoa's brief before the Supreme Court asking dismissal claimed that it was "wholly engaged in war production of the most vital character," and that "indefinite postponement of a decision upon the appeal," while waiting for a Supreme Court quorum, "would be catastrophic...
...Germany soon thereafter exceeded the United States and all other nations of the world in volume of aluminum production...
...How much money, material, and man-power would this save...
...This is a big order...
...Since the beginning of the committee's field activities, more than 260 establishments em-' ploying more than 300,000 workers have been visited by our representatives...
...It is argued that this is the quickest, least expensive, most certain way to get one's enemy's vitals in modern war...
...I refer, in particular, to the Mahoney Act, which states: "It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation engaged to any extent whatsoever in the production, manufacture or distribution of military or naval material, equipment or supplies for the State of New York, or for ] the federal government, to refuse to employ any person in any capacity on account at the race, color, creed or national origin of such person...
...1 IOW can we aveid 'traps" like the so-called 300-mile limit for aviation in our defense set-up before Pearl Harbor...
...But it has to fight for this position while not so flagrantly endangering the war effort as to merit public punishment...
...a separate Army and a separate Navy, with a unified command under an- Army, Navy or Air officer, depending upon the nature of the theatre of operations...
...Reynolds' biggest and best plant is the integrated alumina and primary aluminum plant at Lister Hill...
...If, in 1943, we will have, say, fifty cents out of every dollar spent for National Defense production devoted to aviation, is it probable that the airmen are capable of handling this overnight expansion...
...Connivance, politics, jealousies and •ntrigue mingle with plain ignorance to stifle legislative measures on the one hand and administrative progress on the other...
...the percentages of allocations ware) as follows: Alcoa got 96.7 per cent of the added eaphdfty...
...How would you rank Army, Navy and Air in priorities for appropriations and material...
...This left Black, Douglas, Frankfurter and Roberts...
...per cent for 1942...
...the Canadian subsidiary of Alcoa...
...Other sections 4>f the Civil Rights Law which can be invoked against discrimination in employment follow: "Discrimination by utility companies.—It shall be unlawful for any public utility company, as define*} in the public service law, to refuse to employ any person in any capacity in the operation or maintenance of a public' service on account of the race, color or religion, of such person...
...But the author has managed to create confidence in General Arnold—for...
...We also know that such distinctions are wholly irrevelant to an individual's occupational fitness and aptitudes...
...Now, more than ever before, there is need for unity of action and singleness of purpose among all our people...
...Four of the eight justices that were sitting disqualified themselves because of their previous connection with the case...
...The trouble is that the strictly Republican, Mellon-owned Alcoa is beginning to get around pretty effectively in high Democratic circles...
...What are the chances for an Air-power league, analogous to the Navy League, working exclusively on the outside for and on behalt of the interests of Air-power...
...not a Board of good citizens like the Howell Federal Aviation Commission of 1935...
...THE bottom in Alcoa affairs occurred at the * start of the war when the Government was perhaps anti-Alcoa, perhaps going through a stage of spanking Alcoa...
...Present rulings permit] the Aluminum Company...
...If appeal and persuasion are 'ineffective, the Industrial commissioner may issue a formal order either asking the employer for pertinent employment data each month, or requesting that the employer cease and desist certain employment practices at once, or demanding certain affirmative action...
...Had the public been permitted to know the facts, there could have been no deliberate suppression of Air Power preparedness...
...Their joint efforts are destined to bear fruit for Allied strategy ? offensive warfare...
...in part, of collective bargaining, or of dealing with employers concerning grievances, terms or conditions of employment, or of other mutual aid or protection.—No labor union shall hereafter, directly or indirectly, by ritualistic practice, constitutional or by-law prescription, by tacit agreement among its members or otherwise, deny a person or persons membership in its organization by reason of his race, color or creed, or by regulations, practice or otherwise, deny to any of its members, by reason of race, color or creed, equal treatment with "all other members in any designation of members to any employer for employment, promotion or dismissal by such employer...
...J*HE amazing story of this country's lack of lit ?**' airpower even to the month of Pearl Harbor — despite the intense air-mindedness •*d air-enthusiasm of America's youth—is a tele that is only now being told...
