The National tribune., 1909-09-23


5 the United States was taking Il place
of first rank among the :Iations, Is now
likely TO do more in the way OF orga l'Z-
ing and enlarging the work "f the state
Department toward hOiding YhaIe st I
of prestige and Othe. advantage this
Government has gained than many of
his predecessors dreamed was possible.
He is not man of demonsrat;ve meth
DDS but he has shrcwcncss and fore
sight in planning and executing. These
qualities he is proving anew in his ct
forts as the premier o. TIL, Taf. Cab
met.
In some part '.e has co-ordindtcd d
with President Taft, who resided much
abroad and had ide rs % his own ab"Jt
the administration of the foreign at
fairs of the United States. But the
ideas have also been in M small part
those of Secretary Knox In all he has
done and in all that he plans to do
there is earnest corporation on the
part Of the President, already convinced
that one of the fortunate occurrences of
Ibis Administration was he choice q the
Pennsylvania for Secretary of State.
Improving the Consular Service
Mr. Knox has shaken Up the Consul
lar Service. 1t used to BE- Il fa-;or'tc
saying that the American Consuls were
the least efficient of any ffrsc-clas5 Ne
ton. 1t was not true 10y tie time Prrsi
dent Roosevelt had been in Office I few
years. But Secretary Knox has ad-
vanced the efficiency Of Amcr:cau Con-
suls beyond the point of tht. Roosevelt
Administration, by proitins from the
| experiences that Secretary Root had in
trying to improve the service. II may
not be the case yet that our Consular
| Service is the best any NaLirn has. but
if the reorganization work continues it
is not improbable that it will be so before
President Taft's present term has ex-
pired. President Roosevelt and S:''cre-
tary Root perfected the system. Prcsi-
dent Taft and Secretary Knox have gone
| far toward taking the trained material
available and toward getting The right
men into the right places Those who
| did not make good nr who for some
reason could not attain the desired eff
cheney in a given place have been trans
ferred to less important places. better
fitted for their order o. talent. This
work has been going on ever since last
| March. so that now there are compara-
| lively few square pegs il rouni holes,
| and vice versa.
No Secretary of State has been left
more to work out his own policies in
| foreign affairs than has Secretary Knox.
| That has come to be regarded as the
sine qua non of a great Secretary cf
State. OF course. he cannot be hiSn'y
successful without the fullest co-Opera-
| liOn OF tilt 1TtSIutHI. any l1Ote lild'l At
| Presidential Administration can be
highly successful in lis foreign policies
| without the active and i1tciliSant CO.
| operation of the Secretary o. State.
| President Taft has had fundamental
| ideas about foreign affairs, especially
about Oriental affairs; but he has
turned over to Secretary Knox the work
of shaping these policies. which is the
proper function of the first maT in
| Presidential Cabinet.
| Our South American Policy
| Secretary Knox has entered hcart, ,Iy'
into the spirit of President Taft's orien-
| tai policy. 1t was he who put the ar
| Eastern Bureau into good shape recent
| ly and picked the men who ShcuEl have
| charge of it. But the Secretary also
! saw the possibilities of a similar South
| American Bureau, the organization of
which he has just announced. 1t is
Secretary Knox's idea that Ministers
and COnsuls who have had long evperi-
ence in the Orient for instance, should
/ be brought to Washington to man :he
| Far Eastern Bureau, and, IL fact, that
service in that Bureau should be re-
garded as sort of staff duty. After a
term Ministers. COnsuls and Secretaries
to Legation in the Far Eastern Bureau
| may be again sent out to other consul
| lar and diplomatic positions and others
more recently in touch with the Eastern
situation be brought in to fill their
places.
The same thing is to be done with
| Ministers and COnsuls in South America.
Men are to be brought from active ser
| vice i'll that continent to man the South
| American Bureau, and they must be
good men at that. They must be more
or less familiar with the Spanish lam
guage and must have served long
| enough in some South American coun-
| try IN have trajna6 knnprIa1ua
Of the commerce and diplomacy of that
quarter of the world. For while the
encouragement of good will with the
| Far East and the Far South and more
| efficient diplomatic relations are big
considerations in these new arrange
mentS, back of il all is the determina-
| ton to corral trade with the United
States.
These things mean a considerable in
crease in the activities of the State De-
partment. Hitherto it has been the
smallest by far of all the Executive
Departments in the number of officials
and employees. But service in the State
Department has been of a very polite
order. The clerk in the State Depart
ment has been accustomed to look down
upon his brother Government clerk in
other Departments. The work in the
State Department was not by any means
as strenuous. The working hours, If
anything were shorter, altho the same
law applies to all Departments. The
Assistant Secretaries and Bureau Chiefs
in the State Department have been ac-
customed to transact their business
rather nonchalantly and to devote a
maximum amount of attention to social
matters.
InvigOrating the State Department
Secretary Root first began to shake
up the State Department. He set a
wholesome example by going thru the
files and disposing of old cases, where
it was possible-cases that his prede-
cessors had allowed to drift along. He
reorganiZed the work of the Depart
ment to a considerable extent and did
much toward waking the employees up
to the importance of their tasks He
was in the habit of sitting in his Office
many hours at stretch while he went
to the bottom of a case or a situation
and mastered it.
Secretary Knox is keeping the en-
ployes of the Department awake and
insisting upon a businesslike attention
to public affairs. The Assistant Secre-
taries and the Bureau Chiefs still do
their work more leisurely than in any
other Department of the Government
and two or three men are required
where in some of the other Depart
ments one man would do the same vol