Evening star., 1943-10-16
Hearst Will Receive
'Seyen-Figure' Check
For Mexican Claims
BY LEON PEARSON.

BY LEON PEARSON.
William Randolph Hearst may
not be aware of it, but he is about
to receive a check written in seven
figures, in settlement of his claim
against the government of Mexico
Though his is perhaps the largest
1t is only one of hundreds now being
paid off, in new atmosphere OF
financial good will between Mexico
and the United States.
! In the course of its revolutionary
reform, the Mexican government ex-
propriated the great Hearst hacienda
in the state of Chihuahua, and for
years Mr.. Hearst has been wonder
| ing if he would ever get his money
So have hundreds of other North
Americans. including the Sunday
school teacher who, visiting in Mex
leo, was shocked to find a horse
race conducted on Sunday. With
Carrie Nation zeal, he interfered to
break up the race. But Mexican
police whisked him off to Jail and
forgot about him for several days.
When he got back home he entered
claim for personal damages. He is
now about to be paid at the rate of
$50 for each day spent in Jail.
Ancient Cases Revived.
All over the United States claim
ants are receiving checks for prop
erty taken or damages suffered
claims which, in some cases, are
older than the living claimants.
Some date back as far as 1858 But
every claim, no matter how old, is
being busted off and brought to life
by the recently created American
Mexican Claims Commission.
This commission, established only
last April, sits in stately old build
ing directly across PENNSYLVANIA
avenue from the State Department.
1t has picked up the old trails of
two former claims commissions and
has already reached pay dirt 1t is
doing no more work than they did,
but it has the advantage of a credit
of $40,000,000 to start with.
After years of delay and ill feel
ing, the Mexican government made
lump-sum settlement two years
ago, under a general settlement of
outstanding difficulties between the
two governments. The headline
feature of this settlement was the
petroleum controversy, but it also
contained an ageement under which
Mexico was to pay $40000,000 on
agrarian and general claims.
Money in Treasury.
Six million dollars was made
available at once, then S2,5O0,0OO a
years later, and another $2,5OO,0O0 is
about to be paid. This money re-
poses in the United States Treas
ury, and the Claims Commission
makes awards against it. All over
the country people are getting
windfalls of cash, and Mexicos
reputation is going up again.
AS one official expressed it, I'VE
are really cleaning up the docket"
Two previous commissions tangled
with the problem, but with little
success. They were both interna-
tional commissions-and therein lay
the difficulty. Their membership
was jointly American and Mexican,
and though the American member
might make an appraisal, it would
be overuled by the Mexican, and
vice versa.
This was especially true of the
Agrarian Claims Commission, set up
in Ell Paso, Tex, under the agree
ment of November, 1888 1t con-
sisted of only two commissioners
one American, Lawrence w. Lawson,
and one Mexican, and it reached
agreement on not a single case.
Settled zoo Claims.
To less degree, it was also true
of the General Claims Commission,
established under the convention of
September, 1923, consisting of one
American, Oscar w. Underwood, jr.,
one Mexican and one neutral. 1t
settled only 200 claims.
The present commission, consist
ing of Edgar E. Witt of Texas, Sam
uel M. Gold of New York and
Charles F. Mclaughlin of Nebraska,
has the task of appraising all the
old claims, plus lot of new ones
a total of between 1000 and 1900.
In most cases the appraisals made
by Commissioners Underwood and
Lawson are accepted by the present
commission and awards are made
accordingly.
Though the commission will func-
tion until April, 1945, the deadline
for filing claims is almost at hand
December /, 1943. The commission
will consider nothing filed after that
date.
Through the present awards,
many person who had kissed his
property good-by is being paid cash
OF the realm. Some, however, are
getting nothing-as in the case of
the unSuspecting investors who
bought from North American swim
dlers banana plantations" in Mex
leo which did not exist.
Some Are Large.
Some Of the awards are only few
hundred dollars, but most are in five
f1gures-between $4,000 and $780,
600. A few, like the Hearst claim,
amount to more than a million.
The payments are being made at
a time when other Mexican obliga-
tions are being settled-particularly
the appropriated oil properties-and
a general confidence in the solvency
and soundness of Mexico is being
restored. To be sure, this is not
without some reciprocal action on
the part of the United States Gov
ernment. for. at tha A ma TINA that