peace could be restored. At all events, he took no steps to bring the
belligerents together until a military decision had been practically
reached. He did, however, on January 8,1918, lay down his famous
"Fourteen Points," which he supplemented with certain declarations in
"subsequent addresses," thus proclaiming his ideas as to the proper
bases of peace when the time should come to negotiate.

Meanwhile, in anticipation of the final triumph of the armies of the
Allied and Associated Powers, the President, in the spring of 1917,
directed the organization, under the Department of State, of a body of
experts to collect data and prepare monographs, charts, and maps,
covering all historical, territorial, economic, and legal subjects which
would probably arise in the negotiation of a treaty of peace. This
Commission of Inquiry, as it was called, had its offices in New York and
was under Colonel House so far as the selection of its members was
concerned. The nominal head of the Commission was Dr. Mezes, President
of the College of the City of New York and a brother-in-law of Colonel
House, though the actual and efficient executive head was Dr. Isaiah
Bowman, Director of the American Geographical Society. The plans of
organization, the outline of work, and the proposed expenditures for the
maintenance of the Commission were submitted to me as Secretary of
State. I examined them and, after several conferences with Dr. Mezes,
approved them and recommended to the President that he allot the funds
necessary to carry out the programme.

In addition to the subjects which were dealt with by this excellent
corps of students and experts, whose work was of the highest order, the
creation of some sort of an international association to prevent wars in
the future received special attention from the President as it did from
Americans of prominence not connected with the Government. It caused