...What nesttall hi the control of alumina production, since this is the first stage in the process...
...If a war production employer, or an employ- : ment agency, is believed to be practicing such discrimination, he is asked by the committee to conform with the law by changing his personnel policy immediately...
...Thus in three years of political pulling and bickering, Reynolds has been reduced from 17.7 to 1? of the national total...
...mostly occupational troops and supply services...
...By Frieda S. Miller TheBattleAqainstRaceDiscrimination DISCRIMINATION against Jews, Negroes, end persons of foreign birth is steadily decreasing in New York State...
...Olin Corporation got 3.3 per cent...
...Will the reorganization of the Army as effected immediately alter Pearl Harbor solve problems: Taking the Army Air Forces out from under the ham-stringing Director of the General Staff...
...Legally they practice that char-• acteristic corporate extraterritoriality which has made the act of foreswearing part of the privileges of self-government, in favor of foreigners, painless for Americans...
...Chief deposits are in southern France, Jugoslavia, the island of Bintan just captured by the Japanese, Dutch Guiana and Arkansas...
...jUentenant Colonel Harold Hartney (Inact...
...Also the Lister Hill plant must depend either upon low-grade local ore or must depend on Dutch Guiana ore shipped to Mobile, where Alcoa has a plant, then trans-shipped by expensive rail transport to Lister Hill...
...1—Many persons of Italian or German extraction are barred from war work, even though they have unquestionally proven their complete loyalty to this country...
...This was followed by a second expansion in 1942...
...Even the casual reader will try ~to work out a plan that will prevent a repetition today of those pre-Pearl Harbor deficiencies...
...The book is divided into three parts...
...better than our Attorney-General, could give an impartial and constructive report, and help us enlist all our resources and talents for efficient total war...
...This may open a veritable "Pandora's box...
...of America," says the brief, but "the continued pendency of this litigation greatly injures the morale and distracts the attention of the key-personnel of the company and is a serious clog upon the war effort of the company, and in consequence upon the war effort of the United States...
...But this isn't the whole story...
...Alcoa has done very well...
...Reynolds got 00 per cent...
...If we all work shoulder to shoulder, we cannot fail...
...Subjugate the will of the enemy and bring them to their knees by bombing Tokyo and Berlin direct...
...Colonel Hartney points out, the past has eeea bitter, but it is to the future that we JSust turn...
...Alcoa is dominated by Americans whose devotion to their country nobody has questioned...
...THIS book is a definite indictment of the demo-* cratic processes of government insofar as pre-Pearl Harbor National Defense is concerned...
...What matters even before this is the control of the sources of bauxite, and here Alcoa stands alone, since it controls the Arkansas deposits, as well as the Dutch Guiana deposits...
...It is a story...
...Of these, approximately 80 per cent were engaged in war work...
...of which Alcoa got 100 per cent, bringing the Alcoa per cent of the total to 90?, with Reynolds at 7.5 and Olin at 1.9...
...Furthermore, he seems to me to have overplayed General Andrews, "Colonel Knerr, and the Flying Fortress just a bit...
...Prosecution By DAVID A. MUNRO •"THIS war has often been dramatized as a race for oil...
...The job being done in this State is described here by Frieda Miller, New York State Industrial Commissioner...
...Thus there is now a yearly drag of $2?34,000 on Reynolds, as against nothing for "*Alcoa, and this may be decisive...
...There is no place for an Army hierarchy and a Navy hierarchy, each a self-contained unit, each with its own prestige, each jealous of the other, each competing for appropriations and for raw materials, each struggling for command...
...But the work of putting in the administrative orders that will make for the future success of the Aluminum Company in its fight with its competition is done by Arthur H. Bunker, head of the Aluminum and Magnesium Division in WPB and former officer of the Lehman Corporation...
...insuring a voice at the Cabinet table for airmen...
...THESE are but a few of the many questions that the thoughtful reader will want answered...
...Would it not be sufficient in dealing with the Army and Navy officers who (as Huie alleges) impeded air power development, to simply have a directive from the President forbidding them to have any further say in Air-power of the future...
...The author can work with the cooperation of the Secretaries of War and Navy...
...These crusading officers and this machine need no "press-agent-ing...
