 It's time for the Laun Jean Chronoscope, a television journal of the important issues of the hour, brought to you every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. A presentation of the Laun Jean Wittner Watch Company, maker of Laun Jean, the world's most honored watch, and Wittner, distinguished companion to the world-honored Laun Jean. Good evening. This is Frank Knight. May I introduce our co-editors for this edition of the Laun Jean Chronoscope? Mr. William Bradford Huey, editor of the American Mercury, and Mr. Donald I. Rogers, an editor of the New York Herald Tribune. Our distinguished guest for this evening is Mr. James M. Mead, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. The opinions expressed are necessarily those of the speakers. Senator Mead, as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, it's your job to police the government, police business of America, to see that there's no monopoly and to see that there's free flow of goods and prices. Now very recently, your agency filed a suit or filed a report, I should say, against five American oil companies doing business in the Mediterranean, in which you charged them with having a monopoly or a world cartel. This government is traditionally against monopolies, so we'd like to have you explain to us about how you reach these conclusions and why you think these companies are reprehensible. Well, Mr. Rogers, it is true, as you say, that the Federal Trade Commission is more or less like a policeman on the beat to keep down, prevent monopolies so that they will not interfere with competition or prove ruinous to small business. Now there were many opportunities that would bring to our attention the fact that there was monopolies developing in the petroleum or oil business, particularly in the Middle East. Now specifically by monopoly, you mean the fixing of prices. Fixing of prices, division of areas and marketing agreements, and other things that have a tendency to restrain the free flow of trade. Does it not seem remarkable to you, sir, that this report was filed in this particular year, a political year? Well, no, there isn't anything remarkable about it because, well, in 1943 when I was on the Truman Committee, accompanied by Senator Brewster, we made some preliminary investigations in the Middle East with reference to this question. And then later on in the 80th Congress, Senator Brewster and a committee that he headed made an investigation of the oil monopolies. It was therefore brought to our attention, and there were other reasons too why we entered into the investigation, and surely the policeman on the beat had to take cognizance of it. And if our domestic companies were engaged in a monopoly-producing proposition, joining in a cartel, fixing prices, dividing areas, we would be reluctant in the Federal Trade Commission if we didn't do something about it. I noticed that as a policeman on the beat, sir, you're already calling them monopolies, and they have not been a-judged monopolies as yet, have they, sir? This is merely a report you have issued, and it is not a full report, it is merely a staff report to the Federal Trade Commission, isn't it? It is a staff report taken over by the Senate Committee on Small Business. It is factual, informative, it makes no charges, offers no recommendation. It merely states the case, and the Senate Small Business Committee will shortly initiate hearings and give all sides an opportunity to state their case in the real American fashion. Well, Senator, just a moment for the benefit of all the people around New York who knew you for a long time. You were in Congress for many years, weren't you? Yes, I was in Congress for 20 years, and you're later in the Senate. I'd be preferring to you as Senator here. Of course, you were Senator from New York up to 1946, and then later then you were appointed as Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. Yes, and there is an old saying that once a Senator, always a Senator, and it being an exclusive club, former members of the Senator, of the Senate, like to retain that title. Now, to come back and to simplify this little battle that you are joining, what American oil companies are involved in this action? Well, according to the record contained in our report, there are five American companies. The Socony Vacuum, Standard Oil of New Jersey, Anglo-Persian, Shell, Gulf, Atlantic, and Texas. I believe I have them all. And the charge simply is, or it isn't a charge, what you are looking into is to see whether these companies may be charging too high a price for the oil that they are producing in the Middle East. Yes, that is one of the major points. We believe that where price fixing, marketing areas, or other agreements of that character are arrived at, that the buying public suffers. Now, how long have the American companies been over in the Middle East approximately? Well, back in 1922, when there was a fear that we were suffering from a petroleum shortage, our companies became interested in the Middle East. Now, they have done a pretty good job in developing oil supplies over there, haven't they? Well, if you compare them with the competition they met over there, I'd say they've done a superior job. Now, our viewers have heard several experts on this program say that compared to the British and others, that our companies are doing a pretty good job in the Middle East. They let the natives advance further in the companies, they give a little bit more money, they pay more for the oil to those companies, and so there is a good deal to be said that's good for our companies over there, isn't it? I was rather proud of the American companies because I