Paris Peace Conf. 184/15
Dr. S. E. Mezes to the Secretary of State
[Received November 15.]
Dear Mr. Secretary: I am glad that the inclusion of Dr. Bowman can be effected and that the position of confidential clerk may also continue.
I should like to suggest two other alterations in the list wired you last Saturday, which was, of course, prepared hastily.
- 1.
- That the name of W. L. Westermann be substituted for the name of A. A. Young as specialist for Turkey, and as a consequence,
- 2.
- That A. A. Young be designated as specialist in economic resources and be substituted for one of the assistants to specialists.35
I need hardly say that some of the most important data affecting boundary decisions are economic, involving a knowledge of the precise location, of the value and of the amount of mineral and agricultural resources, of the drainage lines by rail and water effecting the distribution of such resources, etc. Such economic problems are thick along the northern, eastern and western limits of Bohemia and Silesia, in Galicia and, of course, in Asiatic Turkey at various places. It was with this in mind that I suggested Professor Young, who is primarily an economist, and I suggested him for Turkey in view of the large part that economic problems play there. But on reflection, I am sure it would be clearer and better to let Young go under his own colors rather than as a regional specialist for Turkey, and he is a man of too much competence and position to be asked to go merely as an assistant. The change suggested will not, of course, add to the number originally contemplated.
I note what you say about stenographers and translators and about the photostat machine.
Believe me [etc.]
- In a telegram dated Nov. 15, 1918, Secretary Lansing replied, “Your letter fourteenth. I quite agree as to your arrangement relative to Westermann and Young.”↩