426 CONFERENCE ON NATURAL BEAUTY 



mentioned, even in the studies that were presented here. Of course, 

 the definition of a free market involves a base and this is the founda- 

 tion of independent and small operators and units, and it involves 

 secondly and equally the operation of the law of supply and demand 

 in a free market. Whether there is a free market which is holding 

 up the flow from the automobile wrecker to the scrap processor to 

 the melting furnace is a question that requires serious consideration 

 in view of the fact that there has developed a concentration of eco- 

 nomic power in the industry. 



One other point in the form of a critique is that we are making 

 a bits-and-pieces approach to the problems of the industry and divid- 

 ing up the discussion and the recommendations between advisory 

 councils, task forces, solid waste panels and other ad hoc inspirations, 

 which will cause the industry to fall between many stools. 



My final point is that this is not the forum for the consideration of 

 the base of the problem; namely, the free market. It requires a 

 higher study group, because this industry involves three national 

 principles first, conservation; second, national defense; and third, 

 the preservation of the small businessman. This must ultimately re- 

 quire the attention of the people at the top who make policy and it is 

 our hope and contribution to the discussion that the President should 

 appoint a Cabinet committee of the appropriate Secretaries, with Jus- 

 tice in it, Interior, Commerce, and the Council of Economic Advisers. 

 This committee would study among many problems, first, the trend 

 to monopoly and the place of the independent in the industry, and 

 the effect of this on the free flow of scrap; second, a balancing of the 

 metallics used in the steel industry with the iron ore imports and the 

 natural harvest of scrap ; and third, the establishment of a bureau of 

 natural resources within the Department of the Interior, where the 

 primaries are located, and have a direct relationship with the 

 secondaries. 



The industry is entitled to a comprehensive approach and not a 

 bits-and-pieces approach to the problems. 



Statements Submitted for the Record 



Dr. LUDVIG G. BROWMAN. Proposals concerning junked automo- 

 biles and other metal junk: 



1 . To clean up the heritage of the immediate past. 



