Evening star., 1921-10-23
RESULTS FOLLOWING
PACT RATIFICATION
Envoys to Central Powers Will Be Ap-
pointed and Settlement of Claims
of American Citizens Begun.

these officers and the countries in
which they have been resident has
been purely Informal and unofficial.
But the other nations of the world. 1t
must be remembered, have had full
corps of diplomatic and consular rep
resentatives in Germany. Austria and
Hungary, working in the interests OF
increased trade with their own par
ticular countries. In this way the
United States has been at disadvan-
tage. The interests Of the United
States have been handled through
Spain's diplomatic and consular off,
GERS in Germany. Naturally the in
terests OF the United States have been
secondary to those Of Spain, though
this Is not intended in any way as a
criticism Of the manner in which the
interests Of Americans have been
cared for by the Spanish.
The United States has lost the
revenue derived from fees paid to
consular officers for the certification
of invoices Of goods shipped from
German ports by Americans to any
other country in American vessels.
These fees have gone to Spanish Of
ficials and have been lost to the
Treasury of the United States.
amounting possibly to half a million
dollars a year.
Some of the federal and state laws
require that a document executed
abroad must be executed before an
ho hnI
that a Spanish consul, acting as an
American consul, does not fill the
bill in cases Of this kind. So deeds,
powers Of attorney, mortgages and
other documents affecting property
have not been able to be attested in
Germany. which has been a great
Inconvenience in business transac-
tions. it is said.
Congress. by special act, took care
of applications of patents filed by
inventors before Spanish consuls
acting for American officials. and
bill was passed also to permit Span
ish consuls to act in pension cases.
Even though the exchange situa-
tion may be such as to prevent any
large increase in trade with the for
mer enemy nations for the present,
it will be a great assistance to
American business to have American
officials on the ground, it is said, to
ture trade In competition with other
nations.
1t is expected that President Hard
ing Will appoint an ambassador to
Germany soon and, probably. minis
ters to Austria and to the new ma
tion, Hungary.--.-s - -e----.---->
Claims Against Germany.
So far as American claims against
treaty of peace with that nation. as
we'll as with the other two nations.
specifics that the property seized by
the alien property custodian after
the beginning of. the war is to be
held until those claims are satisfied.
hundreds Of millions of dollars, and
it is estimated that the American
claims for damages will be covered
by .$100.000,000 or less, including the
sinki0g of American vessels and the
loss Of American lives on the Lusi-
tania and other vessels prior to the
entrance of this country into the
war.
Members Of the Senate and officials
of the State Department are of. the
opinion that beginning Of the adjust
ment Of these claims may not be made
until supplementary convention has
been entered into between the United
States and the other nations provid-
ing for the appointment Of claims
commission to settle the claims, with
representatives Of this country and Ger
many, in the case Of Germany, and pos
sibly of some disinterested nation. If de-
sired The treaties just ratified make
no provision for the appointment Of such
a commission to handle these claims. 1t
is believed that to be legally binding
a special agreement must be entered
into for the proposed commissions.
The United States has claims against
Germany running up to nearly $780,
10000 to pay for the subsistence of
American troops in the occupied area
of Germany since the signing of the
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