When it was seen that German commercial interests in the Middle East had considerably increased, the Hamburg-Amerika Linie opened a special line to the Persian Gulf in 1906. The year 1907 is chiefly remarkable for a rate war affecting the services from Hamburg to the West Coast of Africa, of which until then the Woermann Line had considered itself entitled to claim a monopoly.
The African shipping business had been jealously nursed by its founder, Adolph Woermann, who had always tried hard to guard this special domain of his against the encroachments of all outsiders. However much Ballin and Adolph Woermann differed in character, they were akin to each other in one essential feature--viz. the jealous love they bore to the undertaking with which they had identified themselves. Both men, grown up in absolutely different environments, yet resembled each other in the daring and the fearlessness with which they defended the interests of their businesses. The one had trained himself to employ moderation and commonsense to overcome resistance where the use of forcible means promised no success; the other was a pioneer in the colonial sphere, a king in his African empire, the discoverer of new outlets, but broken in spirit and bereft of his strength when compelled by circumstances to share with others. When Adolph Woermann had died, Ballin honoured his memory by contributing to the public Press an appreciation of his character, which is perhaps the best that has been written, and which ought to be saved from being forgotten. This fact, it is hoped, will be sufficient justification for reproducing in this connexion a translation of Ballin's article:
"The late Adolph Woermann was a man whom we may truly describe as the ideal of what a Hanseatic citizen should be. Secretary of State Dernburg himself once told me that he knew quite well that the work he was doing for the benefit of our colonies would never come up to what Adolph Woermann had achieved in the face of the greatest imaginable difficulties.
"Never before, perhaps, has any private shipowner displayed so much daring as we see embodied in the business he has built up through his labours. Woermann has developed the means of communication between Germany and her African colonies to such perfection that even the similar work performed by British shipping men has been overshadowed. He has done this without receiving any aid from the Government; in fact, he had to overcome all sorts of obstacles which were put in his way by the bureaucracy. His confidence in his work was not shaken when losses had to be faced. Then, more than ever, he had his eyes firmly fixed on his goal; and practically every vessel which he had built to facilitate communication between the German mother country and her colonies represented a fresh step forward towards a higher type, thus increasing the immense personal responsibility with which he burdened himself. His patriotism was of the practical kind; he did his work without asking for the help of others, especially without that of the Government.