Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-09-10

0lfQI1N up ana uONli ING SoDNtp StllIlltIt
Of strained relations, and do highland fling
on the thin ice of violated treaties. Once or
twice in his negotiating career he has in
dulged III a clog dance on the qulverlng
threads of war-threats before the astonished
and admiring gaze of all the European
Powers
He is Second Assistant Secretary of State,
and, from September Il to September %,
1898, was the Secretary of State, the Big
Whisper, the Great lnsinuator, the 2rainy
Buzzcr, on all matters affecting the ties or
rupturcs between this country and the rest
of the world
He has been in the diplomatic service for
more than forty years; finding himself at
this time the chief authority on how to do
things to other countries, how to preserve
precedent and how to knock it into cooked
hat. During that period IF diplomacy when
pacts were made and agreements reached by
the elevation of an eyebrow or the flick
of an eyelash, he was a well known figure.
Those were the good old days when diplo-
mats, sitting at round table, discovered
the treachery or righteousness of other dip
lomats by the tremor of the lower lip, the
( irregular curl of the whsker, or the expan-
sion of the left nostril Those were delicate
days, trenuous times, mignon moments.
Then came the epoch of "shirtsleeve
diplomacy" the stirring. dashing days when
this country flew right in the face OF heslta-
tion and pourparlers. and told the other
nations what it intended to do adding that,
if the other nations didn't like it, they could
lump it or take long running Jump off the
earth. Adee was good at that, too. But 1t
might be well to mention that, while he was
a shirtslecve diplomat, he always wore silk
shirts garments soft and luxurious.
Now the Hon. Alvey Augustus puts in his
E11r0Up
in the summer, and in the winter telling the
Secretary of State how to play the dlplo-
matte game. There have been several Sec
retaries of State who thought they could run
the sport of foreign affairs without the aid
of Adee They laughed at his knowledge OF
preccdents and the fine points of the art;
but sooner or later they all awoke to the
realization that Adee had to be consulted.
He has always been the man to decide
whether an important step must be taken
by sounding" or by "circular note" or by
iudicious hints to the press He has in
variably been sought for advice on whether
this country should throw its arms about
another country in loving affection or slap
it in the face.
He entered the diplomatic service through
the Madrid route, being made Secretary OF
the Legation in that city in 1870. In 1873
he was brought to Washington and made
chlct OF the Diplomatic Bureau. In 1872
he became third assistant Secretary of State,
and in 1886 he was made second assistant.
During the critical, crucial, and cross eyed
crisis of the Chinese troubles IN 1900 he was
acting Secretary OF State.
Only two men have held the position OF
second assistant in the State Department
Adces predecessor was in the service fifty
wears; wherefore Adec looks forward to ten
or twenty years more in his job. He is alb
solutcly indispensable to the department.
for he is the judge of precedent and the
methods of operating. Other diplomats
come and go in the big building on Pennsyl-
vania-avc; but he is Il fixture, perennial
arbitcr a court Of last resort.
For his amusement he writes short stories
good short stories. He is also a student
of Shakespeare and boasts Of his knowledge
OF the poet The one thing he will not do is
to write his memoirs, describing his expert
enccs with the hundreds of famous diplo-
mats and Kings he has met Against this
he has conscientious scruplcs, and he says,
with a wag of his white beard, that he should
not make extra money out OF his work tor
the Government.
Despite his long association with the ocean
of state documents and dry reports that
come to him. he has rich vein of romance
and sentiment. Whenever a despot in Cen
trail America is ovcrthrOwn Adee talks