[9i63 The Joint High Commission 



dispute between the two countries. Wilson having 

 decided to accept the proposition if initiated by Car- 

 ranza, the affair was finally arranged, largely through 

 the tireless efforts of Lincoln Steffens, the well-known Suffcns 

 journalist, who attended most of our meetings, car- 

 ried our messages to the White House, and made him- 

 self variously useful; the plan was supported also by 

 David Lawrence, another leading writer. And Pro- 

 fessor John W. Slaughter, who had lately spent six 

 months in Mexico and was well supplied with infor- 

 mation as to concessions and business factors gen- 

 erally, aided us materially. 



The American members of the Joint Commission, 

 soon chosen by the President, were Franklin K. Lane, 

 Secretary of the Interior, George Gray of the Circuit 

 Court, and John R. Mott — all admirable selections. 

 The sessions ^ were long and doubtless tedious, and 

 in the end Carranza refused to sign the protocol 

 which had been prepared. How could he when it Fairhvt 

 legalized a more or less permanent retention of the 2/7"^'" 

 American expeditionary forces in Mexico 1 He might 

 perhaps have welcomed such a circumstance, or been 

 willing to ignore it; but he could not officially legalize 

 it without arousing resentment which would involve 

 serious political danger to him.self. To the Mexican 

 mind the bandit chief appeared a minor peril com- 

 pared with the "Coloseo del Norte" whose limitless 

 strength seemed about to overwhelm their country. 



The conference was, nevertheless, successful in Vinufs 

 developing on both sides a better understanding of i^^^^ 

 the situation and its difficulties. Moreover, its final 

 adjournment without any written agreement was 

 soon followed by two important acts on the part of 



1 Held first at New London, afterward at Atlantic City. 



: 699 1 



