Summary declared exports from Germany to the United States, July to November, inclusive, years 1906 to 1907. The total figures for the above-mentioned five months show a decrease in 1907 of 2.1 per cent. O 1st No. 174. PAPER RELATING TO AUXILIARY GERMAN NAVY. Mr. HALE presented the following PAPER RELATING TO THE AUXILIARY GERMAN NAVY. JANUARY 21, 1908.-Referred to the Committee on Commerce and ordered to be printed. [Exhibit H.] AUXILIARY GERMAN NAVY-GERMAN COMMERCIAL FLEET. Lines of steamers owned by Germans in 1890-1891 and in 1907-8 of 1,000 tons net register or over, showing number of steamers of each of the principal lines and their gross register tonnage, also for all other lines, regular traders, tramps, etc. [Compiled from Lloyd's Register of Shipping, 1890-1891 and 1907-8.] The total gain of steamers, 1,000 tons or over, net register 1890-1891 to 1907-8, say, 2,483,411 gross tons, was: The above 9 prominent steamship lines gained from 1890-1891 to 1907-8 2,043,770 gross register tons. Of the total increase in the German commercial navy for 1890-1891 to 1907-8, say, 2,483,411 tons gross register, the Hamburg American Packet Company gained 32 per cent, or 792,270 tons gross register, and the North German Lloyd gained 18 per cent, or 461,728. These two subsidized and favored Government steamship lines gained 50 per cent, or 1,253,998 tons gross register, of all the increase in the German commercial navy between 1890-1908. A majority of this tonnage was constructed with special regard to its adaptability for use as navy and army auxiliaries. The German commercial navy is officered and manned with a view to its prompt availability by the Government. SUMMARY. The gain in gross tons register of steamers of 1,000 tons net register or over of the German merchant navy was as follows: 1890-1891. 1907-8.... Gain, 1890 to 1908.. Gross tons. 742, 365 3, 225, 776 2, 483, 411 The enormous profits of the Hamburg American Packet Company covering a period of ten years, 1897-1906, were as follows: Capital stock and bonded indebtedness of the Hamburg American Packet Company.. Dividends paid, 78 per cent, an average of 7.85 per cent per annum (65,325,000 marks). Written off for depreciation, 87.54 per cent (147,438,275 marks).. Total distributed in dividends to shareholders or written off for $40, 500,000 15, 678, 000 35, 385, 186 a 51, 063, 186 NOTE.-Above is a reprint of Exhibit H, from brief of Ward W. Pierson, on behalf of the Cosmopolitan Shipping Company, Peter Wright & Sons, general agents, v. The Hamburg American Packet Company et al., filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission, Washington, D. C., December 31, 1907. Emil L. Boas reviews trans-Atlantic trade of 1907 in the New York Herald, January 2, 1908: * * * There is probably no well-established business in the world that is to-day conducted on so small a margin of profit as the ocean-transportation business * a This sum is equal to 126 per cent of the capital and bonded indebtedness of the Hamburg American Packet Company and was distributed to stockholders in the ten years, 1897-1906, as dividends or written off for depreciation. Mr. Boas is the resident director and general manager of the Hamburg American Packet Company in the United States. QUERY.-From whence comes this $51,063,186 net profits in ten years upon a capital of $40,500,000 if it did not come from 'ocean transportation?" Was it from subsidies? Was it from subsidies? Was it from preferential freight rates on German State railways? Or was it from-what? Fairplay (London), the highest authority upon shipping in the United Kingdom, in its issue of December 26, 1907, says: * * * But the active assistance of the German Government (the Kaiser himself being a large shareholder in at least one company) has led to the great success of German shipping. Take the Atlantic trade, for instance; there is an immense emigrant trade from Germany, which, as was shown some time ago by the Cunard Company, was fostered by the German Government when German vessels were concerned, and every hindrance put in the way of emigrants who wished to travel by British vessels. This emigrant trade is an exceedingly profitable one, and from German ports the German companies have no competition in it. nor in the cargo trade, and they are thus able to charge more * In the same issue of Fairplay is presented a tabulated statement of German steamship companies showing gross register tonnage and book values of various fleets. Among them are those of the following lines: We add: It will be observed that the Hamburg American Packet Company, with a fleet with a tonnage 54 per cent greater than the North German Lloyd, has placed a book value upon its property of 9,000,000 marks less than that of the North German Lloyd. In 1885 the German chancellor entered into an agreement for fifteen years with the North German Lloyd for a service from Germany to Australia, Japan, etc., and agreed to pay them a subsidy of over $1,000,000 per annum. In 1898, before the first contract had matured, a renewal thereof, at a somewhat higher rate of subsidy, was made for another period of fifteen years from 1900, and the Hamburg American Packet Company was made a party to this revised subsidy contract. Upon completion of contract the German Government will have paid to the North German Lloyd and (or) the Hamburg American Packet Company approximately $35,000,000 subsidy under this one agreement. "My field is the world."- Motto of the Hamburg American Packet Company. [Telegram to Herr Albert Ballin from the Kaiser.] "Greatly pleased at your announcement of the extension of your line to West Africa. I thank you warmly. May this important national enterprise prove a blessing to the German protectorates and an honor to the Hamburg American Line. The future of Germany is on the sea."--German Emperor. AND NOW. Special cablegram to the Philadelphia Public Ledger: LONDON, January 10, 1908. A dispatch from Hamburg says that, with the intervention of the Kaiser, the Hamburg American and North German Lloyd Steamship lines have joined hands in a four-year agreement to fight for the trade with America. |