The San Francisco call., 1905-06-21

! him confidentially
| UNFIT FOR SERVICE.
'In short it appears from Mr.. Bowen's
own statement, as well as from the state
ment of Messrs. Dater and Biddle. and the
| letter from Mr.. Wright. that Mr.. Bowen.
while Minister at Caracas. instigated and
| requested and actually secured the pub
| lication Of attacks ON the Assistant Sec
/ retary of State and furnished to the press
copies of documents, believed to reflect
| upon the Assistant Secretary of State,
! for investigation
| "Mr. Bowers excuse for this conduct,
so fur as 1t can be made out, seems to
be that he expected the newspaper men
to keep his connection with the charges
secret. In other words, he apparently
regards his case as improved I'm that
he secured this attack upon his official
chief in a furtivc and underhand man
ner, and that he did not intend TINT his
connection with the attack should be
divuiged.
OF course, such conduct is inexcusable
and shows Mr.. Bowen's entire unfitness
10 remain in the diplomatic service, with
out regard to whether the charges he has
made against Mr. Loomis are true or
false Even If Mr.. Loomis had been
guilty, Mr.. Bowen's conduct would be un-
parGonable. Inasmuch as Secretary Taftss
thefn 70 be false, his attitude appears in
an even worse light. But it must be kept
in mind that his unfitness for the service
is clearly established by hts own conduct
without any reference to the question of
Mr.. Loomis' actions. The Department of
State had explicitly forbidden just such
conduct in a general circular issued over
three years ago.
1t appears from the testimony that
Caracas is seething with scandal, and
that all kinds of accusations are rife, not
merely against Mr.. Loomis and Mr..
Bowen, but against practically every
other diplomatic representative now re-
siding, or who has recently resided, there.
There is. no excuse whatever for repeat
ing the injurioos and malicious gossip
circulated about these various men. Mr.
Bowen himself, however, has not only
furnished and brought forward a great
deal of such gossip about Mr.. Loomis,
but has evidently been one of the main
sources from which 1t originated.
HIRED TO "TAP, THE CABLE.
He tried to tamper with the cable
operator. through our Consul at La
| Guaira. Mr. Goldschmidt in order to Sc
cure what he hoped would be incrimi-
mating kilograms against Mr.. Loomis
MI Goldschmidt's reply was: 1t would
be dishonorable to do what you ask of
me- Mr.. Goldschmidt, in his letter of
May B. 1905. says. Mr.. Bowen never lost
an opportunity to beHttle Mr. Loomis'
! character, ability, etc. when he spoke
to me of him. and seemed to bear an ex-
traordinary animus against his prede-
cessor'
Mr. Bowen asked one of the men he
himself produced as a witness (Senor
Pastor) to enter into the employ of a
certain company for the purpose of OBJ
tanning Cin plain words stealing) docu-
" hn 1serIf to
Mr.. Ioomis.. He has evidently for many.
months-indeed, for the last two years.
devoted himself to hunting up every
piece of scandal or gossip of which he
heard affecting Mr.. Loomis. until it has
seemingly become a monomania with him
and has caused him to show complete
disloyalty to the service to which he be-
longs. and therefore to the country
which he has represented.
1t was his duty to make known to his
superior officers any facts rejecting on
the honesty of Mr.. Loomis or any other
officials, but it was a breach Of his duty
to make loose and reckless charges and
especially to give these charges public
currency after their submission for inves-
tigation by the department..
"Mr. Bowen's conduct is especially rep
rehensible because Of the damage it has
undoubtedly done to the interest of this
country. We hold a peculiar position to-
ward our sister republics lying south Of
us. In all our dealings with these repub- |
lies we should endeavor not merely TO
act courteously. justly and generously, |
but to make 1t evident that we are thus |
acting.
AMERICAN PRESTIGE DAMAGED.
ANY corrupt dealing, any misconduct |
by one of our representatives, to these coun- |
tries calls for the sternest punishment; |
and, save only corrupt dealings, the worst |
and most fragrant misconduct of which |
one of these representatives can be guilty |
Is to give currency to or secure the publi- |
cation of scandalous attacks upon the |
service of which he is a member or upon |
one of his superiors, responsible head OF
that service; for such attacks are certain /
to be circulated to the discredit of our
Government and our people, not only in
the newspapers of our own country. but
in the newspapers of the various Latin
American republics. No matter how
sbaseless they are, no matter how COM
plete the refutation of the charges, they /