763.72113 Mills Bill/75

The Secretary of State to the Secretary of the Treasury ( Mellon )

My Dear Mr. Secretary: Since the Treasury plan for the return of German property now held by the Alien Property Custodian was published17 the Austrian Minister called to the attention of Mr. Castle that in some parts of the plan as published German and Austrian property were spoken of and in other parts merely German property. He was afraid there might be some misunderstanding.

The Hungarian Minister also telephoned to Mr. Castle in some agitation and asked whether this Department could not bring to the attention of the Treasury that Hungarian property was in no way mentioned. I do not know, of course, whether this was an oversight or intentional, but should suppose that the property of the nationals of the three countries would be treated in the same way.

I should be very glad if you would let me know what I may say to the Austrian and Hungarian Ministers.

I am [etc.]

Frank B. Kellogg
  1. On Dec. 10, 1925, a statement by the Treasury Department was released for publication setting! forth a plan for disposing of the property held by the Alien Property Custodian and the payments of the awards of the Mixed Claims Commission, United States and Germany. This plan, with some modifications, was introduced into Congress on Mar. 29, 1926, as H. R. 10820, 69th Cong., 1st sess., and is commonly referred to as the “Mills Bill.”