The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-06-16
GERMAN Ships DISOBBY
The Law Ignored in the Payment
of Advances TO Crews.
An Advantage Over All other Ship
ping-A Test Suit to BE Brought in
Treaty Rights Permit Ignoring the
Statutes of the United States.

NEW YORK, June 15.-United State
Shipping Commissioner Joseph NJ. Dicke!
has written to Eugene T. Chamberlain
Commissioner of Navigation at Washing
ton, asking if there is any treaty in force
between Germany and this country whic.
conflicts with the enforcement of the al
| lotment act in the case of German vessels
This allotment law. which was enacted ii
Congress over a year ago, prohibited II
| general the payment of more than one
months advance wages to seamen.
One of its sections specifically stated
that the law applied to foreign as well a:
to American shipping. unless there was q
conflicting treaty. German shipowners have
been extensively paying advances. despite
| the law. Commissioner Dickey has not
yet heard from Washington in regard tC
| the matter.
A specific case will be taken Immediately
| into the courts by Clark H. Abbott, coun-
| sci for the seamen's branch of the Legal
Aid Society. A sailor named Pool, down
on the ships papers as a carpenter, shipped
on the German steamer Curityba, now
sailing between New York and the West
Indies under the Cuban flag, at wages of
VS. month. with $40 advance.
The schedule of allotments forbids the
payment of any advance whatever between
this port and-the West Indies. AS is the
rule in such cases, POOLS $40 was divided
among the boarding masters and crimps
here for alleged debts to them, and he
received rs on his return from the voyage,
which lasted one month. The Legal Aid
Soclety's counsel has li5eled the Curityba
for the full amount of the mans wages.
The German shipowners,'' said Mr..
Abbott today, pay no attention whatever
TO the allotment law, taking the view that
1t does not apply to them. They assert
that they are free to buy any amount of
advance they please. / do not know of
any treaty which gives them this right,
and have written to Washington to find
out if there Is one
In any case such a proceeding gives the
German shipping an immense advantage
over American and over British shipping
1.-THE British ships are complying with the
iaw). for If there were any dearth OF sea-
men 1t would be impossible for American
owners to get crews for the vessels. All
the sailors would go where they could get
an advance. and the crimps and boarding
masters would force them to do SO.
Luckily there is no scarcity of sailors
mere, but in San Francisco at this moment
they are Offering $40 down at the capstan's
head and can't fill up their vessels at that.
II such state of things existed here
American shipping would be paralyzed All
the good that would be done in subsidiz-
Ing the merchant marine would amount TO
nothing compared to the disadvantage Of
having German vessels free to pay unlim-
tied advances, and SO control the market in
the matter Of shipping crews
Commissioner Hickey said that the state
OF things which such discrimination in
favor of German shipping would bring
about was obvious that while he did not
know what reasons there might be for
placing Germany outside the Jurisdiction
OF this shipping law, IL such treaty ex-
listed. 1t plainly would create an outrage
Gus amount OF difficulty for American ship |
owners in case seamen became at all |
scarce. The commissioner said he ex-
pected an answer from Mr. Chamberlain |
at an early date, and would then know |
what his powers in the matter were.
August Feigel, the German Consul Gen.
eral, showed the reporter section of the |
consular treaty between Germany and the |
United States which provides that the con-
sui shall have exclusive charge of the in
ternal order OF German merchant vessels
with power to determine differences on
the question OF wages between master and
seaman.
But the sailor has no relations with
the captain said the reporter, until
after he has been shipped-shipped in &C
cordance with the United States al.ot-
ment law"
Herr Feigel replied that he declined to /
discuss the various aspects of this sec
ton of the treaty, and said that he knew
Of no provision which touched more par
on the point of paying advances.
IF the case of man who had been
shipped with an unlawful advance should
be submitted to you, what would you say?"
The consul declined to answer as, he
said, no such case had come to him.