That was the real victory, for it set the precedent for the entire settlement. Each day the Americans presented a new case; and each evening when the American representatives left the Hotel Metropole in London, where the conferences were held, a tentative agreement in that case had been reached. Finally all the claims were settled tentatively, except the Liberty engine claim. Once more the Americans pressed to have the original statement accepted, and it was. It was understood, however, that all figures were to be subject to verification by a British audit of the books of the War Department in Washington. On the tenth day the Americans brought to the Metropole a tentative written agreement, embodying all the sub-settlements agreed upon. Mr. Cuthell then pointed out the considerable cost of a British audit of our books, the possibilities of friction arising over the presence of British auditors in our War Department over an extended period, and the likelihood, since all the American estimates were conservative, that the audit would not in any event greatly change the amount of the British obligation and might even increase it; and he suggested that it would be good policy for the British to accept the tentative figure as final and let it go at that. Lord Inverforth promptly agreed. That was cricket, as the English say. The agreement fixed the cash liability of the British Government for its unpaid American war bills and its obligations arising from the termination of its American contracts and engagements at $35,464,823.10. Of this the Liberty engine item was the largest item--approximately $14,000,000. The British paid over $13,000,000 to satisfy all claims of the United States arising from the British purchases of airplane spruce, fir, and cedar. Its powder contracts accounted for nearly $4,700,000 of the settlement sum, wood distillates (principally acetone) for about $2,900,000, and its 2-per-cent share in the linters pool for the rest. Practically all the settlements made by the Cuthell Board were carried as offsets to the American liabilities under the general foreign liquidation accomplished by the United States Liquidation Commission; but the British preferred to make their settlements separate transactions. Accordingly, on August 2, 1919, a representative of the British Treasury delivered to the War Department a check in payment of the British obligation under the terms of the Cuthell-Inverforth Agreement. This, however, was not a complete termination for Great Britain. That Government admitted full liability under numerous other, but small, claims which the War Department had not yet had time to prepare in detail. As invoices were subsequently presented to the British Government, these claims were promptly paid. The minor cases came to approximately $7,000,000.