MACHINERY READY FOR PEACE

rience of economic co-operation, must now decide whether the Transport Council and similar agencies are to be continued through the period of peace negotiations and whether such agencies, in modified form, may be serviceable as permanent forms of international co-operation. Opinions naturally differ on questions like these; but many persons have come to feel that the experience and good will that have resulted from international joint action are not lightly to be discarded. As Lord Robert Cecil has put it, the economic machinery which has been built up in time of war ought to be turned by the Allies to the uses of peace. His views have been echoed by statesmen of the other allied nations. There are not a few to-day who believe that the surest foundation of a real and workable League of Nations is to be found in the joint international administration of economic affairs, in which the war has helped us to recognize a common international interest.

President of Local Gov Board
1 Commissioner of Works & Public Baldings
President of Board of Education
Chancellor of Duchy of Lancaster
Lord Privy Seal
Lord President of the Council

Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs

manent body, the Imperial Cabinet meeting periodically, and the Ministers with Portfolio.

This Chart shows the formation of the Government during 1917, with the War Cabinet sitting as a per

(Reproduced from The War Cabinet. Report for the year 1917, page 236.)

.Ministers with Portfolio created since 1914.

-Ministers with Portfolio previous to 1914.

GOVERNMENT AND ITS DEVELOPMENT DURING THE WAR

CHART SHOWING THE ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION OF THE BRITISH

THE SUPREME WAR COUNCIL.

I. PURPOSE AND MEANING

It will, of course, be long after the close of the world war that the full story of the remarkable co-operative administration of the powers pitted against the Central Quadruple Alliance which is associated with the name of the Supreme War Council' can be told from the documents themselves, but it is possible now to give an accurate idea of the origin and main lines of activity of the council, which, since it resulted in the decision for a unified command in May, 1918, has been universally recognized by the enemies of the Central Powers as the foremost vehicle of victory itself.

The Supreme War Council is the creation of circumstances. Like most institutional organs of value necessity was the mother of its invention. The state system of the Central Powers, all bureaucratic in character, offered little fundamental difficulty to establishing both unified command and common-if not singlecontrol of supplies. These advantages, coupled with their possession of interior military lines, accounted for a number of their successes in battle, and were at the bottom of the Italian disaster in October, 1917. After it the Allies were forced for their own sake to do something to make their strength liquid enough for use on whatever part of the front it was needed.

The United States entered the war on April 6, 1917, making available to the Allies its enormous resources and its potential man power. It was obvious that its millions of soldiers would not appear on the fighting fronts for several months, but its navy was ready for action and immediately began bearing its share of the brunt of the maritime operations. Also ready for action, to the extent of shipping facilities, were the resources of America,

NOTE: The facts and statements in this publication are chiefly taken from the news columns of the London Times.

1 The French name is Conseil supérieure de guerre.

monetary and material. On land and sea the heart, soul and substance of the United States were in the fight against Prussianism. It was natural that the Washington Government should assume an important part in the councils of the enemies of Germany, for America's entry into the war was recognized as the makeweight that insured victory. American influence was exerted in two directions-co-operation of the fighting forces and equitable distribution of the supplies which it was furnishing in generous quantities.

In November, 1917, therefore, the military requirement of a more closely unified command and the inevitable problem of the allocation of American supplies rendered necessary a review of the whole subject of co-operation.

The first forecast of coming events, so far as the public was concerned, was the sailing of an American mission to Europe on October 27, 1917. It arrived in England on November 6 and two days later the Department of State made an announcement which emphasized that the forthcoming meeting was a "war conference with the object of perfecting a more complete co-ordination of the activities of the various nations engaged" against Germany.1

THE RAPALLO AGREEMENT

The next day a dispatch from Rome semi-officially announced that a decision was reached in the conference at Rapallo a few days before to create a Supreme Political Council of the Allies for the whole of the western front. This council was to be assisted by a permanent central military committee. The following were appointed members of this committee:

France-General Ferdinand Foch.

Great Britain-General Sir Henry Wilson.

Italy-General Luigi Cadorna. (To take General Cadorna's place in the supreme command, the king nominated General Diaz, chief of the general staff, and under him Generals Badoglis and Giardino.)

THE RAPALLO AGREEMENT

347

As a result of the Rapallo conference an agreement was taken by France, Great Britain and Italy in the following terms:

1. With a view to better co-ordination of military action on the western front, a Supreme War Council is created, composed of the prime minister and a member of the Government of each of the great powers whose armies are fighting on that front. The extension of the scope of the council to other fronts is reserved for discussion with the other great powers.

2. The Supreme War Council has for its mission to watch over the general conduct of the war. It prepares recommendations for the decision of the Governments, and keeps itself informed of their execution and reports thereon to their respective Governments.

3. The general staffs and military commands of the armies of each power charged with the conduct of military operations remain responsible to their respective Governments.

4. The general war plans drawn up by the competent military authorities are submitted to the Supreme War Council, which, under the high authority of the Governments, insures their concordance, and submits, if need be, any necessary changes.

5. Each power delegates to the Supreme War Council one permanent military representative, whose exclusive function is to act as technical adviser to the council.

6. The military representatives receive from the Government and the competent military authorities of their country all the proposals, information and documents relating to the conduct of the war.

7. The military representatives watch day by day the situation of the forces and the means of all kinds of which the allied armies and the enemy armies dispose.

8. The Supreme War Council meets normally at Versailles, where the permanent military representatives and their staffs are established. They may meet at other places, as may be agreed upon, according to the circumstances. The meetings of the Supreme War Council will take place at least once a month.1

The United States afterward adhered to this agreement."

1 Parliamentary Debates, Fifth Series, XCIX, 389-390.
"The War Cabinet. Report for the year 1917, page 15.