...THERE have been accusations in Washington * that, besides restricting Reynolds to a tiny per cent of the production, allocation of its plants was so manipulated as to make them unprofitable to operate in competition with the most efficient Alcoa producers after the war...
...To these you should add the usual complement of Congressmen any well-run company the size of Alcoa keeps in its stable...
...off Hatte ras, and the bombing of the Utah, in 1937, by General Olds...
...The committee was established by Governor Lehman in 1941 and became affiliated with the State War Council -when that body was set up in 1942...
...Ore may be easily shipped to it, and it has the necessary heat available, because of the nearness of natural gas sources...
...Sidney E. Goldstein, Lester Granger, Rev...
...Destroy with ruthless repetition all the industrial cities, and the means of supplying the armies and navies are thereby destroyed...
...Answers to these questions, relating to the past history of oar development of airpower...
...2—It is difficult for thousands of qualified Negroes and Jews to secure jobs in the plants which are furnishing our war material...
...But Alcoa is a business and not a patriotic society...
...Both forms of bigotry contribute toward . disunity at a time when we should all be pulling together...
...Alcoa figures that, all other things being equal, its accumulation of personnel over many years will be decisive...
...Huie asks for a complete reorganization of our National Defense...
...Vereinigte Aluminum-Werke, owned and controlled by the German Government, was a party to these cartels, and by cartel action, to which Aluminum Limited was a party, was relieved of cartel w ¦ .restrictions to which other cartel members remained subject...
...Discriminatory hiring practices must not stand in the way...
...Today Alcoa is fighting a rearguard action...
...He says that modern war requires the whole energy of a nation...
...AMENDMENTS to the Civil Rights Law, ·"* enacted by resent sessions of the legislature, state clearly that all holders of war contracts in this state must cease all discriminatory hiring practices...
...After all, the author has made serious allegations here...
...The Industrial Commissioner is empowered to enforce these provisions as well as the Mahoney Act and, in so doing, may use the powers of administration, investigation, inquiry, subpoena and-hearing delegated by the Labor Law...
...if the latter can in one year build up our Army Air Force to the point it is today, despite the shackles indicated in this book—then he is indeed a man of remarkable ability...
...This is strong language, but it is an open secret in Washington that the language would have been even stronger if Solicitor General Charles Fahy had not toned it down...
...A democracy knows no such group gradations...
...The purpose of the Committee on Discrimination in Employment is to effect equal employment opportunity for all loyal workers in industries engaged to any extent whatsoever in the production, manufacture or distribution of War material...
...We all know that distinctions of color, race and religion are based on deep-rooted, ignorant prejudices and are not easily destroyed...
...not a limited directive to certain prominent "men of high standing...
...WPB's William L. Blatt, American representative of the Swedish-German ballbearing cartel, as head of SKF Industries, has extended his good offices...
...he softens down the whole tenor of his fight for Air-power...
...In an attempt to solve our man-power problem, can we be as potent in our striking forces by building our Air Force up to, say...
...namely, to contract an alliance with a foreign government (even a prospective enemy goeern-ment) to restrain the production of vital war materials in the United States...
...The majority of the remainder were defense training schools and employment agencies...
...However, it is '.nonsensical, to deny a worker with an Italian or German name an opportunity to work in a plant manufacturing hospital bandages or some other non-technical item, the production of which is by no stretch of the imagination a military secret...
...As for the manufacturing industrialists, why did they ait idly by during all these years and permit all that transpired and do nothing about it...
...Why not turn this whole book over to the Attorney-General for investigation and report...
...and Olin Corp...
...Through education and other means we hope eventually to overcome these prejudices and, as I have said, we have made considerable progress here in Ney York State...
...If the employer fails to obey the order, he is liable to criminal prosecution for a misdemeanor...
...Congress tofthe others of responsibility were either negligent in their duty or misled (by parties unnamed by the author...
...But after this, the spanking seems to have been administered and or the friends of Alcoa had returned to power...
...At the end of several • chapters, or sections, the author has (obviously as an after-thought) introduced what might be called a "hedging" paragraph...
...One hinges ; on nationality or country of a worker's origin, the other on racial or religious prejudice...
