155

bombs would rain on Germany, Max Warburg was allowed to sail to 

New York, his funds intact.

At the outset of World War I, Kuhn, Loeb Company had figured in the 

transfer of German shipping interests to other control. Sir Cecil

__________________________

75 Edward M. House, The Intimate Papers of Col. House, edited by 

Charles Seymour, Vol. II, p. 399. Houghton, Mifflin Co.

76 George Sylvester Viereck, The Strangest Friendship in History, 

Woodrow Wilson and Col. House, p. 106

88

Spring-Rice, British Ambassador to the United States, in a letter to Lord 

Grey wrote:

"Another matter is the question of the transfer of the flag to the 

Hamburg Amerika ships. The 

 

 

 

 

company is practically a German 

Government affair. The ships are used for Government purposes, the 

Emperor himself is a large shareholder, and so is the great banking 

house of Kuhn, Loeb Company. A member of that house (Warburg) 

has been appointed to a very responsible position in New York, 

although only just naturalized. He is concerned in business with the

Secretary of the Treasury, who is the President’s son-in-law. It is he who 

is negotiating on behalf of the Hamburg Amerika Shipping 

Company."77

On November 13, 1914, in a letter to Sir Valentine Chirol, Spring-Rice 

wrote, (p. 241, v. 2)