Progress

From Paris, Seymour Parker Gilbert, Agent General of Reparations, made his first statement: "I leave for Berlin next Tuesday with Owen Young. We shall probably remain there several weeks. We expect to work together as long as he remains in Europe."

He was then reported to have added: "But I expect to be in Paris most of the time, and I'm glad of it." Apparently the Agent General does not like Berlin.

P:The Reparations Commission appointed the personnel of the Transfer Committee which is to handle deliveries in kind made by Germany under the Experts' Plan. The members: Britain, Sir Thomas H. Unwick; France, M. Aron; Italy, Commendatore Laviosa; Belgium, M. Bemelmans. Representation was refused to Japan, Rumania, Yugoslavia.

P: At Paris, sat a Commission of the representatives of Allied Finance Ministers. The U. S. was represented by Colonel James A. Logan, unofficial representative of the U. S. Government on the Reparations Commission.

The task which confronted the Commission was not easy. They had not only to determine how much the French and Belgians had extracted from the Ruhr but to decide how the receipts are to be distributed and by whom the cost of collection is to be borne. The next problem is to decide on the distribution of the 1,000,000,000 gold marks which is Germany's first annuity under the Experts' Plan.

The U. S. Government has a claim for $250,000,000, due as expenses for the U. S. Army of Occupation. In addition, there is a sum of about $250,000,000 that may be charged to Germany.

When the treaty of peace between the U. S. and Germany was signed in 1921, the U. S. claimed damages from Germany to the extent of $1,479,000,000. This sum was subsequently whittled down by the U. S.-German Mixed Claims Commission to a little over $400,000,000, for which sum security to the value of $245,000,000 is said to be held. The difference between these two sums is likely therefore to become a charge against Germany. As the Mixed Claims Commission has not yet disposed of all of the claims, no precise figures are available.