with the best of intentions, is guilty of outrages and that mutual irritation, in spite of every effort to the contrary, grows apace. Force and more force must inevitably be the history of such occupation. long continued.

Forgetting the apparent ambitions of the French and possibly overlooking political limitations, I have sketched below a plan which seems to me the maximum for military domination in the Rhineland after the signing of peace. Our Army Commanders and others who have studied the subject on the ground agree with this programme:

SKELETON PLAN.

I. As few troops as possible concentrated in barracks or reserve areas with no "billeting," excepting possibly for officers.

II. Complete self-government for the territory with the exceptions below.

III. A Civil Commission with powers:

(a) To make regulations or change old ones whenever German law or actions

(1) Threaten the carrying out of Treaty

terms, or

(2) Threaten the comfort or security of

troops.

(b) To authorize the army to take control under martial law, either in danger spots or throughout the territory whenever conditions seem to them to make this necessary.

Very truly yours,

[Signed] P. B. NOYES.
American Delegate,

Inter-Allied Rhineland Commission.

PART VI

THE ITALIAN CRISIS

DOCUMENT 31.

Basic Recommendation of American Experts, January 21, 1919, regarding Italian boundary settlements.

OUTLINE OF TENTATIVE REPORT AND
RECOMMENDATIONS.

Prepared by the Intelligence Section, in accordance with instructions, for the President and the Plenipotentiaries January 21, 1919.

It is recommended:

ITALY.

1. That Italy be given a northern frontier midway between the linguistic line and the line of the treaty of London, 1915. The proposed line is delimited on maps 12 to 15 inclusive.

2. That Italy's eastern frontier be rectified as shown on map 15.

3. That consideration be given the doubtful claim of Italy to a sphere of influence at Avlona.

4. That Rhodes and the Dodecanese be assigned to Greece.

5. That Libya be given a hinterland adequate for access to the Sudan and its trade, but so limited as not to hamper the French colonial domain or the AngloEgyptian Sudan.

DISCUSSION.

1. It is recommended that Italy be given a northern frontier midway between the linguistic line and the line of the treaty of London, 1915. The proposed line is delimited on maps 12 to 15 inclusive.

This recommendation would give Italy all that part of the Tyrol to which she has any just claim on linguistic, cultural, or historical grounds. It would leave no rational

basis for future irredentist agitation in this direction. It transfers to Italy over 10,000 square kilometers of territory and a population consisting of 373,000 Italians and Ladins, 161,000 Germans, and 3,000 others.

The recommended line does not meet those claims of Italy which are based on strategic grounds alone, for the line of 1915, following as it does the main watershed, gives incomparably the best strategic frontier. On the other hand, the proposed line does ameliorate the intentionally bad frontier imposed upon Italy by Austria, and some such amelioration seems essential if the Italians are to enter a League of Nations with confidence in its ability to render their peaceful existence reasonably sure. The weight of this argument would be augmented if Italy were confronted by a united and potentially powerful German state on the north. The task of the League of Nations will be rendered easier and its success made more certain by the adjustment of Italy's northern frontier at least in part along lines which would discourage armed aggression by a powerful German state.

As laid down upon the map the proposed boundary is a good line from the geographical standpoint, since it follows natural lines of demarcation and coincides with the marked topographical barrier between regions climatically dissimilar. Its position is easily recognizable on the ground, it is capable of clear and accurate delimitation, and is not subject to change from natural causes. Since throughout its entire length it traverses regions of little or no population it does not interfere with the activities of the local population, and the small number of practicable passes make the administration of customs and other frontier regulations simple.

Finally, it is so drawn as to throw into Austria about 71,000 Germans, with a minority of 10,000 Italians and Ladins, forming properly a part of the Austrian realm. Were the line of 1915 to be followed (red line on map 13), it would simply throw the irredentist problem into Austrian territory and would not lead to a lasting peace.

2. It is recommended that Italy's eastern frontier be rectified as shown on map 15.