INTER-ALLIED ORGANIZATION

295 the inspiration of Monsieur Clementel, who had taken a great part in the establishment of the Inter-Allied war organizations, made formal proposals to the British and American Governments. Whilst the régime of control in operation at the end of the war should give place to complete commercial liberty as soon as circumstances permitted, it was urged that, during the period of dangerous transition, concerted and uniform action and control should be maintained over fundamental foodstuffs, textile materials, leathers, certain minerals and metals, coal and wood. This control should have as a special object the desirability of assuring to the invaded and devastated districts of Europe proper food supplies and raw materials adequate to restart their industries on such terms as would enable them to compete fairly with other Allied and Neutral

countries.

Great Britain accepted this policy late in December 1918 on condition of its acceptance by the United States. The American Government, however, took up the view that, with the cessation of hostilities, Inter-Allied organizations which had arisen out of war necessities should, as soon as possible, be discontinued and that the new problems of the Armistice period should be dealt with by new bodies. The American attitude proved decisive and, as has already been stated, the Governments of the different Allied countries under strong pressure from the trading classes in each country, proceeded to de-control supplies to a large extent within their own countries, and to liquidate most of the existing Inter-Allied machinery.

(a) Supreme Council for Supply and Relief. After a number of discussions held in London and Paris the Inter-Allied Supreme Council for Supply and Relief was established by the Supreme War Council largely at the instance of the American Government. It met for the first time on the 11th January 1919. The Council consisted of two representatives from the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Belgium, and one representative of the Allied High Command. Its object was to investigate and consider the requirements for relief in Europe and their relation to the general supply of allied and neutral countries, and to determine the general policy of European supply and the measures which shall be taken for its execution'.

Mr. Hoover, who had been during the war Director of

*

The

American Relief in Belgium, was appointed Director-General of Relief, to be assisted by a Permanent Committee of the Council with a Permanent Inter-Allied Secretariat. Council was to collaborate to such extent as would be found necessary with experts of the existing Inter-Allied bodies. The Council devoted practically the whole of its attention to the investigation of the urgent problems of relief in Eastern Europe. It decided that all relief should be given in the name of the Allied Governments and should be administered through one body only. In accordance with the recommendations of the Permanent Committee, it was decided that Allied Missions should be sent to:

(a) Trieste, with branches at Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade and perhaps Agram (Zagreb), to represent the Associated Governments in the Adriatic;

(b) Bucharest, to represent the Associated Governments in Rumania;

(c) Constantinople, to represent the Associated Governments in Turkey and to co-operate with the Mission at Bucharest ;

(d) Warsaw, to represent the Associated Governments in Poland.

Where there was an Allied army in occupation, it was agreed that the Military Authorities should be made responsible for the administration of relief.

The Supreme Council of Supply and Relief was thus set up as an additional body alongside the existing bodies and organizations dealing with shipping, food, blockade, munitions, etc. It had no organic connexion with them, and its action as a centralizing body in economic matters was consequently extremely limited in scope. Furthermore, it lacked the necessary authority and machinery for giving effect to its recommendations. It soon became clear that a central economic body must be constituted with wide terms of reference and with the ability to give effect to its decisions through existing InterAllied organizations.

(b) The Supreme Economic Council. (i) Organization prior to the Signing of Peace on 28th June 1919. On 8th February 1919 the Supreme Council passed the following resolution proposed by President Wilson:

THE SUPREME ECONOMIC COUNCIL

297

'i. Under present conditions many questions not primarily of a military character which are arising daily and which are bound to become of increasing importance as the time passes, should be dealt with on behalf of the United States of America and the Allies by civilian representatives of these countries experienced in such questions as finance, food, blockade control, shipping, and raw materials.

'ii. To accomplish this there should be constituted at Paris a Supreme Economic Council to deal with such matters for the period of the Armistice. The Council shall absorb, or replace, such other existing Inter-Allied bodies and their powers as it may determine from time to time. The Economic Council shall consist of not more than five representatives of each interested Government.

