462.11L5232/181
Memorandum by the Secretary of State
The German Ambassador came to discuss the argument in the pending sabotage cases. He said he was much relieved that Mr. Boyden was here and he wanted to know whether I thought that the Commission would proceed rapidly in disposing of the motions for rehearing. I told him that under our practice in the Department I had found that it was the time immemorial custom to leave all control of the cases in the hands of the American Agent and that I had therefore followed that practice in this case. I said that Mr. Bonynge had been an energetic and successful agent in handling these claims and we had made far better progress than with any of the present Claims Commissions with other countries, and I felt that therefore he had a right to make any motions for rehearing that he chose and that I, as his client, did not wish to discourage him. The Ambassador said he appreciated this perfectly. He asked about the question of procedure—whether I thought the Commission would handle that? I said the only difficulty that I saw was in the absence in Germany of the German Commissioner; otherwise, I thought that that matter could be handled entirely by the Commission and I had made it clear that I hoped that it would be handled by them. He said his only interest was in having the case disposed of as promptly as possible because he was worried over the repercussions that might be excited by the claimants who were the really dissatisfied people—the railroad companies and the others. He said that these people were likely to appeal to the newspapers. I said I appreciated that trouble, which was inseparable from democracy, but I thought it was less likely to cause [Page 328] trouble here where the two governments had thus far acted throughout these arbitrations with such harmony and that I did not look for trouble. I told him I would do everything I could to expedite the closing up of the cases as I was just as much interested in that as he was.