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Crushing the German Advance in American Industry 21American owners of the stock were, infact, dummies.Down in the Virgin Islands is the beautifulharbor of St. Thomas. At the mostadvantageous point in that harbor, theHamburg-American line built a greatterminal, consisting of land, buildings,docks, warehouses, water-tanks, and cisterns,lighters, motor - boats, loadingparaphernalia, and coaling facilities.This plant had all the characteristics ofa naval base; it is significant that itsprincipal building commanding the harboris of reinforced concrete, the plaza infront of it having an eight-foot foundationof concrete fit for gun emplacements.When we contemplate the fact that bythis convenient arrangement a ship of theHamburg-American line, a corporationsubsidized by the German Empire, andin which the Kaiser was a stockholder, atany moment might have unloaded longrangeguns from its hold, and promptlyput them in position to command theentrance to the Caribbean Sea, we mayhave some substantial clue to the reasonwhich prompted Germany in bringingsufficient influence to bear upon Denmarkto prevent the sale, whenever Americain the last twenty-five years sought toacquire the Danish West Indies.St. Thomas lies forty miles east ofPorto Rico in the very track of vesselssailing to and from Europe, Central andSouth America, the West Indies, PanamaCanal, and the Gulf and Atlantic coastStates. Its splendid harbor enjoys marvellousnatural protection, and can beeasily fortified. Germany clung to thisproperty with amazing tenacity. Whenwe came to investigate its ownership, wefound the title to be apparently in aDanish lawyer of St. Thomas, one Jorgenseh,who claimed that on January 22,1917, five days after the United Stateshad purchased the Islands from Denmark,he himself had purchased the propertyfrom the business agent of the Hamburg-American line, who was also the GermanConsul at St. Thomas. The sole considerationin this pretended sale was Jorgensen'snote for two hundred and tenthousand dollars, which he gave his client;—the Hamburg-American line—payablein three months without interest, andwith the provision that it should be renewedevery three months until after thewar. Jorgensen had the deed for theproperty, as well as his note, while theGerman Consul had a copy of the noteand was continuing in charge. The AlienProperty Custodian took both note anddeed, and Jorgensen finally executed adeed quitclaiming his title to the AlienProperty Custodian, by whom the propertywas sold for the same amount of twohundred and ten thousand dollars to theGovernment of the United States, and itwill now become an American naval base.The time will doubtless come when theHamburg-American line will protest thatthe Custodian sold the property to thegovernment for too low a price, but thecircumstances are such that, caught intheir own trap, they will have to admitthat the price was fixed by their ownagents.Another interesting case is that of theGerman-American Lumber Company,whose valuable property is located on theshores of St. Andrew's Bay on the westcoast of Florida. It is interesting to observethat St. Andrew's Bay is said to bethe finest harbor on the Gulf of Mexico,and the nearest harbor in America to thePanama Canal. Here a typical Junker,a prince of the German Empire, ForstlichSchamburg Holfkammen, had made alarge investment running into millions.He seems never to have visited the property,nor received any dividends or otherearnings from it, but allowed the profitsto be returned to the business, and furtherinvestments made until the company hadacquired more than a hundred thousandacres of timber lands near the bay. TheGerman Consul at Pensacola was the secretaryof the company, while its chiefofficer changed about every two years; ineach case, however, being a man who wassent there by Germany from a similarenterprise in South America. Vigorousopposition was offered by the companyto an American railroad which sought topenetrate its lands to the water's edge.Its lands were so situated that, if theAmerican Government itself had desiredto build terminal facilities for its own useupon its own harbor, to open quick anddirect communication with the PanamaCanal, it would have had to deal with theGerman Empire. When we took over