Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1921-06-12

Jonn sherman is scarcely remom.
oered as secretary of state. The
holding of that office was the last Off
cal chapter Of long public life Of fine
usefulness to his country He had been
~ years in congress before President
Hayes, in 1877, called him to be secre-
tary OF the treasury, position to which
ne was entitled by reason Of his keen
grasp OF finance. This service was fol-
lowed by 16 years in the senate, where
ne was the father. of the Sherman sill
yer law and the Sherman antitrust
law. He was President McKinley's first
secretary of state, but because Of his
Ill health he retired soon after the be-
! ginning of the war with Spain.
John Hay, who served as secretary
OF state, under Mckinley and Roose-
welt, ranks high among the diplomatists
who have held the office. His early
experiences were useful in that re-
spect, for he was assistant private sec.
rotary to Lincoln during the civil war
and was secretary of legation at Paris
and Vienna. He succeeded Bayard in
1897 as ambassador to Great Britain,
but was called home to guide the state
department in the Spanish war. To
John May this country owes the nego-
tiation of the treaty which made the
Panama canal possible. The world owes
to him the opening Of the door of
China and the fact that China was not
dismembered at the time of the Boxer
rebellion. Hay created, too, our Phil
ippine policy, established the Alaska
boundary, and obtained the recognition
Of the new republic of Panama and
ended the Samoan dispute
The successor to Hay, Elihu Root,
was vastly bigger figure in the publ.
eye than Hay himself. His service az
secretary of war had been highly bene-
fetal, for he reorganized the depart
ment. planned the war college, created
the general staff and applied the merit
system as far as practicable to the pro-
motion Of officers. Five years of Root
did much for the war department. and
President Roosevelt, on the death Of
John Hay in 1905, was glad to have
Americas greatest lawyer take over
the state department. In Roots term
of office no wars or important inter-
national disputes occurred; go he de-
voted his efforts to improving our re-
lations with the Spanish American
countries. Since he left the state de-
partment Mr.. Root has been a larger
figure than ever. As senator. as coun-
sci for the United States in the North
liSACAICc uS
member of the Hague court of arbitra-
ton and as president of the New York
convention of 1915 he has
taken very active part in public at
fairs at home and abroad
When Elihu Root left the state de-
partment his place was taken by an
other statesman almost of equal fame
in the matter of legal ability. Philan-
der c. Knox was regarded as the great
est business lawyer in America when in
1901 he accepted the attorney general
ship and proceeded to silence his critics
with his proceedings against the North
ern Securities company and the beef
trust and with his report to congress
making clear the status of trusts and
in the law. In the state
Mr.. Knox continued Mr..
Roots good work of making better
friends with the South American re-
publics and he made a successful tour
Of the southern continent.
Such have been the big men of the
state department. And the public.
which sees in Justice Hughes one of
the finest legal minds Of the age and
many marks of the highest statesman
ship, expects to have his name burn as
brightly as the others on the brilliant
scroll of lawyers, statesmen and diplo-
matists.