362.115 St 21/391
The Assistant Secretary of State (Wright) to the Unofficial Representative on the Reparation Commission (Hill)
My Dear Mr. Hill: The Department has received your letter of August 25, 1925, in further relation to the D. A. P. G. Tanker case.52 It concurs with you in your opinion that Mr. Sjoeborg must be considered, in view of the wording of paragraph 3 of Decision 1577 of October 14 [13?], 1921, of the Reparation Commission, quoted in your letter under acknowledgment, as a member of the Tribunal, rather than as an umpire—and that the interested parties should be permitted, after the third member has joined the Tribunal, to file additional [Page 172] briefs and present oral arguments before the Tribunal thus reconstituted. The Department perceives no objection to your addressing a joint communication to the three arbitrators, requesting that an opportunity be given to the Standard Oil Company to submit, if it so desires, additional briefs or to present oral arguments to the Tribunal as now constituted.
As you accurately state, it is obvious that the arbitrators are vested with authority to construe paragraph 20 of Annex II of Part VIII of the Treaty of Versailles, and that their decision in the matter is apparently binding. In view of this fact, the Department does not deem it necessary at this time to determine the scope of the paragraph in question.
The Department does not consider, however, that it should undertake to advise the Standard Oil Company in regard to the competence of any attorney it may decide to retain to represent its interest in this matter. While the Department desires you to lend the Standard Oil Company every proper assistance in order that it may he assured a fair hearing in this controversy, and perceives no objection to your action in informally drawing the attention of Colonel Bayne and of the Standard Oil Company’s representative to pertinent decisions and agreements which may have a bearing on the case, it considers, however, that the responsibility for the actual prosecution of the case must rest with the Standard Oil Company. The Department’s refusal to appoint an attorney to take part in the proceedings in this case clearly indicates that it does not wish to assume any responsibility for the actual presentation of this case before the Tribunal. In view of the foregoing considerations, the Department does not deem it advisable to make any suggestions to the Standard Oil Company concerning the employment of additional counsel by that company.
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I am [etc.]
- Not printed.↩