Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-09-03

One of the foreign dipIOmatists call
cd at the State Department recently
in a great hurry in quest Of infOrma
ton concerning an intricate question
Of diplomatic procedure. He paid his
respects at the Secretary's office and
asked for the quickest, most dI'act
way of getting an answer to his in
quiry.
THE quickest and simplest way
said one of Mr. knoXs secretaries,
will be for me TO take YOU right TO
Miss Hanna, in the office of the sec
Ond Assistant Secretary of State"
Miss Hanna. Second Assistant Sec
rotary Of State?" repeated the puzzled
diplomatist.
"Of course, that isn't her official
title" was the reply, but now that
Mr.. Adec is away, in Europe she is
acting, so to speak-that is, she is our
authority on matters of this kind.
doubt if anyone else in the depart
ment could answer your question"
The diplomatist was escorted
through the double doors to Mr.. Adee's
sanctum, where he was presented to a
young woman who looked as if she
would be more at home on a tennis
court than i'm a sweltering office on a
hot summer day. There was just the
suggestion of a blush as Miss Hanna
listened to the questions propounded
TO her. Then she proceeded with a
detailed answer, citing precedent after
precedent to make her point clear, and
referring the .diplomatist to pages 374
to $40 Of the Foreign Relations vol
umes.
Leading Woman oipIomatlst.
The diplomatist now shares the view
of State Department officials that Miss
Hanna is by all odds the leading wo-
man diplomatist of the United States.
Indeed, her close association with
Mr.. Alvey A. Adee as confidential Sec
rotary, together with her natural apti-
tude and interest in her work, has
made her an indispensable part of the
government machinery. She has &C
companied American delegations on
two foreign missions, where her work
proved most helpful, and her services
are so valuable in Washington that
during Mr.. Adee's absence in the sum.
mer she can not be spared foY even a
few days vacation, which, Incidental
ly, she would like very much to get.
Miss Hanna is the daughter of the
late Edwin =. Hanna, Solicitor of the
Navy Department. She is not the type
of girl who starts out to make Ca
reer. Her efficiency and development
came through fondness for her work
after she had started it and from a
natural desire to do well anything she
undertakes. She has absorbed some,
thing of Mr.. Adee's remarkable and
logical power of reasoning, has profit,
ed by her experience in diplomatic
matters and incidentally has become
a proficient French and Spanish schoI'
ar because she found this would help
her in her work.
Has Been to The Hague.
She accompanied the American del
egation to The Hague several years
ago, and her French was life saver
to several of the Americans who could
not speak a word of it. On the trip
of the American delegation to the
Pan-American conference at Buenos
Ayres in 1910 Miss Hanna went along
and among her other duties taught
the families of several of the dele.
gates and several of the delegates
, themselves enough Spanish to get on
with.
Miss Hanna's work on this trip was
a splendid example of her versatility
She would be found in the midst of the
brilliant receptions at the opera and
in the workroom helping the delegates