The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-12-01
BERLIN PLANS
! EXTENSIONOF
HER SHIPPING

Berlin, Dec. L. (via Sayville. Dir
an article in the Tageblatt on the de.
velopment of the German mercantile
fleet for use after the war, Captain
Persius comments on the great OPP
timism prevailing in the most inter
ested and best informed quarters
which seem Indifferent to the threat
of war after the war; and are max
ing the most elaborate preparations
to take up business where they left
off in the early days of August,
1914. - 80
To that end, Captain Persius says,
amalgamations of a far-reaching ma
ture have been effected by the largest
shipowning companies with the Cap
tains Of iron and coal production.
Krupp and SHINES, for instance, be-
ing closely allied now with the two
largest German steamship lines, the
North German steamship lines, the
North German-Lloyd and the Ham
burg-American. Some of the fore
most German bankers, like Won
Gwinne, are now actively interested
in mercantile navigation. new ship
building yards are being built and
many new ocean greyhounds will sur
prise the world when peace comes
Despite all this optimism, German
shipping men do not blink the fact
that tremendous efforts will be neces-
sary to offset the great advantages
gained by neutral and entente mer-
camille fleets during the war through
the unparalleled freight rates, which
have not only wiped out their heavy
losses in tonnage, but have brought
immense profits to the owners. While
| their former competitors have -four
ished in a way never dreamed Of,
German ships have lain idle in home
harbors, interned in neutral ports or
pressed into the service Of the enc
my, and some have been sunk by him
The vessels that remain are eatine
up much capital in repairs and main
tenance, and their seaworthiness has
constantly decreased. The longer the
war lasts the greater these losses will
be.
| German shipowners, however, are
determined to see their difficulties
through, regardless of cost, being
convinced that as soon as peace is
concluded the German mercantile
| flag will again be seen in all oceans
They base their belief principally on
| the firm conviction that free naviga.
ton on the seas and free commerce
among the nations are inflexible laws
Of nature, and that those who raise
their hands against them must SUI.
or themselves At the beginning OF
the war super-patriots, even in Ger.
man,, started a stay-at-home propa.
ganda. They wished to burn their
ships, let home products suffice fol
their needs and refrain from travel.
-AS. After two years of war, how
ever, It IS held that common sense
should come into it's own again, and
that it should be remembered that al
civilized peoples are dependent upon
one another. Those responsible fol-
the removal of interest in shipbuiId-
ing say that the mischievous doc
trine that one nations progress must
be another nations defeat, that one
peoples fortune means another's mis-
fortune, has been at the bottom OF
this war, as it was at the bottom OF
the competition for the worlds mar
kets. Every competent merchant
knows that the consuming capacity
of any market may be unlimited il
wisely administered, and that one
competitors success is soon balanced
by another's efforts. The interests OF
competitors, they say, are strongly
interconnected; one serves the others
benefit; so the state is likewise de-
pendent on the prosperity of it's com.
petitors.
For such reasons German shippins
men have little fear of threats of q
projected war on German trade after
the war, of which, indeed, little has
been heard lately from England AND
France.