among the members of the respective commodity groups or with information concerning the companies that composed the respective groups. Operation of these agreements was suspended in September 1939, and Steel Export Association of America took action September 7, 1939, to dissolve. May I interject at this point that the Federal Trade Commission was misinformed on that latter point, because while the action was formally taken on September 7, 1939, we have, among these documents, documents as late as 1943 on the letterhead of the Steel Export Association indicating that business here in the United States was being conducted in the name of the Steel Export Association. Naturally these particular documents were not found in the files in Europe, since there was no direct mail service between here and the International Steel Cartel at that time. The Federal Trade Commission requested the association to preserve its records and make them available to the Commission, and the association promised to comply with the Commission's request. However, the association had already destroyed all of the records except its accounting records. The CHAIRMAN. That, of course, was during the war? The CHAIRMAN. Would you say that the Steel Export Association was doing business with the international cartel even during the war? Mr. MARTIN. No, Mr. Chairman. They were not doing business with the international cartel. They were doing-there was business being done in the name of the Steel Export Association in the United States during the war, with the evident intention of keeping the organization alive with a view to its postwar resumption. I am merely commenting on the point that the Federal Trade Commission said that the Steel Export Association took action September 7, 1939, to dissolve. The CHAIRMAN. As a matter of fact, it took action to continue. To repeat: However, the association had already destroyed all of the records except its accounting records. That again is not quite correct, because a representative of the Department of Justice does appear to have gone to the offices and secured some of these files which were supposedly being destroyed. We found copies of many of the agreements which the Federal Trade Commission has mentioned in this paragraph in the files of the cartel at Luxemburg and in certain files of the German members that fell into our hands in Dusseldorf. That was in the early spring of 1945. I have here, Mr. Chairman, the documents which are the basic agreements among the original members of the International Steel Cartel governing not only the cartel but the separate comptoirs and syndicates. There are also copies of the agreements made between the cartel and the British Iron and Steel Federation covering the same products; and I have also copies of the agreements made between the Steel Export Association, on the one hand, and the British and continental groups, on the other, associating the American Steel Export Association with all of these. For the information of the committee and of the Federal Trade Commission, I would like to submit copies of these agreements which the Federal Trade Commission report says the Steel Export Association failed to supply. The CHAIRMAN. They are rather voluminous, and they might clutter up the record. I have the opinion that we will accept them now to be placed in the files of the committee; and then we can determine later which portions of those documents that you submit should be placed in the record. Mr. MARTIN. All right.1 Mr. MICHENER. There is no reason why you cannot submit to the Antitrust Division all this evidence without going through the form of presenting it here, is there? Mr. MARTIN. I should say that since 1945, when I personally sent these materials back to the United States, I have on several occasions called these documents to the attention of representatives of the Antitrust Division. Since I am no longer connected with the Government, I have no way of knowing whether the Antitrust Division has contemplated taking any action. The files which were turned over to me did indicate that in 1946, following a conversation I had with the head of the Cartel Section of the Antitrust Division, a member of the Cartel Section did make a preliminary survey of the contents of these documents and wrote a memorandum for their files on that subject, but no action was taken by the Antitrust Division so far as I know. Certainly no court action has been instituted. Mr. MICHENER. Well, to whom do these files belong at this moment? Mr. MARTIN. At this moment these files belong to the Department of Justice. They have been released with the permission of the Attorney General for me to study in the preparation of this statement. Mr. MICHENER. In other words, the information, then, is before the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice? Mr. MARTIN. Not quite, sir. Actually, it took us 3 weeks of tracing through the Department of Justice to find where these particular files resided, and we finally found them residing in filing cabinets in the Office of the Alien Property Litigation Section, which is part of the Office of Alien Property, and they were down in the HOLC Building on Indiana Avenue. Mr. MICHENER. What I am getting at is, you were over there when you got this information as a representative of the United States Government, and you secured certain photostatic copies and documents from the files. Now, of course, those files belong to your employer; and, as I get it, you delivered that information to the Department of Justice, and you were through with it. You left the Department of Justice; the information resides in the Department technically at the moment; but, at the request of our chairman and counsel, the Department has loaned these files, these secret files, from the Department to you as an individual in order that you might make further study. Now, who compensates you for this work now? Mr. MARTIN. There is no compensation that I am receiving for this work, sir. I assume that the committee may see fit to repay me for some of my out-of-pocket expenses for typing and other services, but I receive no compensation. Mr. MICHENER. You mean our committee here? 1 The documents selected appear as exhibits S-89 through S-91 in Steel Exhibits, pp. 110-187. The remaining documents are in the files of the Subcommittee. Mr. MARTIN. Neither this committee nor any other person is compensating me personally for Mr. MICHENER. From whom do you expect to get that compensation? Mr. MARTIN. I expect to get no compensation from any person in any form for the work that I have put on this. I have done it as a public service because I am convinced that the information involves more than a simple question of whether or not the antitrust laws are being enforced. After all, I assume that I am appearing before a committee of the Congress which has the power to recommend additional legislation. From my study of these matters, I am convinced that there are serious matters involving foreign policy which ought to be considered, and therefore I am donating my time. I have donated my time for a month, to come and make this kind of study as a public service. I am not being compensated for it. Mr. MICHENER. That is all I am getting at. Mr. MARTIN. That is correct. Mr. MICHENER. We always like to know when a witness appears before this committee who he is, where he comes from, why he is here, who