Image TileImage TileImage TileImage TileImage TileImage TileImage TileImage TileImage TileImage TileImage TileImage Tile
Image size: 5120x6656 Scale: 35% - PanoJS3
Page overview thumbnail

Article text

SUBMARINE SALES
. Amazing Revelations
"Hoy MUNITION FIRMS WORK"
Europe's Mystery Man Mentioned
WASHINGTON, September 4>
Henry B.. Carse, president o£
the Electric Boat Company o t
•Jfcyflajidon (Conn.), testified J>e-
„.fore lie Senate committee hold-,
"jig ian ;iriiniry Info munitions, ;
~ • tha* Sir Basil Zaharoff,: "Euro-
- pcan man of myslery>" ibad /re-
• .eelveit commission from Uiq Elec-
; trie Boat Cqmpany. : :
He said his company tad paid
Zaiharoffeommissions amounting to
=766,000 dollars between 1919 and
•1930; He also (Stated that Sir Basil
haid received commissions on the
"Spanish bu^ncss."
- The committee was informed that
tJerman U-boats of the. Great War
ajad heen Ibuilt u/pon American-owned
patents. , ISM®
Carse also stated thai Ws company
and Victors limited Jiad di-
• -sided the world into exclusive areas
for the sale of submarines., and that
• the companies interchanged s
. fijr hnilding boats..
The "Washington correspondent of
"the "New York Times" says that further
evidence placed before the commission
showed that Sir Basil Zaharoffi-
did not appear on the list of the
Shareholders of the -Electric Boat
Company* tout he was a shareholder
under another name.
- In the suit) marine trade the Electric
Boat Company reserved the exclusive
rights for American territory,
-and -the same exclusive -privilege was
• enjoyed. !by Vickers Limited in territories
under the British flag. Large
ipayments were made for. the use of
American patents on submarines huilt
by Viclcers for the British Navy. Of-
ficials of Vickers feared embarrassment
from the -disclosure of details of
working arrangements between the
-two companies, and cautioned secrecy.
The Electric Boat Company received
3 per cent, of Vickers' profits for the
.use o£ American patents. Due to
competition and the depression, there
was difficulty in meeting those payments,
and a Vickers official wrote
that it might he wise to .take steps
to "freeze out" war-time builders.
-The Electric Boat Company tried
after the war to collect 17,000,000
. .dollars from Germany for inMnge-
,-men.t of American patents, ibut wi
. -able to collect only 125,000 dollars.
REMARKABLE ASSERTIONS
. . A letter placed .before the commit-
. tee outlined in detail .what contracts
Vickers expected from the British Government,
provided large submarines
Were not ruled out by "the Geneva
or some other fancy convention," and
that the American "Navy would not
bo informed until some time later
albout the construction of -H.M.K.
Clyde. Royalty payments to the Elec-
•tnic Boat Company included remit-
-tances from: an .. unidentified. Butch'
. firm and unidentified. .Austrian
.firm, licensed through Vickers. "The.
.Electric Boat Company at certain periods
refused the American iGovern-
• :m4nt a licence to build its type of sub-
. 'marine,."in
tiic
G-overmncji'i-
Navy
yards, t '•
..'-••'•-' '•'••-•
'.•'.••'•••-
• • T v a s =aTs'o disclosed 'that Germans
.. obtained submarine secrets from • .an
Austrian firm to which" the
Electric
Boat Company had sold the iise of
American-patents, that the Peruvian
•naval attache
in
Washington
was
,; tnade South American
representative
by the Electric Boat
Company,
and
-• that while: in that -position he drey
over 300,000 dollars, and
that
the
Electric -Boat Company ha-d continued
.--negotiations to an effort to -havo sMps
-sold.to Peru when the American Government
Navy Department
-refused
to permit such sales on the ^ ground
-. that it might provoke war
'between
Peru and Chile.
The committee, which will sit
for
;
• three .wee&s, wassurrounded. by huge
taibles .plied- with
documentary
evidence.
-
T.he chairman, Senator Nye, referring
to the. documents, said:
"Those
,-iro only samples."
(Sir Basil Zaharoff began life as
. newsboy in Constantinople.
Later he
,.-became .an agent for Vickers in
Hie
Balkans.
After the war he was reputed
to ;he worth
£250,000,000.
lives in-a palatial home in Paris, surrounded
toy gold plate.)
$