The evening times., 1898-07-21
ABOARD THEIR OWN SHIPS
Spanish Troops to Go Home on
Spanish Vessels.
UNDER. AMERICAN PROTECTION
Leading Ocean LinSh Vnderbid by
the .Conapan nis Transatlantica E"-
pamela, Which Obtains the Con-
tract for Transporting the Span
ish Soldiers to Spain.

| the principal transatlantic steamship lines
made joint bid yesterday for the trans
por.ation of 900 Spanish officers and 24.oW
soldiers. frNm Santiago to Cadiz. but met
| with competition from an unexpected
| source.
The contract has been awarded to r.
| A. C. Smith. Of this city. who acted In
this instance as agent for the Compania
Trasatlantica Espano1a, of Barcelona
| Under the terms of the contract the
firm agrees to have five vessels at Santi-
ago inside of nine days. two more in sew
enteen days. and such vessels as may be
| necessary 10 take away the remainder OF
the men inside of three weeks.
To say that there was astonishment in
the coterie of steamship men that gath
cred in the office of Col. Kimball, In the
Army Building. to hear the bids read Is
putting it mildly.
In the rst place, it had been announced
| in press dispatches from Washington that
| only ships flying neutral flags would be
| invited to compete. All the bidders. with
one exception. assumed that neither
: American nor Spanish ships would be
! considered. and the proposals made IN
| cluded ships registered in Great Britain,
! France, Germany, Denmark and Holland
! In the advertisement for bids, however,
no mention of the nationality of the
| transports was made.
| Col. Frank l.. Hecker, recently placed
| in charge of the transportation
| bureau of the War Department, came
from Washington to open the bids. United
| States District Attorney Henry l.. Bur-
| nett was present to see that all legal re-
quirementS Were observed.
Henry c. Plat. representing a surety
| company. was there. as were Gustav ii.
! Schwab of the North German Lloyd:
| Emil Boas, of the Hamburg-American
! Vernon II. Brown of the Cunard; Percy
! Sanderson of the -Furness-Ley-
| land com5ination, and other prominent
steamship men. Colonel Hecker opened
/ and read the ten bids. which were as
! follows:
New England ChemIcaI and Supply
Company. of Boston For transporting
1909 officers and 24.000 men. $4,000.
| l.. A. THEM & Co.. Philadelphia; 5000
, Spaniards on Spanish soil, SSs5.000.
| James W. Elwell & Co. New York;
| 1000 men on the steamship Neustria, at
| $40 for officers and s35 for men.
w. II. Thompson. New York: 80 Off
! GERS at $50. and 1.i0o men at Si5.
| George Osgood Lord. New York; offi-
GERS. $3.50: men. $3.50.
Joseph l.. ST. John. New York; officers.
s31.37: men, s2i.S..
! Joint bid OF the Anchor. Cunard. Ham,
| burg-American. North German Lloyd
| and Royal Mail lines. R. NJ Sloman & Co.
Frederick Leyland Company. limited:
Thomas Wilson, Sons & Co., and the
| on-Furness-Leyiand line: 1000 off,
GERS at sl1O. and 2iOcJ men at SIS.
C. b. Richard & Co. steamship Spartan
Prince: 30 officers. at S55. and 800 men at
| s25: and the Tartar Prince. 80 officers and
| 1000 men at the same rates.
The Tweedie Trading Company. three
ships. 1.GOO men each, at $50 for officers
and 500 for men.
| r. A. c. Smith. steamers of the Span
| ish Transatlantic line. under the Span
| ish flag. to be given safe convoy by
American vessels: officers $50; men, $50.
Little attention was paid to the first two
| bids offering to do the work for lump
| sums, as they did not conform with the
| specifications. The bids of Elweli & Co..
| Thompson. Richards & Co. and the
| Tweeiie Trading Company, each OF
| which was for a small fragment of the
entire contract. also received little con-
| s!deratiOn. The lowest bid in the lot was
| that of Joseph l.. St. John. who IS sad
| to be a broker. He failed to specify the
vessels he proposed TO use. and as no one
| present seemed to be advised as TO his
| ability to carry out so large n contract.
| it appeared that the matter virtually
| rested the joint bid of the large lines and
that of the Spanish line through Mr..
| Smith Up to the time that the latter
| was read Messrs. Schwab. Boas and
| other representatives of the combination
| seemed to think that the contract would
| be theirs.
Mr.. Schuab said that a bid like that
| of Mr. ST. John could not be carried out
| unless the prisoners We're made to sub
sist on water. He added that steamers
sent to Santiago to carry the prisoners
to Spain could take no freight. and there
fore must obtain higher rates than pre-
vail for cabin and steerage passengers
| from this city TO European ports on ves-
| se's carrying general cargo.
| He said that the danger of yellow fever
must be considered not only to the Off
| GERS and crews of the steamers, but the
| infection of the vessels as well.
He defended the joint bid of the lines
| and declared that it was not extrava-
giant. If the contract was obtained. he
said. it would be divided up among the
lines represented. which include about all
the transatlantic passenger lines except
the French and the American line,
neither of which made a bid
Col Hecker, after reading the last bid,
| had an abstract Of them all made, which
| he put in his pocket. announcing that he
would start Immediately for Washing
| ton.
RA c. Smith is president of the Amer
lean Mail Steamship Company, which
was organized three months ago to run
steamers between this city. Jamaica and
osher West Indian ports. He has been
connected with the Ward Line and is
credited with having chartered all the
vessels of the line to the Government. so
that instead of suffering enforced idle
ness during the war they have been earn
ing q handsime income.
]. NJ. CeballoS was one of the Spanish
commissioners appointed to arrange a
commercial reciprocity treaty with this
country. and while a Spanish official.
proposed solution of the difficulty be-
tween the United States and Spain by
the withdrawal of Spain from everything
except nominal sovereignty in Cuba
The Panama. one of the prizes captur-
ed by our ships. and the Santo Domingo.
recently destroyed by the Eagle belong
ed to the line which Mr. Ceballos rem
resents. Other steamships of the line are
the merchantmen Alfonso XII, Alfonso
XIII and Montevideo, which are now
Spanish auxiliary cruisers. The line also
purchased the Normannia and Columbia
German ships, now with Camara's SQUAD
ron under the names of Patriota and
Rapido.
1t is pointed out that to deal with this
line Is like paying money directly to
Spain, but. on the other hand. the az
gregate cost of transportation under their
bid will be only 00O0. against 81, ,43O. 900.
asked in the joint bid of the steamship
lines.
Officers In the Army Building were in
clined to smile when they contemplated