is paying him, and what his particular interest in the subject matter may be. Now, those are fair questions that we try to develop all along the line. If we did not do that, we would be falling far short of our duty. Mr. MARTIN. I quite understand, and I wonder whether you are satisfied that I have answered your question? Mr. MICHENER. Well, if I have it correctly, you were with the Government and dug up this information. Mr. MARTIN. That is correct. Mr. MICHENER. You turned the information over to the Government. You are not connected in any way, shape, or manner with the Government? Mr. MARTIN. That is correct. Mr. MICHENER. That is, today. You knew of this information which you had secured and delivered to the Government, and the Government has permitted you, as an individual, to go through its files here, and get such information as you think might be of benefit to this committee, and present that information to the committee. Is that right? If I am not right, I want to be corrected. Mr. MARTIN. That seems to me to be correct. Mr. MICHENER. Now, I have always questioned taking a sentence or two out of a speech or a statement out of a context as the evidence of what the whole thing contains. Now, in this particular instance, you have gone through all of these files and you found them in different places in the Department of Justice, and you have brought to us just such parts of the evidence as you feel should be presented to the committee? Mr. MARTIN. I am afraid I must disagree with you, sir, at that point for the following reasons and to the following extent: I spent 22 years in Germany after the time during which I had secured these particular files. I was in charge of the decartelization branch of 96347-50-ser. 14, pt. 4a-25 military government, in intimate contact with the entire problem. posed by the concentration of power in German industry. I was asked by this committee to make a study of the International Steel Cartel in its relation to all of these matters. I did not Mr. MICHENER. When you say you were asked by this committee, you mean by Chairman Celler The CHAIRMAN. By the chairman and counsel. Mr. MICHENER. That is correct. You made this study; you are not appearing here as an individual; you are appearing here as one whom the committee has selected to make a study. Mr. MARTIN. That is correct. Mr. MICHENER. And present the findings of the study to the committee. Mr. MARTIN. That is correct, sir. Mr. MICHENER. So really you are one of us. Mr. MARTIN. That is correct. The only one of your points that I was taking issue with was the suggestion that I had gone through the general files of the Department of Justice to select only those matters which would support the particular thesis that I was about to present. Actually I have here many, many documents which we selected because they were the documents in the files of the cartel itself, appearing under the various headings in their files, such as "Relations with American Producers." Mr. MICHENER. Yes; I said that you were one of us. What I meant was this: I consider technically, at least, if not practically, that we operate as a committee, and that I am one of the committee, and that counsel is paid for by the Congress to assist the committee in getting the facts. So if we have counsel here, even though I have nothing to do with his selection, he is supposed to represent the committee in getting the evidence, the same as you were representing your Government, not any individual, when you were going through all of these files in Europe. I make that explanation because I said "one of us." Now that is what I mean. Mr. LEVI. May I interpolate at that point to state the chronology on this so that we can have it precisely in the record? Counsel was aware of the existence of these documents. His own experience in the Department of Justice was such that he knew that these documents existed. He, therefore, asked the permission of the Attorney General to have those documents made available to this committee. These documents are voluminous. He, therefore, thought that possibly the person who got the documents was the best person to present them to the committee and, therefore, asked the permission of the Attorney General to have those documents turned over to the committee, and then asked Mr. Martin, who got the documents, to put them in order for presentation to this committee. Mr. MICHENER. Well, I am glad to have an explanation. Mr. WILLIS. In other words, the documents were actually released to the committee? Mr. LEVI. That is right. Mr. MICHENER. Released to the committtee, not to an individual at all. Mr. LEVI. That is right. Mr. WILSON. I would like to ask a question. What is your position now, Mr. Martin? Mr. MARTIN. I am an attorney and writer. I happen to be employed at the present moment as a research worker for an institution known as the Foundation for World Government. I must say for the record that this appearance is in no way connected with the Foundation for World Government. It neither approves nor disapproves anything that I am saying. I merely have the permission of my employers to take a leave of absence from my regular work to do this work requested by the committee. Mr. WILSON. And you are drawing compensation from that organization? Mr. MARTIN. I do draw compensation from that organization on an annual basis to prepare certain studies which they have requested me to make. I am not being compensated by them for the preparation of this particular study. Mr. WILSON. Did you or have you at any time in the past have anything to do with drawing the platform of any of the political parties? Mr. MARTIN. Yes; I have helped with the Progressive Party. I have suggested platform planks for the Democratic Party. Mr. WILSON. During the last campaign Mr. MARTIN. Certainly. Mr. WILSON (Continuing). Which part of the platform did you have to do with drawing? Mr. MARTIN. I suggested planks concerned with the control of international cartel activities, largely. Mr. WILSON. Did you have anything to do with the section of the Progressive Party platform that had to do with monopoly? Did you draw that? Mr. MARTIN. I attempted to participate in drawing it. I did not particularly approve of the draft which the platform committee made. I would not say it is a correct statement of my views on monopolies. Mr. WILSON. Did you have anything to do with this statement: The Progressive Party will initiate such measures of public ownership as may be necessary to put in the hands of the people's representatives the levers of control essential to the operation of an economy of abundance. As a first step, the largest banks, the railroads, the merchant marine, the electric power and gas industry, and industries primarily dependent upon Government funds or Government purchases, such as the aircraft, synthetic rubber, and synthetic oil industries, must be placed under public ownership. Did you have anything to do with that part of the platform of the Progressive Party? Mr. MARTIN. I participated in the discussions that led to the drafting of that. I would say, to a certain extent. Mr. WILSON. Is that your view? Mr. MARTIN. What did you say? Mr. WILSON. Is that your view? Mr. MARTIN. No, but for this reason: I do not think that public ownership would work in this country for the simple reason that even if we resorted to public ownership the same people who operate the |