13
For the above reasons we be¬
lieve our readers will be interested
in reading the following letter
written in the Fall of 1946 by Mr.
Armour to General Draper.
"My company is prepared to proceed
with investment of money in order to
carry out the program of manufacture
of penicillin in Germany , subject to such
protective measures as may be necessary.
During our conversation we have ex¬
plored the possibilities of manufacturing
penicillin and from the view-point of
raw materials, labor, etc., there seems
to be a basis for a successful operation.
Your problem will be the clearance of
several phases of this matter that is en¬
tirely within your position of effective¬
ness but as far ds we are concerned, we
are ready to proceed at once. At the
present time, our Dr. Gregory Slragnell
who is in charge of all our penicillin-
streptomycin manufacture in this coun¬
try, is on the continent today. He will
be there four weeks. In addition, Mar¬
vin Sleinback, our Chief Engineer and
Adolph Gropper our top-flight mech¬
anic , have received visas and passports
and can leave on 24- hours notice. These
three men would be readily able to con¬
firm the suitability of a location near
Hoechst. In addition, Dr. Slragnell is
well qualified to pass on the availability
and quality of raw materials and equip¬
ment necessary to manufacture the peni¬
cillin, even of the better quality, which
we are now starting to manufacture.
Please be advised that this company
places all of its experience, organization
and ability at your disposal.”
History repeats itself — business
as usual.
A Clergyman In Germany
Strange things are going on in
Germany now-a-days. One won¬
ders, for instance, what religion
has to do with the plastic industry.
But there seems to be a connection,
since a few months ago a Massa¬
chusetts clergyman, a certain Rev.
Bolton, succeeded in obtaining per¬
mission from the War Department
to go to Germany for the specific
purpose of analyzing the religious
work of the German Protestants.
Apparently, Rev. Bolton found that
the Protestants were doing fine in
post-war Germany, because he
spent a considerable amount of
time and energy studying the plas¬
tic industry in the Nuremberg area.
In fact, he made such an extensive
study of all the plants that, accord¬
ing to the story we were told, he
acquired one of them for himself.
Moreover, searching through his
pre-war files, he discovered that he
owned— before the war — a plastic
plant in the Russian zone which he
now claims mas taken out by the
Russians in 1946.
Since his return from Germany,
instead of confining himself to ad-
miistering spiritual aid to his par¬
ishioners, he has been bombarding
Massachusetts Senators, Congress¬
men and the State Department, and
other high officials, with his admon¬
ition— you must return the plastic
plant from the Russian zone, or
else!
George Allen's Recipe For
World Salvation
Six months ago, George Allen,
former RFC director and closely
connected with the Victor Emanuel-
Schroeder interests, proclaimed that
the salvation of the world depend¬
ed on intensifying the German-
American trade. This decision re¬
sulted in a great influx of specially
privileged American businessmen
into the U.S. zone of Germany.
Applying Allen's ideas literally,
they proceeded with plans to buy
out all sorts of German properties.
In their haste to do a good job,
they overlooked the fact that quite
a few of these properties were ear¬
marked for decartelization or rep¬
arations.
One cannot blame them too
much, however, because they
didn't do it by themselves, but in¬
stead consulted extensively with
several of their friends in the Eco¬
nomic Division of the American
Military Government, at that time
headed by Gen. Wm. H. Draper.
One wonders, however, why- these
American businessmen never
thought about paying a visit to the
decartelization branch of the Amer¬
ican Military Government, nor to
consult with the Military regarding
the German plants which, we hope,
will eventually be turned over to
the eighteen nations — former vic¬
tims of German's fury— these na¬
tions have been clamoring for some
reparations for more than two years
now.
One is naturally curious to know
why a special group was selected
and whether the same privileges
were accorded to all and sundry.
As far as we are concerned, we
are against selling any German
plants which should be decartel-
ized or could be use as reparations.
And speaking of the decarteliz¬
ation program, one wonders what
was the role played in this matter
by Messrs. Donald Heath and Lloyd
Steere of the State Department
who, we understand, were never
too much in favor of decartelization
of the German industry.
CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY are
all too familiar components in the Nazi
pattern of conquest. But when they in¬
volve industry they become clearly signi¬
ficant of a more pervading influence
than Nazism in German life.
In this case the industry is the Ger¬
man dye trust, the I.G. Farbenindus*
trie. It is a great combine of chemical
works. There is no need to prove that
without its aid Hitler could not have
battered most of Europe into submis¬
sion. . . . Indictment of Farbcn helps
to establish a vital precedent in inter¬
national law. It says that international
crime may be laid to highly placed persons
besides those who, as political authori¬
ties, lay down barbaric national poli¬
cies. Industrialists, too, are eligible for
investigation by an international court.
This phase of the German war crim¬
inal trials has two aspects inviting the
most unsentimental sort of study:
1. We may now learn the true re¬
lation of German industry to German
aggression, both as a source of weapons
and a source of inspiration. If we do,
our new knowledge may have an im¬
portant effect on Allied policies for the
economic reconstruction of Germany.
2. We shall be reminded again of a
threat to world peace that ante-dated
Nazism. This is a menace which, to
judge from accumulating evidence, has
also survived Naziism. It is Pan-Gcr-
manism. The Farbcn trial is a trial of
an organization that existed before the
Nazi party. Its international ramifica¬
tions may easily have provided an in¬
dustrial counterpart of the Nazi poli¬
tical "fifth columns." Its aims for in¬
dustrial empire coincided with Hitler’s
for political empire. But they represen¬
ted, too, a national conviction of racial
superiority and special right.
But the lessons is not Germany's
alone. The Allies need to assert its
meaning not simply in sentences passed
on individuals but in policies to prevent
a recourrence of the flamboyant tragedy
of Nazi aggression. These should be
policies of control in Germany, based
on genuine Allied cooperation in this
one world.
( From an Editorial in the
CMitian Seienet Monitor )
