The Washington herald., 1920-09-09
BENSON BARES
SHIPPING DEAL
Says u. Sherman Agree
ment Will Greatly Benefit
This Country.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.

ping Board had come to the con-
Clusion that it was better to have
private interests deal with the Ger
mans than for the Shipping Board
to negotiate with them. The Ger
mans had originally applied to the
Shipping Board for such an alliance.
The board informed the Senate that
it would sanction a private agree
ment only after satisfying itself Of
its safety, from an American stand
point, and by vote of 10 to the
Commerce Committee gave the board
the necessary authority. 1t was
therefore no longer incumbent upon
the Shipping Board to consult Con-
gress. The March IL vote clothed
it with full power to go ahead and
20. X" any deal with the Germans
that it saw lit to do.
The Shipping Board, on receiving
the analytical memoranda prepared
by its general counsel in criticism
of the proposed agreement, prompt
ly placed the objections be had
raised before w. Averill Hartman,
president of the American Ship and
Commerce Corporation. The board
asked Hartman to clear up the
weak points in the scheme which
Dean had discovered. They in
cluded the counsers skepticism
about the accounting arrangements
which the agreement provided for.
He was also not quite satisfied
about the rights with which the
Germans are clothed to start "serV-
ices on their own account, whether
the Americans join in conducting
them or not.
Hartman Impresses Board.
Hartman went into these objec-
tions in detail. He satisfied the
Shipping Board that they were
more apparent than real. He es-
planned that there was no alien
money, German or otherwise, in the
American Ship and Commerce Cor
poration. and asserted that there
was no possibility of alien control
over sits operations. The Shipping
Boards general counsel had laid
much stress on the fact that the
agreement provided for services"
between GerI.any and non-Amer-
lean ports. Hartman showed that
these were feeder" services such as
every globe -girdling shipping COM
pany in the world was required to
conduct in connection with its
general operations. The German
agreement speaks of a S1o,00O,O00
corporation in which "at least 81
per cent" should be American
owned Hartman assured the
Shipping Board that by no chance
did this mean that 49 per cent could
or would ever become German
owned. 1t was a technical financial
measure, pure and simple, and did
not denote that virtually half OF
the American Ship and Commerce
Corporation was, or one day would
be, German property.
The Shipping Board was i'm
pressed with Harriman's argu-
ments and calculations, and me
sanction of the agreement was
presently forthcoming.
Experts Approved.
The board failed also to see any
objection to the fact that the Har-
riman-Chandler combination had ap-
pointed w. G.. Sickel, for many
years American director of the
Hamburg American line, to be "asr
sistant to the president Of the
corporation. Sickel abandoned a
contract with the German line,
which still had six and One-half
years to run. to enter the corpora
tion's service and Hartman re-
garded himself fortunate to secure
the services of so experienced a man
as the Hamburg Americans late
chief employe in the United States.
! Sickel was described to the Shipping
Board by Hartman as an American
born of 100 years American an
cestry" Nor did the Shipping
Board take umbrage at the fact that
still another important Hamburg
American line official, E. Lederer,
who had managed the New York
end of the company's steerage bust
| ness, was taken over by the Harri-
man organization. Hartman rep
resented the engagement of both
Sickel and Lederer as an effective
stroke not only for his corporation,
but for the American merchant
marine. which he and his friends
were anxious to develop. The Har-
riman concern. in addition to SickeI
and Lederer. acquired the services
of Captain E. c. TObey, late of the
United States Navy, of whose 100
per cent American patriotism there
can be not the shadow of a doubt.
lODCy vas NHt tulCl european rep
resentatiye of the Shipping Board
in Europe during our participation
in the war. Prior to that he was
paymaster of Admiral Sims naval
establishment in European waters
He has expert knowledge of world
shipping conditions.
Admiral Benson said to me last
night:
Benson's Statement.
Il want to be clearly understood
as approving whole -heartedly and
unreservedly the agreement which
the Hartman people have entered
into with the Hamburg American
line. I look upon the opportunity
which was given US, and which the
enterprise of Mr.. Hartman and his
associates enabled us to grasp, as
nothing short of heaven-sent, from
the standpoint of the future of the
American mercantile marine. When
our counsel raised objections, they
were duly submitted by me to Mr..
Hartman, and 1 did not sanction
the agreement until he had satis-
faCtOrily removed these objections
in my judgment. There is not
single detail of this German trans