362.115 St 21/325: Telegram
The Commission to Negotiate Peace to the Secretary of State
[Received 1:30 p.m.]
4844. Your 3532, October 22d and 3572, October 25.56 I understand embarrassment in regard to Imperator and will try to get British to assist me in the matter. I have no hesitation in letting the latter part of paragraph 13 of your 3532 stand as you wrote it, as I did not understand when the matter first came up, that this was a straight out [and out] fight for the Standard Oil Company, as all the telegrams lay stress on oil for Germany.
I earnestly request your serious consideration of the advisability of asking the Supreme Council to pass on question of title to these ships. I do not see how it is possible for this Council, as it is constituted, to take up this purely legal question. It would seem to be objectionable also to deprive the Reparations Commission of jurisdiction in this matter. The question, as I understand it, is a legal question and depends on the sale the Standard Oil Company attempted to make of their interests in 1917. Germany apparently considered it a good transfer as they did not seize the ships. The ruling of the Alien Property Custodian has no binding effect upon the Council. It would be necessary, unless I am quite wrong, to go into the whole question of sale and the question of the rule of international law in cases of beneficial ownership. I do not think the Council would be willing to sit as a court in this case. We should either suggest an arbitration or let this question go to the Reparations [Page 561] Commission. Please make clear your objection to Reparations Commission.
It is unfortunate that none of the points made by Hoover or points made by our other representatives appear in any of the records in the possession of the Commission. For example such records as we have in our possession are quite silent as to the operation of ships by Germany. As to the use of the German flag on the high seas, of course that would have been out of the question during the armistice.
I hesitate to say anything to the British as to what the Shipping Board will do in case the tankers are released as it would seem a little like an attempt to bribe with something that is really theirs, and besides that they feel too bitterly on this subject. The best thing for me to do is to lay stress on the complication that has arisen as a result of the President’s illness and the political situation in America. …
Will appreciate an expression of your views as soon as possible.
American Mission
- Latter not printed.↩