The celerity with which these complicated war transactions were terminated was a distinct triumph in international negotiation. The British, when they entered the conferences, probably had no idea that they were to be rushed through to any such speedy conclusion. The conferences, in fact, began as if they were to drag along for an extended time. On the first day Mr. Gwinn gave a careful and clear exposition of the Liberty engine case, setting forth in detail just what we had done and to what extent the British ought to participate in the costs. Although, whenever any of his figures were challenged, the American delegation proceeded then and there to make adjustments apparently to the satisfaction of the British commissioners, yet when Mr. Gwinn had concluded, the Americans were unable to gain from the British any expression of opinion as to whether the total would be accepted, at least tentatively, as the British obligation. It was evident that the British expected to prepare and, later on, press an argument against the American statement. If this procedure were to be followed throughout the negotiations, it would be many weeks before the conferees could reach any final agreement. This outcome of the first day’s negotiation was a disappointment to the Americans, but they determined to try again next day. The next morning Mr. Steever took up the airplane lumber case, and talked for nearly four hours. He went into a description of the picturesque phases of the northwestern lumbering enterprise--the felling of the spruce trees, the steel cables on which the great trunks slid down the mountain sides, the railroads built into hitherto inaccessible wildernesses. But punctuating his rhetoric were the hard figures of costs, expenditures, losses, deliveries, and values. The British had shared in this whole enterprise in the Pacific Northwest, the development of which had never reached the stage of turning out the airplane lumber at low prices. As Mr. Steever talked he invited interruption and objection, and the British delegates availed themselves of the invitation. The various objections were resolved as the case was unfolded. At the conclusion Mr. Cuthell asked for any further objections to the statement. But the British had exhausted their challenges during the presentation of the claim. The only objection raised was to British participation in the cost of certain dry kilns in which the export airplane lumber was not treated. This item was promptly subtracted from the claim’s total, and then Mr. Cuthell briefly urged that the column’s footing be accepted tentatively as the British obligation. If not to the surprise of the Americans, certainly to their extreme gratification, the British commission agreed.