New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-09-06
STATE DEPARTMENT REFORMS.

The al ointment Of Mr.. Robert Bacon as
Assistant Secretary of State has been taken,
and no doubt justly, as an indication that under
Secretary Roots direction certain administra-
tive reforms are to be attempted in the State
Department. Mr.. Bacon is a of large
experience in the world Of finance and business.
He understands and is accustomed to applying
modern administrative methods He is the type
of worker, therefore, most certain to appeal to
Secretary Root, if the latter contemplates reor
ganizing the Department of State as thorough
~ as he reorganized the Department of War.
Mr.. Root rejuvenated and modernized our mill
tary system. The part he played in enlarging
and remodelling the army, in creating a gen.
eral staff, providing schools Of training for the
officers and bringing order out of chaos in the
routine OF military administration entities him
to a place among the great War Secretaries.
Nothing would be more natural than that now.
in the parallel field of foreign relations, he
should be prompted to undertake reforms SINH
larry urgent and similarly helpful. Nor is it
unreasonable to suppose that with some such
purpose in view he selected Assistant Sec
rotary Of whose grasp on business methods and
problems he felt assured.
The State Department has, for the most part,
followed a course and lived a life peculiarly
its own. Its traditions have been fixed-more
fixed even than the army's. The work the
department has had to do has been done, in the
main, with credit. But as department 1t has
been slow to extend the scope of its operations
or to measure up to its real opportunities. 1t
is beyond question that foreign service which,
perhaps, met the needs of the 70's or SOS does
not meet our national needs to-day. Our for
eign relations are becoming more extensive and
more intimate year by year, and the Importance
Of our foreign service has been vastly enhanced.
The conviction is spreading that that service
should be put on q broader and more modern
basis To secure the best results 1t Will I'M
doubtedly be necessary before long to enlarge
and reorganize the working force of the De-
partment of State, and to give q more fixed and
permanent character to the diplomatic and con
sular corps.
The United States has now reached first place
among the great exporting nations. Our for
eign trade must increase enormously in the
next three four decades. To assist in that
expansion high grade consular service is badly
needed AS it is, our consular force is doing
an intelligent and helpful work. But the quail
ity of that work could be vastly bettered if the
service were reorganiZed on basis of perma-
nent tenure and appointments and promotions
for fitness. Some progress has been made
toward this ideal. But what is still needed is
legislation regulating appointment, classifying
consulships and requiring promotions to be
made from one grade to another. Congress last
spring responded to public sentiment so far as
to authorize the employment of special agents
to investigate trade openings abroad. 1t will
In time. perhaps. see the wisdom OF entirely
divorcing politics from the consular service
and converting the consular force into an eff
Gent machine for the promotion Of our foreign
trade interests. Mr.. Root while Secretary of
War, labored increasingly to convince the two
houses that the military reforms he advocated
were salutary and needful The country will
hope that his administration as Secretary Of
State will be sIgnalized by the accomplishment
Of an equally desirable revolution in the meth
DDS in vogue in the State Department.