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Show AMERICANS HIT BY. GERMAN LAW Notwithstanding Protest of Secretary Sec-retary Knox. Potash BJeas- ure Is PaBsed. UNITED STATES MERCHANTS DISCRIMINATED AGAINST Teuton Syndicate Induces the Reichstag (o Make Up for Lack of Foresight. ' NEW TOItK, Nov. 27. Ilobcrt S. Bradley of Boston, who is chairman of tho bonnl of directors of the Agricultural Agricul-tural Chemical company, who has arrived ar-rived from Germany, talked about the potash difficulty in Germany, which recently re-cently assumed such nn acuto phase as to ' necessitate the sending of a opcial investigator ovor there. "Tho potash business has been con-trolled con-trolled by K Gorman syndicate for more than thirty years," said Mr. Bradley. "ThlS Control lino linon ninmlan nnt nnltr !Ovcr the production of the commodity, but its salo In nil tho markets of the world. It has icen the custom to refer such a syndlcato for a period of five years, and the latest syndicate expired by limitation at midnight of Juno 30, 1000. "For months beforo attempts had been mado to form a new syndicate. I had been" In Berlin Investigating and "was prepared to buy potash In enso an opportunity op-portunity was offered. By midnight of the day mentioned tho delegates representing repre-senting about sixty mines who had boon In session had failed to come to im agreement. agree-ment. This caused nn open market at the time, and I Immediately mado contracts con-tracts running two years, together with an option lo run one year on a future contract, which was for five yoass. This co'crcd the ontlro requirements of the Amorlcan Agricultural company for several sev-eral years. At half-past .1 o'clock that same morning the president issued an edict calling a meeting of tho delegates for ' o'clock, when a new syndicate was formed This, of course, closed tho opportunity op-portunity to buy potusli at less than syndicate prices. Syndicate Is Alarmed. "The contracts 1 had mado were reported, re-ported, of course, lo tho new syndlcato, and the news caused consternation among the delegates because tho prices were I 35 per cent lower than tho ruling prices. In August they sent repiesontatlvcs over hero to negotiate a compromise of my contracts, but withou avail. Tho next month delegates representing about sixty American manufacturers went to Berlin nnd obtained a duplication of my contracts con-tracts in consequence of their holding contracts made ,wtth one of the Schmltt-man Schmltt-man mines, whereby tho latter guaranteed guaran-teed to those American manufacturers the samo prices that my company obtained. ob-tained. Schmlttmau was thereafter legally le-gally bound to give these men tho samo terms I had obtained. So that now. Instead In-stead of a matter of 56.000.000 being Involved, In-volved, there was 52ri.000.ft00. "Gchclmr.ith Kemper and Horr Blcl-maiu Blcl-maiu another director or the. potash syndicate, syn-dicate, presented a draft of an Imperial Im-perial potash law which had been Introduced Intro-duced Into tho bundosrath. This bill proposed an export duly on potash that would countervail tho prices mentioned in our contracts. . "They accepted our offer on principle, but In figuring out the prices they raised them sufficiently to countervail nil tho advantages left on a half-way compromise compro-mise basis. "VVo then broke off negotiations. negotia-tions. Secretary of State Knox made a very strong and emphatic protost to the 'Imperial government' through Embassador Em-bassador Hill and tho potash bill was subsequently withdrawn. Discriminate Against Americans. "Immediately thereafter the. United States and Germany completed a commercial com-mercial treaty which gave Germany tho benefit of the American minimum. In Ihe May following the relchstag passed a potash law more drastic and more damaging dam-aging "In Its effect oh American products thnn tho original bundesrath bill which had been withdrawn at the protest of this government. But at tho same timo Embassador Hill received assurances from the German foreign V'fflce that the law. ns finally amended, would not invalidate, in-validate, impair or affect the American contracts. "Notwithstanding this assurance, all shlpmonts of potash after the law went Into effect were taxed $22 a ton over the contract price. Tills made the price of muriate of potash ?42 a ton Instead of $20. The law imposes a duty in, tho form of a penally lax for production over the allotted quota of a mine, and ns tho two mines which hold the American contracts con-tracts aro thu only ones which overproduce overpro-duce they affect only American contracts, con-tracts, and this Is therefore absolutely discriminatory against American citizens." |
