I am directed by the Committee to transmit it to you with a view that you
may give us such facts or make such suggestions relative thereto as you
deem proper. The Committee is not informed with reference to the facts
with which the resolution seems to deal.
[Enclosure]
Senate Resolution No. 319, January 26, 1925,
68th Congress, 2d Session
Whereas the Armenians participated in the war with the allied powers
and the United States against the Central Empires; and
Whereas in the Treaty of Versailles settling the terms of peace and
in the negotiations leading up to said treaty the Armenian Republic
was recognized by the allied powers and the Government of the United
States as an independent State; and
Whereas the United States Grain Corporation in the years 1919 and
1920 advanced to the Armenian Republic thirty-five thousand tons of
wheat and wheat flour of the value of $13,000,000, which advancement
was made necessary in part because the Turkish Government had
arbitrarily seized and transferred to the Turkish treasury all bank
accounts, both current and deposit, belonging to Armenians, by which
Armenian gold in the sum of 5,000,000 Turkish pounds, amounting to
$22,450,000 was transferred to the Turkish treasury, which gold was
afterwards deposited by the Turkish Government in the Reichsbank at
Berlin; and
[Page 735]
Whereas said deposit of Armenian gold in the Reichsbank at Berlin was
by article 259 of the Treaty of Versailles transferred and
surrendered to the principal allied and associated powers, including
the United States, whereby the United States has an interest in said
deposit which has not been renounced or otherwise disposed of by the
Government of the United States; and
Whereas said deposit in equity and right belongs to the Armenians
from whom the same was seized, or to their legal representatives;
and
Whereas if said fund be regarded as property of Turkey which by the
Treaty of Versailles was transferred by Germany to the allied and
associated powers, including the United States, and if said deposit
in pursuance to the Treaty of Lausanne of July 24, 1923,1 or otherwise, is to be applied to the payment of
claims, the nationals of the United States can not rightfully be
excluded therefrom; and
Whereas the United States Grain Corporation has a valid claim in the
sum of $13,000,000 against said deposit whether the same be regarded
as of Turkish or Armenian derivation: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the President of the United
States is requested to make representations to the allied powers
that the United States has an interest in said deposit and has a
right to be consulted in respect to any allocation, distribution, or
disposition of the same; that said deposit should be set aside in
trust to be hereafter paid over to the persons from whom said gold
was seized, or to their lawful representatives, and that in the
event that said deposit be subjected to the payment of claims, that
the Government of the United States, for the account of the United
States Grain Corporation, has a valid claim against said deposit in
the sum of $13,000,000, and is entitled to share in the distribution
of the same.
