The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-03-25
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN, Director.
Washington, D. C.
HOUSING THE DIPLOMATS.

news tQaI the government OF Great
Britain has given it's diplomatic repre-
sentative in Washington more than
100000 a year in salary and expense
money has brought into discussion
once more our own system of paying
and housing our diplomatic represen-
tatiyes, which makes it impossible for
any but very wealthy men to hold the
most important American diplomatic
posts.
The subject is very old one. Near
lily everyone is aware that we do not
provide our amba ssadors with suitable
quarters in most capitals, and that in
many Of them the salaries they receive
will not pay their rents. But the war
has put new face on the matter.
Never, since the days of F'ranklins
mission 20 France, has SO much de-
pended upon the- diplomatic corps.
True, there is a tendency to belittle
the diplomats for the unsatisfactory
way in which they are conducting the
affairs of the world-but after all,
they are still conducting them. The
diplomats arranged the world war for
them, they arranged the world peace.
Never before were such momentous
questions decided so secretly and arbi-
trarily by diplomats, so-called. And 1t
is very noticeable, too, that in the
trading which went on in Paris, these
came out ahead of the game, and those
with the worst diplomats came out, so
to speak. minus their very shirts
Diplomacy has been described as an
application of the principles of horse
trading to International affairs. SO it
seems to be. And the late European
jamboree illustrated the fact that
sharp trader can get more for
spawned mula than a rank amateur
can for a sound and blooded horse.
The moral seems to be-as long as we
are going to conduct international af-
fairs by the horse trading system, let
US have good traders.
To do this, we must pay our traders
more money than we are row paying
them, and We must give them better
houses to live in. This is an especially
opportune moment for acquiring the
necessary real estate and building, the
necessary houses, because the rate of
exchange in our favor makes it pos
sible for US to get more for our money
in Europe than ever before. and more,
perhaps, than we viii ever be able to
get again in a long time.
Then, too, new countries have been
created, and they are countries which
look to the United States as one of the
greatest of the powers. We should
establish ourselves properly in these
countries, the authorities say. by
housing our diplomatic representatives
with dignity. And there are other
countries where, before the war we
were known commercially, but not
politically, as acting Secretary of State
Polk recently put it-countries that
bought our : sewing machines and
reapers, but had never heard of us as
the defender of small nations and
large ideals. These nations are now
aware of G
and they expect our diplomatic repre-
sentatives to live up to that greatness
The above are the principal argu-
ments In favor of housing our diplo-
mats with dignity and paying them
enough to meet their expenses They
seem strong and sufficient and public
sentiment at this time seems to concur
with them. Yet the arguments against
caring for our diplomats as other great
nations care for theirs have always
prevailed on the floor of the house.
They prevailed five or six years ago
when the Louden bill was passed.
That bill. as drawn, provided that
congress might appropriate money for
building houses for our diplomats in
foreign capitals. On the floor of the
house it was amended so that not
more than $3.50 900 could be expend-
ed in any one capital and not more
than 100000 in any one year. That
completely scotched it, because we can
not buy or build suitable embassies in
the capitals where we need them most
for $4,000 each. In general the
ground would cost more than that A
measure known as the Rogers bill has
now been favorably reported by the
house committee on foreign affairs
which amends the Louden act by strik-
ing out that limitation. 1t will be in
teresting to note its fate on the floor
of the house.
For when such a bill reaches the
floor, invariably certain members
arise and declaim against the "un-
American magnificence" which such
an appropriation implies. They con-
jure by the unostentatious democracy
of Jefferson. They recall how Frank
lin with his homely visage and unpow-
dered poll won diplomatic victories in
Paris. They assert that the American
representative abroad should be con-
tent with an austere simplicity of life.
This point of view was represented in
the hearings on the Rogers bill by
Representative Huddleston.
at seems to me-" said this apostle
of homely democracy, "our policy
should be to provide quarters and pro-
vide that the officials occupy them,
and if we want them to stay in an
apartment house, so be it, If
he does not like the quality of the
goods, he can pour it back in the
! jug. My own feeling, may say.
rs against this competition and this
extravagance-this un-American mag
| nificence. I should think an apart
ment is plenty good enough"
Mr.. Polk replied to this.
IF the Britith ambassador came
| here and lived at a hotel we would
consider that he was showing con-
| tempt for the United States" he said.
! And Representative SABBATH added;
| The people of foreign nations
| judge a country by its representatives
and how they conduct themselves and
they live. An American representa-
| tive in one of those countries who lives
in some old shack will leave a mighty
! poor impression on the business men
/ and on the community, and the people
will not have as much respect for him
as they will have for representative
| of Montenegro. if he has the right
kind of dignified place"