‘iii. There shall be added to the present International Permanent Armistice Commission two civilian representatives of each Government, who shall consult with the Allied High Command, but who may report direct to the Supreme Economic Council.'1

The powers of the Supreme Economic Council were further discussed by the Supreme Council at a meeting held on the 21st February, and it was then decided that measures of a transitory character should be referred to the Economic Council established on President Wilson's motion, while those of a permanent character should be considered by a special Economic Commission to be established later'. The functions of the Supreme Economic Council were defined as follows:

'To examine such economic measures as shall be taken during the period of reconstruction after the War so as to ensure (a) a due supply of materials and other commodities necessary for the restoration of devastated areas; (b) the economic restoration of the countries which have suffered most from the War; (c) the supply of neutral and ex-enemy countries without detriment to the supply of the needs of the Allied and Associated countries.'

The fundamental characteristic of the Supreme Economic Council was that by its constitution it had authority only to deal with problems arising during the Armistice period and which were of a transitory nature. Its place in the general organization of the Peace Conference was thus somewhat apart and divorced from the other bodies. It was responsible for the immediate executive work of handling the economic difficulties of Europe during the Armistice and reported direct to the Supreme Council of heads of States in the same manner

1 These civilian representatives were, in fact, never appointed to the Armistice Commission. In practice, however, the Military representatives on the Armistice Commission who were in constant touch with the members of the Supreme Economic Council, referred to that Council all economic questions as they arose.

as the Council of Foreign Ministers, which was responsible for foreign policy and the Treaty, and the Inter-Allied General Headquarters which was responsible for military arrangements. But the Supreme Economic Council took no part in the drafting of the economic conditions of the Peace Treaties, which were drawn up by economic experts attached to the Peace Conference, nor was it ever consulted officially by the Peace Conference on any of the economic questions at

issue.

Although created after the Armistice the Supreme Economic Council was composed solely of Allied States, so that as a step towards the wider form of internationalism it had no advantage except that it was born into a world in which hostilities had nominally ceased.

The Supreme Economic Council met for the first time on the 17th February 1919, and decided that it should co-ordinate the work of the Inter-Allied Maritime Transport Council, the Food Council with its Committee of Representatives in London, the various Programme Committees, the Supreme Blockade Council, the Supreme Council of Supply and Relief, etc., and thus centralize for the time being the economic policies of the Allied Governments. It was at first intended that these various organizations should report their decisions to the Supreme Economic Council while retaining for the most part their existing organization, but it was later decided that they should be resolved into separate sections of the Supreme Economic Council with their Headquarters at Paris, although the Inter-Allied Maritime Transport Council, which acted as the Shipping Section of the Supreme Economic Council, maintained its existing organization in London. The Food Section assumed the functions of the Permanent Committee of the Supreme Council of Supply and Relief and of the Inter-Allied Food Council, while the Committee of Representatives in London continued for a time to function there as a SubCommittee of the Food Section; but it was later abolished. The Wheat Executive and the Meats and Fats Executive continued in London but reported from time to time to the Food Section. Sections were formed for the purpose of dealing with finance, communications, raw materials, shipping, etc. The following is a list of the Sections of the Council and the Chairman of each:

The Supreme Blockade Council became the Blockade Section of the Supreme Economic Council, adopting the title of the Superior Blockade Council.

While it is true that the centralizing of these various interallied bodies in the Supreme Economic Council gave the appearance of the establishment of a well-defined co-ordinating organization for dealing with the economic necessities of Europe, in reality the effectiveness of this organization was enormously reduced by the concomitant disintegration of the controls, both national and international, which proceeded rapidly during the first half of 1919. The Inter-Allied Food Council, which had merged into the Food Section of the Supreme Economic Council, was a body shorn of most of the powers which it had enjoyed during the war period; the relaxation of tonnage control prevented the successful adoption of any definite policy in regard to the allocation of the supplies for European countries. It is a fact of great importance that the Supreme Economic Council possessed no executive powers except through the inter-allied organizations which it had absorbed. It never possessed independent funds which it could apply to any object, and its work in connexion with relief mainly consisted in the co-ordination so far as it was able of the expenditure of funds which various Allied Governments had voted for special and restricted purposes, with which it was very difficult for the Council to interfere directly.

The Council was composed of five delegates from each of the principal powers the United States, France, Italy, and the British Empire. After a time Belgian delegates were added. In the case of the British Empire these were, with the exception of the principal delegate, chosen for each meeting according to the questions under discussion, from a panel of British Empire representatives. It was decided in principle that the meeting should be presided over in rotation by the Chief Representative of each of the Allies, viz. Lord Robert Cecil for Great Britain, Mr. Hoover for the United States, Monsieur Clementel for France, Signor Crespi for Italy. But in practice after the first two or