Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-24
REORCANIZINC PROBLEM
is FACED BY STIMSON
Asking $4,000 Men to Take $4,000 and
Getting Department "Out of Spats
by Christmas" Are Tasks.

| ton names and yet the present first
secretary. William r. Castle, has in a
| long service disclosed an ability and a
competence which certainly would make
of him an undersecretary, qualified in
! the European sense. Francis White Is
an authority on South America, whose
value would be clear to any European
cabinet or parliament.
Mastery of Affairs.
G. Rowland Shaw possesses mastery
of Eastern European affairs which
would give his opinion weight even
among Europeans familiar with the
problem below the Danube. Nelson T.
Johnsons knowledge and experience in
problems of the not less complicated Far
East made him an invaluable adviser in
the critical days of recent Chinese revo-
luton. Hugh Gibson, now Ambassador
at Brussels, but career man" in the
best sense of the word. rendered service
at the Geneva Naval Conference GER
tainly harry equaled in courageous pa
triotism in recent years.
And in mentioning names l do not
mean to slight many other men who be-
long to the Department of State and
have rendered distinguished service
which in any other country would have
received the reward bestowed for serv-
ices appreciated and understood.
There may be great deal of Justice
in the argument that, since we have
now become world power. we need a
State Department commensurate with
our size and the magnitude of our for
eign relations. In such State Depart
ment it is clear that giants would be
none too big. But how to get giants at
the cost of dwarfs or. perhaps more ex-
actly, how to get better men when the
good men are neither rewarded nor even
adequately supported? That is the
problem for Mr.. Stimson. as we'll as for
Mr.. Hoover.
We are soon to consider the question
of a new tariff. The least considerable
of the "spat brigade" could inform Con-
greSs, If it were interested, that a few
cents extra duty upon linseed oil. for
example. will destroy all the beneficial
effects of Mr.. Hoovers celebrated good
will tour in at, least one great South
American country. But does one fancy
such information would count with a
Senator from the Northwest who knows
his duty and will perform it? How
much does foreign policy count under
such circumstances?
Question of Sticking.
Stiinson can turn out the "spat boys"
who are able to afford their own spats,
and bring in incipient Talleyrands shod
in sneakers" but will they stick? He
has lot of good men. Will he get
better for the same price? He has, no
one will deny. an adequate supply of
dead wood, but green saplings require a
fair amount of nourishment. He can't
go out in the market place and hire
brains at the prevailing rate of wages.
He can doubtless get $4,000 man for
a $4,000 job in a shining place for a
brief period, but that won't much help
the service or encourage the others;
The two things that the State De-
partment needs, If it is to be a real
branch of Government. are adequate
salaries and reasonable opportunity. To-
day 1t offers neither. 1t gets better
men than any other business at the
same price and it offers good men less
opportunity for real and recognized
achievement than is elsewhere discov-
cradle. If there ever was "sweated
industry diplomacy American style, is
it. Today the country expects some
thing for nothing from the State De-
partment and clamors for reorganiZa-
ton because it does not get enough
that. in nutshell, is Col. Stimson's
problem.
The employee of the State Department
may affect the plumage of peacock
and go. through the intricate mysteries
of official social life with the ease with
which get about in the woods back
of my farm, but that is about all he
has to show for performing the task
of clerk at the wages of day laborer.
without union protection. His spats are
his croix de guerre, earned by dining
for his country nightly and financing
the return dinners out of his own
pocket Mr. Hughes and Mr.. Kellogg
certainly achieved more than a little in
lettering our State Department by i'm
proving the conditions under which the
employees lived. But the fact is that
such improvements as have come in
recent years have come by improving
the conditions rather than in changing
the staff. One wonders whether Col.
Stinson will endeavor to get better men
for nothing or increase the attraction
of the department for good men.
(Copyrisht, 1929