s demand and
American steamers were started on their way to Hamburg and Bremen the
German Navy was so busy sewing mines off these harbours to keep the
English fleet away that they failed to notify the American skippers where
the open channels were. As a result so many American ships were sunk
trying to bring goods into German harbours that it became unprofitable
for American shippers to try to accommodate Germany.

About this time, also, the German Government began its policy of
discouraging American business in Germany. Ambassador Gerard had had a
long wrangle with the Chancellor over a bill which was introduced in the
Reichstag shortly after the beginning of the war to purchase all foreign
oil properties "within the German Customs Union." The bill was examined
by Mr. Gerard, who, for a number of years, was a Supreme Court Judge of
New York. He discovered that the object of the bill was to put the
Standard Oil Company out of business by purchasing all of this company's
property except that located in Hamburg. This was the joker. Hamburg
was not in the German Customs Union and the bill provided for the
confiscation of all property not in this Union.

Mr. Gerard called upon the Chancellor and told him that the United States
Government could not permit such a bill to be passed without a vigorous
protest. The Chancellor asked Mr. Gerard whether President Wilson and
Secretary of State Bryan would ever protect such a corporation as the
Standard Oil Company was supposed to be. Mr. Gerard replied that the
very fact that these two officials were known in the public mind as
having no connection with this corporation would give them an opportunity
of defending its interests the same as the Government would defend the
interests of any other American. The Chancellor seemed surprised at this
statement and Mr. Gerard continued about as follows:

"You know that Germany has already been discriminating against the
Standard Oil Company. You know that the Prussian State Railways charge
this American corporation twice as much to ship oil from Hamburg to
Bremen as they charge the German oil interests to ship Roumanian oil from
the Austrian border to Berlin. Now don't you think that's enough?"

The interview ended here. And the bill was never brought up in the
Reichstag.

But this policy of the Government of intimidating and intriguing against
American interests was continued until diplomatic relations were broken.
In Decemb