The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

22 THE MARINE REVIEW HAMBURG-AMERICAN PACKET CO. The Interstate Commerce Commission Will Investigate Charges That It is a Monopoly in Restraint of Trade. 'Charges disclosing an ironclad trust in trans-Atlantic freight carrying--a combination accused of defying the United States laws and using the most drastic of illegal coercion--have been filed with the Interstate Com- merce Commission against the Ham- burg-American Packet Co. The com- mission has decided to begin an in- quiry, which will be one of the great- est ever undertaken in this line. The complainant is the Cosmopoli- tan Shipping Co., of Philadelphia, op- erating lines to Rotterdam, Leith, and Copenhagen. This company raises a great national and international ques- tion in charging that the huge com- bine is a monopoly in restraint of trade, in its almost absolute control of east-bound and west-bound traffic between interior points of the Uni- ted States and Hamburg, and, further, that it maintains a law-defying pool in New York Gity, which dictates the rail and ocean routes by which freight for Baltic ports shall be shipped, the percentage of traffic which steamship lines in the pool shall carry, and the percentagé of export business that shall pass through Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk, -and Newport News. In other wo-ds, it is charged that this great corporation, backed by the German government, dictates terms, rules, and rates to shippers all over \ the United States who forward goods to Hamburg and Baltic ports; and further, that it diverts freight to and from American ports at its own will, without regard to the natural flow of trade, using coercive and unlawful methods to.crush competition. The Cosmopolitan Line's complaint, fommilated by Erank L. Neall of Peter Wright & Sons, of Philadelphia, the general agents, distinctly disclaims objection to competition. But it adds: "We do believe, however, that pooling, combinations, and intimida- tions; the latter in certain instances approaching blackmail, are not legiti- mate forms of competition." The complaint alleges: "1. The Hamburg-American Packet Co. maintains and manipulates a mo- nopoly of westbound or import traffic 'forwarded on local and on through bills of lading from Germany and other Continental countries, per the German State railroads, etc., via Ham- burg and destined for the United States cities or Chicago, St." Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, Duluth, Minne- apolis, Cleveland, and other consum- ing centers to and, or through the North Atlantic ports of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Nor- folk and Newport News. "2. Restraint of trade and monopoly of eastbound traffic by the Hamburg- American Packet Co.,° originating at interior points within the United States and destined to interior Euro- pean countries via the United States north Atlantic ports of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Nor- folk and Newport News, and Ham- burg, Germany. "3. Pooling in restraint of trade by the Hamburg-American Packet Co. of traffic originating at interior points within the United States destined for Baltic ports." - The complainant also alleges that the Hamburg-American . Packet Co., together with the other members of the pool, has divided the field, stipu- lating the per cent. 'of trafic each Subsidiary is. to carry, and dictating the rail and ocean routes for freight for ports on the Baltic, and also de- termining what percentage of traffic each of the six Atlantic ports in th"s country, mentioned in the complaint, is to be given. It is charged that this great monop- oly is backed by the German goyern- ment and that among the subsidiaries controlled by the Hamburg-American Packet Go. ate the . North 'German Lloyd, ,Scandinavian-American, and Wilson (Hull) lines, controlling in this vast combine 97 per cent of the traffic of the Atlantic to Baltic ports, originating in the United States. The percentages are alleged to be as fol- lows: ; Per cent: The Hamburg-American Packet Co., via Germany fe ee ek oc os ees 56 The North German Lloyd, via Germany 17% The Wilson (Hull) lines, via England 2% 76 The Scandinavian-American line direct 40, Pienaar oe oki es 6 ss bili was 24 100 The complaint, continuing, 'says that "the volume of traffic assembled in each of these seaports is'so distrib- uted as to insure each of the respec- tive members of the pool their arbi- trarily agreed upon percentage of the trafic actually moved. These per- centages are regulated and controlled in New York by means of frequent reports and comparisons of records. "When a given line is ahead of its pro fata as agecéed in the pact, its rates are temporarily advanced so as to put it out of the market while the services that were behind their as- signed percentages in the pool main- tain their old rates or, when neces- sary, lower them temporarily ,until after their apportioned percentages are recovered, _-- "Such an apportionment among the respective members of the pool in- volves the determination both as to kind and amount of the traffic orig- inating in our western cities which is to be forwarded to each of the ports on the Atlantic seaboard. This is dis- -- crimination. - "The Hamburg-American Packet Co., the aggressive, predatory com- mercial advance agent of the Ger- man imperial government, is the greatest steamship monopoly in the world. Its lines reach almost. every country on the globe. "It has a fleet with a gross regis- tered tonnage of approximately 1,000,- 000 tons. Its ambition is world-wide, and to reach its end it would crush out all competition. "The blighting effect of this foreign monopoly is soon told. For many years the' congress of the United States, the successive administrations, and the vast commercial interests of the country have legislated and striven to build up and restore our lost pres- tige, and: ascendancy on the _ seas. Many of our statesmen have even ad- vocated subsidies as a means to this end. 'With what result? Thanks largely to the overshadowing influence of this corporate mammoth--the Ham- burg-American Packet Co.--the total merchant marine (steam) of the Uni- ted States, in vessels of 2,000 gross tons register or over, that is, of ves- sels capable of performing trans-At- lantic. or trans-Pacific voyages, fepre- sents a tonnage of only 935,000 gross register; less than the tonnage of this one German line--the Hamburg-Amer- teat" Packet Co," In conclusion it is claimed: "First. That the Hamburg-Ameri- can Packet Co. is:a monopoly in re- straint of trade, exercising through its contracts the power to control. traffic both eastbound and westbound, be- tween Hamburg and interior cities in the United States and to determine