Cary T. Grayson Diary

Cary T. Grayson Diary

Grayson, Cary T. (Cary Travers), 1878-1938

WWP17132

1919 April 11

Cary T. Grayson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, Staunton, Virginia

English

At 10:00 o’clock this morning the President received two Galacian Peasants, who were accompanied by a Polish priest and a Polish astronomer, who had taken them in charge. The two men were goat-herds and came from a small mountain community in Galacia, south of the Polish border. They represented two little colonies of Poles, who were desirous of having the boundary line of Galacia changed so that their homes would be in the new Republic of Poland. These two men were picturesquely garbed in a native mountain costume, which had not been washed since they first put it on, and they smelled very strongly of their herds of goats that they had left in their native hills. They deserved a great deal of credit. They had heard that the President was in Paris, so they set out each separately from his own little village and met on the highway. They were was lking toward Warsaw and they met the astronomer, who accompanied them and who showed them the way by the stars at night in their long walk. At Warsaw the Polish authorities took them up and arranged for them to come to Paris, but they defrayed the cost of their trip from their own savings. The Bishop interpreted their remarks for the President, and the President thanked them for coming so far to see him. Their meeting with the President was one of the most touching scenes I have ever witnessed. They said they had come to ask the President - the biggest man in all the world - to see that they were turned over to Poland and not Cheko-Slovia.

At 11:00 o’clock the Big Four meeting was resumed in the temporary White House. It was understood that material progress was made salong several lines.

At 1:00 o’clock the Queen of Roumania came for lunch. She was twenty minutes late. She was accompanied by her two daughters, her sister, her lady-in-waiting and her general-in-waiting. She wanted to talk business all through the lunch, and immediately began on the Bolsheviki question, which seemed uppermost in her mind. She started out along this line and said that the King of Roumania had decided to divide his land and not keep such large estates. It was very apparent that this was not voluntary but a matter of necessity. The President was most charming and gracious to her but she asked very pointed questions at times, which he always diplomatically evaded. One of the questions she asked was: “What one individual is causing the greatest obstruction in the Peace Conference?” The President replied by telling her the many complications that had arisen, and that he was sure that she would realize that it was impossible to establish a just peace that would be pleasing to every one. Each section and each country had some special claim they wished granted, which often was incompatible with the principles of justice for all Europe. She said: “But don’t you think that the League of Nations will cause a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth by those who are not satisfied with it?” He said: “That reminds me of a sermon I once heard by a negro preacher in America. He chose as his text: ‘And there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ During his discourse he frequently repeated the words of his text, and finally, at a very excited moment, and with great emphasis of voice, he said: ‘And there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth and them that hasn’t teeth will have to gum it.”’ The Queen did not seem to understand many of his stories, but she got this one.

At the luncheon the Queen reiterated a number of requests for information which she had made at the time the President called on her at the Ritz.

The President handled her not only as a gentleman but with diplomatic care.
It developed that the Queen was a pronounced advocate of monarchies. She referred to the magnanimity with which the King of Roumania had decided to give up certain of his lands and then she exclaimed that in her opinion monarchies were less liable to breed Bolshevism than were democracies. However, the President told her that in his opinion the proposition of planting a King on a country where he did not originate was fraught with very serious danger, not only to the King but to the country itself. The President said to me afterward: “Perhaps I went a little too far in saying what I did as to the transplanting of Kings.” I said to the President: “I think not. You did just right. She started it. And after you spoke she changed the subject.” The President told the Queen my Haig and Haig story.

At 3:00 o’clock, the President, accompanied by Mrs. Wilson and myself, went to the Quai d’Orsay, where he attended the fourth meeting of the Plenary Session. Mrs. Wilson remained in the car and returned to the house, while the President and I entered the building. The Plenary Session approved the labor convention.

After the meeting had adjourned the President and I took a short motor ride, during which I asked him what progress was being made by the Big Four, and he said: “We are making progress, but it is not straight-forward as it should be. The French cannot make straight-forward progress. If they make any progress it has to be made by a spiral route.”

On our return the President was so fatigued that I persuaded him to take a nap. He slept for an hour, which refreshed him greatly. He then had dinner, and at 8:30 o’clock he went to the Crillon Hotel, where he attended a session of the League of Nations committee. He did not return to the house until after 1:00 o’clock, and did not retire until 2:00 o’clock.

This session of the League of Nations committee completed the reconsideration of the constitution so that it was in readiness to be called up whenever a Plenary Session was deemed advisable. The French suggestion that the League create a general military staff failed of adoption, as did the Japanese demand that the preamble of the League declare for equality between nations. Concealed in the Japanese apparently simple request was the nucleus for serious trouble in the United States should it be adopted, inasmuch as it would allow the Asiatics to demand the repeal of the Asiatic Exclusion Law of the United States. However, it was not necessary for the United States openly to oppose the suggested amendment because Australia and New Zealand through the British representatives had taken the position of positive opposition.

Diary