This piece began in KTB #153.

In the US, gasoline had been more than $2 per gallon in some areas. In Germany, gas had cost about 2 Marks per liter, a liter is a little more than a quart, a Mark is equal to about 50 cents, making gas in Germany equal to about $4/gal. Who is responsible?

Obviously, the big oil companies are trying to maximize their profits - but this is not the first time. Who can remember the so-called 'Arab Oil Embargo' of 1973? I remember it well, because I was Inventory Control Director at the corporate level of a major petrochemical company and I can assure you, there was no shortage of feedstock or petroleum at all. This contrived shortage allowed the company to raise their prices by 500% on both their industrial chemicals and the consumer products, including a nationally known brand of automotive anti-freeze. These products all use feedstock coming from petroleum and it was never in short supply.

Who gave us WWII? It was the 'Seven Sisters" in part. The 'Seven Sisters' were the world's petroleum companies, of which Standard Oil was the largest. The Chief Executive Officer of Shell Oil was so pro-Nazi that the British Government had to force him out in order to get fuel for their own military. In an interview in LIFE Magazine in 1940, the Chief Executive Officer of Texaco (Thorkold Reiber) stated that if any German U-boat Skipper saw a Texaco tanker helping the Allies, he had Reiber's permission to sink the Texaco tanker. But perhaps the one that made the most profit out of these world events was Standard Oil, today known as Exxon. When the German Luftwaffe bombed England during the Battle of Britain, they got fuel from Standard Oil. When the RAF went up to protect their homeland, they got their fuel from Standard, When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, they had fuel from Standard Oil in their tanks. CHARLES HIGHAM (35-1984) put all this in his book Trading with the Enemy but there is more -- and it is in the records of the United States Senate! What you read in this piece comes directly from the testimony of Hearings before a Special Committee investigating the National Defense Program during the 77th Congress, pursuant to Senate Resolution #71 in 1942.

This is from the report dated Tuesday, 31 March 1942.

The Committee met at 10:38am pursuant to adjournment on Friday, March 27 in Room 318, Senate Office Building with Senator James M. Mead presiding.

EDITOR NOTE – Mr. Farish and Mr. Howard are trying to explain the profit distribution on joint projects with Standard Oil and the German firm I. G. Farbenindustrie.

Mr. Fulton: “Do you regard that chart as correct; particularly the part in there referring to a minority interest in I. G. Farben, on the right-hand side?”

Mr. Howard: “I am sorry, Mr. Fulton, I didn’t get that.”

Mr. Fulton: “I say, is that chart correct, particularly where it describes the interest of the I. G. Farben as being a minority interest, on the right-hand side of the chart?”

Mr. Howard: “The chart is so complicated, I am sorry, I don’t see what you are referring to.”

Mr. Fulton: “Are you having difficulty understanding it? Would the State Department understand it?”

Mr. Howard: “Well, it took about two years to review it with them.”

Mr. Fulton: “Who wrote in this word ‘MINORITY’?”

Mr. Howard: “Oh, that’s on the left-hand side of the chart, Mr. Fulton. I am sorry.”

Mr. Fulton: “I was dealing with my right and your left. Who put in the word ‘MINORITY’ on the chart?”

Mr. Howard: “Why, I don’t know who put it in, but I believe it is correct.”

Mr. Fulton: “The control is a minority control?”

Mr. Howard: “No, it is not control. It is a minority interest. The control is owned by the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey and the Standard-I.G. Co.”

Mr. Fulton: “There are two things. One is control and the other the interest in profits. They are separate under the arrangements you made, are they not? Was it the minority control as distinct from the profits?”

Mr. Howard: “In Standard-I.G. Co. Both the stock and the profits in general followed the rule: 80% to Standard Oil of New Jersey. 20% to the I.G.”

Sounds like the guys from Standard Oil are as good at double talk at today’s politicians, doesn’t it? It appears to be a case of “cover your ass” through double speak and disinformation. Turn the page and watch how this circus continues.

Mr. Fulton: “And as to the profits also?”

Mr. Howard: “ Yes, sir; as a general rule.”

Mr. Fulton: “and now, from what company does that line run to what company?”

Mr. Howard: “You mean what company of the Standard Oil Group?”

Mr. Fulton: “Yes, what companies are connected by the line?”

Mr. Howard: “There are two lines; one running from Standard Oil-I.G. Co. to I. G. Farben, an done running from Standard-I.C. Co. to S. O. Company of New Jersey. These were the two stockholders and the two participants in the royalties.”

Mr. Fulton: “May I have that back for a minute? Now, from the I.G. Farben running to the Standard-I.G. Co., you say that definitely was minority control?”

Mr. Howard: “Yes, sir; not a minority control. No sir, Mr. Fulton. A minority interest.”

Mr. Fulton: “And control was definitely in the S. O. of New Jersey.”

Mr. Howard: “That is correct.”

Mr. Fulton: “Now, could the S.O. of New Jersey issue a license without the consent of I.G. Farben?”

Mr. Howard: “Oh, yes; through the control of Standard-I.G. Co., of which it owned 80% of the stock.”

Mr. Fulton: “And that could be done despite the I.G. Farben agreement that you had?”

Mr. Howard: “To the extent that the equitable interest in the patents in question was in the Standard-I.G. Co. The patents were sometimes divided, part of the patent rights remaining with the Germans themselves and part going to the Standard-I.G. Co. The part that went to Standard-I.G. Co. was within the control of that company. The part the Germans retained for themselves was in their sole control.”

Mr. Fulton: “Where was the part that the Germans retained within themselves referred to under I.G. Farben? I am talking particularly of synthetic rubber and chemicals.”

Mr. Howard: “That wasn’t in the Standard-I.G. Co. at any time, Mr. Fulton.”

Mr. Fulton: “That was still in the I.G. Farben?”

Mr. Howard: “That was in JASCO.”

Mr. Fulton: “And where is JASCO on this chart?”

Mr. Howard: “JASCO is not shown on this chart.”

Mr. Fulton: “Does it show anywhere in that chart that on chemicals, the Germans had the control?”

Mr. Howard: “No, there is no reference to JASCO on the chart at all. That was a detail of the arrangement which the chart didn’t attempt to cover.”

Mr. Fulton: “As handed to the State Department in connection with these patents which we are discussing now, which covered also the chemical aspect, the chart contains no reference to that phase of the agreement with the German company?”

Mr. Howard: “Apparently not.”

Mr. Fulton: ““Why was that left out?”

Mr. Howard: “Why, I assume because the chart was already so complicated that neither you nor I can easily see what it means now.”

Does this appear to you, on the surface at least, that the Brass from Standard Oil deliberately omitted some critical data from this chart? Does it seem that this chart has deliberately been made to be so complicated as to be nearly impossible to understand? And does it appear that the Standard Oil Brass seem to have ‘selective memory’ and decide what facts are to be remembered and which are to be forgotten – like who controls the world’s oil and chemical production…..then and now?

In KTB #165 next month, we’ll watch the executives of Standard Oil (New Jersey) attempt to tap dance around more questions from the Senate commission. And you thought the daily soap operas were complicated!