File No. 763.72113/682
The Swiss Chargé (
Hübscher) to the
Secretary of State
Department of German
Interests IX Prinz F
The Chargé d’Affaires a. i. of Switzerland,
representing German interests in the United States, presents his
compliments to the Secretary of State, and, has the honor to submit to
His Excellency copy of a note verbale from the
German Government dated July 14, 1918, transmitted to this Legation by
the Swiss Foreign Office, regarding a statement alleged to have been
made by Mr. Lee Bradley, legal advisor, of the
Alien Property Custodian, to the Interstate Commerce Commission.
Washington
, September 10, 1918.
[Received September 11.]
[Enclosure—Translation]
The German Foreign
Office to the Swiss Legation at
Berlin
IIIa–14059/105046
Note Verbale
The Foreign Office has the honor to inform the Swiss Legation that it
appears from a news item in the New York
Times of the 5th of this month that Lee
Bradley, legal adviser of the “Alien Property
Custodian” made a statement in the Congressional Committee on
Interstate Commerce as to the extremely harsh manner in which the
liquidation of American and other enemy property was conducted in
Germany. It was to the effect that while the property of German
residents of the United States had not been interfered with in that
country, all enemy property in Germany, regardless of the owner’s
residence, was sold at very low prices; that even personal effects
were sold without notice and the proceeds were turned into the
Government fund for the prosecution of the war against the United
States and its allies.
The assertions are, as the Swiss Legation well knows, made of thin
air and wholly unfounded. No piece of American property in Germany
has yet been sold, while in the United States, on the contrary, the
most marked invasion of German property rights has been already
planned or begun. In the whole matter of economic warfare, Germany
has heretofore always followed the example set by her enemies. The
measures that have been or will be taken against American private
property in Germany are therefore mere acts of reprisal for orders
previously issued by the Americans. Even
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in the way of reprisal, Germany, opposed on
principle to warfare on private rights, has until now hesitated to
follow.
These facts must be well known to an American jurist who is engaged
in affairs of commercial war. If we are not dealing with malicious
calumny intent on making bad blood, the case must be described as
one of gross carelessness.
The Foreign Office has the honor to beg the Swiss Legation to make
the foregoing known to the American Government by cable and to
obtain a public statement of the condition of things.
