White House Press Release

HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE 79 March 12, 1948 CONFIDENTIAL: The following report to the President by the Attorney General on the investigation of steel price increases by the Depart- ment of Justice, MUST BE HELD IN STRICT CONFIDENCE until released. NOTE: Release is automatic at 6:00 o'clock P.M., E.S.T., tomorrow, Saturday, March 13, 1948, simultaneously with reports to the President by the Council of Economic Advisers and the Department of Commerce on this subject. The same release applies to all newspapers, radio announcers and news commentators. PLEASE GUARD AGAINST PREMATURE PUBLICATION OR RADIO ANNOUNCEMENT. CHARLES G. ROSS Secretary to the President - The President has received from the Attorney General the following progress report of the investigation conducted by the Depart- ment of Justice into recent increases in steel prices: My dear Mr. President: This is a progress report of the investiga- tion by the Department of Justice, conducted at your direction, to ascertain whether the increases in steel prices recently made by various members of the steel industry were the result of an agreement among the producers in violation of the antitrust laws. NARA This investigation is being carried out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation under the super- vision of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice. On February 24, 1948, officials of sixteen steel companies were simultaneously interrogated with particular reference to the recent price changes on so-called semi-finished products. These are products of the steel mills which are raw materials used in the fabri- cation of finished steel products, and include blooms, billets, slabs, forging ingots, tube-rounds and skelp, and certain so-called "extras" applicable to them. From these are fabricated the finished steel products, such as plates, strip, structural shapes, and the like. The sixteen companies involved in this investi- gation are: Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corporation, Pittsburgh, Penn. Bethlehem Steel Company, Bethlehem, Penn. Republic Ster Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation, Pittsburgh, Penn. Inland Steel Company, Chicago, Illinois Columbia Steel Company, San Francisco, California Geneva Steel Company, Geneva, Utah Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company, Birmingham, Alabama Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company, Youngstown, Ohio American Rolling Mill Company, Middletown, Ohio National Steel Corporation, Pittsburgh, Penn. Wheeling Steel Corporation, Wheeling, West Virginia Colorado Fuel & Iron Corporation, Denver, Colorado Allegheny-Ludlum Steel Corporation, Brackenridge, Penn. Superior Steel Corporation, Pittsburgh, Penn. Alan Wood Steel Company, Conshohocken, Penn. (OVER)