The Washington times., 1911-05-27
MR.. HAMMOND AS EXPONENT
OF DOLLAR DIPLOMACY.

Mr.. John Hays Hammond, on the
eve of sailing for Europe as special
ambassador to the coronation, divested
himself of an Illuminating interview.
He is going to do more than look fine
and attend functions; he is going to
promote commercial relations. He is
strong for dollar diplomacy; which,
considering what we all know about
Mr.. Hammond's business career, is not
seriously to be doubted.
The ideals of our dollar-marked
aristocracy are peculiarly we'll repre-
sented in the selection of Mr.. Ham
mond for this mission. To say the
least, it is a curious choice which
President Taft has made of a per-
sonal representative at an occasion on
which sovereigns are presumed to ex-
change fluctuations over the supreme
event in a rulers life.
Mr.. Hammond's career is that of the
twentiethcentury soldier of fortune;
of fortune in its gilded, modern sense;
of fortune which represents intrigue,
manipulation, political plots, and
diplomatic equilibristics, punctuated
by participation in endowed revolu-
tions and seasoned by such incidents
as Mr.. Hammond's arrest for intimacy
with the Jameson raid against Pre-
toria, his sentence to death, and his
release after the payment of kings
ransom.
After Zelaya was driven out of
Nicaragua by pressure of American
diplomacy, he was quoted in a cabled
interview as saying that the real origin
of his troubles lay in differences be-
tween his government and an Ameri-
can gold mining syndicate in Mica
ragua, in which Mr.. Hammond was in
terested. Zelaya's story was that
Hammond, denied some concessions he
wanted, enlisted the Washington Gov
eminent in making trouble for the
Nicaraguan government. 1t is at least
interesting, when one recalls the thrill
ing incidents of the Hammond career
in South Africa.
The Hammond relations to the Gug-
genheims; his activities in the last
Presidential campaign; his preposter-
oua q at+arpDt N finance bip,Solf into a
Vice Presidential nomination; the
charges concerning his interest in
those Alaskan policies that would sub
serve the Guggenheim interests-all
these things at least suggest guidance
by strange set of ideals, when Mr.
Hammond was chosen as our sover
eign's personal representative at the
coronation.
If dollar diplomacy is the ideal of
this Government, Mr.. Hammond is
beyond question equipped by long ex-
perience to extract good dividends from
the dollar
Nothing succeeds like success, and
Mr.. Hammond has in the past sue
ceeded in that sort of thing. His
pile" is the proof. However, that
success is the only thing which
stands between the casual observer
and a feeling of misgiving about the
shirt -sleeved frankness of Mr.. Ham
mond's travelling salesman pronuncia
mento. From a dollar diplomat with
less impressive list of achievements
to his credit, these over candid OBJ
servations might fairly be regarded as
undiplomatic. Perhaps the Britishers,
whose willingness to reap the harvest
of American dollars is itself a trife
Grass, will be acconmodatingly deaf
to the sordid tone of our Special Am
bassador's foreword, in view of their
anticipations of an especially rich
yield from the ambassadorial Golfers.
DOMESTIC TROJJBL OF THE