The National tribune., 1909-10-21

The place was actually offered to hall
dozen men before Mr.. Crane accepted
for which reason the President may
feel rather discouraged about trying
again to find a suitable man Some
think that Henry P. Fletcher, of Penn
svlvauia, now Secretary at Pek n, may
be made Minister. He has done exceed
ingly well as Charge d'Affaires of the
Legation.
There is some unwritten history about
the sending of Ministers to China. The
dismissal of MIR. Crane brings out an in
stance which comes within that cate
CORY. 1t occurred early in President
McKinley's Administration, and con-
Germs an Illinois man and Chicago
newspaper, just as have the develop
ments pertain ng to Mr.. Crane.
President Mckinley appointed Charles
Page Bryan, of Illinois, as Minister TO
China As soon as the appointment was
announced a Chicago newspaper printed
two or three very forcible editorials,
stating that Mr. Bryan was without
diplomatic experience, and advising the
President that, however capable man
Mr.. Bryan might be, he ought not to be
sent to such a post as Pekin, where
diplomatic attainments were very essen
tial The Chicago editor called at the
White House few days thereafter to
make a personal visit.
L 1ell INTO lne fldDll OI TtdulllS Hout
paper several years ago." said President
Mckinley to him, "and- have been
reading it since / came to the White
House. 1 noticed your editorials about
Bryan, and am coming to the conclu-
sion that your view is the correct one.
j have sent for Senators Allison, of
Iowa, and Davis, of Minnesota, to see If
we cannot arrange some exchange by
which either Stanford Newell, whom j
Sar1f To Tha 10
recommendation of Senator Davis. or
Minister Conger, whom l have sent to
Brazil on the recommendation of Sem
ator Allison, shall go to Pekin."
The President had not concluded the
conversation before Senators Allison
and Davis We're announced. The pro-
posed exchange was discussed Maj.
mckinley favored transferring Minister
Newell, but Senator Davis protested that
Newell had a large family, including
several children, and. having already
settled at The Hague, would not like to
pull up stakes for Pekin. where the
educational advantages were meager-
The Senator, however. cabled to Minis
ter Newell, but the upshot of it all was
that o H. Conger, who had been a
member of the National House for many
years, was transferred TO China and Mr..
Bryan was sent to Brazil. The latter
has been in the Diplomatic Service ever
Since. and is now Minister to Portugal.
During the anxieties of the Boxer
troubles President Mckinley took occa-
sion to say to his Chicago editorial
friend that he was profoundly grateful
for the suggestion about giving Bryan
some other post He added that he felt
he would have made a grave mistake
had he sent a young man. or one new
to official life, to such a mission as that
al Pekin.
An Inefficient Assistant Secretary.
A shaking-up of the State Depart
fnent may be given impetus by the COM
plants of Mr.. Crane. Entirely apart
from the merits of Mr.. Cranes state
ment of explanation about himself, his
difficulties in transactng business there
have been generally experienced in re-
cent months. There has come a de-
moraliZation of the personnel, because
influential Senators and others have
forced incompetent men into high
places in the Department Bitter feuds
among certain of the higher offic ais
have contributed to the undesirable
status.
Huntington Wilson, First Assistant
Secretary of State, whom. Mr.. Crane
chased around Washington and to New
York in a fruitless attempt to obtain an
audience, is a careful student, but more
theoretical than practical. Uncle Shell
by" Cullom, OF I'll nois, Chairman of the
Senate Committee on Foreign Rela-
tions. stands sponsor for him. Some
years ago It was arranged that Charles
Denly, who had been employed in
China, should be Third Assistant Secre-'
taT-y OF State. He came TO Washington
to take that office. In the meantime,
President Roosevelt and Uncle Shelby"
Cullom arranged that Mr.. Wilson
e-faG d.,
Third Assistant Secretary of State. -.
Mr.. Root. then Secretary Of State,
had no liking for Mr. Wilson. He
showed it plainly. Robert Bacon, then
First Assistant Secretary of State, was
similarly minded. Subordinates followed
the two conspicuous examples set them,
and Mr. Wilson had rough shedding
With the beginning of the Taft Admins
istration Mr.. Wilson was brought for
ward as First Assistant Secretary. Once
infthe seat of power Mr.. Wilson began
70 even up old scores He has been
dismissing and reducing employees. He
has shown his hand against the State
Department Solicitor, James 3. Scott,
who was one of Secretary Roots favor
ties.
There are three Assistant Secretaries
of State. The Second Assistant, Mr.. A.
a. Adee, is the only one whose office is
regarded as permanent. The strife
among old Republican Senators to get
their favorites into both the other two
positions has been keen. They manage
TO keep both places filed with the men
they want most of the time and much
OF the time it has developed that the
incumbents are not the competent off
Gals needed. The offices have frequent
ly been made stepping stones to diplo-
matte pos tiOns abroad which makes
them all the more attractive to scions
of rich families.
The dailying in the conduct of busi-
ness in those offices has become notori-
Gus. 1t takes week in the State De-
partment TO do what would be regarded
as days work in some Government
oiilces. There is much absenteeism and
much attendance upon social functions
Even the Secretaries of State have not
been accustomed to keeping long office
hours
Secretary Knox has been averse to
handling much except the big interna-
tonal questions before the Department
He has mapped out a large program,
and recently organized the Far Eastern
and the South American Bureaus The
new men he brought to those Bureaus
been much tagging over the current
work which the Secretary depends upon
his subordinates to handle
New Blaod Injected.
The selection some weeks ago of
Henry M. Hoyt, former Sole tor of the
department of Justice, to be the Coun-
SeilOr of the DeDartment of State is