Evening star., 1921-05-15

| been widely stated by public
men in this country on many
occasions This is too altruistic by a
considerable amount. however. when the
facts of the case ara investigated.
When recently the Senate foreign re-
la,ions committee tackled the problem
of making peace by congressional reso-
lution il found the most serious STUN
bling block was properly TO safeguard
the interests of the United States and
American citizens involved in the great
war. The claims of the United States
and its citizens, under peace made by
negotiation, naturally would he cared
for through diplomatic exchanges. But
in passing a congressional resolution
putting an end to the technical state OF
war existing between the United States
and Germany and the United States and
/ Austria it was feared that unless the
language of the resolution was very spe-
cif1c the United States and its citizens
might wake up one morning to find that
their claims against the central powers
were vanished into thin air.
So Senator Knox of Pennsylvania, au
thor Of the peace resolution, and other
members of the foreign relations COM
mittee undertook to insert in the reso-
luton the necessary language to pro-
tect ak these interests. with the result
that the peace resolution expanded in
size until 1t was out of all proportion to
the original measure.
! X X 4
Now. just what are these claims of
the United States and American citi
zens against the enemy nations, and
how are they to be safeguarded?
In the first place. the United States
has maintained a considerable armed
force on German soil since the sign
ing of the armistice in November.
1918. The theory has been that the
forces were there to see that Germany
lived up to the armistice terms. The
| troops are still there, some 1900 of
| them. Germany has got TO foot the
bill for the maintenance of these
| armed forces. the American govern
ment insists. 1t has been estipated
by the Secretary of War that the bill
will run from S240,o0O,000 to S270,-
100000, about a quarter of billion
dollars. In itself. this is a tidy little
claim against the Germans.
In March of this year President
Wilson transmitted to the Senate. in
response to resolution adopted by
that body, report from the Secre-
| tary of State in respect to alleged
| losses and claims against Germany
filed with the Department of State
| by American citizens since August,
| 1914, when the world war broke out.
! The total given in this report was
! 1921, ,231, 1921. But the claims finally
! submitted against Germany, probably,
will far exceed this figure. Nor does
| this sum include the claims of Amer
| lean citizens against Austria for in
| juries done them during the war. The
! grand total given by the State De-
| partment coveerd l.253 claims and
| statements of loss or communication
ndica ting intentions OF filing claims.
| This is approximately another quar-
ter OF billion dollars, which will
| be demanded of Germany.
When the United States entered the
war it Immediately seized all the
enemy alien property it could lay its
hands on, and, with few exceptions.
| it continues to hold this property to-
day. In round figures, the alien prop
erty custodian has control of property
valued at $3.50, 100000. This property
is held. very naturally, to safeguard
the interests of American citizens
who have claims against the enemy
nations, and to safeguard the inter-
ests of the United States itself. So it
appears that the American claimants
have pretty fair showing of getting
their money back eventually, or a
large part of il. The vast amount
of the enemy alien property seized
by the United States is located right
here in this country, and it still has
high value for the most part. ire