remaining of the original 525 acres taken by the Government in 1942, consisting of approximately 8 acres. Enactment of the proposed legislation is justified in view of the fact that it was originally intended that a relocated road would be constructed along the north boundary of Andrews Field affording access to the remaining property of W. W. Stewart not conveyed to the Government. Following the conveyance of the land to the Government, a road was constructed at the north end of Andrews Airfield, but not at the northern boundary of the property. As a result, a narrow strip of land, lying to the north of the road, constituted the northern boundary of the air base, thus preventing legal access to the property of W. W. Stewart from the relocated road. Enactment of the proposed legislation will permit the sale of this small strip of land to the estate of W. W. Stewart, thus permitting legal access to the property. The original bill provided that this small portion of land should be donated and conveyed to the estate of W. W. Stewart, but in view of the fact that a fair value was paid to W. W. Stewart for the original 525 acres, the committee concurred in the recommendation of the Department of the Air Force that the bill should be amended to provide that the Government should receive a fair value in return for the surplus portion of the land to be conveyed to the estate of W. W. Stewart. The bill has therefore been amended so as to permit the Secretary of the Air Force to determine a fair value for the property to be paid by the estate of W. W. Stewart before the property can be conveyed. The enactment of the proposed legislation involves no cost to the Government. The Bureau of the Budget interposes no objection to the proposed legislation as indicated by a letter from the Department of the Air Force, hereby attached and made a part of this report. Hon. CARL VINSON, DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE, Chairman, Committee on Armed Services, House of Representatives. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: We refer to your recent request to the Secretary of Defense for the views of the National Military Establishment with respect to H. R. 3864, a bill to return certain lands taken from W. W. Stewart by the United States. The Secretary of Defense has delegated to the Department of the Air Force the responsibility for expressing the views of the National Military Establishment. The purpose of H. R. 3864 is to authorize and direct the Secretary of the Air Force to donate and convey to the estate of W. W. Stewart a tract of land lying to the north of relocated State Route 337, which was formerly owned by the said W. W. Stewart and which is a portion of the land taken from him by declaration of taking filed on November 7. 1942, in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. The declaration of taking filed by the Government on November 7, 1942, covered 525 acres owned by Mr. Stewart, and the sum of $50,000 was deposited in court in support of the declaration. An award of $47,000 was made to Mr. Stewart in March 1943. In March of 1949 the Office, Chief of Engineers, Department of the Army, was formally notified that land designated as "Tract A-1, Andrews Air Force Base, Md.," formerly owned by W. W. Stewart and lying outside of the right-of-way of Maryland State Route No. 337, was surplus to the requirements of the United States Air Force. Therefore, the Department of the Air Force has no objection to H. R. 2864 insofar as it provides a means whereby the estate of W. W. Stewart may recover possession of that small portion of his former holdings which has thus become surplus. However, H. R. 3864 as now drafted authorizes and directs the Secretary of the Air Force "to donate and convey" the surplus property to the estate of W. W. Stewart without reimbursement. Since Mr. Stewart received fair value from the Government in exchange for the land, and since the surplus portion of the land has been enhanced in value by the construction of Maryland State Route 337, it is recommended that H. R. 3864 be amended to provide that the Government shall in turn receive fair value for the return of the surplus portion of the land to the estate of W. W. Stewart. The Department of the Air Force interposes no objection to the enactment of H. R. 3864 provided it is amended as recommended above. The enactment of H. R. 3864, provided it is amended as recommended herein, would not result in any cost to the Government. This report has been coordinated among the departments and boards in the National Military Establishment in accordance with the procedures prescribed by the Secretary of Defense. The Bureau of the Budget has been consulted and advises that there is no objection to the submission of this report to the Congress. Sincerely, THOMAS D. WHITE, Major General, United States Air Force, Director, Legislation and Liaison (For and in the absence of W. Stuart Symington). O 1st Session No. 1191 AMENDING AN ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT TO SUPPLEMENT EXISTING LAWS AGAINST UNLAWFUL RESTRAINTS AND MONOPOLIES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES," APPROVED OCTOBER 15, 1914 (38 STAT. 730), AS AMENDED AUGUST 4, 1949.