Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-05
CAREER IDEA LOSES
IN NEW DIPLOMACY
Hoover Credited With Inten-
ton of Naming Business
Men as ENJOYS.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

M q GDERAC Whitman "AAAASs
Appointment of former Vice Presi-
dent Charles c. Dawes as Ambassador
to Great Britain and prospective nam
Ing Of Senator Walter E. Edge Of New
Jersey as Ambassador to France can
row be depicted, on authority. as in
dications OF what is going to happen
all along the line In the American
foreign service.
The Dawes and Edge appointments
are to be regarded as opening guns
in the Hoover program to put more
business In diplomacy and less career
diplomacy" in Uncle sans foreign
business The new policy presages
sweeping changes in the existing per-
sonnet OF American embassies and le-
cations abroad The ambassadors ana
ministers most likely TO be retained IN
service are those who either are buSl-
ness men or have demonstrated strik-
ing aptitude for developing American
business. Mere career credits seem
doomed for the scrap heap.
II is now recalled by the professional
diplomats in service both at the State
DEPARTMENT and overseas that it was
Gen. Dawes hinself-new Hoover envoy
tn the Court Of ST. James-who two
cr three wears ago delivered deadly
broadside against career diplomats
Views On Fitness.
The occasion was commencement
address at midWestern university
-The then Vice President did not attack
the professionals in the foreign service
"a the ground Of lack OF ability. ne
assailed them as being condemned. ny
the career" system. to spend SO mucn
Of their time out OF tne onl IN. "a tonch
that they were hopelesSly out OF toucl
let oreeenf-hoiIr trends in TINS
country. -, +,,oy
IN that account. Dawes argued, tney
could not be 100 per cent e1ectVe
in representation Of American Interests
The general also questioned the lnaoni1y
Of career men, because OF their pureiy
cone with the practical questions OF
fnance. commerce and trade Wnlch
enter 80 conspicuously into modern IN
ternational relations The Hoover pro-
gram for reorganization OF the foreign
service is based on precisely sucn con-
siderations.
Here and there. throughout the world,
the United States already has business
mon annbas sailors and business NEE
ministers. Alanson 3. Houghton, VINO
has retired from the London embassy,
IL manufacturer by occupation, being
engaged in the glass industry IN New
YORK state Ogden H. Hammond OF
New Jersey. Ambassador to Spain. is
Q real estate man and railway executive
Other Instances Cited.
Alexander P. Moore of Pennsylvania,
Ambassador to Peru and former Am
bassador to Spain, is publisher. Al
bert H. waShburn, Minister to Austria,
il n lawyer. Col. Noble B. Judah, Am
bassador to Cuba, also Is an attorney.
Dwight W. Morrow. Ambassador to
Mexico, is a banker and lawyer. Rich
ard M. Tobin. Minister to the Neither
lands, is California banker in private
life. :.
In practically all other countries
American ambassadors and ministers
today are men who have grown up in
the foreign service, ie., known as
career" diplomats Among them are
Messrs. MacMurray at Peking, Fletcher
at Rome Schurman at Berlin. Bliss at
Buenos Aires, Gibson at Brussels, Nor
gan at Rio de Janeiro, Phillips at OF
tawa, Culbertson at Santiago, Caffery
at Bogota, Einstein at Prague, Dodge
at Copenhagen. Young at Santo Do
n1ingo, Gunther at Cairo, Skinner at
Athens, Summerlin at Tegucipalga,
Wright at Budapest, Sterling at Dublin,
Eberfart at Managua, Swenson at Oslo,
Philip at Teheran, Stetson at Warsaw,
Dearing at Lisbon, Wilson at Bucharest,
0fEN ~ 1dltIoOn at
Stockholm, Wilson at Berne, Grant
Smith at Montevideo and Blake ct
TanRier.
Among these career" fellows are men
Of high ability and extensive expert
efice in many lands. But only a few
Of them-and that is the point-fit into
the Hoover diplomatic scheme of things.
which calls for business acumen as the
indispensable quality. One of the few
IN RAhmFf pmAk GkfvwAw
iEter to Greece, now in the United
states on leave. Skinner was transfer
red to the diplomatic branch in 1925,
after 80 successive years in the consular
service, including posts as consul-gen-
eral at Hamburg. Berlin, and London.
He Is probably the outstanding bust
ness man diplomat now in the foreign
service. because of his three decades of
work in the purely commercial branch of
our international relations in key coun-
tries like France, Germany and Great
Britain.
Area for Expansion.
President Hoover and Secretary. Slim
aon are credited by authorities in DO
sition 10 know with a desire to com
mercialiZe" the foreign service especially
in Central and South America. 1t is in
Latin America that Hoover sees Uncle
Sans future economic destiny, as far
as foreign trade Is concerned. He held
that view consistently while Secretary
of Commerce. 1t was fortified by his
experiences and observations during his
good will tour" on both sides of the
equator in the capacity of President
elect
On that account, it is predicted by
we'll informed persons. business men
diplomats are eventually to Supplant
career" men at various Latin Ameri-
can centerS, though the system of plac-
ing business men on diplomatic guard
at other foreign outposts will by no
means be confined to the Western Hem
iSphere.
It may be several months yet before
the Hoover-Stimson foreign service
broom beings to sweep. 1t may sweep
gradually. rather than at one fell swoop
But definite warning is forthcoming
that the business Ambassadors
presently to take up their duties at
London and Paris. are signs of the
times which are coming sooner or later.
(CopyTight. 1921