The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1909-11-29

united States government througb 49,
lntrlcacles of international dinInu
cy; the universal encylcIonadia
knowledge of world politics. tba
pository of more state secrets
that of any one human BEING ''
Besides all this, he is the most i,.o
estlhg' loVable and yet at times. iras-
clpie, public man now in the aovar,
ment service. Another Bosveu Win
be needed adequately to chronicle hi,
career. No man in washington j.
productive of more stories than
Adee-a new one crops up every d,,.
and all of them are good. PFrsoro,,..
he is slight wisp of a man with =
gray imperial beard and mustacb,
stained by devotion to Ny Lady Moo
tine. His shoulders are stooped an,
he walks nervously in short. chonn,.
steps, his feet turned out like dr,,,,
majors. He has a quiZZicaI kin,u,.
face, and looks at his interyievor,
from underneath scrubby evebrou.s
with his head bent forward. He hoe
the French trick of struggling his
shoulders. The Adee laugh is charac-
teristic. No one ever heard anytbinc.
like it. 1t starts with a chuckle in
creases in volume to a cachinnatiop
and subsidies to a series of sIv $500
hee'S."
Born with a congenital throat defect
that deprived him of the power of his
vocal chords, and with only rudiment
airy ear drums that have forced him r.
go through life deaf Adee triumnhed
through sheer force of will and over
mastering intellectual abilities He
taught himself to speak, although lack
ing a hard palate which in the average
throat is the sounding board. so to
speak, of the human voice. He was
educated as an architect, but aband-
oned that profession to enter the dip
lomatic service as secretary of the le-
cation at Madrid, Spain, in 1870, hav-
ing already mastered the language of
the DOns. Since that time, incidentally.
he has picked up" as he mOdestlv
puts it, French, German, Italian and
smattering of several other tongues.
He has been in the state department
as an under secretary since 1886; he
will be there until he dies. No one can
take his place. He is absolutely
unique.
If Secretary of Safe Knox wants to
write a letter to Ambassador SO-and-
So impressing a bald and brutal fact,
it is Secretary Adee who takes that
fact blunts its sharpness with the
punctiliOus persiflage demanded by in
ternational etiquette anu envelopes it
in foliage of choice diplomatic
phraseology Then Knox signs it,
If President Taft is giving a racep-
ton to the members of the diplomatic
corps. it is Alvey A. Adee VINO can
reel off without an instant's hesitation
the exact position every foreign repre-
sentative should occupy in the line. aC-
cOrding to his rank and the precedence
of his nation.
He knows international law, court
ceremonials, world politics, the Mon
roe doctrine, all the treaties. economic
and the history of every individual
who amounts to anything in every
quarter of the globe. He's the official
who's WhO,' as we'll as whats
What
Adee began STUD ling early in life,
and now, at the age o. siXty-seven
still burns the mid ignt incandescent.
He is a bicycle crank-incid6 ntally
even his vacations are a mixture OF
business and pleasure, a bicycle ride
through Europe every summer-an
amateur photographer of no mean
ability. bOtanist, a scientist, archaic
ologist and artist in sympathy at least.
His room at the state department is
.f,,I ixyt, IF cor
glomerate odds and ends imaginable.
A microscope rests on one table; pho
tOgraphic apparatus on another; books
on his desk, the floor, in shelves
everywhere. He brews and drinks tea
necessarily, and smokes little black cl-
gars in a dscOlored meerschaum and
amber holder. He keeps two brands OF
cigars in his desls-a box Of good ones
for himself, and some ten for fifteen
cents for visitors. However, when n
offers you one, he'll remark naively'
You needn't smoke it. if you don't
like it,
He is subject to irascible brain
storms" and has even been known TO
throw books at those who particularly
tried his temper; but an hour or so
ldleT invariably DecOlHeS ItpCll'""N
and makes peace with the offender by
a present of one of the good cigars
and a funny story.
To a woman stenOgrapher who had
presented to him a letter for signatu"e
with the word "the'' written thee.
Adee addressed the written memora7-
dunn 1.-The not thee-tOo much e's
A department clerk once crossed the
path of Adee with a cOrncob pipe III
his mouth. The third assistant secre-
tary stopped him and looked quizzical-
ly at the pipe.
81 see you are baseball fiend." ne
observed
why so, Mr. Adee,' demanded tn
clerk
aren't you smoking a Cobb pipe?
retorted Adee, chuckling.
On a letter to Mr.. Gu, Of the Chinese
legation, AIDE pinned a slip of paper
with the facetious comment, 'Oh you
Gu"
To a crowd Of newspaper men one
day, when in a particularly fine hu-
NOR he remarked that he understood
that meals at the North Pole were