File No. 763.72114/4036
The Secretary of State to the Swiss Chargé ( Oederlin)
The Secretary of State presents his compliments to the Chargé d’Affaires ad interim of Switzerland, in charge of German interests in the United States, and has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of his memorandum of August 21, 1918 (IX–Fort Oglethorpe),1 inquiring on behalf of the committee of internees at the War Prison Barracks, Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., whether the exemption of $500 which is granted the internees by the Alien Property Custodian, would be increased when their present available funds are exhausted.
In reply the Secretary of State informs the Chargé d’Affaires that it is impossible for the Alien Property Custodian to increase the amount of exemption for the reason that the Trading with the Enemy Act does not permit any such arrangement. After the property of the enemy has been delivered to the Alien Property Custodian, its distribution can, under the provisions of the act, only be effected by an act of Congress after the war, except that persons not enemies claiming an interest therein or having a claim against the same, may pursue the remedy provided by section 9 of the Trading with the Enemy Act, and with the assent of the enemy person the President may order that the whole or part of such property may be paid over to such claimant. This power the President has delegated to the Department of Justice.
Whether a claim against such a fund presented on behalf of the dependent family of an interned enemy would be held to come within the provisions referred to above and would be entertained by the Department of Justice, can be determined only when a specific claim is presented to be passed upon.
- Not printed.↩