The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-01-14
AMERICAN FOODS
REACH GERMANY
BRITISH DECLARE.
More Drastic Policy Plan
ned Likely To Be Felt
in u. S.

New York; Jan. 14-Bankers are
taking exceptional interest in the
news that Great Britain is preparing
/ to make her blockade of German
ports effective. The opinion was ex-
pressed in some quarters yesterday
that an iron hand on traffic into Ger
man waters might considerably re-
strict our commerce with Europe. In
spite of the efforts of the British
navy, it is said, large quantities of
American goods are finding their way
into Germany through neutral coun-
tries.
There is a great deal of business
passing through our hands, said the
head of a prominent Wall street bank,
which .ostensib1y represents routine
transactions between merchants in
neutral countries of Europe and mer-
chants here, but we feel positive that
a substantial part has to do with
consignn1ents. of goods that ultimately
reach Germany. It would be difficult
to trace the steps necessary in selling
and delivering products of the United
States to the Garmans, but am con-
WINGED that if the extent of the bust
ness were known many persons would
be surprised .tf
Similar opinions were expressed in
other banking quarters The head of
the foreign department of an import
ant banking concern said shipments
to Germany weekly amounted to a
round total.
81 couldn't put my finger on any
transactions known to- be for German
account said he, ''but am positive
that they are being handled every
day. Great Britain is enforcing an
embargo on certain commodities in.
the neutral countries, such as cotton
=
ducts of value to the Germans which
can be shipped from Norway;
Sweden, and Holland into Germany by
breaking the spirit rather than the
letter of Eng1and's rules. Into Dutch
ports are going large quantities of
foodstuffs and semi-fnished manu-
lecturers, which are primarily for
Holland But the importation of
goods from America enables Dutch
merchants to export into Germany
similar quanaity of equivalent goods
of domestic production. The same
theory can be applied to the trade be
tween this country and the Scand1na-y
Wan countries. There are not direct
shipments into Germany from the
United States, but in effect that is
the net result
Bankers for some time have found
support for this belief in the markets.
for Berlin and Amsterdam exchange.
GTuiIders on the local exchange mar
ket have been notably strong for
weeks, the quotation being one of a
very few to stand above parity, and
at the same time Teichsmarks have
tended downward. One explanation
forS the fall of marks has been that
rates were dropping because of the
sentimental effect of Germanys IN
ternaI monetary and credit situation.
Bankers who have studied the sftua-
ton have believed, however, that a
more material factor than this was
depressing mark quotations, especia1-
" as guilders continued to show a i
rising tendency. tI
1t has been stated in conservative !
quarters that guilders were going up
because marks were being converted |
nto gt1iIders. In other words, selling |
IF marks worked to depress the mar |
xete while buying of gu1ders tended |
% lift the gui1der quotation upward, |
he selling being by Dutch banks and |
merchants who were realizing on the /
Exchange created through sales OF
goods to Germany, and rffe buying /
being the final step in the process of |
getting the funds back to Amsterdam. |
There have been sales Of reichnarks
n New York by German banks which !
desired funds at this centre, but the
1ulk Of offerings for many weeks is
believed to have come from cities of |
he Netherlands. The logical explain /
Ltion, in the opinion of close obser-
7ers, is that Hollands exports into
Germany have been on a broad scale, I
which must have been offset by Dutch
IMPORTS from other neutral countries.
The belief is held by bankers with
German connections that copper is go
ng from this side to German ports in
arge amounts. This is supposed to
De a potent reason why rumors have
;ome from London that the TradingNl
With the Enemy act may be applied
o certain copper producers in a MANI
Ter expected to curtai1 the business
handled by German interests here.
rhe method employed IN exporting
copper is evidently not known, al
hough there have been rumors of
vesseIs cleared for RUSSIAN ports I'M
appearing at netral ports
f the North countries, whence the
argoes were transshipped into the
"a Lie Sea |