The National tribune., 1908-05-07


| hope to the minds of many thousands
everywhere who have spent the years
since their discharge from the army
and navy in faithful service to their
city. County. State or the Government.
AMERICAN EMBASSADORS TO GER
| MANY.
I Altho the little furry over the ap-
pointment of DIR. Hill as ambassador
to Berlin has been virtually forgotten
in this country, it still continues to be
an exciting topic in Europe and par
ticularly in Germany. The French pa
pers are discussing it with much gusto
as pointing to new era in diplomacy,
when a diplomat will be reckoned by
the amount that he may be worth in
dollars and not in ability and accom-
plishments. The German papers do
not hesitate to say that the whole trou-
BILE was caused by the Kaiser letting
| fall certain expressions, which Embas-
sador Tower interpreted to mean that
DR.. Hill would not be considered per-
soma grata at Berlin, and the papers
say that these objections We're based
solely on DR.. Hill not having the money
to make the display which ambassador
Tower did. Undoubtedly the Kaiser
said this in so many words, and Mr..
Tower, at His Majesty's desire, COM
municated it to Washington. 1t is fur
ther alleged that the Kaiser went on to
say that altho President Andrew d.
White was man without MEANS" the
Emperor appreciated his learning and
a misfortune that he did not manage
to assert his high position outwardly as
well as otherwise"
The London Times says that this
statement is undoubtedly "the most ex-
traordinary which has ever appeared
in a responsible journal"
The Nord Deutsche Zeitung, of Ber-
lin. which is the official organ of the
Government. thinks that an Embassa-
dor without fortune would not "feel
comfortable at Berlin" whereat the
Radical German papers point out the
simplicity of Benjamin F'ranklin's life,
and how America has been heretofore
well represented in Berlin without ex-l
pensive splurges. and they say that
the prestige of America in Germany
does not depend upon the number Of
dinners an ambassador is able to give"
One leading German paper does notl
hesitate to assert that the Kaiser has
hi ;,,
Madgeburger Zeitung blames Mr. Tower
for allowing himself to be made the
Kaiser's catspaw.
The Radical French papers fling their
sharpest darts at the German Kaiser,
who will not have an American Embas
sador unless he squanders money, loads
his table with gold plate and has gold
laced footman on every step of the
staircase.
The English papers are disposed 10
lecture us because of the poor pay that
we give our ambassadors, which does
not permit them to rent fitting resi-
dences. On salary of $17,500 they
cannot rent much of a house or keep
up very pretentious establishment, so
that it is only wealthy men, who are
able to spend out of their private means
from $4,000 to s150,000 a year, who
can afford to accept a first-class en-
bassy. In some places the Americana
representative is worse housed than the
diplomat from some petty little Balkan
State. The whole condition shows a
descent from the times when such bril-
liant men. as Bancroft, Lowell, Motley
and Washington Irving represented the
United States abroad, and their intel
lectual station was SO high that people
did not think of the meagerness of
their surroundings. Fischietto, of
Turin, the leading italian comic paper,
pokes fun at Germany and us in car
toon. @
The upshot of this matter should be
and probably will be- that instead of Sc
lecting only men who want to make a
social splurge to represent us abroad,
we will return to the old practice of
men of reputation and standing
in the literary and political world who
will be accepted for what they are in
worth, and not make their
sole impression by the bigness of their
bank accounts. The majority of the
Americans abroad are not at all satis-
fed to be represented by the ultra rich,
as has been the case in recent years.