Evening star., 1925-09-06
CHRIS CONSULAR APPOINTMENT
AROUSES DIPLOMATIC INTEREST
Miss Pattie Fields Assignment Vice Consul at
Amsterdam Won by Sheer Merit-Sixteen Male
Appointees All College Graduates.

Washington diplomatic circles are
intensely interested in the appoint
ment of Miss Pattie Hockaday Field
Of 1413 Massachusetts avenue, and a
native of Denver, to the post OF vice
consul at Amsterdam, Holland, the as
signment to this grade of foreign serv-
ice being the first ever given TO
woman by the State Department. How
far the innovation may spread, now
that 1t has once been started, is a
subject of wide comment and specula-
ton at all the embassies. and lega-
tions.
The United States likewise has but
one woman assigned to the diplomatic
branch of foreign service. She is Miss
Lucille Acherson of Ohio, who, after
serving three years in the State De-
partment here. was recently sent to
Bern, Switzerland where she Is at
tached to the legation. Her appoint
ment received international attention
at the time. since she was the first
woman in this country to achieve
place in the diplomatic corps
Women Heretofore Barred.
Letting down the bars and appoint
ing these two women to foreign serV-
ice Is a radical departure in the policy
of the State Department, as officials
have freely said that they did not
want women in this work. They have
felt that men were better adapted to
the requirements of these positions. In
fact. until recently no such appoint
ments have ever been considered by
the State Department and now they
are made only on their strictest
merits.
Miss Field and the IS mere men
who received their assignments last
week are unusually brilliant young
people. All are college graduates, sew
eral taking special scholarship hon
ors. while others stood high in athletic
or other college activities. One speaks
seven foreign languages.
Miss Field attended the University
of Colorado at Boulder and then came
East and entered Radcliffe at Cam
bridge Mass. where she was Gradu.
ated with special honors. She is "a
years of age and a member OF the
Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. AFTER
taking her college degree Miss Field
went to Paris, where she studied a
year in order to fill the State Depart
ment's requirement that applicants
for foreign service positions must
have a speaking and reading knowl-
edge of at least one foreign language.
She then came to Washington, pre-
pared further for the diplomatic eX-
attons and was one of the 20
successful candidates out of nearly
$50 taking the tests about a year
ago.
Since that time Miss Field has been
assigned to work in the State. Depart
ment and has been one of the IL stu
dents in the department special for
eign service training school. This
school has been established under the
! Coolidge administration as result OF
the passage of the Rogers bill. and
exists for the further training or
those who have already passed the
diplomatic examinations. This is the
! first class to graduate, and depart
ment officials declare that those now
entering the diplomatic service or the
United States are far better fitted for
the work than their predecessors ever
have been.
Passage of the Rogers bill marked
a new era In the State Department s
foreign service policy. The bill re-
moved appointments largely from
politics, made service in the diplo-
matte and consular branches inter
changeable, outlined a definite system
of promotions on merit, increased sal
aries and in many other ways made
diplomacy offer greater inducements
and opportunities for career for
young Americans who are willing to
work hard enough to get into 1t.
So numerous have been the appE
cations that the State Department
has become extremely rigid in its
! examinations. which are given only
once or twice a year. Applicants are
required to have an exhaustive
! knowledge OF geography, current his
! tory, political history at home and
abroad. international law. admiralty
law, economics, the commercial needs
and industrial output of every ma
| ton, and countless other facts
| Edison's famous tests for intelligence
as well as DIR. Frank Cranes. pale
| into insignificance In comparison to
what the State Department expects
these ambitious young diplomats tC
| know. 1t is declared by officials here
that the United States is beginning
| to train her future diplomats as
| thoroughly as England has beer
| training hers for many decades.
Who's who" among the young
men just assigned to duty abroad
reveals interesting facts. In addi-
tion to holding university degrees II
is learned that practically every one
was in the service during the World
! War and was overseas. They repre-
sent widely different sections of tho
country and have already had exper-
ience in various lines of work as
they average about IS years of age