Evening star., 1925-08-22

Does Mexico owe you anything? II
ye have claims to file. prepare to
file them now. After August 80, 1t Will
be too late.
Claims have been accommodating in
the Department of State since 1858;
more have been gathered in the ar
chives of the General Claims Com
mission and the Special Claims Com
mission. since the first meetings there
of one year ago, and the time limit
for accepting such claims will ex-
pire next week.
1t has been inaccurately stated in
the public press that our claims ag-
gregate $4,000 in number. On Of
fetal authority 1T is said that the
total number is only 5000 or 5000. and
nobody can even guess as to what
they amount to in dollars. One
claim amounts to $42 100000 and an
other. not yet perfected for filing. was
first submitted in the form of a de-
mand for restitution of 100000 acres
of confiscated land; or, in lieu of res
titution, the payment of $4,000, 900.
This one is to be revised, omitting
exact figures as to the value of the
land. 1t may be recalled that when
the United States acquired Texas,
New Mexico and California, and GER
tain other territory at the close of the
Mexican War, we paid Mexico for the
entire settlement somewhat less than
half of just one of these two claims
above cited.
Not all of the damages consist in
conf1scation or destruction of prop
erty: some are based upon personal
injuries or deaths of Americans at the
hands of bandits or conspirators seek
ifYr al nr- 70 oylf two Ia
for the political party in power and re-
sponsibility. The value of a life as
measured by relatives or dependents
is not always that which will be meas
ured by the commission. The murder
of an American who was earning
$100, 900 a year is not the same as that
of one on a S100-a-month salary; the
commission will base its evaluations
upon insurance statistics of expec-
fancy of life and the average earning
capacity of the deceased. 1t is not
sentiment but vital statistics that
measures what is collectible.
x X x
Offsetting claims by Mexico against
the United States VIII be presented
before the same commissions, al
though it Is not supposed that they
will be as numerous, nor as large in
total, as the American accounts. After
all claims have been adjudicated, the
excess of one country's account over
that of the other will be paid to the
dominant nation, and each govern.
ment will then distribute the indi-
vidual amounts. An American will col
lect his damages from the United
States Treasury and a Mexican will
look to his own country's treasury for
settlement.
There are both a General Claims
Commission and a Special Claims
Commission. The special commission
will consider all claims arising within
the Mexican revolutionary period.
1910 to 1920; the general commission
will consider and adjudicate all other
cases, whether based on losses prior
to 1910 or after 1920. The Special
Claims Commission sits in Mexico
City, the general commission in Wash.
ington, and by having two commits
sions, with precise cutoff as to the
jurisdiction of each, there will be no
possibility of either country feeling
that undue advantage in environment
Is given to the other.
The treaty creating the special
commission to handle the 1910-2o
claims Of the revolutionary period"
provided that that commission should
meet In Mexico City, and adds
The Mexican government desires
| that the claims shall be so decided
because Mexico wishes that her re-
sponsibility shall not be fixed ac-
| cording to the generally accepted
| rules and principles of international
law. but ex gratia (meaning by the
graciousness of Mexico's spirit), feels
morally bound to make full idemni-
fcation and agrees, therefore. that It