[PEN-L:1350] Capital and "Patriotism"

["James Michael Craven" <cravjm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The following is exerpted from "Trading With The Enemy: An Expose of
the Nazi-American Money Plot 1933-1949, by Charles Higham, Dell
Books, N.Y. 1983

"What would have happened if millions of American an British people,
struggling with coupons and lines at the gas stations, had learned
that in 1942 Standard Oil of New Jersey managers shipped the enemy's
fuel through neutral Switzerland and that the enemy was shipping
Allied fuel? Suppose the public had discovered that the Chase Bank in
Nazi-occupied Paris after Pearl Harbor was doing millions of dollars
worth of business with the enemy with the full knowledge of the head
office in Manhattan? Or that Ford trucks were being built for the
German occupation troops in France with authorization from Dearborn,
Michigan? Or that Colonel Sosthenes Behn, the head of the
international American telephone conglomerate ITT, flew from New York
to Madrid to Berne during the war to help improve Hitler's
communications systems and improve the robot bombs that devastated
London? Or that ITT built the Focke-Wulfs that dropped bombs on
British and American troops? Or that crucial ball bearings were
shipped to Nazi-associated customers in Latin America with the
collusion of the vice-chairman of the U.S. War Production Board in
partnership with Goering's cousin in Philadelphia when American
forces were desperately short of them? Or that such arrangements were
known about in Washington and either sanctioned or deliberately
ignored?

For the government did sanction such dubious transactions--both
before and after Pearl Harbor. A presidential edict, issued six days
after December 7, 1941, actually set up the legislation whereby
licensing arrangements for trading with the enemy could be granted.
Often during the years after Pearl Harbor the government permitted
such trading. For example, ITT was allowed to continue its relations
with the Axis and Japan until 1945, even though that conglomerate was
regarded as an official instrument of United States intelligence. No
attempt was made to prevent ford from retaining its interests for the
Germans in Occupied France, nor were the Chase Bank or the Morgan
Bank expressly forbidden to keep open their branches in Occupied
Paris. It is indicated that the Reichsbank and Nazi Ministry of
Economics made promises to certain U.S. corporate leaders that their
properties would not be  injured after the Fuhrer was victorious.
Thus, the bosses of the multinations as we know them today had a
six-spot on every side of the dice cube. Whichever side won the war,
the powers that really ran nations would not be adversely affected."

And it is important to consider the size of American investments in
Nazi Germany at the time of Pearl Harbor. These amounted to an
estimated total of $475 million. Standard Oil of New Jersey had $1230
million invested there; General Motors had $35 million; ITT had $30
million; and Ford had $17.5 million. Though it would have been more
patriotic to have allowed Nazi Germany to confiscate these companies
for the duration--to nationalize them or to absorb them into Hermann
Goering's industrial empire--it was clearly more practical to insure
them protection from seizure by allowing them to remain in special
holding companies, the money accumulating until war's end. It is
interesting that whereas there is no evidence of any serious attempt
by Roosevelt to impeach the guilty in the United States, there is
evidence that Hitler strove to punish certain German Fraternity
associates on the grounds of treason to the Nazi state. Indeed, in
the case of ITT, perhaps the most flagrant in its outright dealings
with the enemy, Hitler and his postmaster general, the venerable
Wilhelm Ohnesorge, strove to impound the German end of the business.
But even they were powerless in such a situation: the Gestapo leader
of counterintelligence, Walter Schellenberg, was a prominent director
and shareholder of ITT by arrangement with New York--and even Hitler
dared not cross the Gestapo." (pp 14-15)


                                 GENERAL LICENSE UNDER SECTION 3(a)
                                 OF THE TRADING WITH THE ENEMY ACT
By virtue of an persuant to the authority vested in me by sections 3
and 5 of The Trading with the Enemy Act as amended, and by virtue of
all other authority invested in me, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt,
President of the United States of America, do prescribe the
following:

A general license is hereby granted, licensing any transaction or act
proscribed by section 3(a) of The Trading with the Enemy Act, as
amended, provided, however, that such transaction or act is
authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury by means of regulations,
rulings, instructions, licenses or otherwise, persuant to the
Executive Order No. 8389, as amended.
                                                            FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

THE WHITE HOUSE
            December 13, 1941
H. MORGENTHAU, JR:
            Secretary of the Treasury

FRANCIS BIDDLE
            Attorney General of the United States

(exact reproduction) p. 19

Jim Craven


 James Craven
 Dept. of Economics,Clark College
 1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd. Vancouver, WA. 98663
 jcraven@xxxxxxxxx; Tel: (360) 992-2283 Fax: 992-2863
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"The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards Indians; their land and
property shall never be taken from them without their consent."
(Northwest Ordinance, 1787, Ratified by Congress 1789)

"Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor
and could not have existed had not labor first existed. Labor is the superior of
capital and deserves much the higher consideration." (Abraham Lincoln)

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