Standard’s Day

To Washington last week went President William S. Farish and associates of The Standard Oil Company (N.J.) armed with bottles and briefs, and with grim determination to clear the name of Standard (N.J.) in the eyes of the people (U.S.) The bottles contained samples of certain synthetics now vital in the war effort; the briefs contained case histories of Standard’s deals with Germany’s I. G. Farbenindustrie by which the vital synthetics were secured.

For weeks & months, Standard’s name had been taken in vain. Name-calling reached a peak when Senator Harry S. Truman shouted “Treason!” (TIME, April 6) on the occasion of Thurman Arnold’s charges. Now it was Standard’s turn to refute the charges and last week the company talked back—under the grudging auspices of the Senate Patents Committee.

Smart President Farish, whose approach is as smooth as his head, told first of his Humble Oil beginnings, but barely reached page one of his 35-page statement when the interruptions started. Senator Homer T. Bone, chairman, was quick to challenge any implication that the case against Standard had been one-sided. Said the Senator: “I am fed up on big outfits like yours indicating to the public that Congress is trying to ride them. God knows we are not big enough to ride your outfit. You are one of the biggest corporations in the world.” Later, the Senator philosophized for the record on such far-flung subjects as education of youth, property rights v. the human rights of men in the draft, social progress as demonstrated by the funnies and society pages. By noon of the second day Farish had reached page five.

The three day goings-on in Room 318 of the Senate Office Building sounded like a radio script. There was even a flurry of anger and a flash of fists when the government’s Robert M. Hunter remarked on the last weary day that of six Standard witnesses he would take the word of only one. Standard’s vice president Robert T. Haslam (one of the doubted) personally objected, offered to meet Mr. Hunter “outside.”

Bit by bit, Standard’s President Farish & Vice President Haslam, Standard Development’s President Frank A. Howard cleared up these points for the record:

> Standard’s pre-Hitler contracts with I. G. were a purchase and exchange of manufacturing information rather than a cartel carving up world markets.

> Germany got cash; U.S. got processes. Said William S. Farish: “It is my own conclusion . . . that the U.S. got far more from Germany than Germany ever received from us. If we could have known [that the war was coming] we would have been even more anxious than we were to sign these contracts.”

> Standard’s gasoline sales to Axis airlines in South America were approved by Jefferson Caffery, American Ambassador to Brazil. Said a State Department “background” release quoted by Farish: “In connection with the testimony of Mr. Farish [before the Truman Committee] that the American Ambassador in Brazil and several State Department officials had approved the sale of aviation gasoline to an Italian airline in 1941, Mr. Farish’s testimony in this regard is correct.”

> Standard’s oft-mentioned preoccupation with the almighty dollar did not prevent destruction of $50,000,000 worth of wells and equipment when the Japs surged into Sumatra. Said Farish: “The case which the witnesses attempted to build is a jerry-built house. And the foundation of sand on which the whole thing rests is the assumption that the executives of our company have forgotten that the life-long policy of every American is first, last and always to put almighty America above the almighty dollar.”

As evidence of its contribution to the war effort, Standard pointed with pride to these chemical advances which stem from its relations with I.G. since 1927:

> Synthetic toluol, basic ingredient of trinitrotoluol (T.N.T.), basic military explosive. Without synthetic production, available T.N.T. would be only half as much as it is.

>Synthetic ammonia, processed from natural gas by I.G. methods. Ammonia is most important in a war, specifically for explosives.

> Paraflow—motor oil antifreeze.

> Aviation gasoline—the first process for producing 100-octane gas, which enabled U.S. to grade up motor performance from 1934 on.

> Paratone, which permits close control of viscosity of hydraulic and recoil oils used in every cannon, tank, fighting plane and ship.

> Synthetic rubber—the Buna processes, which are the foundation of the U.S. synthetic-rubber program, and Standard’s butyl, developed from I.G.’s Vistanex. Asked Standard’s Farish, “What do you think Hitler would give today to be able to keep America from using these discoveries and processes?”

Two Conclusions were apparent as the hearings wound on: 1) some people in the Government still look with suspicion on Standard’s motives; 2) regardless of any contracts between the two companies all Standard-I.G. deals are dead and done with, and whatever is left of I.G.’s interests is now a matter between governments.

> Said Senator Bone, as the hearings closed: “Perhaps you thought I was not all sweetness and light. … I dislike a lot of the controls under our patent laws . . . because I think they worked to our disadvantage. I am particularly irked … in fact I feel most bitter . . . because it was a German control.”

> Said Standard’s Farish: “We as a company are proud of the technical knowledge we have brought into this country, and what we have been able to do with this knowledge once we got it here. . . . All of us have come down here because we felt that . . . our reputations, our motives, our integrity had been questioned. Others have read into cold legal documents motives that were not there. . . . We have tried to show what we did for America with what we got from Germany, because what we intended can best be judged by the record of what we did.”