Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ The defenses relied upon were: (1) that Germany had an interest in the fund and that the suits required a judgment as to the obligations of a foreign sovereign and that therefore the courts had no jurisdiction; (2) that there was no competent evidence that any funds in the hands of either of the defendants had belonged to the German Government and (3) that the United States had claims against Germany, arising out of the war, in excess of the funds and was entitled to satisfaction from those funds either in preference to other claims or at least on an equal footing with them. ”

“ We will take up the claim of the United States in this connection, as it is the only point that is entitled to any serious consideration. The United States seized the property in question from an enemy and of course could do with it what it liked. When it comes into court and seeks to appropriate it there is a natural notion that it has elected to use its power. ”

“ There is no doubt an intermittent tendency on the part of governments to be a little less grasping than they have been in the past and it may be that the enactment was intended to exhibit the self-denial that whether intended or not was achieved in the Bankruptcy Act with regard to the priority of liens. ”