Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-04-09
BILLIONS OF GERMAN
CAPITAL HERE SEIZED
These Huge Investments Gave
"Kultur a Strong Foothold
in This Country.

1
| the alien property custodian, already in
vested with probably the greatest trust
! funds in the world, will undertake the
! task of breaking up these outposts of
| kutur which in the years gone by have
been nothing less than agencies Of the
| German military and diplomatic system.
The same law authorized the Presi-
| dent To take title to the great German
| steamship piers and wharves at tioboken,
| n. j. During the war these will be used
| by the army and navy. What will be-
come of them afterward has not been
entirely planned.
But the auction of German property
| interests and investments will put on the
market some of the NEST eggs held in
America by many prominent German
statesmen and even by the German en-
peror. His holdings are said 10 be gilt
edge and although held in some cases
through other persons they nre sure to
be uncovered by the relentless search
of the alien property custodian.
Combating every device to conceal
German ownership in American concerns
probing into the facts regarding every
suspicious company, selzlng wherever
there is evidence of an enemy alien
ownership the value of stock in American
! FbiptiatftliS Sp fHt idhtit tNti w "a
Mitchell Palmer, the Alien Property
Custodian, is enormous
The possession of the stock in these
corporations carries with It the control
of large lumber companies. cement con
Germs. brewery establishments, chemical
works. trust institutions and manufac-
turing plants OF all kinds In all of these.
the alien property custodian having the
majority of the stock, has placed q ma
joritv Of directors to represent the gov
crnmcnt during the period OF the war
and SO long attcrward as NAV he neces-
sarv,
TAKEs oVER MANY RIG CONCERNS
More than fifty large companies. rang
ing in value as high as $4,000 900 each.
arc already under government control
in this way and heavy interest IN many
other concerns has been taken over
through the operations % the Alien Prop
erty CllStodiaus Office The purpose IS to
MAINTAIN and continue the product aud
development of these corporations for the
advancement Of American industries
Thorough and permanent NmcnCatnza-
ton of these corporate Industries IS pro
posed under tho power oi sale given by the
amendments 10 the urgent deficiency
appropriation act.
inquiries coming into the Alien Custo-
dams Office from every direction indicate
that the exact scope of tins arm oi the
government, with its ramihcatlons not
only throughout continental nlted States
hut into Hawan. the Philippines. Porto
Rico. the Virgin Islands and elsewhere, is
not clearly understood II seems to be
bit puzzhng to many how an American
corporation. existing under the United
States laws and dong business IN the
United states can be So zcd by the Alien
Property Custodian as Il the corporation
were an enemy alien The custodian
frequently announces that he has APP
pointed aboard o, directors Of some large
American corporatlot, despite the fact
that there seems 10 be no provision in
what is known as the Trading with the
Eremy Act which gives HIM any such
authority This procedure, however,
is simple. effective and altogether regular
rEnRErlNG OUT OUR ENEMIES.
The Trading With the Enemy act
under which the Office Of the Alien Prop
crtv Custodian Is created. requires every
corporation IN the nIted States to trans
init tn hun full list OF Its stockholders
who are known TO he or whom II has
reasonable cause to believe TO be. "enem-
les When these reports disclose that q
Majority Of the corporation stock Is
enemy held the custodian issues a
demand on the corporation. or on the per
son holding the certificates Tor such stock
in tins country. "a cause 10 be transferred
TO HIM in his official capacity all the enemy
held stock Upon compliance the custo-
dian becomes the holder of the majority
OF the stock, with right 10 ask representa-
tive OF the board oi directors proportion
ate 10 his holdings. and through the IN
stalation OF these government nominees
the corporation affairs are conducted or
supervised under the government general
direction,
All the right title and interest of the
enemy in the stock 50 demanded be-
come vested in the custodian and the
urgent deficiency law. through its amend
ments which were fought over III Con-
gress, empower him TO sell the stock.
Being sold TO American citizens, this will
effectualIv Americanize all these corpora
tions that heretofore have been German
controlled and the question after the
war. il is announced will relate to the
distribution of the proceeds Of the sale
and not to the restitution or dIstrlbu-
tion of the stock itself
TRADING WITH ENEMY BANNED.
The Trading With the Enemy law
was approved by President Wilson,
October g. 1t prohibits trading directly
or indirectly, in any manner whatever,
with t he enemy In anticipation of the
declaration of war last April 6. and the
passage of this law, many OF the Ameri-
can corporations owned by Germans
tried to cover up the situa tion by adj
roitly selling the German-held stock TO
American citizens, taking payment there
for in notes payable after the war, or
in 1928 or at some other distant date,
and holding the stock as collateral to
such notes Another way was to incor-
porate German partnership IN this
country and issue stock In payment,
which in turn would be sold by the Ger
man agents to American citizens for a
nominal consideration or for a consld-
Grafton represented in long time nom
interest bearing notes. This was with the
hidden purpose Of simply holding the
German interests free from the operation
of the Trading With the Enemy act until
after the war, when the property would be
restored TO the original German owners.
The corporation returns do not dis
close upon their face the interest which
the enemy really has in them. If the
plans resorted to were carried out prior
to the declaration of war, il IL claimed
they were legal and cannot now be as
sailed by the Alien Property Custodian
and the fact that such acts We're done
in anticipation OF the war declaration
does not invalidate them any more than
the acts done IN anticipation of the
-a5Saua IF far1H tauC arp Invalid