Resolution of Congress to investigate American claims against Mexico.
[Public Resolution No. 48—S. J. Res. 103.]
Joint Resolution Directing the Secretary of War to investigate the claims of American citizens for damages suffered within American territory and growing out of the late insurrection in Mexico.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to make, or cause to be made under his direction, a full and thorough investigation of each and all claims of American citizens and of persons domiciled in the United States which may be called to his attention by claimants or their attorneys for damages for injuries to their persons or property, received by them or by those of whom claimants may be the legal representatives, within the boundaries of the United States, by means of gunshot wounds or otherwise inflicted by Mexican Federal or insurgent troops during the late insurrection in Mexico in the year nineteen hundred and eleven.
For the purpose of such investigation the Secretary of War is authorized to appoint a commission of three officers of the Army, [Page 967] one of whom shall be an inspector general. Such commission shall have authority to subpoena witnesses, administer oaths, and to take evidence on oath relating to any such claim and to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of books and papers in any such proceeding by application to the district court of the United States for the district within which any session of the commission is held, which court is hereby empowered and directed to make all orders and issue all processes necessary for that purpose, and said commission shall have all the powers conferred by law upon inspectors general of the United States Army in the performance of their duties. Such commission shall report to Congress, through the Secretary of War, as soon as practicable, its findings of fact upon each and all the claims presented to it and its conclusion as to the justice and equity thereof and as to the proper amount of compensation or indemnity thereupon.