462.11W892/2464
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Phillips)
Dr. Leitner95 called this afternoon to tell me that he was off tomorrow on a short holiday to Germany. I thanked him for his call and said that I would like to avail myself of this opportunity to speak to [Page 492] him about something which had slipped my mind this morning during the Ambassador’s call. I then referred to the information which we had received from Mr. Lohmann96 to the effect that the German Government agreed to a favorable settlement now of the various claims which had already been approved by the Mixed Claims Commission, with the exception of one claim (the Drier claim), which must be referred to the Commission for reexamination. I said that it was unfortunate, in my opinion, that the German Government was holding out in this one particular case because it might be of interest to him to know that we had received a good many inquiries about it from the White House. I wished very much, therefore, that the matter could be reconsidered and that this claim could be favorably settled together with all the others.
Dr. Leitner said that he knew little about the subject beyond the fact that instructions from Berlin had been very precise, but nevertheless he would look into it and see what could be done.