File No. 311.6253N811/1
The Second Assistant Secretary of State ( Adee) to the Swiss Chargé ( Oederlin)
Sir: I have the honor to refer to your note of August 23, 1918,1 in which you state that you are in receipt of a cablegram from the Swiss Foreign Office, stating that the German Government desires to know whether the press reports that the piers of the North German Lloyd and the Hamburg-American Lines, in New York City, have been sold, are correct.
A copy of your note was referred for consideration to the Alien Property Custodian, who states that the amendment to the Urgent Deficiency bill (Public 109), approved March 28, 1918, authorized the President “to acquire the title to the docks, piers, warehouses, wharves and terminal equipment and facilities on the Hudson River now owned by the North German Lloyd Dock Co. and the Hamburg-American Line Terminal and Navigation Co., two corporations of the State of New Jersey, if he shall deem it necessary for the national security and defense”; that in pursuance of this law, the President by proclamation took over the properties in question; that the Department of Justice is now examining the title thereto, and that, as soon as this work is completed, the officers of the corporation owning said properties, acting under the direction of the Alien Property Custodian, will make a conveyance of these properties to the United States.
Accept [etc.]
- Not printed.↩