The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1905-11-02

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destined for foreign mission must
speak fluently the language of the
country he is sent to; must be thor
oughly familiar with the resources and
customs of that country; must have
studied the partieularities, talents and |
weaknesses of the head of that country
and his ministers, and the legislative
bodies; must be an adept in negotiat-
ing with secret and other agents; and
must possess many other qualities of
which an ordinary person does not
even have an idea.
Let us now turn from these Euro
pean conditions to those in the United
States. AS far as know only three of
our prominent men, George Bancroft,
the historian, Andrew White and John
Hay, have studied diplomacy theoret-
ically. In spite of that, we have man
aged exceedingly well, and we have had
very smooth sailing-so far. Our
country has produced large number
of talented and gifted men who might
have become great credit to any dip
lomatic corps, if it had been advisable
and necessary for them to acquaInt
themselves with all the details of di-
plomacy. Even as it is, what little had
to be done before the Spanish war, has
been done in mutually satisfactory
manner. This is due principally to
our isolation from all foreign entan-
clements, to the enormous richness of
our national resources, and to our
geographical position. The interna-
tional questions that confronted US in
former years, even those during and IN
consequence of the wars of the revo-
luton, 1912, 1848 and of the rebellion,
have been settled with comparative
ease. There is nothing in all those
years that will be recorded in history
as great diplomatic achievement, ex
cept the now famous doctrine OF
President Monroe. At MonrOe's time
the United States had population of
less than 25,O0O,000 and played very
minor part IN the international firma-
ment. But all subsequent administra-
tions have adhered strictly to this
doctrine, till.lt has become, fguratively,
part of ourselves and of the consti-
/ tuition, and the world has learned to
understand that she will have to reckon
with this doctrine as long as the
United States retains her present pres
tige.
Matters have changed considerably
since the Spanish war. The acquisi-
tion of distant possessions, and our
entering into the arena of the great
powers, have made it imperative on us
to show strong front, and to partici-
pate in all great international ques-
tions. This does not necessarily mean
that we must go to war, but only that
we must be prepared for all emergen-
cies, and, in consequence, we have
already trebled our army and
doubled our naval strength. But it is
not so much our military strength that
we rely on in solving arising questions;
on the contrary, we hope that all such
questions may be solved either by di-
plomacy, or, failing that, by arbitra-
} ton. Two important achievements
, have already been placed to our credit.
: The first was the victory which fell to
John Hay, when his attitude in the
Chinese question, resulting from the
: Boxer troubles, met with the unanimous
. approval of all great powers. The
: second was the epoch-making inter-
cession for peace between Russia and
: Japan made by our strenuous president.
which for centuries to come will be
looked upon by historians as q diplo-
matte victory of the first magnitude
} one which required an unusual amount
: of tact, patience and perseverance
|, But other matters have come up which
. we cannot contemplate with equanim.
. ity. The Bowen-Loomis controversy
1 and several others of similar nature
D have shown us to the diplomatic world
!, in not very enviable light. Besides
: three.fifths of our consular service
( is absolutely worthless, and large
: number of our consuls do not even IN
0 deretand the language Of the country
8 to which they are accredited.
b All this is fully understood and ap
r preciated in Washington; but it is no,
: easy to find remedy. We have al
s = lls.AoS = ~~,c- ~clao~.~ So ~.