One copy of the agreement was signed both in French and English. This
copy is to be filed with the records of the Government of France. I
understand that a certified copy of both the French and English
agreement will be, in due course, sent to you through the American
Embassy.
I enclose herewith a copy of the French and English drafts with small
pencil changes made at the last meeting of the Conference when the
official copy was being verified.22 The changes on the French text were made by Mr.
Sheldon Whitehouse, Counsellor of the American Embassy. Both of these
drafts should absolutely agree with the original draft as signed.
Respectfully,
[Enclosure]
Agreement between the United States of America
and Great Britain, France, Italy, and Belgium, Signed at Paris,
May 25, 1923
The present agreement is concluded between
the Government of the United States of America, of the one part,
And the Governments of Great Britain, France, Italy, and Belgium of
the other part.
[Page 181]
The Governments of Great Britain, France, Italy and Belgium undertake
to use every effort to secure the adherence to this Agreement of the
other Allied Powers who have a right to participate in the payments
affected by the said Agreement.
Article 1
For the purpose of the present Agreement the net amount due to the
Government of the United States for the costs of its Army of
Occupation will be reckoned as follows:
The total net costs as they are certified by the United States
Government and as they will figure in the accounts of the Reparation
Commission after deducting the following sums, if they have not
already been deducted:
- (a)
- Any amount already collected by the United States
Government in the form of the requisition of paper
marks;
- (b)
- The value of the Armistice material and material abandoned
by Germany not possessing a military character.
The value in gold of the paper marks, of the Armistice material and
of the abandoned material not possessing a military character, shall
be fixed by the Reparation Commission and the Reparation Commission
will agree with the Government of the United States as to the amount
thereof to be deducted from the total net costs of the American Army
of Occupation.
Article 2
- I.
- The net amount due to the United States will be paid in twelve
equal yearly instalments, the first instalment to be paid on or
before the 31st December 1923.
- II.
- No interest will be charged; however, if the Allied
Governments should decide at any time to charge interest from a
fixed date for the unpaid costs of their Armies of Occupation,
the same rate of interest commencing from the same date shall be
allowed the Government of the United States for the unpaid
balance of its claim.
- III.
- Each of the yearly instalments referred to in paragraph I of
the present Article constitutes up to the 31st December 1926 a
first charge on the payments of all kinds to be credited to
Germany’s “Reparation” account* excluding those specially excepted by
paragraph
[Page 182]
IV below,
and, from the 1st January 1927, if the payments of all kinds to
be placed to the credit of the Reparation account are
insufficient, a first charge in addition on all the payments to
be placed to the credit of Armies of Occupation account,
exclusive of paper marks requisitioned to meet the needs of the
Armies of Occupation for local currency during the year in the
course of which the said yearly instalment should be paid to the
Government of the United States. The charges established by the
present paragraph are applicable whether these payments are made
by Germany or for her account or by or for the account of
another country from whom a similar payment may be exacted, to
any organization which has been or may be designated to receive
such payments and including the payments made directly to the
interested Governments.
- IV.
- For the purpose of the execution of the present Agreement, the
payments by the German Government subjected to the charges
referred to in paragraph III above shall not include
- a)
- Deliveries in kind intended to be used in the interior
of the receiving countries, their colonies and their
dominions made by virtue of the various annexes to Part
VIII of the Treaty of Versailles or of any other
procedure approved to date by the Reparation
Commission* to the
Allied countries having a credit on account of
reparations;
- b)
- The proceeds of the British Reparation Recovery Act or
of any other similar legislation enacted or to be
enacted by the other Allied Governments in pursuance of
paragraph 2 of the decision of the Allied Governments of
3rd March 1921;25
- c)
- The value of transfers and cessions of property,
rights and interests made in execution of the Treaty of
Versailles, unless such transfers (e. g., under Articles
254 and 256 of the Treaty of Versailles) result in a
payment to the credit of Germany’s reparation account
made by Powers not having a right to reparation, or
unless such cessions of property, rights and interests
(e. g., under Article 260 of the Treaty of Versailles)
are liquidated or sold for cash by the Reparation
Commission for the credit of Germany.
- V.
- If, in the course of one calendar year between 1st January
1923 and 31st December 1926, the amount of the sum due to the
Government of the United States exceeds 25% of the total of the
payments made by or for the account of Germany for the credit of
her reparation account as defined above (excluding the sums
carried to the
[Page 183]
account
of the Armies of Occupation), the amount of the instalment
payable to the Government of the United States shall be reduced
to a sum equivalent to 25% of such payments, and ⅛ of the sum
deducted shall be added to each of the instalments to be paid in
the course of the years 1927 to 1934 inclusive.
- VI.
- Nevertheless, for the purpose of the present Agreement, the
European Allied Governments, creditors on account of their
Armies of Occupation, undertake to apply during each of the
years 1923 to 1926 inclusive by priority to the payment of the
current expenses for their respective Armies of Occupation, in
so far as these have not been met by the requisition of paper
marks, the value of the deliveries in kind referred to in
paragraph (a) above, the proceeds of any
Reparation Recovery Act for the time being in force and referred
to in paragraph (b) above, and the value
of the transfers and cessions of property rights and interests
referred to in paragraph (c) above, in
such a way as to be able to place as far as possible the value
of the other payments which Germany will make to her credit on
account of reparations.
- VII.
- If, after 1926, the payments to the Government of the United
States in the course of any particular year are insufficient to
satisfy the amount due to that Government in the course of that
year, the arrears shall be carried over to a special account
bearing simple interest at 4½%.
- This account of arrears shall be liquidated as soon as the
payments received from Germany in the course of any year
admit.
