SHUTTING OFF GERMAN TRADE
Pessimistic anticipations of German statesmen regarding the curtailing of German trade were realized when the War Trade Board in the United States began to deal with the question of American exports to neutrals. The report of the Board, published in 1918, contains the following passage:
"Neutral exports of foodstuffs to the Central Powers have declined from last year's corresponding exports in amounts estimated at from 65 to 85 per cent., depending on the neutral, and there has been a decrease in the export of many other important commodities.
"In November, 1917, we became party to Great Britain's tentative agreement with Norway, as a result of which action on our part 1,400,000 tons dead-weight of Norwegian shipping were chartered into the service of the United States and Great Britain for the period of the war. Shortly following, temporary agreements were concluded with Holland and with Sweden. That with Holland gives us the use, for periods up to 90 days, of 450,000 tons dead-weight of her shipping which had heretofore, for a long period, lain idle. The agreement with Sweden gives us the use for three months of tonnage estimated at 250,000 tons dead-weight which had not theretofore been employed in services useful to us.
"Specific accomplishments of this character are, however, far from constituting a full measure of the results achieved by the War Trade Board. The elimination of enemy advantage from our trade and, to a considerable extent, from that of the world, the securing and conserving of commodities essential to ourselves and those associated with us in the war, the bringing of shipping generally into the services most useful to us—these results can not be accurately stated or appraised at the present time, nor have they been accomplished by any single act or agreement."
Examining Cargoes for Contraband
An inspector is using the X-ray on a bale of cotton, it having been found that smuggling of every conceivable sort was being carried by German agents.
THE TRADE LICENSE SYSTEM
The United States trade license system was extremely effective in cutting off the business of firms whose controlling motive was the advancement of German commercial interests. It was largely directed against preventing pro-German firms in neutral countries from engaging in the re-exportation process, a familiar practice in the earlier part of the war. The policy of the War Trade Board is indicated in the March (1918) issue of the War Trade Journal: