Show G L r HIAN ely tn TO JO m PA y FUH ADMITS THAT AMERICAN OWN ERS SHOULD BE compensated FOR THEIR LOSS will insist that case cace must go inac prize court in order that ownership may be formally established washington germanas germanys Germ anys intention to compensate the owners of 1114 american ship william P frye on the high seas with her cargo ol 01 wheat by the commerce raider prim altel Fr eldrich was vas formally commit to the united states govern ment thursday ambassador gerard cabled a note handed him by the der ber lin foreign office in reply to the re cent american communication submit ting a claim for an indemnity of on behalf of the fryes owners ow berb the foreign office upholds without qualification the legality under inter national law of the raiders action il ih sinking the frye and bases the liability of the german government to pay indemnity solely on the old prussian american treaties of 1799 and 1828 which provide that contraband belonging to the subjects or citizens 0 either party cannot be confiscated by the other and may be detained or used only in consideration of payment of the full value in view of this stipulation the note tay says of course the american owners must be compensated for their loss it is pointed out however that the case of necessity must inest go into a prize court in order that questions of ownership cargo destination etc may be formally established the german position is that all fryes cargo of wheat was contraband because it was consigned for orders to queenstown Queens town which is declared to be a fortified port of great britain no notice is taken of the fact that since the wheat was soia en route to british citizens the united states filed a claim for the vessel owners only this question being left for development in the prize court |