Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-17
BOYDEN OFFERED
. COMMISSION POST
Prospective Successor to
Late Judge Parker Is
Preparations Expert.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

Z ny FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.
President Hoover has offered the va
cant post of umpire of the Mixed
Claims Commission, United States and
Germany, until recently held by the
late Judge Edwin B. Parker of Texas
to Roland w. Boyden of Massachusetts,.
Mr.. Boyden is one of Americas fore
most international authorities and ranks
particularly as a specialist in the field
of German reparations. During the
three or four years preceding the
formulation of the Dawes plan, in 1923,
Mr. Boyden was the unofficial repre-
sentative" of the United States on the
Preparations Commission and was sta
toned at Paris.
Sixty-three years old and a graduate
Of Harvard and of its Law School, Mr.
Boyden is a member of the Boston firm
Of Ropes, Gray, Boyden & Perkins.
which probably has the largest and
most important practice in New Eng
land. Thomas N. Perkins of that firm
was an associate Of Owen d. Young and
j. p. Morgan in this years reparations
conference at The Hague, from which
the Young plan emerged. Mr.. Boyden
was honorably mentioned year ago
as a possibility for the Secretary of
State in the Hoover cabinet. 1t was
understood that his name was put for
ward by Senator Moses, Republican. of
REPRESENTATIVE
New England in the new administration.
Believed Parker'S Choice.
Had Judge Parker lived and relin-
pushed the umpire'S post on the Mixed
Claims Commission to take the preSi-
dency of the Parker School of Foreign
Affairs in Washington. for which he
provided by will, it is believed that he
would have recommended MIR. Boyden
VnI6n Ilar lynV k,n1
mapped out definite and systematic
plan for winding up the remaining
German and American claims awaiting
adjudication and 1t is anticipated that,
II MIR. Boyden accepts the Presidents
offer. he will carry on" the program
formulated by Judge Parker. This pro-
vides, anon other things. for early
settlement of important patent claims
including demands by American citizens
owned by them and which, they con-
tend, we're used by the German govern
ment during the war in connection with
submarine construction.
Practically all of the important Amer
lean claims against Germany. especially
those in excess of $4,000. have been
settled except claims arising out OF
sabotage in this country and those con-
cerned with German chemical patents.
The principal two sabotage matters re-
late to the Black Tom. N. j., ammuni-
ton depot explosion at Black Tom, N.
j., in July, 1916. and the Kingsland, N.
j., fire in 1917. which destroyed the
plant of the Canadian Car SS Foundry
Co. The Black Tom affair represents
a claim of $20.000.000. The chemical
patents apparently involve legal ques-
ton.
The alien property custodian. at the
10 seized
turned over some 5000 of them to the
then newly organized Chemical Foun-
dalton of America. Various proposals
for deciding who now is entitled To
compensation for these patents have
been made. One suggestion is that
Congress should appropriate money
from the funds already voted for ad-
Indication of German-American claims.
Another suggestion is that the arbiter
OF the Mixed Claims Commission should
review the whole patents question
afresh. At any rate, it is considered
desirable by all concerned that the issue
should be tackled and disposed of with |
out further delay. This was judge
Parker's purpose, and it is assumed
that his successor holds the same view.
Liberal Toward Germany.
Mr. Boyden has consistently favored
in the past the most liberal possible
attitude toward Germany on the part
of her war claims creditors. Writing
in Foreign Affairs on the Dawes plan
two or three years ago, Boyden said:
"A more generous disposition on the
part of all of us is necessary. The
Dawes plan. good as it is. is a STU
pendous undertaking. involving many
and important complications and sure
in the nature of things to result in
occasional disappointments and to
need minor adjustments. If 1t were
undertaken by the angels in heaven 1t
would need Divine grace to make all
the angels work together for good.
Blind partisans and demagogues will
continue to insist that all Germans are
devils incarnate; they will belittle every
effort OF reasonable Germans and will
magnify the Importance of the similar
blind partisanS and demagogues OF
Germany.
1T is for statesmen of the allies
and associated powerS-to lead Their
peoples toward a better realization OF
the Christian Spirit-or of true civili-
cation, If one prefers-to set the e&-
ample by their own sympathy and CO.
operation with Germans of good will
by helping such Germans to convince
their compatriots that good will really
pays. 'Noblesse oblige.' So does Wiz
tory"
Copyright 1927