Evening star., 1925-03-22
PERSH|NG BELIEVED
COOL|DGE'S CHOICE
FOR TACNA MISSION
Trip to Latin America Held
Step to Groom Him for
Difficult Task.

Gen. John J. Pershfng probably will
be selected by President Coolidge to
head the joint commission to super
wise the Tacna- africa plebiscite.
Announcement may be deferred
until the Chilean and Peruvian mem.
bers of the commission have been
named by their respective govern
ments, which must be done, under
the Tacna- africa arbitration award,
on or before July 9. The commission
is required to hold it's first meeting in
the city of africa on or before Sep
tember Q. The award also provides
that the American member snail be
president of the mission.
President Coolidge and Secretary
kellogg are known to be giving care
full consideration to the selection OF
the American member and so far As
known the name of Gen. Pershing has
been almost exclusively before them
for the post.
Liked in Both Countries.
The generals recent trip to South
America enabled him to come into
personal contact with high govern
nfent officials of both Chile and Peru.
He went as head of the American
Ayacucho Commission, appointed to
attend the centennial celebration in
Peru. During that trip he was ex-
tended greetings by both govern
ments and people of the two countries
of so unusual a character d 6 to tes-
tify to the high regard in which the
former commander of the American
Expeditionary Forces and the ranking
officer of the American Army, active
or retired, is held throughout the
southern republics.
The fact that Gen. Pershing is re-
garded as the almost certain selec-
tion of President Coolidge to COM
plete the difficult task undertaken by
President Harding of finding a solu-
ton for the Tacna-Arica dispute and
ayerting the probability of war in
South America tends to throw new
light upon the reason that prompted
his assignment to the Ayacucho mis-
sion. 1t also brings out the possibil-
ity that the administration had Gen.
Pershing in mind for the plebiscite
commission assignment when 1T de-
ferred announcement of the award
until it synchroniZed with his return
from the South American trip.
In some circles it is regarded as
nossihle that the earliest review by
Secretary Hughes of the cases sub
mitted by the Chilean and Peruvian
governments convinced MIN tnat some
form of supervised plebiscite would
afford the only solution to the dis
pute over sovereignty of the two ter
ritories that could be arrived at. 1t
was argued that this might have
prompted a decision to send Gen.
Pershing on the Ayacucho trip in
order that he might have the advan-
taEes of acquaintanceship in both
Peru and Chile as a background to
insure his acceptabilit when the
award was announced and the Amer
lean member of the plebiscite COM
mission named.
Well Fitted For Task.
The fact that Gen. Pershing is not
a lawyer may of itself have been in
strumental in bringing his name up
for consideration for the new COM
mission assignment. He would have
the support of an adequate legal and
expert staff in his work and yet the
peoples Of Chile and Peru could be
satisfied in his selection that the
president of the commission would be
free from the danger of losing him.
self in legal technicalities in exercis-
ing his deciding voice. 1t also is to
Continued on Page 2, Column %