The Washington herald., 1913-11-23

ment is beginning to think Sc
riously of providing Ambassa-
doris residences at the various for
eign capitals TO which our Ambassa-
doris are accredited" said the Idiot,
stirring his coffee with small pocket
thermometer, and entering the record
ed temperature of 5S degrees Fahren-
heit in his little memorandum book.
That's a thing we have needed for a
long time. 1t has always seemed a
humiliating thing to me 20 note the
differences between the houses of our
government officials of equal ranks,
but of unequal fortune, abroad. To
leave the home of an Ambassador to
Great Britain, massive sixteen-story
mausoleum, looking like a cross be-
tween Carnegie Library and State
penitentiary, with seven baths and
four grand pianos on every floor, with
guides always on duty to show you the
way from your bed chamber to the
breakfast room, and a special valet for
each garment you wear, from sock to
collar, and 60 over TO Rome and find
your Ambassador heating his coffee
over a gas jet in a hall bedroom on
the top floor of an coy old Pallazzo,
overlooking the garage of the Spanish
Minister, is disconcerting to say the
least. 1t may be symptom of Amer
ican Fraternity, but it docs not speak
volumes for Western Hemispherical
Equality, and the whole business ought
to be standardized. An American En-
bassy architecturally should not be
either a twin brother TO a Renais-
SINCE Lunatic Asylum. or a replica IF
a $1,000 Ladies Home Journal Bun
Salow that can be built by the owner !
himself working Sunday afternoons
for $500. exclusive OF the plumbing
You are right for once. Mr.. Idiot,
said the Bibliomanac. approvingly. |
The last Il lie | was abroad travelling |
with one OF those Through Europe in
len Days parties, could not make |
up my mind which was the more hu- |
initiating to me as an American citi- |
zen, the lavish ostentation of one en- |
iIssy, or the nggardly squalor OF an !
other; and it occurred to me then that |
here was a irst-class opportunity for
some traveller to come along and do
his country's dignity some good by
pruning little in one place, and fat
tening things up bit in another"
Quite So" said the Idiot, inhaling
waffle
And l have been hoping" continued
the Bibliomaniac, that Congress would
authorize the purchase of suitable
houses in foreign capitals for the pur-
pose Of correcting the evil
That's where We diverge, sir" said
the Idiot, as the lady said to her hus-
band, when they got their first glimpse
OF the Courthouse at Reno. We don't
want TO purchase. We want to build.
The home OF all American Ambassador
should express America. not the coun-
try to which he is sent TO Ambass.
There's nothing to my mind less ap-
proprla:e than TO find Diplomat from
Oklahoma named, let us say, Dinkei-
spiel, housed in a Louis Fourteenth
Chateau on the Champs Eliza; or a
gentleman from Indiana dwelling in
The Palace OF some noble but defunct
Duck OF the Sforza strain
IN Rome; or leading Presbyterian
us at Constantinople re-
ceiving his American visitors in a COL
lection OF minarets formerly occupied
by the secondary harem of the Sub
lime Porte. There is an incongruity
about that sort of thing that, while it
nay add to the gaiety of nations, leave
Uncle Sam at the wrong end of the
Oke. When the thing is done it
ought TO be done from the ground
lp Unde Sam should always feel at