17. THE PEACE CONFERENCE OF 1919. Composition and Organization.— That a conference of delegates of the nations at war with Germany and her allies should meet to formulate the terms of peace was a foregone conclusion; and no higher politkal body was needed to call it into existence. But the time and place of meeting, and the ntunber of dele gates of each nation to be represented were matters that had to be decided by some power that could speak for all. Such authority was found in die co-operative action of the foreign secretaries of the five great powers opposed to Germany. By cable and telegram, and with the assistance of Col. E. M. House, who acted for President Wilson, they agreed that the confer ence should meet in Paris on 18 Jan. 1919. They also drew up rules of procedure governing the sessions of the conference and decided what states should send delegates and how many could come from each.
Before the conference met much was said in the press about admitting newspaper reporters to the meetings There seems to have existed an impression that the conference would debate matters in a general way, as in an ordinary parliament or congress, and that it would be well for the peoples of the world to know what their representatives were saying and doing. The reporters won their point formally, but it did them no good; for the plenary sessions were never characterized by debate and they occurred so rarely and lasted such a brief titne that they may be described as the least im portant feature of the Peace Conference.
The first session was held on 18 Jan. 1919. At that time President Wilson had been in Europe more than a month. He had visited England and Italy and had held many con ferences with the men who acted for those countries and for France. By the action of the foreign secretaries an understanding had been reached as to the procedure and the distribu tion of power in the Peace Conference. The result was seen in the easy way in which the conference divided itself into secret committees,. each having charge of some vital phase of the proceedings, and the smooth way in which the decision was accepted by the delegates. Many bitter differences of will developed in the con ference, but there was never a protest against the way its decisions were arrived at It was not a parliamentary but a diplomatic body, and no one ever thought of disputing its procedure.
The following states were represented, ar ranged by the rules of the conference in the following categories: (1) Belljgerent powers with general interests (the United States of America, the British Empire, France, Italy and japan) ; (2) belligerent powers with particular mterests (Belgium, Brazil, the British Domin ions and India, China, Cuba, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Hedjaz, Honduras, Liberia, Nicaragua, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Serbia, Siam and the Czecho-Slovak Republic); and (3) powers in a state of diplomatic rupture with the enemy powers (Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay). The attendance at the conference of neutral nations and nations in process of for mation was recognized at sessions in which their special interests were considered. The powers in class 1 were allowed five delegates each; Belgium, -Brazil and Serbia were allowed three each; China, Greece, Hedjaz, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Siam and the Czecho-Slovalc Republic were allowed two each; and Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Liberia, Nicaragua and Panama, as well as the powers of class 3 were alloted one each. The British Dominions were represented as follows: Froth Aus tralia, Canada, South Africa and India, two each, and from New Zealand one. Each dele gation had the right to avail itself of the panel system. Each delegation was allowed to ap pear at the sessions with technical experts and stenographers, and the experts might speak to give information desired of them. The condi tion of representation of Russia was to be fixed by the conference when Russian matters came up. No general constitution of the Peace Con ference has been announced, beyond such in evitable rules as referred to the numbers of delegates and the functions of the secretariat By leaving the conference unrestricted its action could be most easily adjusted to the needs of the occasion. As it happened, however, the plenary sessions did little more than register the opinions of the committees.