500.A15A4 General Committee/668: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the American Delegate (Wilson)
392. Your recent telegrams. The compromise solution suggested of combining a continuation of the present form of conference procedure with a system of “parallel” political work seems to possess several advantages. At any rate it is agreeable to us as we could not, of course, accept the responsibility of discouraging such parallel work, whether it assumed the form of four power conversations or other direct negotiations.
There has been a tendency in the press recently erroneously to refer to your role in the past few days as that of observer. For your strictly confidential guidance, we shall not participate in any phase of [Page 316] the work as “observers”. We shall either not participate or else be regularly represented.
May I caution you to condense your telegraphic reports whenever possible? For instance, your 789 and 791 might have been considerably abridged.