Office of the Historian

Paris Peace Conf. 184.00101/146

Minutes of the Daily Meetings of the Commissioners Plenipotentiary, Saturday, August 30, 1919

August 30, 1919
  • Present:
    • Mr. Polk
    • Mr. White
    • General Bliss
    • Mr. Harrison

I. Memorandum No. 558, suggesting that the Commissioners recommend Major J. Ronald McCrindle, commanding No. 2 Communication Squadron, be recommended for the award of the Distinguished Service Medal, was read.

The Commissioners approved and directed that a letter be sent to the State Department requesting the Secretary of State to submit the matter to the Secretary of War.

Award of Distinguished Services Medal to Major McCrindle, R. A. F.

II. The Secretary read for the information of the Commissioners a telegram transmitting Mr. Hoover’s reply to the Department’s telegram No. 9058 of August 25, 9:00 a.m., regarding the shipment of flour to General Yudenitch.31 Food Supplies for Gen. Yudenitch

III. The Secretary read a draft telegram in reply to the Department’s telegram No. 2948 of August 26, 2:00 p.m., with regard to the immediate repatriation of some 55 invalid German prisoners of war now held at Fort McNulty, Georgia. Repatriation of Invalid German Prisoners of War in the United States

The Commissioners approved.

IV. Memorandum No. 559 regarding a request through the Department of Commerce by the Commercial Attaché of the American Embassy at Paris, for certain reports of the Supreme Economic Council and other sections of the Peace Conference, which bear on economic conditions in France, and for a copy of General McKinstry’s report, was read. The Information for the Commercial Attaché of the Embassy at Paris

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The Commissioners approved in principle the suggestion contained in Paragraph “a” of the memorandum in question and requested that Mr. Dresel assemble the information in question and submit it for the Commissioners’ approval before delivery to the Commercial Attaché.

The Commissioners also approved the recommendation contained in Paragraph “d” of the memorandum in question, with regard to General McKinstry’s report.

V. The Secretary read the Department’s telegram, No. 2980 of August 28, 3:00 p.m.,32 and also Memorandum No. 560 with regard to participation in committee work in anticipation of the Treaty. American Participation in Committee Work in Anticipation of the Treaty

In view of the contents of Section 2 of the Department’s telegram in question, the Commissioners reconsidered their decision of August 29 with regard to American participation on the sub-Committee of the Committee on Execution of the Treaty with Germany and approved the recommendation submitted by Mr. Dresel in the memorandum in question.

  1. For the Department’s telegram, see Foreign Relations, 1919, Russia, p. 705. For the reply as sent, see ibid., p. 707.↩
  2. Foreign Relations, 1919, vol. i, p. 7.↩