By Bernhard Huldermann Translated from the German by W. J. EGGERS, M.A. (London) decoration Cassell and Company, Limited London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne 1922 To the Memory of A L B E R T   B A L L I N in true veneration and heartfelt gratitude...

M Y principal reason for publishing the information contained in this volume is to keep alive the memory of Albert Ballin. I particularly desire to show what was his share in bringing about the economic advance of Germany during the golden age of the Empire’s modern history, and to relate how he—unsuccessfully, alas!—strove to prevent the proud structure which he had helped to raise, from falling to ruin in the time of his country’s distress. I believe that much that concerns the latter aspect o

Albert Ballin was a native of Hamburg. Before the large modern harbour basins of the city were built, practically all the vessels which frequented the port of Hamburg took up their berths along the northern shore of the Elbe close to the western part of the town. A long road, flanked on one side by houses of ancient architecture, extended—and still extends—parallel to this predecessor of the modern harbour. During its length the road goes under different names, and the house in which Ballin was

T he new shipping line for which Morris and Co. contracted to act as General Passenger Agents was the privately owned firm of Mr. Edward Carr. The agreement concluded between the two firms shows distinct traces of Ballin’s enterprising spirit and of the largeness of his outlook. Morris and Co. undertook to book for the two steamships of the Carr Line then building, viz. the Australia and the America , as many passengers as they could carry, and guaranteed to pay the owners a passage price of 82

O n May 31st, 1886, Albert Ballin first took part in a joint meeting of the Board of Trustees and the Board of Directors of the Packetfahrt. On this occasion two proposals were put forward by him: one, to provide new premises for the work connected with the booking of passengers at an annual rent of 5,000 marks; the other, to start a direct service from Stettin to New York via Gothenburg. This latter proposal was prompted by the desire to reduce the influence of the British lines competing for t

T he term “pool” may be defined in a variety of ways, but, generally speaking, the root idea underlying its meaning is always the same, both in its application to business and to betting. A pool, in brief, is a combination of a number of business concerns for their own mutual interests, all partners having previously agreed upon certain principles as to the distribution of the common profits. In other words, it is a community of interests concluded upon the basis of dividing the profits realized

S peaking generally, the transatlantic shipping business may be said to consist of three great branches, viz. the cargo, the steerage, and the cabin business. The pool agreements that were concluded between the interested companies covered only the cargo business and the steerage traffic. The condition which alone makes it possible for the owners to work the shipping business on remunerative lines is that all needless waste of material must be strictly banned. The great advantage which was secur

T he principal work which fell to Ballin’s share during the period immediately following his nomination in 1888 on the Board of his company was that connected with the introduction of the fast steamers and the resulting expansion of the passenger business. Offices were established in Berlin, Dresden, and Frankfort-On-Main in 1890, and arrangements were made with the Hamburg-South American S.S. Co., the German East Africa Line, and the Hansa Line—the latter running a service to Canada—by which th

I n another chapter of this book the big passenger boats of the Hamburg-Amerika Linie have been described as the outcome of Ballin’s imaginative brain. This they were indeed, and in many instances it is scarcely possible to say how far the credit for having built them is due to the naval architect, and how far it is due to Ballin. He was profoundly against employing one system throughout, and on accepting the views of one expert exclusively; and this aversion was so pronounced that he objected o

N otwithstanding the many business controversies in which Ballin took an important part, it has occasionally been said that he was not really a “fighter.” This statement may be allowed to pass quite unchallenged, provided that by the term “fighter” we mean a man whose habit it is to fight to the bitter end. Ballin never indulged in fighting for its own sake, nor was it ever his object to see his vanquished opponent lie prostrate before him. Such a mental attitude he, in his own drastic way, woul

T he origin of the friendship between Ballin and the Kaiser, which has given rise to so much comment and to so many rumours, was traced back by the Kaiser himself to the year 1891, when he inspected the express steamer Auguste Victoria , and when he, accompanied by the Kaiserin, made a trip on board the newly-built express steamer Fürst Bismarck . Ballin, although he received the honour of a decoration and a few gracious words from His Majesty, did not think that this meeting had established any

A bout the middle of the month of July, 1914, Ballin, when staying at Kissingen for the benefit of his health, received a letter from the Foreign Secretary, Herr v. Jagow, which made him put an immediate end to his holiday and proceed to Berlin. The letter was dated July 15th, and its principal contents were as follows: The Berliner Tageblatt , it said, had published some information concerning certain Anglo-Russian agreements on naval questions. The Foreign Office did not attach much value to i

T o present an exhaustive description of Albert Ballin’s life-work within the compass of this volume is an impossible task, and the more the writer entered into the details of his attempt to do so, the more thoroughly did he realize this impossibility. The story of a life comprising thirty-two years of incessant hard work, only interrupted when nature’s law or a very imperative behest of his medical adviser made it necessary, and spent at the head of an undertaking which, as a result of this wor