- These arrears shall have the same priority as that given under
paragraph III of Article 2 of the present Agreement to the equal
annual instalments.
- VIII.
- However, if in the course of one of the first four years it
should prove necessary to utilise all or a part of the payments
in cash made by Germany to cover the costs of the Armies of
Occupation of the European Allies in the course of that year,
the American priority of 25% shall be calculated on the total of
the payments in cash made by Germany in the course of that year
on reparation account and on the account of the Armies of
Occupation of the European Allied Powers, exclusive of paper
marks requisitioned to meet the needs of the Armies of
Occupation for local currency. The sum to be remitted to the
Government of the United States in the course of any one of the
first four years shall not, however, exceed 50% of the total
balance of the payments in cash made by Germany in the course of
the year in question, which remains for credit to reparation
account. If the American priority calculated as above for any
particular year cannot be met by the 50% payments calculated as
above, the balance of this priority shall be chargeable
[Page 184]
against the payments
in cash made by Germany in the course of the following years up
to and including 1926 instead of being spread over the payments
of the last eight years. At the beginning of 1927 the total
deficit which has accrued shall be spread over the payments of
the last eight years.
- IX.
- If at the end of the year 1927 or of any year following, the
arrears have reached such an amount as might, in the opinion of
the Government of the United States, endanger the complete
execution of the payments within the period of twelve years, the
Allied Governments will, upon the request of the Government of
the United States and in agreement with it, use their best
endeavours to make such modifications of the present Agreement
as may seem necessary to ensure the complete execution of the
payments within the prescribed period of twelve years.
- X.
- The Allied Governments, however, reserve all their rights in
respect of the payments in kind and in cash which might be
collected in occupied territory through the intervention of any
Allied authority.
Article 3
The present Agreement has been drawn up in contemplation of annual
payments to be made by Germany and with the recognition of the
impossibility of foreseeing and determining at this moment the
distribution of any extraordinary payment which may be made by
Germany in any particular year.
If, however, a loan is floated or an anticipatory payment effected by
Germany in any manner, the Allied Governments will put themselves in
communication with the Government of the United States for the
purpose of discussing the participation of the United States in such
extraordinary payments.
If, as a consequence of a loan floated either in America or
elsewhere, or of any anticipatory payment made by Germany by any
means whatever, a moratorium were granted to Germany, the Allied
Governments will put themselves into communication with the
Government of the United States for the purpose of reaching an
agreement which would not cause any prejudice to the Government of
United States.
No discount shall be allowed for any anticipatory payments.
Article 4
The Allied Governments which have approved the agreement of 11th
March 1922, declare that the charge upon the payments in cash to be
received from Germany and set up by the last part of Article 8 of
the Interallied Agreement of March 11th 1922, in favour of the
unpaid balance of the costs of the British and French Armies
[Page 185]
of Occupation up to 1st
May 1921, shall only apply to the balance, if such there be, of the
German payments after payment of the sums due to the United States
in execution of the present Agreement. The fact that the Government
of the United States has taken note of this declaration cannot,
however, be interpreted as an expression of opinion of the
Government of the United States with regard to the Agreement of 11th
March 1922.
Article 5
If the Government of the United States should come to an agreement
with the Reparation Commission to receive, in accordance with the
provisions of the Treaty of Versailles or any supplementary
Agreement, German dye-stuffs, the value of these dye-stuffs
determined by agreement between the Government of the United States
and the Reparation Commission, shall be deducted from the annual
payment due to the Government of the United States under the present
Agreement in the course of the calendar year in which these
dye-stuffs shall have been received.
If, in the course of any calendar year, the value of the dye-stuffs
thus supplied to the United States exceeds the annual sum due to the
Government of the United States, the excess shall be utilised:
- (a)
- During the years from 1923 to 1926 to supplement, as far
as necessary, the payments already made, so as to bring
them, for each year, up to 1/12 of the American
claim;
- (b)
- During 1927 and the years following, to liquidate the
account of arrears.
If, when these operations have been completed, there still remains a
balance, this shall be regarded as an anticipatory payment of the
annual instalments fixed in accordance with Article 2 of the present
Agreement.
No discount shall be allowed on these anticipatory payments.
Article 6
If at any time the arrears due to the United States reach a total
such that the Government of the United States considers that there
is a risk of its not being paid within the prescribed period of 12
years, the Government of the United States shall have the right to
abrogate the present Agreement, if within a period of three months
from the date of a notification to that effect, the Agreement has
not been modified to its satisfaction.
In negotiating the present Agreement, the respective Governments,
with a view to arriving at an arrangement for the payment of the
costs of the American Army of Occupation, have voluntarily avoided
raising any question of right or interpretation.
[Page 186]
The respective Governments desire, nevertheless, to state that, in
case the present Agreement should be abrogated for any reason
whatsoever, each of them reserves the right to maintain all its
rights whatsoever may be their extent, such as each deems them to
exist at this date.
The present Agreement shall take effect
after such ratifications as may be required in accordance with the
constitutional methods of the High Contracting Parties.26
Ratifications shall be exchanged at Paris as soon as possible.
In faith whereof the undersigned, duly
authorized, have signed the present Agreement.
Done at Paris, the twenty-fifth day of May
one thousand nine hundred and twenty-three, in a single copy which
will remain deposited in the archives of the French Republic, and of
which authenticated copies will be transmitted to each of the
Signatory Powers.
For the United States of America:
Eliot Wadsworth
For Great Britain:
John Bradbury
For France:
Jean Tannery
For Italy:
M. d’Amelio
For Belgium:
A. Bemelmans
