Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-04-25
j. S. STARTS WELL
To GAIN BUSINESS
GERMANY DROPPED
Only Other Competitor Is
England, According to
View in Hamburg.
Cabiccram 10 The star and the Chi
ergo Daily News, Copyright. 1870.

ergo b1tly news, tOpyrfSht, Io-O.
HAMBURG. April 24.-'Learn Eng
lish and be prepared for the future.
seems to be the motto Of this city
today. The stores are full OF English
Srammars and English dictionaries
and practically all of the officials
speak English well. The situation in
Hamburg at present may be sum-
married. thus: The immense com
merce on which the life of Germany
has depended has fallen out of her
hands and must be absorbed by some
great foreign country.
What country shall that be? There
are only two large enough to be real
mpetitors-England and the United
States.
United states Has Advantages.
The United States has gained a
splendid start for these reasons:
I. BY virtue of the peace treaty
the German shipping has been cut
from 100000 tons TO less than $780,
600 tons. all OF which is represented
by small coastwise vessels. Germany
has no large ocean liners left.
,. American tonnage for months
past has been increasing twice as fast
as that of any other country.
3. Negotiations are now going on
in New York which may seat the Unit
ca states SiipPLlS IoOdIh III
the saddle by giving 1t control over all
the immense Hamburg-American line
facilities abroad.
Shipping Comparisons Given.
In the month of March. 1920. the
Hamburg port authorities registered
about $1,000 tons of American ship
ping in eighteen steamers, compared
with 10000 tons English in twenty
Six vessels and $4,000 tons Japanese
heats TN a ~ Eah
ruary the Japanese tonnage exceeded
the English by 10000. while the dis
proportion between the Anglo-Saxon
nations stood as three to- one. A
curious item to be noticed is the
superior number of English ships
North sea boats The Scandinavian
and Dutch figures came next, but
were less important than those Of the
countries mentioned.
of course, you realize the impor-
tance of the negotiations going on in
New York" exclaimed Dr. Kaegbein
of the Hamburg Amerika line. "On
director Cuno'S success there will
depend one of the greatest maritime
transactions in the world. The gen.
eral plan is to secure cooperation
between German and American inter
ests- You have ships, but neither SOL
diers nor engineers to run them. We
have the men, but no ships. If
contract can be made for a certain
term of years by which the Shipping
Board can use all our prestige, docks
and business connections abroad it
Will benefit both sides. Without such
an arrangement / hardly see how you
can utilize most of the tonnage you
built during the war and since the
armistice. Without such an agree
ment l know that England will cap
ture forever the greater part of the
German trade. Without II her prob
lem of unemployment and maritime
reconstruction will remain unsolved."
1T looks as If this port is to be-
come as great point of international
war" said Herr Robinow of the mu-
nicipal chamber of commerce. I'VE
Germans. like the Belg1ans in 1914.
have no navy left worth speaking
about. Every foreign commercial line
extant seems anxious to gain foot
hold here. Why. the Japanese now
have three large companies in Ham
burg. while before the war they had
none at ALL
Americans Lead Mt Hamburg.
In all. as have taken the trouble to
ascertain. there are twenty-one reg
ular foreign steamship lines calling
here at present, of which six are
American and FIVE British. Perhaps
the most important is the Kerr line,
acting under the aegis of the Ham,
burg-American line. At least three
of its vessels have entered Hamburg
in each month since September. 1919.
The business done by all together,
however, is tiny in comparison to
that done by the Germans before the
war.
Intermittent though special efforts
seem to be under way to revive con-
nections with Latin America first
One Of the big Hamburg newspapers
is publishing. a special edition In
burg" which is being shipped to
South America in large quantities.
1t purports to explain the German
cause and particularly the evil eff
fects Of the Versailles treaty: To al
the people interested therein il is
pTppa ga nda in the best sense.
Yhe Hamburg-South America
Steagnsf.ip Company has chartered
three Scandinavian ships in the last
two npont tbs and negotiations are un-
der way for several more to take
Germany cargoes to Argentina AS ex-
planned to me by the managing
director of the line. the company be-
lieves l0ore in chartering ships.
despite tine ruinous state of the Ger
man exch Snge, than in cooperation
with Amer Jean concerns: "Once you
get the Am orleans into our commerce
they will ever get out again." is a
significant tatement overheard. The
Hamburg-Anterica line itself is ship
ping as muoN as possible to South
America thro ugh the Kerr line.
Through the kindness of the port au-
thorities l WIS enabled to make
tour of the harbor. 1t was pitiful
TO see the des,llation rampant. These
magnificent dc tcks. warehouses and
cranes, among the best in the world.
are empty or idle. saw but five ocean
liners in quartz RS capable of holding
Il hundred. About the only spot Of
real hustle was the wharf alongside
of which was nsoored an American