Evening star., 1923-01-21
BY WILL r. KENNEDY.

Z
N ORGANIZATION of the State
~ Department to meet the future
needs of the foreign service,
putting it on a business and
democratic basis, is to be the admin
| istration's first accomplishment toward
! fulfllment of the promise to reorganize
| the entire administrative branch of the
government on an efflcient-economy
basis.
President Harding and Secretary
Hughes have been counseling with
| Congress on the needs for this reor-
ganization and in detail as to how it
should be done. Leaders in both the
House and the Senate have promised to
pvt through the desired legislation. This
has been drafted into a bill fathered by
Representative John ]. Rogers of Mas
sachusetts, on which the House com
nittee on foreign affairs made a favor
! able report Friday. It is the intention
Of the administration that this bill shall
be enacted into law before the close Of
the present Congress.
Handling Economic Problems.
The idea behind the prospective re-
organization is to fit the foreign service
Of the United States to handle the
economic problems OF today and the
future as between this and foreign gov
ernments; to give the State Department
a stronger organization with which to
get and hold Americas share Of busI-
ness throughout the world, and while
in no way encroaching on any function
Of the Department of Commerce, to
enable the State Department better TO
cooperate with both the Department Of
Commerce and the business interests in
this country.
The future Of diplomacy Is not to deal
with pink teas and social affairs, but
with economic problems as between Wis
avis governments. The question of oil
supplies. of reparations. and in fact all
problems foremost in international rela-
! tions today are every last one of them
economic. The United States does
not want any one else's territory, but
| 1t does want its share Of trade. and It
| wants the most efficient. organization
] It can bring to work not only to get that
trade but to hold 1t. That means pro-
\
| right that Americans obtain. To do
| that We have TO have an organization
at least as efficient as our chief com
| petitors possess.
! No intrusion on the field OF the
! Department of Commerce is contem-
plated. The Department Of Commerce
Is gathering information everywhere,
| keeping business men informed. and
Is studying multifarious questions in
relation to business. But the Depart
! ment of Commerce is not the agency
! through which the United States gov
ernment deals with other govern
! ments. The preservation of equal op-
portunity. in trade and the removal
! Of Determinations and distractions
have to be dealt with between the
! United States and the governments
| Of foreign countries, and that is the
! function Of the State Department.
Teamwork Sought.
Then the foreign service has to do
teamwork, with one strong organiza
tion. 1t cannot have the consular
service shut Off as by a Chinese wall
from the diplomatic service as it has
been In the past, with no co-ordina-
tion, no cooperation, no unity of pur-
pose So fusing of forces is prdE
] vided for in the Rogers bill. The
wall has been broken down and in
| tsrchangabiiity OF personnel is pro-
vided for. making 1t possible TO bring
into the embassy the commercial
point Of view, The State Depart
ment wants to have all the members
of the foreign service feel that they
are members of one organization
working with q common purpose, just
as the artillery and infantry are part
| of the same Army and under one
\ comf1ander-in-ch chief.
Representative Rogers considers
that tho biggest accomplishment
| under his bill will be to make the