The Washington herald., 1913-11-02
Rene Baebe Declares the Commoner Doesn't Like His Job
Diplomats Bore Him, Precedents Bak Him, "Frills"
Annoy -IndividuaEsm Is Cwbed.

building at the corner OF Seventeenth
Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.
However. Mr.. Bryan has reason to con-
graduate himself upon the fact that the
| business of the State Department is by
no means SO complex as il was In former
times How glad he ought to be that he
is not Obliged to count the noses of the
peoplei For, up to 1873. the Department
of State attended to all the business Of
taking censuses.
| In addition, 1t granted all patents. The
earliest patents las anybody may dis
cover by turning 10 the recordsl were
signe6 by George Washington and Thomas
Jefferson. In Europe patents had always
been royal grants (as they are still In
some monarchies), and hence the notion
that the President Of the United States
ought to sign them.
Changes in Departments.
In 1919 the Interior Department was
organized, and took the Patent OfficG
and Census Bureau of the hands Of the
/ Department of State. Incidentally, 1T re-
lieved the latter of the business of man
aging all matters relating to the Terri
| tories. which IL had previously controlled.
The State Department in early times
granted all the copyrights. Also, it at
| tended TO all the business, Of granting
/
| Attorney General, who. in those days
uhough a member Of the Cabinet}, got
much less pay than any other member
Of the Presidents official family, and
was expected to exc out his, income by
| the practice of law-his work for the
government occupying only part Of HIS
\ time.
Lucky Mr.. Bryant -.s' --
II is I'm the nature of things that =
| newly appointed Secretary of State can
| rot know much about the business OF
the department For which reason there
has to be, man on the Job who is thor
oughly acquainted with II, and one who
can be relied upon to meet emergencies.
This man is Alvey A Adee, and he may
be said to be the only person in the
government service who is absolutely in
dispensabIe. He holds his place for life.
and changes OF administration, whether
| Democrats or Republicans come into
power. do not bother him at all.
In any European foreign office Adee
would be called the permanent under
secretary. There is such an indispensa-
Bile official in every important capital
abroad-a man who manages the diplo-
matte relations, who has a complete ac-
quaintance with all precedents and ira
| ditions, and who knows exactly what to
| do in any emergency that may arise.
| The position occupied by Adee was ere
ated in 1856. and he has had only one
predecessor. William Hunter.
The Value of Mr.. Adee.
Whenever Mr.. Bryan finds himself up
against anything difficult he refers the
matter to Adee. The latter is a living
| encyclopedia Of international law. One
| Of the kindest and best fellows in the
world, he Is n miracle OF tact, and
| smooths over many an irritated situation
! with the diplomats Jollying them. All
Of them like Adee; they can't help II.
He speaks with a very marked drawl,
and is so deaf that one has to talk to
, , him through long tube with a rubber
nozzle.
Of Congress got up in the House and
| complained with some Indignation that
on going TO the Department OF State to
make some inquiry he had been referred
for information TO "a foreigner" IT,
drawl had led him TO believe that Adee
was an Englishman.
When Mr.. Bryan wants to do any off,
cial letter writing he finds that il. is
required of him that he shall follow GER
tain forms. In fact, the letters are writ
ten for him, and just about all he is
allowed TO do is to sign them. He is not
even permitted to choose his own sta
tionery. Precedent requires that all the
correspondence Of the department shall
be on one kind Of paper-a fine blue-white
linen. the size Of foolscap.
Typewriting? Never. The letters of
the Department of State must be in old
fashioned pen and ink, and executed In
the Spencerian script As for the Ian
guage, Mr.. Baryan may congratulate
himself upon being allowed to use Eng
lish. Russia, Italy, Holland, Belgium,
and, Of course, France. use French in
their diplomatic correspondence. Ger
many uses the German language, and
Spain Spanish
This administration has declared its
intention to continue the recently adopted
policy Of putting our Diplomatic Serv-
ice under civil service rules. On the
twentieth day Of this month, by Mr..
Bryan's direction. an examination will be
held OF candidates for appointment TO
the lowest grade. Any male citizen of
the United States between the ages of
twenty-one and fifty is eligible. But
1t is necessary that the applicant shall
be designated by the President for
such examination: and, as a preliminary,
he must send in his application TO the
Secretary of State, with Endorsements to
guarantee that he is a person worth en-
ploying. IL possible. he should be in
dorsed by his Congressman and by one
or both Of the Senators of his State.
Chances I'm Foreign Service.
II he passes. he is put on an eligible
list, and may thereafter receive an ap-
pointment as third secretary" at Lon
don, Paris. ST. Petersburg, Toxic, or
some other foreign capital. The pay
is LOO a year. In this capacity no will
have the custody of the books and papers
OF the mission; he will index dispatches,
transcribe the official communications of
his chief, and so on. Inasmuch as all
vacancies higher up are filed by promo
tions from the lower grades, he may
rise later on to a second secretaryship
at 5000 year, or a first secretarvship
at 5000 In the course OF time he may