%7 



in used batteries became an active form of small enterprise, in conflict 

 with the interests of battery manufacturers. 



In the larger arena of national concern was the economic question 

 as to the role of small business and the concentration of economic 

 power in the United States. A number of congressional investigations 

 before and dm-ing World War II had revealed that major consolida- 

 tions of economic power had occurred. Congressional efforts to diffuse 

 this control and ownership had taken such forms as encom-aging 

 preferential contractual opportunities for small businesses, establish- 

 ment of credit and information assistance, and the like. However, it 

 was generally held that wartime production tended to favor larger 

 enterprises. This had happened in World War II (1941-45) and 

 again in the Korean war (1950-53). Concern for the health and vigor 

 of small business was a well-established feature of public policy by 

 1953. 



Also relevant to the battery additive controversy was the relation- 

 ship of the Federal Government to private business generally. During 

 20 years of administration by the Democratic Party, economic ac- 

 tivity and regulation of business by the Government had increased, 

 attributable generally to successive periods of depression, war, recon- 

 version, and war again. The new Republican administration, assuming 

 office in January 1953, had campaigned on a platform that included a 

 promise to reverse the trend toward intervention and regulation of 

 private enterprise. 



Finally, the scientific community had assumed greatly increased 

 importance, nationally, during and after World War II. Scientific 

 contributions to military weaponry had prompted a general belief in 

 science as a potential somxe of solutions to many public problems. 

 Unprecedented resort was had by committees of Congress to the ad- 

 vice and information of leaders of the scientific community. Scientific 

 groups had quickly learned to "politicize" themselves — to achieve 

 effective access to the political decisionmaking points in Congress and 

 the executive branch, and to express their views as representatives of 

 substantial and concerted groups. 



Issues groiving out of the AD-X2 case 



Initially, the AD-X2 issue appeared as a conflict between the 

 regulatory processes of Government to protect the consumer from 

 fraud and misrepresentation and fairness to an entrepreneur. 



The political context of 1953 gave force to the issues of small business 

 versus big business, and small business versus Government 

 bureaucracy. 



The initial response of the Secretary of Commerce — which was to 

 redress the balance more in favor of small business b}^ removal of the 

 Dii'ector of NBS to signalize a shift in policy — was interpreted by the 

 scientific community as the application of pressure on science to pro- 

 duce politically acceptable findings. Political objectives were thus 

 counterposed to scientific objectivity. 



Once the scientific issue was raised, the Secretary of Commerce and 

 others read into the controversy a confu'mation of the nonobjectivity 

 of NBS itself — as already alleged by Ritchie. This injected into the 

 controversy the question as to the merits and value of NBS itself as a 

 gTeat national laboratory. 



99-044—69 3 



