Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-02-14
Only $1,330,877.74 Allowed of
$61,672,077.7S Claimed.
RULES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
Saving of Money to Government Eff
fected by Notable Interpretation
Of Certain Conditions.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald.
In March the work of the Spanish
treaty claims commission, which has
been sitting nine years in the mansion
on III street, SO long occupied by Justice
Strong of the United States Supreme
Court, will draw toward a close.
The commission was organized under
a special act of Congress of March 2,
1901. The United States, in the treaty
Of peace with Spain, made an agree
ment, such as is customary after wars
between nations. and which, in this case,
was as follows:
article VII. The United States and
Spain mutually relinquish all claims for
indemnity, ma tional and individual, of
every kind, OF either government, or Of
its citizens or subjects, against the other
government, that may have arisen since
the beginning of the late instruction in
Cuba, and prior to the exchange of rat
ifications of the present treaty, including
all claims for indemnity for the cost of
the war.
The nited States will adjudicate and
settle the claims of it's citizens against
Spain, relinquished in this article.
Personnel of Commission.
The first members of the commission.
appointed by President Mckinley, were
William E. Chandler of New Hampshire,
James Perry Wood of Ohio. Gerrit j.
Diekema of Michigan, William A. Maury
of Washington and William L. Cham
bers, then of Alabama. April ~, 1907
Mr.. Diekema was elected to Congress-
and his place was filled by ex-nepre-
cor foyi ;~h~
and when Mr.. Chandler resigned, No
vember 10, 1907, Henry K. Daugherty
of Pennsylvania was appointed to till
the vacancy.
The first assistant attorney general in
charge of defending the claims was Will
liam E. Fuller of Iowa, who was sue
ceeded by William Wallace Brown of
Pennsylvania Charles f. Jones of In
diana has been the executive assistant
during the whole period, aided by Emory
s. Huston of Iowa and by Charles u.
Westcott, e. G. Mills Of Wisconsin,
Michael o'Neill. Samuel B. Crandall
Charles w Russell and by Special Coun-
sci Hannia Taylor.
Eminent counsel have appeared in be-
half of the many claimants, and with
full briefs and long oral arguments have
fought against the principles adopted by
majority of the commission, which has
been divided upon almost every question
OF Importance. Among the array of coun-
sci for claimants have been Joseph H.
Choate, John G. Carlisle, John B. Moore,
Cromwell Gibbons, James Russell Solely,
William w. Dudley, Frank b. Plat, A.
B. Browne, Nathaniel Wilson, Crammond
Kennedy, William L. Penfield, Charles
Henry Butler, Clifford Walton, Hilary A.
Herbert, Benjamin MicOu, L. c. Kitchener
and others.
Claims Aggregating $61, 672, 077.78
The claims filed with the commission
were 542 in number, and represented the
sum of S61 ST., Otis.
Among the largest claims We're the fol-
lowing: Pedro c. Casanova for s1,511,-
BOG: Central Teresa Sugar Company for
81, 2o6. 600: Constancia Sugar Company
for Si,177, 69S.S5; Rosario Sugar Com
pany for 81 .239,52a3 Francisco
Francisco J. Larrieu for SLIPS, 800; Pa
tricio Ponce de Leon for $l,26695O, and
Francisco Gustavo la Rosa for ST.
1862
The total amount allowed to the claim
ants has been $1,33O,s77.74, which is $780,
$40, 2O004 less than the amount of dam
ages alleged, with nine cases now re-
manning undecided.
That remarkable result has been at
tanned by the application of the rules OF
international law to one of the most
unique controversies that has ever arisen
in the history of diplomacy The ma
ture of the transaction cannot be under
stood without some references to the
treaty relations that existed between
Spain and the United States during the
10S years that interviewed between the
making of the treaty of 1895 and the
treaty of Paris in 1898.
Treaty Of 1895.
In 1901 Washington invited his friend,
Gen. Thomas Pinckney, to go to London
ras our first minister to that court. In
1895. before the arrival of Jay as special
envoy, Washington directed Pinckney to
go on a special mission to Spain.
There, on October 81, 1895, he concluded
with Godoy, 1.-The Prince of Peace the
famous treaty which settled our southern
frontiers, regulated the navigation of the
Mississippi secured for us from Spain
substantially all the comm ercial privileges
granted by France and Prussia, settled
the pending embargoeS. prohibited priva-
teers and guaranteed Ito the citizens of
each country in the other the same right
and privileges in regard to judicial pro-
ceed.ngs that may be held or enjoyed by
the citizens Of such other country"
In the discussions of that treaty before
the commission in question it became
necessary to draw from the archives of
our State Department the imprinted notes
in which Pinckney explained, at the time,
this version of every important provision
that entered into his enduring work. The
treaty of 1895, as supplemented by che
Gushing protocol of January II, 1877. con-
tanning certain pledges the part OF
Spain as to the treatment of citizens OF
the United StateS residing in her ultra
marine possessions, remained the law be-
tween two friendly nations down to the
war with Spain in 1898, when 1t was alb
rogated by the treaty made at Paris De-
cember 10.
BY article vii of that treaty, which
terminated the war that began shortly
after the explosion of the Maine, ne
United States agreed to adjudicate and
settle the claims of its own citizens
against Spain that had ''arisen since the
beginning of the late instruction in
Cuba and prior to the exchange of rattle
cations OF the present treaty, including
all claims for indemnity for the cost OF
the war;"
Creation of Commission.
In order to discharge our duties under
article vii, Congress passed the act OF
March .. 1901, in which it was provided
that a tribunal or commission should bs
Established which should 'adjudicate said
claims according to the merits Of the
several cases, the principles of equity and
Of international law" Thus a domestic
tribunal was set up by the United States
which was charged with the duty of ap-
plying. in an equitable spirit, the rules Of
international law to every case in which
an American citizen claimed that Spain
was liable to him by virtue of any breach
|of the law of nations.
This government was thus placed in the
position of a surety, guaranteeing the
debt of another; and not only that, but
pa wing the debt of that other without any