France.Canada Steamship Corporation
THE trance & Canada Steamship Corporation was organized and incorporated under the laws of the State of New York in 19:7 to conduct a transportation business from the more important ports of the United States, s:milar to that of the France & Canada Steamship Company, Limited, a Canadian corporation.
The organization of the corporation was neces-sary because the limited company, being under foreign charter, could not purchase American- owned ships. The latter were acquired by the newly-founded company for a specific purpose. France was battling for her very life, and the r.eed of every freight-carrying vessel possible to obtain, which could be used to supply the Repub- C across the seas with the commodities from the United States which she so desperately needed, was urgent beyond description.
Its fleet acquired, the company applied itself assiduously to the work in hand and played a sub-stantial part in the successful efforts to get to France those commodities which were essential to the continuation of the fight by a nation that was gradually being bled white.
After the United States entered the war the strain of carrying on this business was somewhat lessened, and, while supplies were still taken to France, the company, with important additions to its fleet from time to time, entered into a general shipping business. Since the armistice, trading has been carried on in constantly increasing volume between the principal ports of the United States and South America and Europe. Coal, cotton, foodstuffs and other supplies urgently needed on the other side of the Atlantic are the principal commodities carried by the company's ships today.
A number of vessels have been employed in the carrying of general merchandise and bulk cargoes to and from South American ports, and the establishment of a regular line service to South America is now being arranged.
The corporation is also operating and managing more than twenty steamers belonging to the United States Shipping Board. These are employed variously in trade with European and South American ports. Ships are also being operated for privately-owned companies.
The total number of vessels owned and operated by the limited company and the corporation is approximately seventy.
The principal office of the corporation is in New York, and there are branches in Boston, Phila-delphia, Baltimore and Norfolk, all equipped with complete staffs and able to give to the handling of large ships the utmost in service and dispatch.
The corporation came into being in troubled times; grave problems and seemingly insuperable obstacles were encountered on every hand. That these were solved and overcome and that there has emerged from the trial an organization incom-parably larger and more effective than that from which the start was made, indicates the caliber of the men who have made the France & Canada Steamship Corporation one of the organizations that must be reckoned with in the rapid develop-ment of the United States as the predominant force in world trade that is now taking place.
The officers of the corporation are Timothy E. Byrnes, chairman of the board; Francis R. Mayer, president; Carlos Mayer, vice-president and European manager; S. H. McIntosh, vice- president, secretary and treasurer.
FRANCE & CANADA STEAMSHIP COMPANY, LTD.
DURING the course of the world war, as is well known, the Allied Governments drew their supplies largely from Canada and the United States, and in that connection there came into existence enterprises having to do with the purchase and transportation of these, which developed effective organizations with large facilities that are now transformed into important international media of peaceful commerce.
Among the most extensive and successful of these is the France & Canada Steamship Company, Ltd., a Canadian corporation organized and incorporated in 1915. Ocean transportation is the business of this company, comprising the handling of bulk general cargoes and livestock.
In the course of the war the France & Canada Company transported successfully more than
200,000 American horses for the use of the French armies. These animals were concentrated at mammoth remount caps, and at various times as many as eighteen ships were devoted exclusively to this kind of transportation. This constituted only a part of the France & Canada Company's war work, for, with almost clock-like regularity, the large mercantile fleet controlled by this company sent out from various ports in Canada and the United States week after week, month after month, vast cargoes of general supplies for the Allies, continually bidding defiance to the German submarines. This business was carried on largely from the Canadian ports of Montreal, Quebec, and St. John, with St. Nazaire and Brest the principal termini on the other side. Marseilles, and occasionally La Pallice, and Bordeaux were also used. Brest was abandoned after the American Army took control of that well-known port.
The France & Canada Steamship Company, Ltd., now has its forces and connections so organized that it is in a position to act as an effective intermediary for the carrying from this side of the Atlantic to European ports of large cargoes of the various supplies and materials needed for the rehabilitation of the devastated regions of Europe as well as for the needs of its inhabitants. Regular lines with frequent sailings are now being established to meet the demands as well as the needs of general commerce that will follow the return of normal business conditions. The company has its own offices in the principal European ports.
Additional facilities for carrying on its com-merce, the procurement of ships, et cetera, are at the company's command through the medium of various affiliated corporations, which represent in the aggregate large interests in ocean transporta-tion and international commerce covering many of the chief ports of the world.
The officers of the France & Canada Steamship Corporation are Charles Mayer, chairman of the board; Francis R. Mayer, president; Carlos Mayer, vice-president; Edmund Bristol, vice- president; S. H. Mcintosh, vice-president, secretary and treasurer.
MAYER LAGE, INC,
SOON after the commencement of the war, Mayer & Lage, Incorporated, a general export house, whose principal offices are in New York City, was commissioned by the French Government to represent it in the purchase and export of various commodities that were imperatively needed by that war-stricken and hard- pressed country. Grain, steel and horses were the chief items of export, and the transportation of these, a huge problem in itself, was effected through various shipping organizations with which the firm was affiliated.
In addition to these the corporation did an ex-tensive business in general exports to French ports, and established connections of a character that have enabled it to extend into peace the very large and active business with France which was conducted during the war period. Export operations will be extended rapidly to other countries, including those of South America, where valuable connections already established place this company on a level with those best equipped to carry on this branch of international commerce.
At present an important feature of the company's business is the exporting of foodstuffs to France.
There is today no better organization in the United States for the handling of general export business with France. The efficiency it has demon-strated in its past connection with the French Government and the French mercantile community is of a character which commends it to continued favor and increased business.
The Paris office of the company, at 36 Avenue, de l'Opera, is in charge of M. Georges Schrimpf, formerly in charge of the shipping department of the French High Commission to the United States. M. Schrimpf's long and wide experience in shipping has endowed him with special qualifications for handling commerce between the United States and France.
The officers of the company are S. IT. Mcintosh, president; Carlos Mayer, vice-president; J. P. H. Mertens, vice-president; B. J. Quinn, general manager; Thomas Robinson, secretary.
