The German-American's offer meant a good profit to him, as the London price of wool at that time had advanced nearly 15 per cent. Yet he apparently fell into no ill favor with Berlin, for in June, 1916, the German Foreign office wrote von Bernstorff:
"Interested parties here have repeatedly made representations for preferential treatment of the firm of Forstmann & Huffman in Passaic, N. J., in connection with shipment of coal tar dyes to the United States of America. Since this pure German firm, as is well known on your side, undertook last year the wool supply for Germany, and therefore claim it has been especially badly treated by England, it is most respectfully recommended to Your Excellency, should there be no reason to the contrary, to arrange for the greatest possible consideration for this firm in the later distribution of the shipments to consumers which now are in prospect."
Necessity, the mother of invention, had forced America's production of coal-tar derivatives and dyestuffs upward enormously during the first year of war. As the British blockade tightened, the German supply, which had long constituted the world supply, was cut off completely. The value of dyestuffs in America increased enormously from 1914 to 1915. Germany witnessed this growth with apprehension, and realized gravely that export expansion would follow increased and perfected production in America, which it promptly did. German chemical interests involved in a drug house familiar with the German market, have testified that their firm "paid three times the value" of a cargo of dyestuffs shipped from Bremen to Baltimore in 1916 in the huge undersea-boat Deutschland, "which paid for the ship and cargo." Her sister ship, the Bremen, which set forth for America, but never arrived, was also "built with money furnished by the dyestuff manufacturers," according to Ambassador Gerard.
The Deutschland herself was 300 feet long, with a cargo capacity of some 800 tons. She docked at the North German Lloyd piers in Baltimore, and after loading a cargo of rubber and nickel, took an opportune moment one foggy twilight to cast off and slip out to sea. She not only returned safely to Germany but made another round trip to America, putting in the second time at New London. She was at sea about three weeks on each crossing of the Atlantic.
Dr. Albert made plans for buying up carbolic acid to prevent it from reaching the Allies. Dr. Hugo Schweitzer, a German-American chemist of New York, paid down $100,000 cash on June 3, 1915, to the American Oil & Supply Company in New Jersey as part payment of $1,400,000 for 1,212,000 pounds of carbolic acid, of which the American Oil & Supply Company had directed the purchase from Thomas A. Edison. Dr. Schweitzer said that he bought the liquid not to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Allies but to use in the manufacture of medical supplies.
Not the least interesting of Dr. Albert's financial experiences is that which conceived and bore the Bridgeport Projectile Company. In a conference early in 1915 in the offices of G. Amsinck & Co., in New York, Count von Bernstorff came to the conclusion that one way to prevent the shipment of munitions to the enemy was to monopolize the industry, or at least to control it financially as far as possible. Dr. Albert made an unsuccessful attempt to buy the Union Metallic Cartridge plant for $17,000,000. He chose as his lieutenants for his next task Hugo Schmidt, the New York representative of the Deutsches Bank, and Karl Heynen, whose past record had been auspicious, as agent for Mexico of the Hamburg-American Line. Heynen it was who had smuggled a cargo of arms ashore for Huerta at Vera Cruz, under the nose of the American fleet; he had received some 40,000 pesos (Mexican) for the coup, and he was regarded as a capable individual. On March 31, 1915, the Bridgeport Projectile Company was incorporated for $2,000,000, paid in, with Walter Knight as president, Heynen as treasurer, and Karl Foster as secretary and counsel.
Schmidt drew up a contract with the new-born company calling for a large order of shells. On May 17 Heynen reported to Albert that 534 hydraulic presses for making shells of calibres 2.95 to 4.8 had been ordered, and would cost $417,550. These orders, with all others for tools and machinery which the Bridgeport company placed, were so well concealed about the business world that as late as August the impression was current that Great Britain was financing the company. On June 30 Heynen reported to Albert through Schmidt that the first shell cases would be manufactured under United States government inspection, in order to create the impression that the company was anxious for American contracts, and so that immediate delivery could be made in case such contracts were actually secured. "The most important buildings, forges, and machine shops, are almost under roof; the other buildings are fairly under way; presses, machinery and all other materials are being promptly assembled, and there is every indication that deliveries will commence as provided in the contract; i. e., on Sept. 1st, 1915."
The Bridgeport Projectile Company contracted with the Ætna Powder Company, one of the largest producers of explosives in America, for its entire output up to January, 1916, and then turned round and offered the Spanish government a million pounds of powder. The Spanish representatives may have suspected the identity of the company, for they raised certain objections to the contract, to which Heynen refused to listen, and he also reported to his superiors that British and Russian purchasing agents were going to call on him within a few days. He made a contract with Henry Disston & Co. for two million pieces of steel, most of them tools, for which Schmidt advanced the money. He contracted with the Camden Iron Works of Camden, N. J., for presses, and posted a forfeit of $165,000 in case the contract should be cancelled; the contract was signed and cancelled the next day by the Bridgeport company, causing the Camden concern great business difficulty.
Thus, by the manipulation of contracts, Dr. Albert and his associates were accomplishing the following ends: