The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1920-03-27
In the Linelight
By George Perry Morris.

Rather, tardily, but through no
fault of his. II. Percival Dodge.
United States Minister to the King
dom OF Serbs, Croats and Slovenes,
has finally der arted for his impor-
tant post. Fortunately he has had
a technical training for the work
that lies ahead which too many of
our diplomatic appointees lack. and
that even more will lack unless Con-
gress takes a different attitude to-
ward the State Department. He
came out of Harvard in the days
when many of it's best graduates
were turning toward diplomacy as
vocation, and after a brief expe-
rience " 18th study of the law and a
period of travel abroad, Mr.. Dodge
in 1902 Joined the embassy at Berlin
and remained th1re until 1906, rising
steadily in rank. Since then he has
been stationed at Toxic ana at sew
eral of the Genital American CAPT.
tails. He has served his time at the
State Department as a special ad-
wiser. During most of the war he
was in Paris in close relations with
Ambassador Sharpe, and since July,
1917, he has been in charge of our
legation in Serbia. Italy will find
MIN an able servant of the Depart
ment of State in asserting in prac-
tical terms policies toward the new
nation which America may affirm
and Italy oppose.
The Hawaii of the past produced
natives who, when they came to live
In Washington were not Puritans;
and the same royal regime had prin-
ceilings whose hospitality to visiting
naval officials. British or American.
was not Spartan. One of the former
group was Col. Samuel Parker, Lii
iuokalani's prime minister, and a
well known figure in Washington TO
a generation that is passing. He
too has just gone the way of all
flesh.
When the president of the Uni
versity of California Benjamin Ide
Wheeler, retired, speculation was
rife as to what he would do. One
of his first answers to the question
ings of his friends is his acceptance
of the invitation of eminent Japa-
nese to visit the empire and aid
them in shaping a policy that will
maintain friendly relations with
the United States and Western Eu-
rope. President Wheeler always
has been an internationalist of a
Legitimate sort. He wants amity in
the world. When he gets to Japan
he will find that other Americans
of eminence are thither bound on
the same errand. Mr.. Vanderlip is
one; Hamilton Holt, editor of The
Independent. another. Let us hope
that they all talk candidly, and quit
much of the conventional camou-
fiage talk that so often charac-
terizes American-Japanese confer
ences. Former Ambassador Sheriff.
recently set a good model at a din
ner given him in Toxic.
Elihu Thomson, who has been
chosen temporary president of the
Massachusetts Institute of Tech
nology, is 81 years old. which
argues against his taking the post
permanently. Yet he may be
chosen. and if he is, one of the
leading students and investigators
in the field of electricity and one
of the most prolific inventors of the
country will very naturally come to
the headship of the nations leading
technical school. But is he a proved
how to conserve institutional inter-
ests? The answer to that is the
success he has had in financing or
rather capitalizing his own genius
and in looking after his own
wealth. Moreover, for several wears
he has been manager of the Insti-
tute. serving on its Corporation"
One of the great American nvs-
teries" has been the fate of Ambrose
Bierce. story writer, ironist and sol
der of fortune" When last seen.
in 1915, he was preparing to mix in
the Mexican internecine war. Ru-
NOR has had il that he was killed
by Villa. but just when and where
has not been known. Now evidence
has come to San Francisco which
intensely interests his old friends.
namely. that Bierce Joined with Car
rama as a military expert" In
managing munition transport he
was trapped by viIlista forces. ana
ordered shot by Villa Rhapsodic
admirers have said foolish things
about Bierce's superiority to all his
countrymcn. On the other hand. he
Is not adequately known or highly
enough rated by most critics. partly
because he is too acrid for the Amer
lean palate.
There is more than one obstinate
man in our public life. Gov. Hol-
comb. OF Connecticut. thus far has
resisted all pressure to induce him
to call a special legislature to deal
with the equal suffrage amendment.
1t is not a national crisis, he says;
~ H.
stitutional obligation to act. The
State Republican Convention now
files its plea. He is charged with
threatening party success IL he de-
clines to bulge. We shall see what
we shall see.
DICTLONAPUEc CTAPT