New-York tribune., 1920-10-07
Clegggg Charges
Shipping Deal
Aids Germans
Kerr Company President
Says Hartman Contract
Gives Hamburg Line Big
Advantage atsOur Expense
Taxpayers Will Foot Bill
Calls Agreement s'Window
Dressing; Asserts War
Clause Penalties America

Alfred f. Clegg. vice president Of
the Kerr Steamship Company. yester-
dsy attacked the contracts entered into
between the American Ship and Com
rercc Corporation and the Hamburg
American Line. He declared. in a pre-
pared statement, that the complete
texts of the agreements show that
American taxpayers will be called upon
TO help restore German trade. W.
Averell Hartman. president OF the cor
poration. on Tuesday made public the
details os The contracts signed by his
company and the Germans on June 19
Mr. Clegg asserted that the Harri-
man interests expect to obtain ships
from the United States Shipping Board
and then put them into service on a
partnership basis with the Germans,
and he contended that for some years
any deaci, will have to be made Up
from Amer can sources. He declared
that the pooling of gross profits will
give the Germans an advantage and
that virtually the whole agreement, ex-
tending over q period Of twenty years.
will "act as q crutch TO restore Ger
man shipping TO a pre-war basis" at
the expense of American shipping.
"If Shipping Board steamers are
operated under this contract" Mr..
Clegg said "the loss to the taxpayer
will be enormous, with no compensat-
ing benefit such as building up the
carrying trade for the future.
III The provisions of the Jones bill
are enforced. an American marine can
be sustained without an alliance Of
This one-sided character
Calls Agreement window Dressing"
Mr.. Clegg described the general
agreement made by the Germans with
the Hartman interests AS window
dressing He then attacked the vari-
Gus sections of the operating agree
ment, asserting it to be poorly worded
and loosely drawn" Some OF his criti
csms are;
Germany probably win have no
shipping for five years; therefore
American tonnage Will have to act as
Z crutch for Germany during this pc
rod, and l. is during this period of
I'VE years. when the maritime nations
are striving 10 obtain large share of
ocean carrying trade, that there win
be keen competition and consequent
losses TO bear
Tho history of steamship operat-
.ng is a succession Of gains and losses
one or the other depending upon
fuctuating world markets and move
ments- consequently we must look be-
yond the mere establishing of trades
and follow their probable up-and-down
course when twenty-year undertak
ing is being considered.
section s. Takes from the Ameri-
can ship owner the right to trade addi-
tional steamers in the services ne has
made profitable, and clearly obliges
aim u dedicate his steamers to one
manys overseas trade.
"Section 9. 1t is in the contradict
tory sentences of this section that the
H. A. L. enters it's 1s5 900 gross regis
ter tons the amount agreed upon).
representing about 100000 tons total
deadwelght, when ready, and Ameri-
can steamers must be withdrawn.
American steamers so withdrawn
shall cease to be employed under this
agreement
"fhe contract throughout is stamped
with the German desire to be helped
over the next five years, when probably
only the Americans viii have steamers.
After five years every slip-up or de-
fault Of the AmerlcaNs is an advantage
Tor the Germans for the balance of the
contract period.
War Clause Penalties Americans
Section is. War Clause The Amer
lean company IS heavily penalized by
this clause If its steamers are requi-
sltloned by the American government