understood that some of the opposition from other countries went into Saudi Arabia and failed to find that great reserve of oil that American engineers and experts found there, and so I was rather proud of our companies. And what they're doing now, they sell oil in the Middle East essentially to our Navy, and then they sell it to our allies in Western Europe that we're giving money to, so they're selling the American taxpayers involved in two places, isn't they? Yes, the American taxpayers involved, and by reason of the fact that he's involved and that there is price fixing, we feel that he isn't being treated fairly, and that's why the policeman is on the job. Actually, if the oil was not supplied by these American companies to Western Europe, we would be taking oil from America and giving it to Western Europe, would we not? If there was no oil available there, and if we... Well, there is no oil available there other than the oil that the American companies are bringing from the Mediterranean, is there? Well, there are other companies besides American companies still functioning over there. Would you prefer to have the oil come from foreign companies? Oh no, no, we want the oil to come from there, so far as I'm concerned, because, as you remember, Secretary Icke said quite some time ago, that we haven't got enough oil in this company to oil another war. That's right. And only yesterday, Governor Shivers at a big oil conference in Western Canada said that our known reserves may run out in about 12 and a half years. Yes, sir. Now, our biggest supplier of oil right now is Venezuela, is it not? The biggest supplier of oil imported in the United States is from Venezuela. So far as we're concerned, yes. Yes. Now, 24 hours after your report appeared, we carried an item in the New York Carol Tribune saying that the Venezuelan press, for the first time in history, had demanded nationalization of Venezuelan oil as a result of your charges of cartilization or monopolies by the oil companies. You see, some of the same oil companies that operate in the Middle East also operate in Venezuela. What do you feel about that? Don't you think your agency has a responsibility toward other sources of supply, toward the American citizen? You're concerned about the American citizen paying a price in Europe. How about the American citizen's supply of oil and the price he might have to pay if his sources here are nationalized? Well, no good policeman coming across a crime or one about to commit a crime could stop to consider the eventualities of any interference on his part. His loan duty as our loan duty is to stop, to nip in the bud, to be a real policeman on the beat. And where we see monopoly, it is our duty. It is contained in the statutes to stop it. And we believe. Now to get to the crime, sir. One of the points you make is that these companies in the Mediterranean have organized and controlled their production so that when there's an oil scarcity, they can produce oil. And when there's too much oil, they won't produce oil. Do you hold that to be reprehensible? Well, that's only one item in the long list of items that are involved in this monopoly that we have reported upon. It is not only dividing up the production, it is not only dividing up the markets. But isn't that just what we do here in the United States? No, we don't do anything like that in the United States. When it comes to the attention of the Federal Trade Commission, we have antitrust laws in the United States that would eliminate any price fixing, would eliminate any division of the market, or would eliminate any restraint that would stop the free flow of oil to our people. To sum this interesting little dispute, there's going to be a long lawsuit. Of course, minisuits file as a result of this. Now, to sum it up, however, our country companies are in the Middle East. They've done a pretty good job in development and in relations with those countries there. You are doing your job in serving as the watchdog and inquiring as to whether they're going to charge too much or have charged too much. And I imagine that our viewers are interested as a final observation in only one point. Since you are an old friend of the presidents, Mr. Truman, do you think that it's quite fair? Or is there any politics in your harassing the American oil companies right at this particular time? Oh, no, not a bit. I doubt very much whether there is any politics in the division that developed this report. We are a bipartisan agency made up of representatives of both political parties. I'm sorry, sir. Our time is up at the moment. Thank you very much for being with us tonight. Thank you. The editorial board for this edition of the Lone Gene Chronoscope was Mr. William Bradford Huey and Mr. Donald I. Rogers, our distinguished guest was former Senator James M. Meade, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. Buying a Lone Gene watch is like acquiring a custom-made watch, custom-made to your individual order. Lone Gene is always recognized that the purchasers of watches of Lone Gene quality expect this exclusiveness. These watches are only a few of the many hundreds of styles and models which Lone Gene produces each year to meet every taste and every preference, and this Lone Gene watch. 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We invite you to join us every Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening at this same time for the Lone Gene Chronoscope, a television journal of the important issues of the hour, broadcast on behalf of Lone Gene, the world's most honored watch, and Wittner Distinguished Companion to the World Honored Lone Gene. This is the CBS Television Network.