The Washington herald., 1913-11-24
French resent
M'COMBS' slip
Foreigners Couldn't See How
Chairman Was Travel
ing ''Incognito."
WOULD NOT BE OPPOSED
Parisianf Also Got Idea the Wilson
Warwick Was There to 'Look
EN- Over"
WOULD. NOT BE OPPOSED

New York. Nov. 22-The Times prints
the following dispatch from its Paris cor
respondent:
With the marriage of W. F. McCombs
the question as 10 who will succeed Am
bassador Herrick is again foremost in
American circles here.
There have been several reports. A
current report is that Mr.. McCon'bs is
persona non grata at the Quai d'orsay
on account Of his previously refusing
the post. It is also rumored that Fred
erick Allen may get the appointment.
The rumor concerning Mr.. McCombs
may be dismissed as incorrect although
not absurd. 1t is stated that relations
are SO friendly between :he Quai dOrsay
and Washington that any one receiving
the appointment of President Wilson
would get welcome here However, II
Is limited in some quarters that the well
come might be more cordial If the ap-
pointee were not Mr.. McCombs.
McCombs Looked EN- Over.
The reason assigned for Mr.. Nc
Combs lack of popularity in French
circles is not that he once refused the
appointment, but his Ions visit in France,
which, to the French mind, was for the
purpose of looking them over to see il
he liked them"
The French, considering themselves
quite as good as anybody else. resent
being investigated Mr.. McCombs also
made the unfortunate remark while here
that he was 'incog." French statesmen
are all democratic, and many are Of the
bourgeoisie. They therefore could not
understand how private citizen Of the
American republic would be '.incog."
The news has transpired in American
circles that the report that Mrs. Nc
Combs received Sl.OOO,OOO as a wedding
gift from the Letters is erroneous, and
that Mr.. Letter is too much engaged in
his own business affairs to bestow
million at the present time.
The report that Frederick Allen is
likely to receive the appointment is not
considered seriously in the American
colony.
Apropos of embassy affairs, the stan
is wondering whether the State Depart
ment is ever going TO allow the few hun
dred dollars necessary to buy furniture
for the new embassy offices in the Rue
de Chaillot, near the Trocadero, which
occupy the same site, although in a
fine new building. as forty years ago,
when Washburn was Minister.
The application to Washington for a
Several reports are circulating in Paris.
One is that the reply came:
Let Herrick buy it. He can af-
ford it."
Embassy Is Bare.
Whatever the truth Of the matter,
the condition reflects no additional
credit on America, which already is
criticised for not owning it's embas- |
sizes, for, although the walls OF the |
present embassy are done in beauti- |
full designs and colors, the floors are
minus carpets. There are scarcely
enough chairs for visitors, and there
is a woeful lack of desks and other
necessities for the executive stan.
Ambassador Herrick has been doing
the entire work of the embassy sim
gIe-handed for the past ten days. All
the secretaries are absent
The ambassador told the New York
Times correspondent that he had re-
fused all invitations for Thanksgiving
Day, and intended to eat his turkey
at home, surrounded by his family, |
his only guests being the embassy at |
taches. He will, however, attend the |
dinner of the American Society on
Thanksgiving Eve, and the Harvard |
Club dinner on the Saturday night |
following.