Paris Peace Conf. 184.011/91a: Telegram
The Commission to Negotiate Peace to the Acting Secretary of State
923. Professor Coolidge some weeks ago informed the Commission that at the urgent request of both the Slovenes and the German Austrians he had consented to investigate the frontier dispute between these two peoples in Carinthia with a view to helping put an end to the unnecessary bloodshed which was taking place in this region. Lt. Colonel Sherman T. Miles of the United States Army, a member of the Coolidge party, after a personal examination of frontier conditions in Carinthia, has reported to the Commission in Paris and has recommended that a certain line be indicated as that which should serve temporarily to separate the two races, both parties having previously agreed in writing to abide by his decision in the matter.
The Commission has sent the following telegram to Professor Coolidge which indicates its attitude in the matter:66
“Colonel Miles has reported to the Commission the details of the Carinthian boundary question. You must realize that the Commission can under no circumstances act independently in such a matter [Page 522] and therefore you should not give publicity to any, even a temporary, boundary line as being that determined by American officials. The Commission has already received a protest from the Serbian government in regard to the supposed line of demarcation decided upon by Miles.
At yesterday’s session of the Council of Ten a resolution was introduced and accepted referring the determination of a temporary line in Carinthia to the Technical Committee which has been appointed to deal with such questions.67 It is hoped that a neutral zone that will put an end to hostilities in that region will be determined upon in the near future. You may inform the parties to the dispute, preferably orally, that you understand that the matter of fixing a temporary boundary between the German Austrians and the Slovenes has been taken up in the Supreme War Council in Paris and that therefore the matter is entirely outside the competence of any single person or of the American Commission alone.”
It appears that both Professor Coolidge and Colonel Miles have become more deeply involved in this boundary dispute than they should have allowed themselves to be. The Commission however realizes the difficulty of Professor Coolidge’s position and has therefore endeavored to relieve him of personal embarrassment by referring the boundary dispute to the Supreme War Council.
- Sent as telegram No. 4, February 24, 10 p.m.↩
- See BC–37, minute 4, vol. iv, p. 98.↩