In this connection, there is also enclosed, for your information and
discreet use, a copy of a statement which the Department has made public
with regard to the General and Special Claims Conventions which are
recorded in the minutes. In view of the fact that these Conventions are
to be submitted to the United States Senate for its assent, the
Department is not in a position to make any further statement with
respect to them at this particular time. The Department will advise you
from time to time of any additional important information which it may
give out regarding the minutes of the conferences.
[Enclosure]
Public Statement by the Secretary of State,
September 8, 1923, with regard to the General and Special Claims
Conventions
The Secretary of State made the following statement:
“A General Claims Convention between the United States and Mexico for
the settlement of all claims by the citizens of each country against
the other arising since the signing on July 4, 1868, of the Claims
Convention entered into between the two countries (not including
claims which are embraced within the terms of a Special Claims
Convention relating to losses through revolutionary acts) was signed
at Washington at one o’clock today. The Secretary of State and
Messrs. Charles Beecher Warren and John Barton Payne signed on
behalf of the United States, and Senor Manuel C. Tellez, Chargé
d’Affaires of Mexico, in Washington, on behalf of Mexico.
“These two conventions were negotiated by the American-Mexican
Commission which convened in Mexico City on May 14, 1923, and
terminated its sessions on August 15, 1923, and are subject to
ratification in accordance with the respective constitutions of the
United States and Mexico.
“The General Claims Commission and the Special Claims Commission
which are to be created under the terms of these conventions are to
be composed of three members each, one to be appointed by the
President of the United States, one by the President of Mexico, and
the third by mutual agreement between the two governments, or in
case of failure to agree, by the President of the Permanent
Administrative Council of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at [Page 566] The Hague. The Special
Claims Commission is to meet at Mexico City and the General Claims
Commission at Washington within six months after the exchange of
ratifications of the respective conventions, and the Commissions
have the power to fix the time and place of their subsequent
meetings.
“The conventions provide for the appointment by each government of
the necessary agents and counsel to present arguments in favor of or
against any claim, and the decision of the majority of the members
of the commission is to be the decision of the commission.
“Both conventions provide that no claim shall be disallowed or
rejected by the application of the general principle of
international law that the legal remedies must be exhausted as a
condition precedent to the validity or allowance of any claim.
“The General Claims Commission has jurisdiction over all claims of
the citizens of either country against the other for losses or
damages suffered by persons or by their properties, whether such
citizens are corporations, companies, associations, partnerships or
individuals, as well as over claims by citizens of either country
growing out of losses or damages suffered by any corporation,
company, association, or partnership in which such citizens have or
have had an interest provided an allotment to the claimant of his
proportion of the loss or damage is presented to the commission, and
all claims for losses or damages originating from acts of officials
or others acting for either government and resulting in
injustice.
“Claims are to be filed with the General Claims Commission within one
year from the date of its first meeting unless satisfactory reasons
for delay are presented, in which case the period may be extended
not to exceed six months. All claims filed are to be decided within
three years from the date of the first meeting of the commission.
However, if a claim can not be decided within this period, the two
governments will extend the time for deciding such claim for such a
period as may be necessary for this purpose. Claims for losses or
damages accruing after the signing of the convention may be filed by
either government at any time during the period fixed for the
duration of the commission.
“It is provided that the General Claims Commission may decide that
international law, justice and equity require that a property or
right be restored to the claimant in addition to the amount awarded
in any such case for all loss or damage sustained prior to the
restitution. However, the government affected by such decision may
elect to pay the value of the property or right as determined by the
commission rather than to restore the property or right to the
claimant, and if so, it shall file notice thereof with the
commission within [Page 567] thirty
days after the decision and shall immediately pay the amount fixed
as the value of the property or right. If it fails so to pay this
amount, the property or right is to be restored immediately.
“The Special Claims Convention for the settlement of all claims
arising from losses or damages suffered by American citizens through
revolutionary acts accompanying the disturbed conditions in Mexico
within the period from November 20, 1910, to May 31, 1920,
inclusive, is to be signed in Mexico City.
“The Special Claims Commission created by this convention is charged
with examining and deciding all claims which resulted from any act
by the following Mexican forces:
- (1)
- By forces of a Government de jure
or de facto.
- (2)
- By revolutionary forces as a result of the triumph of
whose cause governments de facto and
de jure have been established, or
by revolutionary forces opposed to them.
- (3)
- By forces arising from the disjunction of the forces
mentioned in (2) up to the time when the government de jure established itself as a
result of a particular revolution.
- (4)
- By federal forces that were disbanded, and
- (5)
- By mutinies or mobs, or insurrectionary forces other than
those referred to under (2), (3), and (4) above, or by
bandits, provided in any case it be established that the
appropriate authorities omitted to take reasonable measures
to suppress insurrectionists, mobs or bandits, or treated
them with lenity or were in fault in other
particulars.
“Claims presented for the consideration of the Special Claims
Commission are to be filed within two years from the date of its
first meeting unless satisfactory reasons for delay are presented,
in which case the period may be extended not to exceed six months.
All claims filed are to be decided within five years from the date
of the first meeting of the commission. The total amount awarded to
claimants is to be paid in gold coin or its equivalent by the
Mexican Government to the Government of the United States.”
