The American Council of Foreign Bondholders and Samuel Untermyer yesterday issued statements challenging the claims made by the Board of Trade for German-American Commerce to the effect that the boycott will lead to defaulting by the Reich government on American investments.
According to Mr. Untermyer, the Nazi government has suspended payment on all German external commitments. The American Council charged the German government with responsibility of injuring the program of the NRA through its “deliberate defaulting of payments due American investors in German securities, thereby curtailing the purchasing power of Americans.”
In a resolution sent to federal officials including President Roosevelt, the German-American Board of Trade had asserted that the boycott would be a “two-edged weapon” and that a decrease of German exports might result in defaulting of payments on foreign holdings.
Mr. Untermyer said:
“A careful analysis of the status of German obligations by any one conversant with matters economic or financial will force the conclusion that payment of interest on German bonds to American investors cannot be expected to be resumed so long as the present government continues in Germany.”
Mr. Untermyer declared that American investors are being deprived of about $100,000,000 a year.
The Council challenges the Board of Trade to explain the favorable trade balance in Germany in spite of the boycott, to explain why payment on foreign investments has been lapsed in the face of this balance and why every administration that preceded the Nazi regime found it possible to pay foreign investors.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
