PAY AMERICAN CLAIMS AND RETURN PROPERTY OF GERMAN NATIONALS
Roe, Gilbert E.
Pay American Claims and Return Property of German Nationals BY GILBERT E. ROE DURING the last few weeks, the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives has been holding hearings in...
...This would be such a clear violation of international law and the policy of our Government from its foundation to the present time that it is hardly conceivable that such a measure would find favor, in the Congress...
...The reports of these hearings in the press generally have been so meager, however, as to afford the public little, if any, information respecting the matters under consideration...
...It is quite idle to say that the moiety which we have wrung from the Allies out of the reparations they have exacted from Germany constitutes "suitable provision for the satisfaction of all claims against such (German) Government," as provided in the Treaty of Berlin, above quoted...
...The amount of property of German nationals in the hands of the Alien Property Custodian amounts to approximately $260,000,000...
...The best estimates show that the awards in favor of American citizens made by the Mixed Claims Commission could not be paid under eighty years if our portion of the proceeds of the Dawes Plan were solely relied on for that purpose...
...Would Change National Policy ONE GROUP of claimants at the recent hearings before the Ways and Means Committee contended boldly that we should follow the example of the Allies, confiscate the German property held by our Alien Property Custodian, and use it to pay the awards made by the Mixed Claims Commission in favor of American nationals...
...The unadjusted claims of German citizns against the United States Government for ships seized, radio Stations taken over, etc., is by agreement net to exceed $100,000,000, and the estimates of the United States officials put the amount at substantially less...
...That course is for the Government ef the United States to apply the unallocated interest from German property now in the Treasury, and which Germany admits should be so applied, together with the proceeds of the Dawes Plan as far as collected to the payment of American claims, pay the balance due on such claims immediately, either out of the treasury or by a bond issue for that purpose, holding as security thereof the twenty millions or more which it will annually receive under the Dawes Plan, and at once return to the rightful owners the property of the German nationals now held by our Alien Property Custodian...
...there is an express or implied safe conduct...
...There would seem to be but one honorable course for the Government of the United States to pursue...
...The result is that when the proposed legislation comes before the Congress for consideration and action, the public will have very little real information on the subject, and for such information as it may acquire, will have to depend largely upon the publicity given to the subject by those who have particular or special interests to serve...
...In thia section, the Treaty of Berlin simply adopts the language of a joint resolution of the Congress of the United States, adopted July 2, 1921...
...This situation is complicated rather than clarified by the several treaties and agreements which have been made between the countries involved in the late war...
...We were not a party to the Dawes Plan and no provision was made in it directly for any payment to us, but subsequently, and by what is known as the...
...it is to add cowardice to treachery...
...Our citizens had a great deal of property in Germany which Germany seized...
...Commission Makes Awards THIS Commission was made up-of one representative of Germany, one of the United States and an umpire agreed to by both Governments, but who, as it happened, was also an American citizen...
...By the Treaty of Versailles, made between Germany and the Allies, but to which we were not a party, it was agreed, among other things, that the property of German nationals seized by the Allies should be liquidated and the proceeds used to pay the citizens of the Allied countries so far as it would go, for damage or injury inflicted upon them or their property in German territory as it existed August 1, 1914...
...The annual payments from Germany, therefore, which we are to receive under the Dawes Plan amount to approximately $33,000,-000 annually until the total cost of the Army of Occupation, about $250,000,000, is paid and a sum approximating $11,000,000 annually to be applied on the awards of the Mixed Claims Commission...
...Confiscation of Property THIS, it seems to me, was in effect the confiscation of property of German nationals, and such action has been strongly condemned by writers of authority on international law, at least in England...
...When we went into the war, the United States seized enemy ships which were interned in our harbors...
...Shall the property of German nationals seized through the Alien Property Custodian be returned to such German citizens...
...Pay American Claims and Return Property of German Nationals BY GILBERT E. ROE DURING the last few weeks, the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives has been holding hearings in Washington on prospective legislation of the very greatest importance, which will come before the present Congress...
...Our citizens were damaged in other ways, as by loss of life and property, including the sinking of the Lusitania, which event has now become historic...
...Many American citizens, not combatants, were damaged in large amounts by the acts of the German Government, both before and after we got into the war...
...At a very early date Alexander Hamilton declared what has been our national policy upon this subject in the following language: "There is no parity between the case of persons and goods of enemies found in our own country and that of the persons and goods of enemies found elsewhere...
...This has been done...
...the individuals and their property are in the custody of our faith...
...Not only, therefore, by our traditional policy, by international law, and our own self-interest as well, but by express promises made to German nationals by our responsible officials during the war, are we forbidden to confiscate the property of German nationals now in the hands of the Alien Property Custodian...
...THIRD...
...In reporting to the Congress "The Trading with the Enemy Act" under which German property was seized, it was stated in the House Report, "It is manifest that the United States should as far as practicable conserve and utilize enemy property found within its jurisdic-tion...
...In the former there is a reliance upon our hospitality and justice...
...From the days of Hamilton to the present day there has been no dissent from this doc-trine by any responsible official in this country, but on the contrary it has been reaffirmed in scores of cases in our courts and reiterated by our statesmen and by none stronger than by President Wilson himself...
