A Journalist's Diplomatic Mission: Ray Stannard Baker's World War I Diary

23. First Meeting of the Entire American Peace Commission

407 23 First Meeting of the Entire American Peace Commission. The President’s View as to Changes in the Treaty. Wordy Combat Between Wilson and Lloyd George. An Amusing Exemplification of the American Spirit. JUNE 3 I attended this forenoon one of the most interesting conferences I have known since I came here. It was a meeting of President Wilson and the American Commissioners with the various experts of our Commission, including Admiral William Benson and Mr. Herbert Hoover—the first of its kind in the entire course of the peace conference. It was interesting for the extremely frank discussion of the German reply, and an expression of views as to what should be done, if anything, in modifying the treaty. The British are for making such modifications, after a stormy Cabinet meeting on Sunday, while Clemenceau is opposed to any change whatsoever. (The French and Italian delegations are also meeting this morning.) We sat in Secretary Lansing’s room, the President and the Commissioners, Admiral Benson, Mr. Hoover (and I) on one side and the experts on the other. The President opened the meeting by observing that he had moving recollections of the difficulties confronted in framing the treaty, and that he had come not to make suggestions but to hear them. He then spoke of the British position and the criticisms contained in the German reply that the Four considered most impressive: 1. Upper Silesia. 2. Reparations. 3. Period of military occupation. 4. Acceptance of Germany as a member of the League of Nations. He considered reparations the most important subject in the discussion led by Norman Davis and participated in by Thomas Lamont, Bernard Baruch, 408 | The Paris Peace Conference Leland Summers,135 and others, continued at some length, the experts advising a return to the original American suggestion of a fixed indemnity. Discussion followed upon the Silesian problem, military occupation (with an excellent, quiet, wise speech by General Bliss), acceptance of Germany in the League, and the Saar Basin. All the various Commissioners took part. The President evidently stands for some changes, but not because the terms are hard. “The terms are hard—nations should learn once and for all what an unjust war means—we don’t want to soften the terms, but we do want to make them just. Wherever it can be shown that we have departed from our principles we ought to have rectifications.” Two things he made it clear he felt indispensable: “The most fatal thing that could happen would be a break between the Allied and Associated Powers. . . . What is necessary is to get out of the atmosphere of war.” To keep the alliance, and to get peace—these are the prime needs. He was not inclined to make concessions, as Mr. Hoover suggested, as a mere expedient in persuading the Germans to sign. When I went up to see him this evening, just after Orlando had left (having sought a private conference after the adjournment of the Four), I found him in a talkative mood. He told with great vigor of the afternoon’s conference of the Four. It had been the intention to consider the Austrian treaty and all the experts were there, but they began discussing the anxious German situation and left the poor financiers and geographers cooling their heels upstairs. It was evidently a stormy meeting—this time between Lloyd George and Wilson . The President said he had a hard time keeping his temper, from telling the British Premier exactly what he thought of him. He referred to him as “arrogant,” spoke of him as “most intolerable when he is wrong.” It is undoubtedly a grievous experience for Lloyd George to retrace his steps and demand changes in parts of the treaty that he himself had been particularly ardent in advocating. When the question of Upper Silesia came up, Lloyd George demanded a plebiscite. The President told of the situation there, of the dominant capitalist regime and a more-or-less helpless Polish proletariat, and how impossible it was to secure an honest election, even though the population was two-to-one Polish. (These very facts were brought out in the conference this morning by 135. Leland Summers was an American engineer who served as technical advisor and chairman of foreign missions for the War Industries Board. First Meeting of the Entire American Peace Commission | 409 Dr. Lord.) At this, Lloyd...