The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1920-03-25

HOUSING THE DIPLOMATS.

WasAington. D. C.. March b.
The news that the government Of
Great Britain has given It's diplo-
matte representative in Washington
more thap $10o. 900 . year in salary
and expense money has brought
into discussion once more our own
system of paying and housing our
diplomatic representatives, which
makes it impossible for any but
very wealthy men to hold the most
important American diplomatic
posts.
The subject n . very old one.
Nearly everyone b aware that we
do not provide our ambassadors
with suitable quarters in most CAPT.
tails, 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 Franklin's mis-
sion to France, has so much de-
pended upon the diplomatic corps.
True, there Is . tendency to be-
little the diplomats for the unsatis-
factory way in which they are con-
Quoting the Affairs of the world
but, after all, they are still con-
Quoting them. The diplomats ar
ranged the world war for us, and
after We had fought that for them,
they arranged the world peace.
Never before were such momentous
questions decided so secretly and
arbitrarily by diplomats, so-called.
And it is very noticeable, too. that
in the trading which went on in
Paris, those nations which had the
best diplomats 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 af-
fairs. So it seems to be. And the
late European jamboree illustrated
the fact that sharp trader can get
more for a spawned mule than q
rank amateur can for sound and
blooded horse. The moral seems to
be-as long as we are going to con-
duct international affairs by the
horse-trading system, let US have
good traders.
To do this, we must pay our
traders more money than we are
now paying them, and we must give
them better houses to live in. This
is an especially opportune moment
FOR acquiring the necessary real es-
tate and building the necessary
houses, because the rate OF ex-
change in our favor makes it DOS
sible for US to get more for our
money in Europe than ever before
and more perhaps than We will
ever be able to get again in a long
time.
Then. too, new countries have
been created, and they are coun-
tries which look to the United
States as one of the greatest OF
the powers. We should establish
ourselves properly in these coun.
tries, the authorities say, by hous.
ing our diplomatic representatives
with dignity. And there are Other
countries where, before the war, we
were known commercially, but moi
politically. as acting Secretary OF
State Polk recently put it-coun.
tries that bought our sewing ma.
chimes and reapers, but had never
heard of US as the defender of small
nations and large ideals. These
nations are now aware of US as 8
great political force, and they ex.
pect our diplomatic representatives
to live up to that greatness.
The above are the principal argu.
ments in favor of housing our dip.
lomats with dignity and paying
them enough to meet their ex-
penses. They seem strong and suf.
ficient, and public sentiment at this
time seems to concur with them
Yet the arguments against caring
for our diplomats as other great ma.
tons care for theirs have always
prevailed on the floor of the house
They prevailed five or six years age
when the Loudon bill was passed
That bill, as drawn, provided thai
congress might appropriate money
for building houses for our diplo
mats in foreign capitals. On tn,
floor Of the house it was amended
so that not more than $150,0Ot
could be expended in any one CAPT
tai and not more than 100000 ir
any one year. That completed,
scotched it, because we cannot buy
or build suitable embassies in thu
capitals where We need them mos
for $150,000 each. In general tn,
ground would cost more than that
A measure known as the Roger.
bill has now been favorably report
ed by the house committee on for
eign affairs, which amends thu
Louden act by striking out tina
limitation. 1t will be interesting tt
note its fate on the floor of thu
house.
For when such a bill reaches tn,
floor, invariably certain member,
arise and declaim against the "un
American magnificence" which
such an appropriation implies
They conjure by the unostentatiou,
democracy Of Jefferson. They re-
call how Franklin with his homel,
visage and unpowdered poll woi