war, was the Lewisohn business reorganized, of which Tobias Wolfson was vice president; and the American Smelting and Refining Company was, apparently, the Guggenheim interests.
There was no competition between these two during the war!
How did it come about that these two worked together? Their case is clear on paper: their answer is that Mr. Baruch asked them to! And Mr. Baruch is clear, too; was he not a government official? And did they not show patriotism in doing as the government official bade them?
It came to this: the “Government” made a rule that it would do business only through the American Metals Selling Company as the representative of the copper producers of the United States. This meant, of course, that if the few competitors of this Jewish copper combine were to do business with the government, they too had to make arrangements with the American Metals Selling Company.
- Mr. Graham—“But how did it happen that you were representing the other companies who were your competitors?”
- Mr. Wolfson—“Well, at the request of the War Industries Board, we offered a copper producers’ committee.”
- Mr. Graham—“Who requested that?”
- Mr. Wolfson—“Mr. Eugene Meyer, Jr., representing Mr. B. M. Baruch.”
- Mr. Graham—“Now let us find out who Mr. Eugene Meyer, Jr. was. Do you know him?”
It develops that Mr. Eugene Meyer, Jr., is another Wall Street man who “had large investments in copper,” though whether he retained them during the war, Mr. Wolfson did not know.
- Mr. Graham—“Then Eugene Meyer, Jr., went into the War Industries Board and took up with the copper producers the question of furnishing copper, did he?”
- Mr. Wolfson—“Yes, sir.”
As a result of that request a meeting was held at 120 Broadway, at which were present, among a few others, S. S. Rosenstamm, L. Vogelstein, Julius Loeb, T. Wolfson, G. W. Drucker and Eugene Meyer, Jr.
