New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-08-01
LINERS TIED UP AT
EMPEROR'S WORD
Kaiser a Stockholder in
Hamburg American and
North German Lloyd.
HIS FRIEND BALLlN
CANCELS SAILINGS
Recall of the President Grant,
One Day Out, Unprecedented
-Vaterland Is Held.

One Of the largest stockholders in
beth the North German Lloyd Line and
the Hamburg-American Line, the
steamships Of which were withdrawn
from transatlantic cratic yesterday, is
'he German Emperor A large part of
his private fortune is invested with the
two companies.
Herr Albert Ballin, director of the
Hamburg-American Line, is close
friend of the Emperor.
Yesterday forenoon there came ca
tle from Herr Ballin ordering the
President Grant, t1enty-four hours out
from this port and headed for Europe,
recalled. The sailing of the giant
vaterland, scheduled to depart this
morning, was cancelled at the same
time.
The significance of the order was
recognized at once in shipping circles.
When a similar action was taken a
few hours later by the North German
Lloyd Line there remained little doubt
that in the opinion Of the Emperor war
was inevitable.
In the minds of mary the holding IN
port and withdrawing from the ocean
of the ships in which the money of the
Kaiser and his close friends is in
vested threw more ENLIGHTENMENT on
the European situation than any Of the
censored press dispatches that have
found their way out of Germany.
Nothing but the Kaiser's personal
belief IN the outcome of the present
tangle could have caused his friend,
Herr Ballin, and the officials Of the
other steamship company TO take the
extraordinary measures to which they
resorted to insure their property 1t
was argued last night.
Recall Without Parallel.
The recalling of the President Grant,
which sailed from Hoboken. on Thurs.
day morning, is without parallel in
shipping annals.
The order of Herr Ballin, friend of
the Kaiser, had been transmitted from
the local Office of the Hamburg-Ameri-
can Line TO a wireless station. The
operator flashed it through space.
Hundreds of miles away, ploughing
through the waves, the President
Grant picked up the command and
needed.
"The President Grant has been
stopped by wireless and is proceeding
back to this port" was the matter of
fact way in which the steamship Of
flee announced the news.
This morning the shipping of the
German nation is practically tied up.
All ships of the great merchant marine
fleet Of the empire are hugging their
wharves or scurrying 10 the nearest
port of safety. Martial law, established
in Germany yesterday by the Kaiser,
has spread to the sea.
More than 5000 passengers. booked
TO sail for Hamburg on the Vaterland
this morning, were astonished yester-
day to learn that the mammoth hier
had been declared out of commission
ON the other side OF the Atlantic the
announcement that her sister ship, the
Imperator. second only to the Water
land i'm size, would not. sail for New
York Yesterday created equal conster-
nation. Thousands Of Americans are in
Germany and cannot get out OF the
country. Steamship communication
with outside countries has been cut of,
while the government has taken over
the railroads.
The Princess Irene, of the North
Continued on page 2, column