Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1914-08-30
DIPLOMACY IS
AGAIN Being
APPRECIATED
With Gable and Telegraph
Wires Cut Calling Comes
Into Its Own Again.
(By Jonathan Winfield. J


Washington, Aug. 29.--The word is
being passed around in Washington
that diplomacy has come into its own
again.
The European war which. it ap-
pears, has produced as many con-
comitant results as coal-tar has by
products, is responsible for the mira
Gle. Once again, they say, a diploma
has assumed a position somewhat
more exalted than that of sublimat-
ed office boy, running errands in
knee breeches for irascible old
gentlemen at the heads of the worlds
foreign offices.
And the reason for the return to it's
own Of diplomacy is that the arch
conspirator against the old-time
glamor Of the calling, to wit: the
electric spark, has been defeated. For
number of years the common people
have stroked their whiskers and de-
clare1 il to be their opinion that dip
lomats are a class of public servants
who have. about outlived their use
fulness. Their proof conclusive of
this state of affairs has been that,
with the telegraph and cable lines in
operation, the actual heads of the
several governments have been
brought into such close communica-
ton that to have ENJOYS is an un-
necessary luxury.
But the cutting of telegraph and
cable lines indiscriminately through
out the world has brought new
state of affairs. The actual heads
of a number of the governments since
the beginning of hostilities on the
continent, have been woefully out of
touch with each other. Throughout
our late upleasantness with the SOW
ereign state of Mexico there were
printed in the American and other
newspapers spirited descriptions of
how Secretary of State Bryan sat
through many fateful night coatfess
and prespiring, while a telegraph
operator, seated next to him, copied
off cipher dispatches from the front.
rear and both sides. This showed
how purely ornamental was the posi-
ton of an ambassador. With the
events in Mexico coming to the know
ledge of the American Secretary of
State just as soon as they TRANSFERRED
what need existed for an ambassador
surrounded by a numerous staff? And
when diplomatic notes were to be
communicated between the powers. it
Eas much quicker to cable them di-
rect to the State Department and
foreign offices than through embas-
sizes and legations.
So the diplomatic corps, except
from an ornamental standpoint, had
become a rather useless department
of the world governments before the
outbreak of tn general European war.
But now with cables cut, with land
telegraph lines stripped from their
poles, the diplomat comes into his
own again.
Hazardous Job in Early Times.
In medieval times it became
necessary to invent the diplomat.
When some puissant monarch though
it advisable to notify the ruler of a
neighboring country that he wanted
certain strip of land and that if he
did not receive it he would feel it his
duty to church and state to sweep the
receiver of the message from the face
Of the earth, such monarch had the
message carried by an ambassador
For long time it was popular
practice for the king who received
such a diplomatic note to behead
hang, draw and quarter Or otherwise
muss up the ambassador, and then
go in person with few thousand
relatives and adherent of his house to
take up the matter with the insti-
gator of the correspondence. Later.
however. it became the vogue to per-
nit ambassadors to return with sar-
castle replies to their kings. And
finally when human affairs were so
badly mixed up it became necessary
for one nation always to keep rep
resentative at the capital of every
other nation. He was given carte
blanche in his dealings, except that
he was guided by the general policy
of his sovereign. In emergencies he
would act for his government, COM
munication requiring too much time.
Even in the early history of this
country ambassadors and ministers
often found it necessary to act on
their own discretion in matters of the
highest importance. 1t has been hint
ed. too, that often they got better re-