462.11W892/2778
The Secretary of State to the German Ambassador ( Luther )
My Dear Mr. Ambassador: No doubt you are aware of the intense interest that is being manifested in this country in regard to the claims [Page 352] of individuals who sustained property losses and personal injuries during the World War but whose claims were not presented to the Department in time to permit their consideration by the Mixed Claims Commission under the agreements of August 10, 1922,45 and December 31, 1928.46 This interest has not only been manifested by the individuals themselves, who are constantly importuning the Department to endeavor to obtain the consent of the German Government to the adjudication of these late claims, but has also been evidenced by the introduction in the Congress from time to time of legislation proposing that some arrangements be arrived at to take care of the claims. The latest proposed legislation, as you doubtless know, requests the President to enter into an agreement with the German Government for the adjustment of these claims either by the present Commission, or by the creation of a new Commission, or by the payment of a lump sum to be distributed among the claimants by such method and in such manner as might seem best to this Government.
The matter of reaching an agreement between the two Governments that would provide for the final disposition of these late claims has been discussed on a number of occasions with the German Government, mostly through the German Embassy at this capital, and the Department has all along felt, from the tenor of the discussions, that some method would eventually be arrived at which would take care of this large group of small claims by people who because of their vocations and their lack of knowledge of the existence of an arrangement for the adjudication of claims failed to file them within the time agreed upon. The claims for the most part are those of seafaring men to whose misfortune we can not fail to be sensible. A settlement whether by adjudication or by a lump sum arrangement would not unduly increase the financial obligations of Germany to the United States under the Treaty of Berlin with respect to World War Claims,47 and it would be most gratifying to this Government as well as to these unfortunate claimants. It is obvious that while these claims remain unsettled the efforts of the two Governments to make a final and complete adjustment of outstanding claims will not have been realized and these claimants and their friends will always feel, whether rightly or wrongly, that they have been denied the relief that was available to others more fortunately situated.
In all the circumstances, I am impelled to bring this matter again to the attention of the German Government through your Embassy, with a view to a further exploration of the subject, in the hope that a friendly discussion thereof may result in the adoption of one of the proposed methods of adjustment of the claims. A survey of the so called [Page 353] late claims by the Department discloses a total number of approximately 2,700, with a probable recovery value of approximately $7,500,000.
I shall appreciate it if you will be good enough to ascertain and inform me of the attitude of your Government, and especially as to whether it would be willing to enter into friendly discussions looking to an adjustment of what presumably will soon be the only remaining war time claims.
I am [etc.]
- See Foreign Relations, 1922, vol. ii, pp. 240 ff.↩
- See ibid., 1928, vol. ii, pp. 894 ff.↩
- Signed August 25, 1921, ibid., 1921, vol. ii, p. 29.↩