In 1914, after the sudden death of Langeloth, Carl M. Loeb, previously a branch manager, became president of AMCO.Stack, Elizabeth. Immigrant Entrepreneurship: "German American Biographies: "Carl Morris Loeb" Retrieved December 21, 2017 Loeb vertically integrated the company by expanding into the ownership of smelting and refining facilities while he secured his supply of raw materials by signing exclusive contracts with large mines to purchase their entire output, and he then processed them at AMCO-owned facilities. He also expanded AMCO's activities into Mexico with investments in lead, silver, and zinc mining first as an agent for its parent Metallgesellschaft and later as a direct owner during World War I. In 1917, AMCO refined 250 million pounds of copper, 547 million pounds of zinc, and 168 million pounds of lead. Before the United States entered World War I in October 1917, Metallgesellschaft (then led by :de:Richard Merton, the son of Wilhelm Ralph Merton), transferred its 51% ownership in AMCO to several American citizens, who were also AMCO managers. Once the US entered the war, the country passed the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, which required German-owned business assets to be held by the Office of Alien Property Custodian. Despite Merton's efforts to hide Metallgesellschaft's ownership, Loeb reported to the agency that the assets were in reality still owned by their German parent, and the stock was then transferred into a trust supervised by Henry Morgenthau Sr., Berthold Hochschild, and Joseph F. Guffey.
