The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-12-04

should be justly and adequately provided
 with dignihed and suitable official resi-
 dences. Indeed, 1t Is high time that the
 dignity and power of this great nation
 should be fittingly signalized by proper
 buildings for the occupancy of the na-
 tons representatives everywhere abroad
 Diplomacy the Handmaid
 The diplomacy of the present adminis-
 tration has sought to respond to modern Ideas of commercial intercourse This
 policy has been characterized as substi-
 tuting dollars for bullets. It is one tliat appeals alike to idealistic humanitarian sentiments, to the dictates of sound policy and strategy, and to legitimate commer- I cial aims. It is an effort frankly di- rected to the increase of American trade 1 upon the automatic principle that the I Government of the United States shall extend all proper support to every le- gtimate and Beneficial American enter 1 prise abroad. How great have been the results of this diplomacy coupled with the maximum and minimum provision of l the tariff law will be seen by some con- sideration of the wonderful increase in the export trade of the United States. Because modern diplomacy is commercial, there has been a disposition in some quarters to attribute to it none but ma lti1dllSllt dlfflS. HOW SITlklnSlY tfTO- neous is such an impression may be seen from a study of the results ,by which the diplomacy of the United States can be Judged.
 Promotion of Peace
 In the field of work toward the ideals of peace this government negotiated but to my regret was unable to consum- mate, two arbitration treaties which set | the highest mark of the aspiration of na tions toward the substitution of arbitra- ton and reason for war in the settlement of international disputes. Through the ef- forts of American diplomacy several wars have been prevented or ended. I refer to the successful tripartite mediation of the Argentine Republic Brazil and the United States between Peru and Ecua- dor; the bringing of the boundary dis pute between Panama and Costa jsica to peaceful arbitration; the staying of warlike preparations when Haiti and the Dominican Republic were on the verge of hostilities, the stopping of a war in Nicaragua; the halting of internecine strife in Honduras. The government of the United States was thanked for it's influence toward the restoration of amic- able relations between the Argentine Republic and Bolivia. The diplomacy of the United States is active in seeking to assuage the remaining ill-feeling between this country and the Republic of Colom- bia. In the recent civil war in China the United States successfully joined with the other interested powers in urging un early cessation of hostilities. An agree ment has been reached between the gov ernments of Chile and Peru whereby the celebrated Tacna-Arica dispute, which has so long embittered international relations on the west coast of South America, mas at last been adjusted. Simultaneously |. xt.-A
 pute between Peru and Ecuador had en- tered upon stage of amicable settle ment The position of the United States in reference to the Tacna-Arica dispute between Chile and Peru has been one of nonintervention, but one of friendly in- fluence and pacific counsel throughout the period during which the dis pute in question has been the sub ject of interchange of views between this government and the two governments immediately concerned. In the general easing of international tension on the west coast of South America the tripar- tite mediation, to which I have referred, has been most potent and bene1cient factor.
 China
 l In China the policy of encouraging f. nancial investment to enable that country to help itself has had the result of giv- ing new life and practical application to the open-door policy. The consistent pur- pose of the present administration has been to encourage the use of American capital in the development of China by the promotion of these essential reforms to which China is pledged by treaties with the United States and other powers. The hypothecation to foreign bankers in con neftion with certain industrial enterprises, such as the Hukuang railways of the national revenues upon which these re- forms depended led the department of state early in the administration to de- mand for American citizens participation in such enterprises, in order that the Uni ted States might have equal rights and an equal voice in all questions pertaining to the disposition of the public revenues concerned. The same policy of promoting international accord among the powers having similar treaty rights as ourselves in the matters of reform, which could not be put into practical effect without the common consent of all, was likewise adopted in the case of the loan desired by China for the reform of it's currency. The principle of international co-opera- ton in matters of common interest upon which our policy had already been based in all of the above instances has ad- mittedly been a great factor in that con cert of the powers which has been so happily conspicuous during the perilous period of transition through which the great Chinese nation has been passing.
 Central America Needs Our Help
 In Central America the aim has been to help such countries as Nicaragua and Honduras to help themselves. They are the immediate beneficiaries The national benefit to the United States is twofod. First, it is obvious that the Monroe doe Urine is more vital in the neighborhood of the Panama canal and the zone of the Caribbean than anywhere else There, too. the maintenance of that doctrine falls most heavily upon the United States It is therefore essential that the countries within that sphere shall be removed from the jeopardy involved by the heavy for egn debt and chaotic national finances and from the ever present danger of inter national complications due to disorder at home. Hence the United States has been glad to encourage and support American bankers who were willing to lend help ing hand to the financial rehabilitation of such countries because this financial re- mobilization and the protection of their custom houses from being the prey of would-be dictators would remove at ona stroke the menace of foreign creditors and the menace of revolutionary disorder. The second advantage to the United States is one affecting chiefly. all the southern and gulf ports and the business and industry of the south. The republics of Central America and the Caribbean possess great natural wealth. They need only a measure of stability and the means of financial regeneration to enter upon an era of peace and prosperity, bringing profit and happiness to themselves and at the same time creating conditions sure to lead to a fourishing interchange of