Evening star., 1928-11-18
i. S. WAR ENEMIES
TO GET S1O0,olO,0l]|)
Compensation Embraces
Claims for Ships, Patents
and Radio Station.
pY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.


Rave already been made to the extent
Of nearly 100000 900. steps are now
in progress for compensation OF Ger
man claimants. mostly owners of ships
end patents. to the MAXIMUM amount
authorized by Congress. Sl00O00,0 zoo. III
addition TO ships and patents. the
United States plans to reimburse its
German owners for the wireless sta
ton at SayviIle. Long Island, which
we seized in 1917.
Busy with Legal Questions.
It is the matter of squaring accounts
with the German claimants against the
United States that is the up-to-date
phase Of the war aftermath. BY act
of Congress, Judge Edwin B. Parker of
Texas, who was umpire of the German
American Mixed Claims Commission,
Is clothed with full power to adjudicate
the German demands. His title is that
Of War Claims Arbiter. He was ap-
pointed by the President and confirmed
by the Senate. With the assistance of
z. P. Bowyer of South Dakota, who
has been his right hand man since the
Claims Commission was established IN
1928. Judge Parker is now immersed in
the mass of legal questions involved in
connection with former enemy shipping
anu D6lEulS, AItOSctIieI lCo IldullS al
on file covering ships. Respecting
patents. 1910 claims require sdjuoica
tion. The Sayville wireless station Is
the only claim of its kind.
In the Settlement Of War Claims
act. which came to the House from
the ways and means committee and to
the Senate from its finance committee.
the principle laid down by Congress
vas that it violates American traditions
to confscate the private property OF
nationals with whose country the united
States may have been at war Uncle
Sam never interned the German ships
which he eventually seized when we
declared war in April, 1917. The ships
ran into our harbors at the outbreak
Of the World war in 1914, in order to
escape certain capture or destruction
by the allied navies. Even after the
United States went to war with Ger
many and Austria Hungary, the vessels
which had been enjoying refuge in
american harbors for two and a half
years might have weighed anchor and
taken to the high seas. They, OF
course, did not dare do so and risk
being sacrificed, vhereupon the mill
tary necessities of the United States
jmpelled us to take possession of them.
Nov. more than IL years later, We pur-
rose reimbursing the original owners of
the ships at least In part, for their
value at the time they fell into our def
mite possession.
102 Ships Included.
Altogether 1o2 ships are embraced by
the claims which the American arbiter
Is about to consider. OF that number,
IS are cargo steamers; are cargo mail
steamers: ~ are passenger and cargo
cleaners: 10 are sailing vessels; 8 are
motor vessels. and are express pas
senger steamers. The last named group
includes the famous former German
queen of the seas. S. S. Vaterland, now
u. S S. Leviathan. The other German
express steamers we're the cne-tlne well
known and popular liners, Kaiser WI
haln1 II and Kronprinzessin Cecilie. The
group of passenger and cargo vessels
includes S. S. George washington, the
former North German Lloyd liner. whose
rame was not changed when she en-
tered Americas service. 1t was the
George washington which transported
President Woodrow Wilson back and
forth across the Atlantic for the Peace
Conference.
While the two big German shipping
eompanieS-the Hamburg-Americ and
the North German Lloyd-did not own
the majority of the seized vessels,
roundly 80 per cent of the gross ton
mage and value represented few the
flags for those lines. The more i'm
portant ships were seized in Atlantic
ports, but others we're distributed among
Gulf ports and along the Pacific Coast.
The bigger and better former enemy
ships we're all employed in carrying
American troops TO France or N the
service of supplies.
Entitled to Oppose Awards.
Judge Parker. the claims arbiter. has
many knotty legal tangles to unravel In
considering both the ship and patent
cases. The Department of Justice,
acting for the United States, is en-
titled to oppose the awards asked for.
Assistant Attorney General George R.
Farnum Is in charge Of the ship cases
and Assistant Attorney General Her
man J. Galloway is In charge of the
patent cases. AS to the ships. Con-
gress provided that the basis Of COM
pensation should be their value to the
owner at the time they were seized by
the United States. The fixing of this
value conjures up no end of contro-
versial difficulties. There comes into
consideration the fact that the Germans
and the others voluntarily took refuge
in American waters.
Another ticklish question Is whether
the ships or any of them were entitled
to the innocent character of purely
merchant vessels, or whether they were
and to what eXtent-naval auxil-
isry craft. Congress was rather de-
termined on the point that no Ameri-
Can money should ever be paid in
compensation for ship which was in
fact a disguised man-of-war. This
bottom fell out of the international
shipping market in 1921. That brings
up a factor which will enter into the
fixing of the value of individual vessels
The matter of the seized German
patents is no less complicated than the
ship question. The Alien Property Gus
todian sold certain valuable German
patents TO the Chemical Foundation Of
America, and previously the United
States Government during the war hac
been itself using some of these patents
Just how and to what amount the orig
inal owners are now entitled to re-
endorsement brings up questions OF
law and fact almost endlesss in mum.
her and variety.
The United States Treasury to date
has paid to American claimants against
Germany. on account of death anc
personal injury claims, a total of S72,.
100000. The system adopted wcs tt
pay at once I'll claims OF less thar
100000 each end pro-rata amount or
all claims IN excess of 100000 each
FUNDS for these payments were derived
$4,000, 900 received By ths United
States under the Dawes reparation.
plan and the Paris finance agreement
and S33000,000 in unallocated intereS
from the Alien Property Office.
tCopyright, 1929