Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-09
GIVING OUT THE NEWS
Training of Diplomatists by
the Late John Hay.
MANY WERE CAUTIOUS
AFRAID TO TAKE CORRESPOND
ENTS INTO THEIR CONFIDENCE.
Present Friendly Attitude of Ambassa-
doris and Ministers Toward MEM
bers of the Fourth House."
MANY WERE CAUTIOUS
Written for The Star.

SIX or eight years ago said veteran
Washington correspondent, at was some
times one of the most difficult things imag
Unable to get legitimate Information from
certain foreign diplomatists, cabinet min
listers and other high officials here. Today
It is different. Almost without exception
the officials in question will talk freely to
newspaper upon all sorts OF topics,
often telling them things which must be
kept secret that they may fully understand
the things that may be printed
Nothing ever done by the lamented John
Hay" continued the correspondent, has
been of wider benefit in it's way than the
training Of the members of the diplomatic
corps. the cabinet ministers and other Of
ficials. which he began upon this subject
the day he assumed the office of Secretary
of State, and continued till he left Wash
fngton, never to return, because of the
physical ailment which ended in his death.
His successor as Secretary of State,
Elihu Root. has continued admirably in the
path Hay marked out. with regard to the
matter to which the particular training L
refer to pertained. and. I doubt not. would
do little of the same training himself
were ii necessary.
Fortunately. it isn't. and isn't likely to
be for some time. l Imagine. The lessons
carried with his training seem to have been
learned effectively by practically all the Of
ficials at the capital. whether belonging to
the government of the United States
that of a foreign country.
When Mr.. Root came to Washington az
Secretary of War he was one of the most
difficult men for a newspaper man TO APP
proach that has ever sat in cabinet chair.
He seemed to think 1T his duty to with
hold all Information whatsoever from the
correspondents He seemed to be afraid of
them. and it wasn't very long before they
became afraid of him.
There may have been a few correspond
ents, there doubtless were one or two old
acquaintances, with whom Mr.. Root was
confidential and to whom he was he pful at
that time, but TO the most of US he was de-
cidedly off1sh He was pronouncedly the
opposite of Mr.. Hay. who was always ready
TO talk as freely he could find time to-
and always seemed anxious to help us get
things right.
Change of Point of View.
Gradually. however. Mr.. Roots attitude
changed. Gradually he began to loosen
up Gradually. too. there began to be a
change on the part Of a good many of the
representatives of foreign governments
After while Mr.. Root and practically
all the others quite faced about. to the
great comfort of the correspondents and
the good OFF the millions OF newsnaner
readers whom they serve and after q
while 1t leaked out that 1t was all because
OF Mr. Hays training
1t appears that Mr.. Hay. who had been
a newspaper correspondent himself and
who. as one of President I.incoln's private
secretaries, had been longer in public life
than any of the secretaries and most of
the diplomatists, had explained to them in
detail his views concerning the newspaper
correspondents and the way they should be
treated
They are-he held-much the most I'M
portant and effective link of communica-
ton between the body of officials as a
whole and the people at large. large pro-
portion of the people never know anything
at all of public affairs, the words and
deeds of public men, except through the
dispatches which the correspondents write
and which are printed in the newspapers.
Only through reading their dispatches Is
1t possible for any one not personally In
touch with official doings to get any sort
OF clear idea of what Is being done
thus. for most purposes, the correspondents
are the only link of communication.
This is true the world over in some de-
gree but more in the United States than
elsewhere, and bound to continue to be so.
Naturally, making allowances for the
idosyncrasies of the correspondents and
the varying political pohcies of the news
papers they represent, they are extremely
anxious not only to make accurate reports
of what Is said and done, but also to make
their dispatches explanatory, so that their
readers may understand the significance OF
the Washington news budget from day to
day.
THE correspondents. Mr. Hay held, are
a rather high-grade body of men. In the
nature of things no newspaper publisher
or editor would send any but a man OF
industry, of brains and OF honesty to
Washington as correspondent, since not
only does the reader get the news from
him. but upon him too the editor must de-
pend for the inside information upon
which he shapes or mobiles the policy OF
the paper.
Each correspondent will, of course, give
the first place to whatever seems right
y Nd to Ia adff Init m W. Qt
he Will tell the news as straight as he can.
in order to keep the confidence of his read
ers, If for no other reason.
''Mr Root saw this clearly before he had
long been Secretary of War, and as soon
as the light broke In upon him he changed
his attitude completely. He saw, too. as
Hay had seen. that the percentage of men
with q fine sense of honor and fairness was
at least as high among the correspondents
as II was among the men in public life.
In fact Mr.. Hay said repeatedly before
his death that he had yet to be treated
unfairly by correspondents whom he had
trusted. and Mr. Root has said much the
same thing.
Winning Over the Diplomatists.
Mr. Roots change OF heart and policy
was so complete that 1t was not long be-
fore he made 1t point to be at liberty
every day at a certain hour to see the cor
respondents and answer their questions.
When he returned to Washington Sec
rotary of State he gave out that he pur-
posed re-establishing the custom. also to
make his days at his desk in the depart
ment short, but he found that there was
so much to do In Strengthening out the at
fairs Of the department that he was not
able at once to carry out his plans Tor lack
of time. and believe is still unable TO do so.
1T was not so easy to win all the men,
bers of the diplomatic corps over to the
new point of view and method OF treating
the correspondents.
"Wu Ting-fang, the clever. satirical Chi
nese minister, always had the sense to
treat every correspondent as a man and
brother should be treated, and. though
he delighted sometimes 10 give the boys
steer, as he slangily phrased It. that
wasn't very Illuminating when analysed, he
needed no special training. His successor
Sir Chengtung Liang-Cheng educated in
this country. is even more satisfactory in
his way of dealing with the representatives
OF the newspapers than was WI Ting-fang.
not believing so implicitly in himself as a
humorist But there were others.
"One of the most difficult OF them all
when he came to Washington, was the
Count Cassinl. ambassador OF that czar
whose might and power seem TO have van
Usher forever.
AT the beginning the count was almost
impossible from the newspaper point dr.
View. He was not only afraid OF the corr
respondents. apparently but ne seemed to
consider himself of finer CLAW than the