Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-10

difficulties over diplomatic precedence.
| Many governments stir maintain secret
services which spend their time in steal
! ing confidential documents from other
countries. Nevertheless, diplomacy in
the modern day is much less insistent
upon formal ceremony than it was in
| the pre-war age. A new spirit of frank
ness and Of 'pittiless publicity" has
come, moreover, to pervade the conduct
of world affairs. Private conversations
necessarily take place between govern
mentS as between business men, but
the principle is gradually coming to be
established that not only should all
| agreements be published but that many
sessions of diplomatic conferences should
similarly be open to the world. The
| League of Nations organizations have
gone the limit in providing for open
diplomacy. While the Council Of the
League may hold private sessions in
discussing the appointment of officials
and other delicate matters, the minutes
of all public and private sessions are
Immediately published as a matter of
official record. The State Department
of the United States is also taking the
lead in keeping the public informed OF
public affairs. Through the system OF
press releases. which hitherto have been
mimeographed but hereafter are to be
printed, the American newspapers re-
ceiVe more documents regarding foreign
policy than do the press OF either
France or England.
Inspired by Good Will.
Thus diplomacy has become less for
NAL and more open. What Is of even
more Importance, diplomacy Is now car
ried on in spirit of good will to
greater extent than ever before. The
old diplomacy was based on the assump-
ton that the interests of two nations
usually conf1icted, that one nation
should never be caught off guard. The
conclusion of the anti-war pact has
done much to change this attitude. In
the joint statement Of october 8
President Hoover and Prime Minister
Macdonald declared that the relations
of Great Britain and the United States
would henceforth be conducted on the
assumption that war between the two
countries had been banished. The two
countries would work together in the
promotion of peace on the assumption
that the interests of every nation were
advanced by peace and that the inter-
estS Of every nation were injured by
war.
Professional diplomats are stepped in
the war tradition, and it has been diff
cult for them, therefore, to cast of the
The result has been a growing distrust
of the professional diplomat and the
appointment to important diplomatic
posts of men who have distinguished
themselves in the public eyes for ability
and fair dealing in non-diplomatic
fields. Thus President Coolidge sent
Dwight Morrow to Mexico. Only a few
months before his appointment war be-
tween the two countries was actually
threatened. One government issued
bitter statement, only to bring a more
bitter reply from the other. Dwight
Morrow went to Mexico without any Of
the small mans desire to win party adj
vantage. He went there with a great
sympathy for the national aspirations
of the Mexican people and with a de-
sire to prove to Mexico that the United
States could be helpful friend. BY
means of this spirit Mr.. Morrow has
revolutioned the relation between these
two countries. In the light of this new
spirit, political problems which at one
time seemed unsolvable have already
beeA or are on the way Of being solved.
Dawes an Example.
President Hoover proceeded upon the
same principle in naming Charles G.
Dawes as Ambassador to London. The
results of the appointment of a man
WHOSE very IlDeT 10 IIlduS Vi lEdukIISSS
ard sincerity were soon made manifest
in tentative naval agreement between
England and the United States. which
will form the basis Of the London con-
ference this January.
A second development in American
diplomacy has been the appointment OF
outstanding men in public life to at
tend certain international meetings in
the capacity of experts" The most
conspicuous examples of this develop
ment was the appointment of Gen.
Dawes and Owen Young to the repara-
tons committee in 1924, and the Ap-
pointment of Mr.. Young and j. P. Nor
gan to the reparations committee in
1929. Another equally important ex-
ample was the appointment of Elihu
Root as a member of the committee
of legal experts to revise the statute
of the World Court, anc to devise a
formula making 1t possible for the
United States to enter the World Court
This type of man commands such re-
spect in his community that his recon-
mendation as an expert" is likely to
carry more weight than the formal
signature of professional diplomat
The final and not the least impor-
tant development in this new diplomacy
is the establishment of an interna-
tional conference system which peri
odically brings together in personal
contact statesmen and experts Gin con-
trast to the diplomats) of the leading
countries of the world. This confer
ence system has been established by
the League of Nations. The Assembly,
representing each of the 81 member
states, meets annually at Geneva; the
Council, representing IA governments,
will meet henceforth three times year
In addition, dozens of meetings of vari-
| OILS expert and advisory bodies such as
the Mandates Commission, the Opium
Commission. and the financial commit
tee, meet at Geneva.
Heart to Heart Talks.
While these bodies transact many
items of official League business, their
meetings also give an opportunity for
statesmen to have heart-to-heart talks
regarding their problems which are not
technically within the Jurisdiction Of
the League of Nations. The vast i'm
| provement in relations between France
| and Germany probably would not have
taken place had the conduct of affairs
between these two governments been
intrusted to French and German Am
basSadors. This vast improvement was
due to the friendship and confidence
which Foreign Prime Min'ster BRAND
and Foreign Minister Stresemann (whose
recent death is so widely lamente6 f,
built up at periodic meetings of the
League Council at Geneva.
Such are the changes in the new
diplomacy in comparison with the old
less formality and less distrust, more
fr!endlineSs and good will. Treaties
and documents are important registers
of international progress. But the
treaties are merely the result of the
spirit which animates their negotiators.
The triumphs Of the new diplomacy are
another illustration of that great say
ing, THE letter killeth, but the spirit
giVeth life"