Thorny Plum

The struggle for control of T.W.A. has been so rough and bitter that friends of Jack Frye thought he would surely look for a nice easy job after he quit as T.W.A.'s president. But this week Frye was elected board chairman of General Aniline & Film Corp., now controlled by the Office of Alien Property Custodian. And G.A.F. is involved in a squabble that makes T.W.A.'s look like a simple game of hopscotch.

The latest squabble was started by Remington Rand, Inc., reported to be the largest minority stockholder in G.A.F. (the Government owns 97%). Rand, maker of photographic as well as office equipment, seeks control of G.A.F., whose 3,500 patents make it the richest of all plums in Alien Property's hands. Chairman and President James H. Rand, 60, a brisk, bulky individualist who will go the limit to have his own way, loudly charged that the Government's Alien Property Custodian had been entirely wrong in seizing G.A.F. in the first place soon after World War II began.

Though some businessmen were baffled by the sudden uproar, Rand knew very well what he was doing. The Government had seized G.A.F. in the belief that G.A.F.'s Swiss parent, I.G. Chemie, was a front for Germany's I.G. Farben. But since the war's end I.G. Chemie has intensified its claims that it never was any such thing. Remington has bought large interests in I.G. Chemie--and in Interhandel, its corporate successor. If Rand can prove that U.S. seizure of G.A.F. was unwarranted, it will have to be returned to the Swiss, with whom his chances of doing business are good.

If I.G. Chemie's claim is not upheld, Rand figures he still has a good chance to acquire full ownership of G.A.F. A presidential directive forbids the licensing of any seized patents as long as any minority stockholder objects, and no one would want to buy G.A.F. without its valuable patents. Thus Rand could, in effect, forestall G.A.F.'s sale until all other bidders lost interest, and he could pick up G.A.F. at a bargain price.

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