DIVISION OF REPORT REGISTRY Is charged with the duty of keeping and maintaining a record of the receipt of all reports of alleged enemy owned property, the assignment of report numbers and the preparation of card indices showing the name of the reporter, the name of the enemy, and geographical location. Upon the completion of this work the report is referred to the Bureau of Investigation for its determination of the question of enemy ownership and recommendation with respect to the establishment of a trust account. In the event of an affirmative decision, the report is returned for the purpose of the assignment of a trust number and the preparation of a docket sheet for record in the particular.division of the Bureau of Trusts, to which the same is transmitted for administration. To this division daily advices are furnished by the Bureau of Trusts, which serve as a basis for the compilation of statistics showing the number of reports of enemy property received, the number of trust accounts established, and the progress of the work relative to the administration thereof in the several divisions of the Trusts Bureau. At the close of business on December 31, 1918, this division had received for the purpose of recording 33,808 reports of alleged enemy owned property and had established by the assignment of a trust number 33,447 separate trust estates. DIVISION OF APPROPRIATION-ACCOUNTING Is responsible for the keeping of such records and books of account as will at all times clearly set forth the amount of each and every appropriation by Congress, and the purposes for which the same, or any part thereof, has been expended; the auditing and approval of all claims to be submitted to the disbursing officer for payment, and the preparation of a monthly report of available balances. In addition to the foregoing, it is the duty of this division to prepare semimonthly pay rolls; maintain a record of the attendance of employees, and to verify at regular intervals the accounts of the Division of Appropriation-Disbursement. Statement of receipts and disbursements for the period Jan. 1, 1918, to Dec. 31, 1918, inclusire. Building 225,000.00 900,000.00 474,361.20 25,000.00 7,833.94 1,366,244.88915, 896.32 47,500.00 47,500.00 45 2,043. 10 3.65 5, 494. 27 425,638, 80 17, 1666, 06 450,348.56 210,000.00 221.25 209,778.75 Classified disbursements for year ending Dec. 31, 1918. Equipment - Maintenance of equipment. Rent, light, heat, and power. Pay roll----- Stationery and printing_ Telephone and telegraph__ Per diem and travel expense. Local transportation Maps, books, and periodicals_ Miscellaneous Professional services___ Reporting enemy examinations__ State representatives.. 209,778.75 $2,956.93 73, 053.92 1,926. 80 48, 816. 10 706, 342, 75 45, 061. 19 11, 769. 02 625.92 6, 639. 32 170.00 954.53 699.95 15. SOS. 39 54.20 17.30 915, 896. 32 DIVISION OF APPROPRIATION- -DISBURSEMENT Prepares for presentation to the Secretary of the Treasury all formal requests for transfer of appropriations to the credit of the disbursing officer, whose duty it is to make payment of all items covering salary allowance and other charges incident to the operation of the organization, after audit and approval by the Division of AppropriationAccounting. A record is kept showing the total of appropriations so received, the disbursements made therefrom, and quarterly reports furnished to the Auditor for the State and Other Departments showing all available and unexpended balances. This division is also responsible for the issuance of requests for Government transportation, when authorized by the proper administrative officer; properly records and retains in its possession all bonds of financial institutions designated as depositaries, as well as all other securities which may come into its custody. DIVISION OF AUDIT Prepares a complete analysis of each report of alleged enemy-owned property; makes an examination of the records of the several bureaus relative to the administration thereof; determines the sufficiency of the demands which have been issued, and verifies compliance therewith by investigation of the alleged balances to the credit of the enemy in the Division of Accounts. This division also determines the accuracy of all entries appearing upon the books of the Division of Accounts relative to the receipt of income to be credited and disbursements to be debited to the several trusts; compares cash balances as shown by the general ledgers with advices from the Secretary of the Treasury; audits generally the records of each department, and in advance of the return of property to claimants under section 9 of the trading-with-the-enemy act, prepares and furnishes to the Bureau of Law a certificate showing the character and amount thereof. DIVISION OF INTERDEPARTMENTAL SERVICE Receives from the Division of Accounts all items for deposit with the Secretary of the Treasury, and is responsible for the proper handling of all communications which are referred to it by the several bureaus and divisions for delivery, either within the organization or to other governmental agencies. CHAPTER