...It was easy for Alcoa to do business with Hitler, but part of American independence was bartered in the contracts...
...Air strength is the new power that will control the world...
...Is the industry encouraged to cut costs of production by reducing the number of types by standardization or otherwise...
...The commissioner may require at regular intervals, or otherwise, the submission of information, records and reports pertinent to discriminatory practices in industries...
...vestigations have been—a publicity medium, a pillory, or both...
...The British, with their R.A.F.—also a separate Air Force— prevented invasion after Dunkirk and saved civilization by affording the United States time to prepare and organize a United Nations to fight for liberty...
...Part three points the way to victory—success in combat against three elements which menace, in somewhat different ways, the safety of America : the Nazis, the Japanese—and the "longbow" men...
...t * - * I SINCERELY urge every employer and * every worker to cooperate with our committee in it3 efforts to effeet equal employment opportunities for all loyal workers...
...insuring a voice for airmen in the overall strategy of the United Nations?' How can we stop the constant fighting which is said to persist between the Army and Navy for control of shore bases...
...It wants to be able to go back to doing business at the old stand and in the old way after the war...
...The reading public is going to be shocked by this book...
...During thts immediate postwar period, Alcoa intends to force its rreata out of the business—and re-establish its control over magnesium, the metal that's lighter than aluminum and that could, if freed from Alcoa shackles, force competition upon the light metals field...
...Here's how Alcoa haa prepared for the post-war destruction of its rival: To begin with, this 90 per cent is perhaps not the correct figure to give...
...And presumably the present 17-eent price will be dropped...
...controlling the 17.7 balance...
...Germany, with .her Luftwaffe— a separate Air Force—was prepared in quality and quantity when we were not...
...Bias UASCISM is a world * which ranks men on a false and arbitrary basis and uses brute force to keep groups of men submerged...
...a separate Air Force...
...Reynolds had to borrow $53,350.000 at 44 from RFC...
...Page after page, he drives home a point, but then (was it to "get by" a censor...
...Every good American citizen owes it to himself to take time °»t to read in this second part the new and...
...and apparently true—"Explanation of Pearl Harbor," the "Battles of Coral Sea and Midway," and "The Struggle for Command...
...did not come by its flirtation with Hitler because it was dominated by German directors, or even because any ^predilection for domestic fascism Aas marked its past...
...What they are all asking for is the employment of aircraft of all types in great quantities (mainly flying fortresses), in order to strike at the enemy — thus turning the ,enemy's flank through the third dimension of space—"over the top," instead of around both flanks on the surface of the land or sea as used heretofore in outmoded tactics...
...Combating that is the job which the government has set itself to do—and not always so successfully as recent news about the Federal FEPC indicates...
...I IKE Seversky and Ziff, Huie criticizes our present strategy and tactics in the Pacific and elsewhere, and recommends that we learn from the Axis' strategy of Air Power, employed by them so successfully in modern warfare...
...but it is presumed that there will be a considerable drop in ? rod action from the present 2.012,825.000 pounds scheduled for 1943...
...jorld War ace and one of the pioneers in iJWltary aviators, reviews that situation here J* an article discussing the book The Fight i'or Airpawer by William Bradford Huie...
...to do with impunity what no other company would be permitted to do...
...not a "self-investigation" by a Board of either Army or Navy officers, such as the Baker Board in 1938...
...Those elsewhere in the world are notoriously controlled by other members of the cartel, allied to Alcoa through Aluminum, Ltd...
...Wilbur T. demons, Francis J. D'Amanda, Marguerite Gane, Dr...
...It may also be dramatised 1 as a race for the light metals—aluminum and magnesium...
...In the last of these...
...Ideologically its directors proclaim their Americanism...
...But for part of its primary production (meaning finishedeJsjmdsmnh in the language of the trade), Reynolds must depend upon alumina production of the Alcoa plants...
...They reflect on our leaders in this war—possibly unfairly—but nevertheless in such manner as to excite the American people...
...Proposals for a post-war world now inevitably Ulk pf the need for airpower to police the world ad halt any new aggressions...
...Discrimination by labor organizations prohibited.—As used in this section, the term 'labor organization' means any organization which exists and is constituted for the purpose, in whole or...
