Memorandum on the Need for Protecting Free Enterprise During the Defense Emergency.

Memorandum to: Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Chairman, National Security Resources Board

Chairman, Board of Directors, Reconstruction Finance Corporation

Secretary of Commerce

Secretary of the Interior

Administrator, Housing and Home Finance Agency

Secretary of Agriculture

Secretary of Defense

Chairman, Interstate Commerce Commission

Secretary of the Army

Secretary of the Navy

Administrator, General Services Administration

Secretary of the Air Force

Secretary of Labor

As I pointed out in my State of the Union Message in January, 1947, during the last war the long-standing tendency toward economic concentration was accelerated. Partial mobilization, in the absence of protective measures, may again expose our economy to this threat and thereby imperil the very system we are seeking to protect. In numerous provisions of the Defense Production Act of 1950, the Congress indicated its concern over this danger to free competitive enterprise.

In order that this danger may be minimized, it is requested that, in performing those functions delegated to or vested in you by Executive Order 10161, you consult with the Attorney General and the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission for the purpose of determining and, to the extent consistent with the principal objectives of the Act and without impairing the defense effort, of eliminating any factors which may tend to suppress competition unduly, create or strengthen monopolies, injure small business, or otherwise promote undue concentration of economic power.

I am requesting the Attorney General and the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission to consult with you as the occasion requires and to report to me from time to time concerning the progress that is being made in carrying out this policy.

HARRY S. TRUMAN