COMPETITIVE CONDITIONS IN SOUTH AMERICAN TRADE. 169

for the rebates are made at six months intervals, and the payment is
always six months in arrears of the period covered by it. The
shipper, before he can receive it, must prove that he has made no
shipments on other than Conference line steamers, not only during
 the six months for which the rebate is paid but during the
subsequent six months as well. Unless he can do that he forfeits
the rebate on any freight shipped during the entire period, i. e., one
year preceding the date on which the payment for the six months is
made.
The effect of this was that the shipping combination monopolized the
carrying of freight by steamers between the United States and the
east coast countries. Often the freight rates were excessive when
compared to the rates which it was possible to get by using tramp
steamers. But the shippers did not dare to avail themselves of such
steamers and thereby lose their rights to the 10 per cent rebate on
the Conference lines. The supply of tramp steamers available for
charter or on which part cargoes could be shipped was variable
and their times of sailing uncertain. On the other hand, the Conference
 lines, during the period before the war, offered a sure and
regular although high-priced service. Any shipper who had forfeited
 his Conference rebate, and yet was forced to make shipments
on their steamers in order to get his goods to their market, was at a
great disadvantage when compared to competitors who enjoyed the
rebate.
Before the war there had been various attempts made to establish
lines of steamers between the United States and the east coast
countries, to run in competition with the Conference lines. The
control which the Conference lines had over shippers, both in the
United States and the east coast countries, by reason of their rebate
system and their ability to arrange the sailing schedules of their various
 lines so that there would usually be a Conference line steamer
competing for cargo to the same destinations whenever a steamer of
the independent line was loading, was generally too great a handicap,
and in nearly every case the independent line had to retire from the
field.
Since the war began the power of the Conference lines is said to
have been much weakened. Many of their steamers have been
requisitioned by the British Government for military purposes or
withdrawn for the trans-Atlantic carrying trade. Some of the lines
formerly in the agreement are said to have withdrawn and’ to be
operating on an independent basis. Informants in Brazil stated that
the rebate system had been abandoned, that shippers are now sending
their goods on any steamer they are fortunate enough to get. In the
Argentine shipping situation, however, the Conference agreement