352.115 Anderson, Clayton and Co./66
The Counselor of Embassy in Spain (Thurston) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 2.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Department’s instruction number 523 (File No. 352.115 Anderson, Clayton and Co./63[64]), dated June 16, 1938, and to report as follows—
1. I have submitted to the Spanish Ministry of State, for study by the Foreign Claims Commission, the claim of Anderson, Clayton and Co. for payment in the amount of $15, 122.11 for 213 bales of cotton belonging to it requisitioned by Government agents at Santander in 1936. A copy of the Embassy’s Note presenting this claim is enclosed herewith.81
The Department is requested to notify Anderson, Clayton and Co. of the filing of this claim, and to request it to furnish “documentation or evidence, as may be, showing his (its) personality and nationality”, pursuant to the regulations of the Claims Commission transmitted with the Embassy’s despatch No. 421, of June 13, 1938.81 It is assumed that an affidavit, citing the American articles of incorporation of the Company, authenticated by the Department and the Spanish Embassy at Washington will suffice.
2. The Embassy has reported promptly and fully to the Department all available information concerning the formation and operation of the Foreign Claims Commission. There are no “independent sources” from which further information on the subject can be obtained—and inquiry among my colleagues makes it apparent that other diplomatic missions here are less well informed regarding the Commission than this Embassy.
During a conversation a few days ago with the Minister of State I inquired about the Commission. Señor del Yayo stated that upon resuming office as Minister of State he had relinquished office as Chairman of the Commission, and that he was unaware of its present status. This morning, I discussed the Commission with the new Secretary General of the Ministry of State, Señor Pablo de Tremoya. He stated that he had replaced Señor Rafael de Ureña (his predecessor in the Ministry) as Vice Chairman of the Commission, but that no meetings had been held since he entered the Ministry of State.
It is my opinion that undue importance should not be given the Foreign Claims Commission. At best, it is but a reviewing body, designed [Page 311] to study and report upon claims—but without final powers. At worst, it is merely another of the initiatives upon which the Government has wasted energies which might better have been applied to its war effort. From the practical point of view, it is probable that what the Commission does or fails to do will have no bearing upon the ultimate fate of claims of American interests. The Government is in no position to pay awards now, and in all probability would not be for a considerable period should it emerge victoriously from the present war—which at this moment seems highly unlikely.
In so far as the Embassy is aware, all cases in which American interests have been injured during the present civil war have been communicated to the Spanish authorities—thus establishing the basis for formal claims negotiations at a later date. An annotated list of all such cases of which the Embassy has knowledge is being prepared for the Department’s files.82
Respectfully yours,