...It is «in this perpeetive that the discussions about airpower assume vital importance...
...This certainly is what Hitler did in Europe and Tojo did in the Far East...
...Our committee's premise is that such discrimination can and must be abolished...
...They have been barred from work in establishments which produce army uniforms, kitchen utensils, glassware and scores of other items which are in great demand...
...This is, no doubt, in good part Knerr's work, although this surmise must not detract from the contribution of Huie—a typewriter strategist, if you will, but playing a vital •rittsfrole...
...Between the two of them, they have done a marvelous job...
...Knerr was about to deliver a lecture in Milwaukee on his forthcoming b°°k, The Fight for Air Power...
...The suggestion is unique, ?ut logical...
...Is the industry, in turn, given any encouragement by the Army or Navy to originate new designs and new ideas...
...Murphy, Reed and Stone...
...But there is no chance of the statutory quorum of six justices being available to review the case soon...
...Now we have the book under the same title and authored by William Bradford Huie...
...But if and when the President's appointee picks up the threads curling through this narrative, evidence is found of "knot-tying" in the path of aviation's progress here and there—of a non-flying chairman of an Army board planted to kill the flying fortress—misrepresentation before Congressional Committees—reclassification of Naval Officers to shut them up—then the President should "hew to the line and let the chips fall where they may...
...four million officers and men...
...Alcoa's per cent of scheduled alumina production has been moved up to 95.4 for 1943, according to the above-mentioned memorandum, as against 9...
...In his article Colonel Hartney raises several questions that should be answered by our military chiefs...
...Each man is ranked individually for what he alone is worth and what he can contribute to the community...
...On page 197, under the chapter explaining Pearl Harbor, we find a good example of this kind of pulling of punches...
...We have been informed of many instances [. where loyal citizens, many of whom have [ served with distinction in previous wars and who despise the present governments in the country of their origin, have been denied the opportunity to contribute to our war production effort...
...They are also irrelevant to the labor needs of industry...
...Alcoa will enter tBe postwar period debt-free...
...Our field representatives are constantly contacting holders of war contracts in all sections of the state and, where discriminatory personnel policies are pursued, attempt to convince the employer he should abolish these practices...
...But the general characteristics of the encirclement of Reynolds can be divided into three categories: electric power, bauxite and money...
...The first i« historical, and the amazing facts brought out b*re concerning the struggle of a few air cru-ttders to gain recognition, are disturbing to say tte least...
...At this writing the Supreme Court is considering a situation relative to the Alcoa case without precedent...
...The second part deals with the "Price of All ?? Folly*'—Pearl Harbor, where our" Maginot- ' jute" Pacific fleet was neutralized by air power ? a- matter of a few minutes, permitting the Japanese to walk in and take the Philippines...
...So, in the Nazi heirarchy, comes Germans, Scandinavians, French, Slavs, Poles and Jews...
...Yet in a democracy these cruel and atavistic urges organized by Fascism manifest themselves in prejudices and discrimination...
...Only, insofar as the goal is measured in light metal, the United States has been and continues to be hobbled by that past friend of New Germany, the Aluminum Company of America...
...What is the minimum number of types of planes required in all services so that we might seriously do an American quantity-production-job on aircraft quickly...
...The trick is for Alcoa to prevent Reynolds—or Olin, for that matter—from expanding its little per cent into a real threat...
...Both Reynolds and Alcoa depend for life upon allocations of TVA and Bonneville power...
...and the Army totaling three million men...
...Our war production program needs the productive energy of every able-bodied worker...
...At any rate, eis of late 1939 and early 1940, Alcoa was reduced to 82.3 per cent of the country's aluminum capacity, with the new Reynolds Metals Co...
...I am happy • :to report that the Committee on Discrimination in Employment of the State War Council has nfcde considerable progress over the past two years in its attempt to bring about equal employment opportunity in our, war industries for all loyal workers...
...Alcoa seeks to have the anti-trust case dismissed, the competition immobilized...
...If an employer refuses to cooperate with our committee, refuses to honor our representative's request to stop hiring practices based on religious, racial or national prejudice, we then invoke the laws of New York State...
...would shed much light on our future role in the field of the air...
Vol. 26 • January 1943 • No. 3
