Office of the Historian

File No. 417.00/243

The Commissioner on Public Credit ( Lindberg) to the Secretary of State

Managua, February 9, 1918.

interim report no. 3

Sir: I have the honor to submit herewith some data furnished to the American Minister in connection with a cable request for information.

No. of claims presented 3,808
No. of claimants (estimated) 5,200
Amount claimed, principal $11,505,069.92
“ “ interest 1,566,279.13
Total amount claimed $13,071,349.05
Add Mixed Claims judgments not presented 117,244.11
$13,188,593.16
Less claims duplicated 539,036.55
$12,649,556.61
[Page 839]

The following information is given in reference to certain diplomatic claims:

  • French diplomatic claim (Brimont)—scaled 50 per cent, 75 per cent in cash and 25 per cent in bonds.
  • Dutch diplomatic claim (Hueck)—scaled 60 per cent, 15 per cent in cash and 85 per cent in bonds.
  • Italian diplomatic claim (D’Auria)—scaled 50 per cent, 50 per cent cash and 50 per cent bonds.
  • Widow Urry, death of English husband, scaled from $12,500 to $10,000, to be paid all in cash, same as Cannon and Groce.

The following three claims settled directly by the Executive in March 1911, were made the subject of friendly agreements.

  • Claims of Cuadra family, Salvador Chamorro and Diego Manuel Chamorro for exactions in time of Zelaya on following basis, cut out interest, scale 20 per cent from principal, 50 per cent in cash and 50 per cent bonds.
  • Claim of Adolfo Diaz, cut out interest including large amount of 1913 bonds, 20 per cent from principal, and balance 50 per cent cash and 50 per cent bonds; also cut out Aramburu notes aggregating $128,525.
  • Mutual Alliance Trust Co. All in cash.

The figures by nationalities are approximate, but substantially correct. In many cases the commission, lacking the statement of the creditor, can only guess at his nationality. All of the names included in correspondence sent to the Department by foreign embassies or legations are included. The Swiss claims are shown under Germans as their matters were handled in the past by the German Minister.

By Nationalities Total Claimed Total Awarded
Americans $3,198,105.92 $658,423.98
Italians 886,735.81 515,157.77
Germans 736,763.39 261,614.71
British 780,299.75 291,526.58
French 95,123.12 34,285.45
Spanish 45,604.57 11,465.05
Dutch 130,467.18 52,812.58

There is appended hereto (Exhibit “A”) a statement of the claims of $100,000 and over.1 Percentage figures between amounts claimed and awarded cannot be used with safety, as the large claims include many classes of Government debt, as well as huge sums of interest charged.

Flat percentages in the revision downwards have been used in some cases. These large claims have been thoroughly analyzed, followed by hearings, and generally friendly agreements made. This feature has been emphasized in order to avoid charge of repudiation, especially among foreigners.

The figures of foreign war claims have been in most cases discussed and settled by conferences with the foreign diplomats or consuls. [Page 840] The easy method of a flat percentage has not been followed, but each individual case studied and settled on its merits.

Very respectfully,

A. F. Lindberg

Commissioner
  1. Not printed.↩