States, and indirectly with Germany, was
opposed the interest in the still greater trade with our enemies,
to which was added, and indeed to a rapidly increasing extent,
the supply of war material. The United States did not realize the
extent of their economic power in respect of England, as the
inexperienced, newly-appointed Democratic Government had no statistics
to which to refer, and from a military point of view were defenceless
for want of an army or fleet. So England was able, slowly and
cautiously, but surely, to cut off the Central Powers from the
American market. In view of this state of things the important
thing was to pass all shipments off as neutral. The exporter had
to be an American or a subject of neutral Europe. The financing
had also to be European, at any rate outwardly. The destination
could only be a port in Holland, Scandinavia, Spain or--at that
time--Italy. Consequently it was not long before the consignments
could no longer be made through the New York representative of
the Hamburg-Amerika line, but were taken in hand by Herr Albert
himself, who merely availed himself of the professional advice
of the Hamburg-Amerika line.

All decisions therefore could emanate from the same source, which
prevented loss of time, especially as the financial responsibility
also rested with Herr Albert. The most important thing, however,
was that attention was distracted from the shipping, as for a long
time Herr Albert remained unknown, whereas the Hamburg-Amerika line
from the first was kept under the closest observation by England. On
the other hand, this arrangement exposed the cargoes to condemnation
by the English prize courts as they were now State-owned. But Herr
Albert could assume--and, as it turned out, rightly--that so long
as the English respected neutral property, it would be difficult
as a rule to trace the shipments back to him. Otherwise there would
have been no security for a German private undertaking.

In carrying out his task, Herr Albert at first shipped the purchased
goods by the usual lines (Scandinavia-American line). Soon, however,
difficulties arose, because these lines, in order to avoid being
held up in English ports, would no longer accept cargoes which
were intended, if possible, for Germany, so a special line was
formed sailing under the American flag. The direction of this line
was in the hands of an American firm who represented themselves
as the owners, whereas, in reality