The Washington herald., 1920-09-20
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

Copyright, 1870, by Public Ledger Coz
Germany's present attempt to re-
habilitste herself at sea with the
aid of United States government
ships is her third successive effort
to obtain a stranglc hold on the
American merchant marine. In cv-
cry case the effort has emanated
from the same quartcr-thc Ham
burg American Line. With two of
the German raids these dispatches
have already dealt-thc Hartmann
shipping Board deal, just consum-
mated, and the frustrated purchase
of the first mortgage bonds OF the
international Mercantile Marine
Corporation on the eve of the war
in 1914.
To-day details can be supplied of
the earliest scheme hatchcd by the
fertile brain Of Herr Albert Ballin,
late chieftain of the Hamburg COM
pany, for control Of the United
States inter-coastal shipping via the
Panama Canal.
scheme Born in 1912.
The scheme was put forward at
the end of 1912 and pushed with
true Teutonic eagerness. The Ham
burgers were not abaShed by the
circumstance that at that very mo-
ment Attorney General George w.
Wickersham. acting on behalf of the
Taft Administration, was proseCut-
ing them in the Federal courts of
New York State for violation Of
the Sherman antitrust laws.
Canal antarnriGa NJ 9
worthy of the Napoleonic mind of
Ballin. whose company's coat-of-
arms is emblazoned My Field in the
World" AS is the case with the
combipation effected with the Har-
imans and the Shipping Board. the
canal proposal was to be a fifty
fifty" German-AmeriCan partner
ship.
Oners Immediate Funds.
American shippers who had tried
and failed to finance such scheme
on their\own account abandoned il
because they could not raise SIS
600, 900 for the purpose. When Bal
lin heard of their predicament, he
came forward and offered to furnish
the money within twenty-four hours
He was warned that stringent Amer
lean regulations would have to be
imposed. BalliR was not terrified
He declared his Willingness to put
up the millions ION any terms" so
anxious were the Germans. he said.
to secure a foothold in what they
knew was a super-profitable trade.
The Hamburg PROPOSE
tion was submitted through the late
Bernard N. Baker, of Baltimore.
then managing director of the At
lantic Transport Line. 1t was con-
sidered of such magnitude and
promise that Ballin himself came to
the United States to conduct I'M,
negotiations. His affirmed rcadi-
ness to make the deal Subject to
any existing American laws or any
that may in future be enacted" left
Baker, as the Baltimore shipping
magnate later testified, "sta aggered."
Tried to Discourage Idea.
Baker was never able entirely to
convince himself what was back of
Ballin's zeal and ostensible mag
nanimity. though the attractiveness
of the project was highly tempting
on it's face. Baker saw so many
obstacles in the path of the Ham
burg Americans securing authority
to establish the Panama service that
he did his utmost to discourse ge
Ballin from pursuing it further But
the man whom the Kaiser christened
"Germany's merchant prince" would
not be put off. He urged, and finally
persuaded, Baker to return to Ger
many with him and other Hamburg
American Line officials who had ac-
companied Ballin to the United
States. Negotiations were continued
while the party was crossing the
Atlantic aboard the steamship Kai-
serin Auguste Victoria in mid-No-
vember. 1912.
How Dream Was Inspired.
The inspiration for Ballin's Pan
anna dream was his knowledge of
the Postoffices Departments failure
to receive bids for wster-transport
of the mails from New York and
New Orleans through the canal, by
a regular weekly service as far
north on the Pacific Coast s Seattle
and Puget Sound. At one time
American shipping companies had
formed pool representing sl.500..
900 for the purpose. of supplying
the service, but it was an made
auste syndicate. Not less than s15.-
100000 was required ITO establish
and maintsin the service on ef-