Statement Issued to the Press by the Department of State
It having been reported to him that there is anxiety in some quarters on the part of persons residing in this country who are the subjects of foreign states lest their bank deposits or other property should be seized in the event of war between the United States and a foreign nation, the President authorizes the statement that all such fears are entirely unfounded. 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 understandings and the recognized law of the land give it no just claim or title. It will scrupulously respect all private rights alike of its own citizens and of the subjects of foreign states.2
- On Mar. 1, 1917, this statement was transmitted to the Spanish Ambassador in Berlin, in charge of the interests of the United States. (File No. 763.72113/320a.)↩