The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-07-16
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM A TON
Blu RE AU
GERMAN BUSINESS IN AMERICA.
FREDERIC J. HASKIN, Director.
Washington. D. c

planned to obtain control of certain
American ports with a view to ham
pering their development and further
ing German intrigue in this country.
was revealed when Saint Andrews
bay, OH the Gulf of Mexico, recently
fell into the hands of A. Mitchell
Palmer. the custodian of alien prop
erty. For this harbor and the land
surrounding 1t were owned by the
prince of a small German state; its
affairs managed by a German syndi-
cate, and German ships entered and
left the harbor nightly.
1t is significant to note that Saint
Andrews bay possesses all the poten-
tialities of a thriving metropolis of the
southeast. 1t lies on the northwest coast
of Florida, $50 miles from Pensacola
and AZ miles from Apalachicola. 1t
is said to possess a better harbor than
either OF these, and it ia in direct line
with Havana and almost in direct line
with Colon. Only a few rods of track
are necessary to give 1t railroad con-
nection, by way of Atlanta, with the
Atlantic seaboard the west and mid
die west. With some essential i'm
provements it might outstrip any
other port OF Florida when the ex-
pansion of South American trade be-
gins after the war.
Yet until less than a year ago this
potential city was controlled by Ger
many almost as completely as a
ostensibly operated a small lumber
mill close to the waters edge. 1t
possessed a considerable number of
boats, oseensibly for the purpose of
transporting timber to Atlantic ports;
who are now completing very
thoro investigation of what the syndi-
cate did not do say that the lumber
business was used as a cloak for a
much more sinister one.
The land measures some 200, 900
acres, most of IT valuable timber
property. Nearly all of the employees
of the syndicate were Germans or
naturalized Americans born In Ger
with the jewellers in the surrounding
country and spurned whatever ad-
vances the natives made. The Allan
IA and Saint Andrews BY Railroad
had a terminus at Panama City, less
than three-quarters of a mile from the
harbor and the offices of the syndi-
cate. 1t is said that officials of the
railroad offered to build an extension
to the mills. thus opening another
avenue for the transportation of the
timber. The syndicate rejected this
offer bluntiy and, in so many words,
informed the railroad. that it could
do very well without its help.
At the time Of the first raid by the
department of justice the syndicate
had been in existence some fifteen
years. According to neighboring resi-
dents whose curiosity had been set at
high pitch from time to time, by the
wall of eXclusiveness with which the
Germans surrouned themselves, not
enough lumber was cut in a year to
pay the expenses of a single month
Yet. at regular intervals, boats glided
in and out of the harbor, depositing
mysterious carSoes, and carrying off
large stores of no one knew what.
These visitors always came and went
at night. For long time they came
perhaps two or three times a week,
but after the war between Germany
and the entente, the visits increased
until at last they occurred nightly.
When the raid took place large
stores of printed propaganda were
FOUND in the offices of the syndicate
1t is believed that part Of the work
of these German agents-for such
they undoubtedly were-was to pre-
pare propaganda for distribution
dent, vice president, and a number of
directors Of the syndicate were in
termed at Fort Ogfethorpe.
Whether or not it was q part of
prevented Saint Andrews from maxi
ing its deserved development as a
port The shipping board has tenn
porarily taken it over, to use the
timber in the construction of the new
merchant fleet. When the timber has
been exhausted Saint Andrews will
be offered for sale at a public auc-
ton.
Saint Andrews bay is surrounded hv
wealth of tradition and romance.
some Of it historically authentic, and
some OF it doubtful. 1t was slightly
out Of the track of Ponce de Leon
and Tristan de Luna, the early Span-
ISM explorers. and no permanent set
dement's were made on its shores un-
I'll after Florida became a member of
the Union. But. little more than a
stones throw from the Caribbean, in
the days when rich galleons sailed the
Spanish main, Saint Andrews bay
was rendezvous for at least a half
dozen pirate crews. The notorious
buccaneer, Teach, or "Bluebear," used
to seek its snug obscurit.- when the
fleets OF France and England became
too ntmble. The less celebrated lut
equally picturesque Captain label is
supposed to have hidden his loot hard
by one of the banks during a fierce
seamen who helped to bury it, was
killed himself by a bolt of lightning.
Saint Andrews bay is but an item,
however, in the list of unusual proper
ty to be disposed of by Mr.. Palmer.
Tho some of ie is sure to find q ready
dAASlg tIiC GuSlOOldI1 Is puzzled
to how to reach buyers for a great
part of it. For example: A large
quantity Of pig intestines shipped
from Shanghai was seized in San
Francisco under the provisions of the
trading with the enemy bill. Four
hundred dollars worth of proprietary
medicines made in Leipsig were seized
in Philadelphia. and in New York the
department took over 200 pounds of
shooting gallery powder. The intes-
tines, which were imperfectly packed.
are unfit for any use the custodian IS
aware of, and as for the medicine it
is hardly to be believed that there is
an American who is foolhardy enough
to take them with the knowledge that
they had been manufactured in Ger
many.
However, such cases are not fire.
quent enough to be the rule. Four
boxes of astronomical instrum ents of
a very rare quality. were purchased
Nv ~ UT