Evening star., 1923-11-18
NEW CUBAN AMBASSADOR
J.. WELL FITTED FOR POST
First Envoy of That Rank, Cosme de la
Torriente, Has Had Wide Experience
and Is internationally Prominent.

founded In 1907, which elected Gen.
Menocal president in 1912 He was
civil service commissioner of Cuba
for three years. His active diplomat
ic career began in 1903 as secretary
and charge daffaires at Madrid,
where he later served as Cuban min
lister.
Becomes Secretary of State.
In 1913 he became .Cuba's secretary
of state, In which position he was
confronted with many delicate inter-
national questions. He handled them
with ability and tact and upon his
election to the Cuban senate in 1917
was made chairman of the committee
Of foreign affairs, position which
he held until his appointment as am
bassador.
DR.. Torriente headed cuba's dele
cations to the first, second, third and
fourth assemblies of the league of
| nations and this year was elected
president AS the previous assembly
had elected Senor Edwards of Chile,
it was taken for granted that 1t
would be many years before another
! Latin American was chosen for this
post. His candidacy was supported.
however, by Great Britain, France
and other European members. as we'll
as by the ten Latin American nations
represented in the fourth assembly.
| In this connection, his friends recall
that DR.. Torriente was as truly a
European as an American candidate.
and note that he was ardently pro
ally during the war. He presented
and obtained the passage of a bill
which appropriated funds from the
Cuban treasury to assist the Red
Cross and other institutions Of the
allies and as chairman of a commit
tee which distributed these funds he
disbursed more than a million and a
half dollars for the disa bled soldiers,
widows and orphans of the war in
the United States and In Europe.
Legion of Honor Member.
DR.. Torriente has been awarded the
French legion Of honor and other
decorations fromBelgium, Italy, Spain.
Portugal. Sweden. Greece and Vene-
zuela. He Is a member of the per-
manent court of arbitration at The
Hague, Of the inter-American high
commission and Is vice president of
the Cuban Society of International
Law.
The new ambassador is author of
two volumes of speeches and ad-
dresses, entitled Cuba in international
Life" He has published two works
on the league of nations. the first
ond assembly. the second covering
the activities of the league since it's
establishment under the treaty of
Versailles through the third session.
Sympathetic With U. 8.
AS q result of his prominent posi-
tion in the international life of Cuba
DR.. Torriente has formed many close
friends throughout Latin America
and in Europe. He has a warm sym
pathy for the United States and has
co-operated with Gen. Crowder in
many of the matters with which he
had to deal as a member of the Cuban
senate. His work in the Cuban con-
gress has been noteworthy. Among
the measures he sponsored were the
three "Torriente laws" of 1921 rela-
tive to the Cuban moratorium. He
has also been working for an ade-
quate banking law for Cuba, as
chairman of a special commission ap-
pointed to draft this legislation. A
bill now before the Cuban congress
establishes a new banking system for
Cuba, including a reserve bank on |
the lines of the United States federal |
reserve system.
DR.. Torriente IS fifty years old.