Evening star., 1923-01-18
Eyed Askance in 1921 by
Both British and Americans,
He Is Respected Now.
PRESIDENT is GRATIFIED
Mission in Washington Was to
Give U. S. "Close Up" on Debt
Farley Here.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

were innumerable headshakings in
London as well as Washington. Col.
Harvey has returned to the United
States. after twenty months at the
court of st. James, to receive the
only honor America bestows upon
those who worthily dc her work. The
administration has said TO him: We'll
done, good and faithful servant" He
will return to London thoroughly
fortified in the esteem Of President
Harding, Secretary Hughes and mem
oerS OF Congress, including, among
The latter, men who deplored and
privately opposed his appointment
To-day there Is virtual Inauimity that
ihe colonel has made good Sus-
QlcionS that ho was called home in
order to be retired never had the
shadow of foundation.
Harding Happy at Record.
No one is happier over Ambassador
Harvey's record in Great Britain than
President Harding himself. When
Harvey was attached to the 'front.'
porch cabinet at Marion. in the sum-
Iner of 1920. along with George
sutherland, now associate justice of
the Supreme Court no ones counsel
outranked in influence with the re-
publican nominee that of the hard
hitting editor of Harvey's Week
jy. Mr.. Harding made no secret of his
desire to reward the colonel with
high place, if such thing as the
Harding administration was destined
10 be. Broadly speaking. Harvey was
rendered anything he fanCied or
thought he was particularly fitted for.
The story goes that he sugg ested
the blue-ribbon post in the diplomatic
serviCe-the ambassadorship to Great
Britain-was something that would
realize lifetime ambition. He was
-Anglo-SaXon on both ancestral sides.
AS a partner in Harper & Bros.
for fifteen years, he had been in &C
tual business in London. and visited
that metropolis annually for many
years. He had ready-made ties
among the statesmen and intellec-
Georgian and David Lloyd Georgian.
lie had been consistent believer
in the allied cause long before
America entered the world war. He
never had been ashamed to admit
that. in case of an international
emergency, he hoped American and
British guns would shoot the same
language"
Office Was Promised.
Mr. Harding promised that If the
appointment was within his gift, Har-
vey should go to London. In Florida,
inauguration, 1t became definitely
known that the nomination was only
a matter of weeks There was a
howl and a yowl from anti-Haryey
quarters all over the country. Inc me
Wilsonians joined loudest in the
rumult They had plenty of repub-
lican company. Certain G. o. p. lead
ers were among the dissenters, al
though they did most of their object
qng in private. Some of them Went
90 far as to assert the Harvey ap-
noIntment was "the most unfortu-
nate thing Mr.. Harding could have
done. The President-elect stood un-
ftnchingly pat. Not only was he
pledged to the colonel, but he be-
T:eyed in him. Harvey will max
great ambassador" was his re1oinder
20 every one-eVen party counselors
whose word carried welght-Who
auggested their was vastly better
Iin1ber for the court of st. James
than Harding's selection.
London Was Displeased.
There were almost as many mis-
givings in London as there were In
America. A cynical Briton here at
The time remarked to this writer:
well, If you send us Harvey, we IL
send you Bottomley"-a reference 70
the notorious editor of John Bun,
who, for so long before his prison
sentence silenced him, specialized in
universal mudslinglng. 1t is an open
secret that although the British gov
ernment promptly declared Harvey
persona grata, there were not a few
1ualms in Downing street. 1t was
wondered whether Harvey, after all,
would measure up to the Bayard,
Choate, Hay, Reid, Page and Davis
traditions.
conquered. His maiden speech in
London--the celebrated America
fought to e-her-own-skin outburst
brought out the I-told-you-so
brigade in full force. The air at
har tnI Wi da-
mands for the colonePs recall and cir
cumstantial rumors that it was i'm
minenL Nothing happened. AT the
White House inqutrers were told no
reason was seen there either for
alarm or protest over the am
bassador's remarks. Thenceforward,
with q conspicuous absence of Incl
dents, Harvey's progress in both
American and British esteem went
steadily on. Britishers detected a.pd
liked a notable lack of stopping
over in his addresses. He was as
frank and as unobsequious as his
British colleague in Washington, Sir
auckland Geddes.
Found Harvey "Unique."
Britishers found Harvey a unique"
person. They hadn't had an Amer
lean ambassador quite like him ever
before. He was in every respect a
new breed of Yankee. They found
him well posted on every topic that
cropped up IN the tortuOuS affairs
of Europe and the world.
They knew, of course, the intimacy
he enjoyed with President Harding,
and what he said and did commanded
extraordinary respect on that account
Col. HarVeys function IN Washing
ton at the moment, undoubtedly, pri-
marily has been to enable the Hard
ing administration and the American
Allied Debt Commission to check
up on British contentious from case
to case. That is to say, when Messrs.
Baldwin and Norman advanced a
major proposition Harvey was here
20 give closeup" viewpoint through
the spectacles of an American who
has been on the spot. British
delegates, for example. laid great
stress on their domestic budget difi-
culties. John Bulls taxpayers are
already almost bent double carrying
the burdens of impost bequeathed by
the war. If they have to meet maxi
mum conditions imposed by their
American billion-dollar creditor. it
= means more taxes In the British bud
get. Some day that will have to
he explained-if extra burdens are
Sequir ed--as being due to Uncle Sans
1rsistence. Harvey Is miles removed
$ruro being an AngIomaniac, but, be-
ing a believer in British-American
a