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. BYRNE of New York, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 2734] The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 2734) to amend an act entitled "An act to supplement existing laws against unlawful restraints and monopolies, and for other purposes," approved October 15, 1914 (38 Stat. 730), as amended, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with amendments and recommend that the bill as amended do pass. The amendments are as follows: Page 1, line 6, following the figures "1914", insert ", as amended". Page 1, line 6, strike out the word "Annotated". Page 1, line 6, strike out the word “sec." and insert in lieu thereof "secs.". Page 1, line 6, following the figure "18", insert "and 21". Page 3, line 17, strike out the word "not" and insert in lieu thereof the word "nor". Page 4, line 4, strike out the word "not" and insert in lieu thereof the word "nor". Page 6, lines 11 and 12, strike out "circuit court of appeals of the United States" and insert in lieu thereof "United States Court of Appeals". Page 6, line 20, strike out "circuit court of appeals of the United States" and insert in lieu thereof "United States Court of Appeals". Page 7, line 1, strike out the word "testimoney" and insert in lieu thereof "testimony". Page 8, line 6, strike out the figure "240" and insert in lieu thereof "1254". 94781-49- 1 Page 8, lines 6 and 7, strike out "the Judicial Code." and insert in lieu thereof "title 28, United States Code." Page 8, lines 10 and 11, strike out "circuit court of appeals" and insert in lieu thereof "United States Court of Appeals". Page 8, line 25, and page 9, line 1, strike out "circuit court of appeals of the United States" and insert in lieu thereof "United States Court of Appeals". Page 9, line 3, strike out "circuit court of appeals" and insert in lieu thereof "United States Court of Appeals". All of the above amendments are merely formal and correctional. ECONOMIC BACKGROUND Measured by practically any method and compared to practically any standard, the level of economic concentration in the American economy is high. The Temporary National Economic Committee found that, if an individual product is picked at random, there is a one-to-one chance that the four largest producers of that product will account for 75 percent or more of its output.1 Moreover, the long-term trend of concentration has been steadily upward. Although comparable postwar data are not as yet available, the National Resources Committee found that while the 200 largest nonbanking corporations owned about one-third of all corporation assets in 1909, by 1928 they owned 48 percent of the total, and by the early thirties the proportion had increased to 54 percent. This longterm trend is confirmed by another series prepared by an analyst of Moody's Investment Service, which shows that 316 large manufacturing corporations increased their proportion of the total working capital of all manufacturing corporations from 35 percent in 1926 to 47 percent in 1938.3 This long-term rise in concentration is due in considerable part to the external expansion of business through mergers, acquisitions, and consolidations. Thus, in the case of the steel industry, mergers and acquisitions of other companies accounted for one-third of the longterm growth (1915-45) of the Bethlehem Steel Corp.; and twothirds of the growth of Republic Steel. And in the case of the industry's largest firm, the original formation of the United States Steel Corp. represented the greatest consolidation in history, with more than 170 formerly independent concerns having been brought together at one fell swoop. Much the same situation is true of the copper industry, in which no less than 70 percent of the long-term growth (1915-45) of the three largest companies, Anaconda, Kennecott, and Phelps-Dodge, has been due to external expansion through acquisitions and mergers.5 The importance of mergers and acquisitions as a cause of economic concentration has increased rapidly during recent years with the acceleration of the merger movement. During the period, 1940–47 some 2,500 formerly independent manufacturing and mining companies disappeared as a result of mergers and acquisitions. This is a minimum estimate, since it is based upon a sample drawn principally ITNEC Monograph No. 27, The Structure of Industry, 1941, pp. 413-481. National Resources Committee, The Structure of the American Economy, 1939, p. 107. 3 Cf. 79th Cong., 2d sess., Economic Concentration and World War II, S. Doc. 206, 1946, pp. 6-7. 4 Federal Trade Commission, The Merger Movement: A Summary Report, 1948, p. 25. Federal Trade Commission, The Copper Industry, 1948. |