...Three Property Right Problems THREE general problems involving property rights grew out of the late war: FIRST...
...The last question was promptly answered in the affirmative by Germany, and on August 10, 1922, following our treaty of peace with Germany of July 2, 1921, by agreement between the Executive Departments of the two countries, a Mixed Claims Commission was set up for the purpose of hearing and determining (1) The amount of the claims of American citizens arising since July 31, 1914, in respect of damage to, or seizure of their property...
...The work of this Commission is now nearly completed and has resulted in awards to American citizens and the American Government of approximately $240,000,000, while unadjusted awards will amount to about $40,000,000 more...
...Promise of Lansing SECRETARY of State Robert Lansing, on February 8, 1918, with the full concurrence and approval of the President, issued the following statement: "The Government of the United States will in no circumstances take advantage of a state of war to take possession of property to which international interestedness and the recognized law of the land give it no just claim or title...
...and "moreover, the preservation of enemy property by Gesornmental agencies is for the best interest of the enemy subject himself...
...Bear in mind that treaties are by the Constitution made the supreme law of the land, and they cannot be modified by mere executive agreements...
...This amount is largely an estimate and some of the Unitde States officials put it at a very much higher figure than this...
...Paris Agreement, of January 14, 1925, we agreed with the Allies that out of the amounts received from Germany on...
...Following this, what is commonly known as the Dawes Commission was established which fixed the total amounts that Germany was able to pay and was to pay to the Allied and Associated Powers as reparations or damages...
...Shall the United States make compensation for the German ships and other property it seized during the war...
...they have no power to resist our will they can lawfully make no defence against our violence...
...Of this amount probably about $180,000,000 will represent awards to American nationals...
...The purpose of the present article is to give to the general reader such statement of facts as will enable him to understand and form a judgment upon the several bills which have been or will very soon be introduced in the Congress as the result of the recent hearing before the Ways and Means Committee...
...account of the Dawes annuities, there should be paid to the United States of America "the following sums in reimbursement of the costs of the United States Army of Occupation and for the purpose of satisfying the awards of the Mixed Claims Commission, established in pursuance of the Agreement between the United States and Germany of August 10, 1922" 55,000,000 gold marks per annum for the cost of our Army of Occupation and 2 1-4 per cent of the receipts from Germany on account of the Dawes annuities available for distribution as reparations...
...SECOND...
...This is doubtless due to the fact that the matters under consideration by the Committee have been technical, and it is not easy to put them in form to interest the ordinary newspaper reader...
...It will scrupulously respect all private rights alike of its own citizens and of the subjects of foreign nations...
...We, in our turn, upon entering the war, seized the property of alien enemies in this country and impounded it through the Alien Property Custodian as trustee...
...Millions Are Involved IT IS obvious that out of this situation, with amounts involved running into hundreds of millions, questions of the greatest gravity arise, not only as they affect the Governments of the United States and Germany, but the citizens of those countries as well...
...the balance, to the Government of the United States...
...2) Other claims for loss or damage to which the United States or its nationals are entitled as the consequence of the action of Germany during the war, and (3) Debts owing to American citizens by the German Government er German nationals...
...It should be said in this connection, also, that by legislation of the previous session of the Congress, provision was made for the return of property to German nationals by the Alien Property Custodian where the amount of the trust property did not exceed $10,000 and for a payment of $10,000 to be made upon each separate trust of the German nationals where it exceeded $10,000...
...And again "The assumption of the debt or custody of the property by the Government gives the enemy or ally of an enemy the best possible protection...
...and for endeavoring resistance would be punished as criminals, a character inconsistent with that of an enemy...
...also two radio stations and some patents, most of which were used without reference to the Alien Property Custodian, although some were taken by the Alien Property Custodian and later sold to the United States...
...Sustain American Citizens ON THE other hand, while standing staunchly for the rights of the German citizen we should not sacrifice the rights of our own citizens...
...they are deemed to owe a temporary allegiance...
...To make them a prey is therefore, to infringe every rule of generosity and equity...
...Shall Germany make compensation to the American nationals for the damages they suffered, as stated above...
...The citizens of the United States who have proved their cases, and have won judgments before The Tribunal, which Germany herself assisted in setting up, are as much entitled to payment as German nationals are to the return of their property, and the Treaty of Berlin fully recognizes this...
...In the Peace Treaty between the United States and Germany, made on the 25th day of August, 1921, known as the Treaty of Berlin, it is provided: Section 5: "All property *** of German nationals which was on April 6, 1917, in or has since that date come into the possession or control or has been made the subject of demand by the United States of America *** shall be retained by the United States of America and no disposition thereof made, except as shall have been heretofore or specifically hereafter shall be provided by law, until such time as the Imperial German Government, *** successor or successors shall have *** made suitable provision for the satisfaction of all claims against said Government *** of all persons, wheresoever domiciled, who owe permanent allegiance to the United States of America and who have suffered through the acts of the Imperial German Government *** since July 31, 1914, loss, damage or injury to their person or property...
Vol. 18 • December 1926 • No. 12
