SHIPS--TRADING WITH THE ENEMY--THE APPAM--THE
ANGLO-FRENCH LOAN--FORD PEACE EXPEDITION

The next issue the United States raised with Great Britain related to
the seizure of three ships of American registry--the _Hocking_,
_Genesee_ and the _Kankakee_--in November, 1915, on the ground that
they were really German-owned. France had also confiscated the
_Solveig_ of the same ownership for a like reason. The four vessels
belonged to the fleet of the American Transatlantic Steamship Company,
the formation of which under unusual circumstances was recorded
earlier in this history. Great Britain and France served notice that
this company's vessels were blacklisted, and became seizable as prizes
of war because of the suspicion that German interests were behind the
company, and that its American officials with their reputed holdings
of stock were therefore really prizes for German capital. The Bureau
of Navigation had at first refused registry to these vessels, but its
ruling was reversed, and the vessels were admitted, the State
Department taking the view that it could not disregard the company's
declaration of incorporation in the United States, and that its
officers were American citizens. Great Britain sought to requisition
the vessels for navy use without prize-court hearings, but on the
United States protesting she agreed to try the cases.

Another dispute arose, in January, 1916, over the operation of the
Trading with the Enemy Act, one of Great Britain's war measures, the
provisions of which were enlarged to forbid British merchants from
trading with any person or firm, resident in a neutral country, which
had German ownership or German trade connections. The United States
objected to the prohibition as constituting a further unlawful
interference with American trade. It held that in war time the trade
of such a person or firm domiciled in a neutral country had a neutral
status, and consequently was not subject to interference; hence goods
in transit of such a trader were not subject to confiscation by a
belligerent unless contraband and consigned to an enemy country.

An example of the working of the act was the conviction of three
members of a British glove firm for trading with Germany through their
New York branch. They had obtained some $30,000 worth of goods from
Saxony between October, 1915, and January, 1916, the consignments
evading the blockade and reaching New York, whence they were reshipped
to England. O