218  SELLING  LATIN  AMERICA

had  vessels  in  which  to  convey  it  to  the
markets  across  the  seas.  With  the  exorbitant
freight  rates  which  were  beginning  to  be
charged,  as  cargoes  multiplied  and  ships  became ­
  scarce,  it  became  obvious  that  all  this
newly  secured  trade  would  be  seriously  jeopardized, ­
  if  not  completely  lost,  unless  the  entire
situation  was  under  the  absolute  control  of  the
Government  and  in  the  hands  of  the  German
people.  Accordingly  the  State  took  up  the
question,  and  to  make  a  long  story  short,  the
result  was  the  development  of  the  enormous
German  merchant  marine,—perhaps  the  most
complete  and  perfect  in  the  world—with  subsidies ­
  from  the  national  treasury,  which  enabled ­
  ship  owners  to  quote  a  freight  rate  per
ton  so  low,  that  it  was  cheaper  to  ship  German
made  goods  from  Hamburg  to  Valparaiso,
than  from  Hamburg  to  many  of  the  interior
cities  of  the  Fatherland  for  home  consumption.
This  last  stroke  of  generalship  in  this  business
campaign  for  commercial  supremacy  gave
Germany  the  greatest  impetus  toward  reaching ­
  the  goal  upon  which  her  eyes  were  fixed,