XVII. GERMANY'S TREATMENT OF AMERICAN PROPERTY. The question is repeatedly asked: What has Germany done with American property in the German Empire? It may be answered in a few words. She has done just as we have done, keeping constantly a little ahead of us and protesting that she has resorted to liquidation and sale only as a matter of reprisal. With this excuse, she liquidated or sold American property before the general power of sale was conferred on the Alien Property Custodian by act of Congress. She has sold the property of American and neutral residents in Germany, down to household goods and wearing apparel, which has never been done here; she has organized corporations, under official control, to purchase at ridiculous prices, syndicate and control all the plants in certain industries having French, British, and American interests, all before similar action was taken in the United States and allied countries. It has been a sort of " retaliation before the fact." While it does not come strictly within the purview of a report by the Alien Property Custodian as required by the act of Congress, it will nevertheless prove of interest, and may be of value, in considering what shall be done hereafter with the enemy property in the Alien Property Custodian's possession, to know how Germany has treated the subject of enemy property in the German Empire. From various sources I have been able to gather what I consider authentic information as to the legislation, ordinances, and decrees of the German Empire and the proceedings had thereunder. MEASURES AFFECTING AMERICAN PROPERTY WITHIN GERMAN JURISDICTION. On August 4, 1914, a war emergency act was passed by the German Imperial Diet, conferring in section 3, upon the Federal Council power to issue ordinances as might become necessary in order to avoid economic detriment. Under this power were issued all the ordinances relating to enemy property in Germany. The first step affecting American interests is the decree of August 9, 1917. This decree extends the provisions of the Federal Council's ordinance of September 30, 1914-directed originally against Great Britain-prohibiting payments or transmittances to the United States of money, drafts, or other negotiable instruments, or the export, con trary to any existing prohibition, of goods to the United States, or the sending of such goods from any other country to the United States. The imperial chancellor may permit exceptions to these rules. Existing or future obligations are suspended as from April 6, 1917. Payments may be made, however, to branch establishments in Germany of concerns or persons domiciled in the United States. The original provision that no interest will accrue on account of such postponement of payment has later been amended, as will be pointed out below. A decree of September 20, 1917, issued by the German authorities in Belgium applies the provisions relating to the prohibition of payments to the occupied districts of Belgium, and a decree of September 27, 1917, issued by the German administration for the occupied districts of Russia, extends the above regulations to such districts. A decree of September 12, 1917, allows an exception to the above regulations in cases where payments are required to obtain, to maintain, or to prolong patent, copyright, and trade-mark rights in the United States. On December 13, 1917, the imperial chancellor issued a decree ordering the compulsory administration of American concerns; i. e., concerns of which the capital wholly or principally belongs to American citizens. This decree simply extends the provisions of the ordinance of November 26, 1914, ordering the compulsory administration or sequestration of French concerns. Under this ordinance the American citizen loses, upon the appointment of an administrator by the State authorities, possession of his property; his rights and powers are transferred to the administrator, who may either continue the business of the concern or confine his actions to the carrying out of the pending transactions and then terminate the business. An amendment to this ordinance provides that any property of such concerns, as well as bequests and devises, are to be placed under such administration, and it further stipulates that in special cases any other property of enemy origin be subjected to compulsory administration. The next measure is the decree of December 31, 1917, applying the provisions of the ordinance of December 16, 1916, to the United States. It authorizes the imperial chancellor to declare void, in whole or in part, any contract entered into by a German subject, juristic person or concern in the Empire or its colonies, with American citizens or concerns. American patent and trade-mark rights and copyrights are affected by the decree of the imperial chancellor of January 3, 1918. extending the provisions of the ordinance of July 1, 1915, which authorizes the imperial chancellor, by special orders, to decree in the public interest the impairment and abrogation of patent and trademark rights and copyrights. The application of the provisions of |