Arizona republican., 1920-04-13
Housing Me Dlpzom0ts

De to provide quarters and provide 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, I may say, is-against this competition and this eXtravagance- this un American magnificence. I should think an apartment is plenty
 good enough.
 MT. Polk replied to this
 If the British ambassador came here and lived at hotel we would consider that he was showing contempt for the United States" he said. And Repre- sentative Sabath added:
 .The people of foreign nations judge a country by it's representatives and how they conduct themselves and how they live. An American representative in one of those countries who lives m some old shack will leave a mighty poor impression on the business men and the community. and the people will not have as much respect for him they will have for a representative of Mon tenegro. if he has the right kind of dignified place."
 There seems to be something in It. Even in this home of homely democracy We seem to see certain evidences that men try to impress each other by ap pearances. In fact, it is doubtful if there is any country in the world where more money is spent on appearance. Whether it should be so or not, both men and nations are judged largely by the appearances they make, and surely Americans should not be lacking in an appreciation of that fact. Nowhere on earth has the art of bluffing been car ried to higher perfection than in the United States. When it comes to put ting on dog, we put on more to the square inch than any other people on earth>and carry it better. It is in this land of homely simplicity that the eel luloid collar, which may be cleaned with rubber the necktie which sits on the button. ana the stiff shirt which IS all front and no back were invented. It is the American stenographer who wears French heels aad a fur coat while living on pickles, crackers and matrimonial hopes It is the American clerk drawing twenty-five a week who buys large touring car on the in stallment plan and goes out to conquer Impressed and astonished world.
 And yet we allow our politicians, themselves the greatest buffers in q land of bluff, to make cheap capital by declaiming against dignified pay and housing for our diplomats on the ground that it is un American to ap preciate the value of a good front.
 To get back to the matter of em- bassies. it is not mainly a question of whether we should or should not keep up certain appearances. The fact IS that We must do so-customs and cir cumstances make it obligatory. Our ambassador in Great Britain for ex- ample, gets s17.500 a year. all, told. The Britishl ambassador in Washington, in addition to more than $I00,000 in sal ary and expenses, gets the use of a res idence worth more than s30O.000.
 Now our ambassador in Great Britain cannot, possibly pay the rent on a suitable house with his salary, much less the expenses of living and enter. taining. Hence the well known fact that our ambassador to Great Britain must always be a rich man. He must be chosen for his money rather than for his brains. He may have brains. too: but money is necessarily the first con sideration. And the worst of it is that a man without means who has spent his life in the diplomatic service, cam not possibly work up to these impor- tant posts. They are bound to fall to usually with no diplomatic experience. Thus the net effect of ouis democratic policy of paying small diplomatic salaries has been to make the most important posts a monopoly for wealthy amateurs. And instead of controlling magnificence and display. it has made the ambassa- dors style of living entirely a matter of taste and fortune. with some famous and appalling results.
 The United States government owns but seven embassies and consular and legation buildings, and they are all in Asia and Latin-A America except one. Besides leaving it's diplomats to find their own homes. fl pays them from d half to a fifth as much as the repre- sentatives of the same countries in receive