Evening star., 1939-10-20
BY Cable to The Star.

while Holland needs flour her in
dustry does not need copper bars
and they are likely intended to go
to Germany. That is what British
contraband control is for.
American observers, shipping
agents and others who are con-
cerned see these cargoes and ships
as not needlessly held up and think
that the British are doing an ef-
ficient and unbiased job as speedily
as new and top-heavy bureaucracy
permits.
The easiest way out OF the dilem-
ma which is costing shipping lines
around 5000 a day would be If the
shippers would discriminate be-
tween genuine cargoes destined for
neutral countries like Scandinavia,
Holland and Belgium and refuse
to take other stuff which it is
known inevitably would be seized.
or if they had put seizable stuff
on top.
Germans Complaining.
That Immediately raises the ques-
ton of neutrality. Germany is al
ready complaining that the United
States recognizes the legality Of
the British blockade" which the
Germans claim is not effective, and
everybody knows that blockade to
be legal must be effective. They
claim that the United States should,
therefore, recognize the legality and
effectiveness of the German SUBJ
marine blockade. Those ships which
have been sunk certainly acknowl-
edge its effectiveness but otherwise
Germany has yet to prove that
Britain's sea supremacy has been
upset.
As things have been going so far,
American ships, bound, say, for Scan
dinavia put into British contraband
control ports, hand over their mani
tests, which the British take about
three days to check and then have
to check them with the cargoes to
see that both agree, after which they
have to look at the receivers names
to insure that cargoes addressed to
Mr. Olson in Stockholm are not
really going to Mr.. Goering in
Berlin.
In a few months when the Brit
ish become really familiar with all
the fences" they will know i'm
mediately when shipment Is hon.
est neutral trade and when it is
not. Right now it takes them from
10 days to three weeks to decide and
if necessary, to seize that portion
of the cargo that they have de-
cided is ntraband-often it is
at the bottom of the ship and takes
another week to unload, not to
mention hundreds of dollars in
stevedore wages.
Possible to Speed Checkup.
The British have now a system
whereby Mr.. Smith OF New York,
:onsigning heur to Holland, will send
an advance manifest to Z British
port and will put his bars of likely
seizable copper on top or will not
include them at all. This will speed
up things and maybe cut costs which
are now proving prohibitive for neu-
tral shippers.
OF course, if by chance Britalns
sea supremacy should be challenged
seriously the whole situation would
change, and that is why German
bombers have been making daily
raids on the most important British
naval bases So far the raids have
not been very effective and British
naval experts are undaunted by the
prospect that raids will continue.
Some neutrals are not so optimistic
over the outcome, but that depends
on whether they think the navy or
air force the most important feature
of modern war. Naval people nat
urally say that the German air force
will never overcome Britain sea
strength and point out that the
10000 tons Of British shipping sunk
since the outbreak of the war is
less than the amount sunk during
the first weeks of submarine war
fare in the last war.
British economic experts are all
interested to see If American ships
continue their trips to this side of
the Atlantic after the Neutrality Act
is amended. 1t is not only a ques-
ton of the Neutrality Act, say ship
ping agents. but the costs incurred
in delays at the contraband control
They point out that the British mer-
chant marine still is not large
enough to insure vital food and raw
materials to this country which,
after all, is entirely dependent upon
the outside world for its living.
Cost Of Living Up.
No government spokesmen yet
have explained the 10 per cent rise
in the cost of living as due to ship
ping difhculties, as ofdcially 1t is
not admitted that the cost of living
has risen, although the ministry of
labor's figures show that basic food
stuffs have risen by at least that
much.
The British people are beginning