Preface

Plastics, television, new chemical and electrical techniques are but a few of the instruments which will furnish the stuff for the pioneers of a new age. The challenge of housing will excite bold minds to action, on a scale never before attempted, to wipe out slums and give dwellers in country and city alike a new and higher standard of living. Not only at home, but also abroad, the opportunities for daring enterprise which will be offered by the needs of world reconstruction will surpass anything ever before known.

How are we going to meet this challenge? At the outset, we must face frankly the greatest obstacle to making the most of our opportunity. It is the threat of cartel control of major world industries. Unless this threat is understood and dealt with decisively, our opportunity to realize the great potential benefits of a free economy will be lost. And worse still, the hope of maintaining democratic political institutions will be seriously impaired.

The pattern of cartel operations has been clearly revealed in recent years by antitrust investigations. From public records in antitrust proceedings and congressional hearings, information about cartel operations is now available. The public should be familiar with the facts. As head of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice, I have frequently been called upon to discuss cartel problems before congressional committees, trade associations and civic groups. Since my testimony and speeches received varying degrees of public notice at the time they were given, the casual reader of newspaper reports necessarily obtained only an impressionistic picture of the far-flung ramifications of the subject. Something more is needed for thorough understanding.

With this thought in mind, a number of friends and associates have suggested from time to time that my material should be woven together in book form. This I have undertaken to do in the present volume.

Merely to make assertions about the evil effect of cartels is a simple matter. But I believe that the real usefulness of this book will depend upon its fairly detailed explanation of the operation of particular cartels, with direct quotations from letters, memoranda and other documents.

While I have not tried to compile a complete source-book, I have striven to make this discussion as non-technical as possible. The factual material is drawn largely from the documents of the Kilgore, Truman and Bone Senate Committees, and from the public records of antitrust cases.

The investigations which unearthed the facts cited in this book were, of course, the work of a great many men and women in the Antitrust Division extending over a period of years. Acknowledgment of credit to all of them would be impossible. Many of the men who have developed these facts are now serving their country in the armed forces.

I cannot praise too highly the ability, energy and devotion to public service of the men and women of the Antitrust Division. It is a privilege to head such a splendid staff, as it is to serve under such an able and distinguished Attorney General as Francis Biddle, who has maintained at all times an extremely deep interest in our cartel work and has given it his fullest support. Attorney General Biddle has repeatedly impressed upon me his own conviction that the vigorous enforcement of the antitrust laws against cartels is an indispensable condition to the maintenance of a free competitive economy in this country.

In the preparation of this book I am particularly indebted to Joseph Borkin of my staff, who is in my opinion one of the best informed men in America on the activities of international cartels. For more than five years Mr. Borkin has devoted his great resourcefulness and energy to investigation and study of cartel problems. His contribution in this field has been invaluable.

I also want to acknowledge my deep obligation to my First Assistant, Edward H. Levi, with whom I have spent many hours discussing the legal and economic problems of cartels, and on whom I have relied so heavily in the practical administration of the Antitrust Division. And I am greatly indebted to Myron W. Watkins, Charles A. Welsh, Ernest S. Meyers, George P. Comer, Herbert A. Berman, Bartholomew Diggins, Robert Hunter, and Heinrich Kronstein of the Antitrust Division staff, all of whom have been of great assistance in the preparation of this book and in the cartel work of the Division. Professor Walton Hamilton of Yale, who has been a part-time member of the staff, has also worked closely with me on these matters and has made a signal contribution to our work.

Mr. M. B. Schnapper, Executive Secretary of the American Council of Public Affairs, has been of greatest assistance in the planning of this book and in the editorial work which it has involved.

Wendell Berge