abandonment of the plan to prepare a
skeleton treaty as a foundation for a definite and detailed programme, I
made the following note which expresses my views on the situation at
that time:

"_January_ 16, 1919

"No plan of work has been prepared. Unless something is done we will
be here for many weeks, possibly for months. After the President's
remarks the other day about a draft-treaty no one except the
President would think of preparing a plan. He must do it himself, and
he is not doing it. He has not even given us a list of subjects to be
considered and of course has made no division of our labors.

"If the President does not take up this matter of organization and
systematically apportion the subjects between us, we may possibly
have no peace before June. This would be preposterous because with
proper order and division of questions we ought to have a treaty
signed by April first.

"I feel as if we, the Commissioners, were like a lot of skilled
workmen who are ordered to build a house. We have the materials and
tools, but there are no plans and specifications and no
master-workman in charge of the construction. We putter around in an
aimless sort of way and get nowhere.

"With all his natural capacity the President seems to lack the
faculty of employing team-work and of adopting a system to utilize
the brains of other men. It is a decided defect in an executive. He
would not make a good head of a governmental department. The result
is, so far as our Commission is concerned, a state of confusion and
uncertainty with a definite loss and delay through effort being
undirected."

On several occasions I spoke to the President about a programme for the
work of the Commission and its corps of experts, but he seemed
indisposed to consider the subject and gave the impression that he
intended to call on the experts for his own information which would be
all that was necessary. I knew that Colonel House, through Dr. Mezes,
the head of the organization, was directing the preparation of certain
data, but whether he was doing so under the President's directions I did
not know, though I presumed such was the case. Whatever data were
furnished did not, however, pass through the hands of the other
Commissioners who met every morning in my office to exchange information
and discuss matters pertaining to the negotiations and to direct the
routine work of