Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-02

same cell WIFI MIN were % Otlici llci
Three days later he was sent to an
other prison.
The American official had written to
many agencies for relief, but his let
tiers never reached their destination
He decided to appeal to guard and
make the offer of a monetary reward
The move was one which could be
punished with death.
BY borrowing small sums from his
! fellow prisoners he was able to get to-
gether 100 rubles. His first attempt to
| approach guard was unsuccessful
! Among the guards over his cell was a
Lettish soldier who had been in Amer
| lea. The trade commissioner made
friends with this man and suggested
that the latter deliver a letter. One
day as he was halfasleep IN his cell he
heard his name whispered. He went to
the door and there found his Let
fish friend. The guard put the letter
i'll his boot.
Letter Brought Rescue.
Thirty-six hours passed and nothing
happened. Finally card bearing the
name of the commercial attache at
Moscow was presented to his fellow
official, together with piece of bread
and a few toilet articles. Keep your
nerve" the card read. We'll have you
out soon" Four hours later the COM
missioner was free man, as free as
any one could be in those days OF
revolutionary uncertainty in Russia.
Trade commissioners can tell many
other vivid tales. On September l..
1923, trade promotion workers In Toxic
were preparing to clear their desks
preparatory to leaving for lunch. Sud
denly a deafening roar filled the air,
combination of the Shrieking of the
wind, the sound of falling buildings and
the cry of terrified human beings.
Almost before the workers could sense
what was happening the American en-
bassy buildings began to sway. few
minutes later the embassy was in ruins
and the staff wandered for many hours
through the f1ame-Swept city. When
hours later they returned to the en-
bassy their desks were cleared OF .'un-
finished business" for their offices had
been destroyed.
Hardly had the commissions of nature
died down when the commercial staff OF
the embassy was at work again, report
ing to the business world of the United
States the commercial effects of the fire
and earthquake and indicating to the
business men of America what contribu-
ton they could make to the vital work
of reconstruction.
SCOUTS race adventures.
$50 I think we are justified" says
Assistant Secretary Klein, the man who
has done more than any one else per-
haps to build up this foreign service or
ganization, lin maintaining that the
diary of a modern Columbus of trade,
like some of these American govern
ment representatives, thrills one today
just as its prototype centuries ago stirred
the courts of Spain. The motif is the
same. Then, as one writer has said,
rulers sat in the robes of purple and
decked with jewels. while intrepid voy-
ayers secured the globe in search of new
lands to add to already powerful
domains.
To-day commercial discoveries explore
unknown wilds so that the American
business man, comfortable at home or
in his club, or with his high-powered
motor car rolling over paved highways,
may expand his markets, avoid costly
mistakes and send his produce to all
the ends of the earth. To do this our
official trade pioneers have spent count
less days and reeking. sitting nights in
tropics struggling against malaria or
more deadly fevers, with the problem of
food and shelter always uppermost.
Our trade scouts have cut their way
through tangled South American jun
giles, they have waded waist deep i'll
waters thick with the decomposing bod
les of fish killed by native methods of
wholesale slaughter They have bat
tered about in shipwrecks on the lonely
coast of Peru, half frozen in the lofty
passes of the Andes, whirled about in
the terrorizing grip of South Pacific
hurricanes.
Trip to AngOra Described.
'"They have heard the whistle of bull
let's fired at them by half savage tribes
men in the midst of Malay inSurrec-
ton. Through the wild interior of Asia
Minor one of them travelled for many
days alone, without interpreter, guide
or guard, in regions such as the passes
of the Ilkas Mountains. where 1t was
necessary to hire 40 or so men to clear
a passage through the SHOWS for old
fashioned, rumbling carriages in which
the trade commissioner was travelling,
past OK carts, donkeys and camel cara
vans on his way down to Angora to talk
with trade officials of the then newly
organized Turkish government.
"All of these things-and many others
equally adventurous and thrilling-have
happened within the dramatic decade
of trade expansion since the termina-
ton of the war. The chances of pic
turesque adventure for the trade ex-
plorer are as alluring, as exciting as
they ever were in the times of Marco
Polo OF Vasco de Cana, or Give or Car
tier. The modern heirs of those i'm
mortal pathfinders of business are liv-
ing up To the glorious tradition of OPEN
ing the way for the buying and selling
of the materials of better living"
The Bureau Of Foreign and Domestic
Commerce has attracted good deal OF
attention abroad. 1t is often cited as an
example of an efficient trade promotion
agency THE history of this bureau "
the Belgian newspaper Neptune pointed
out, lis the economic history OF the
United States. Taking as an example
Germany, which aids its commerce by
all the available resources OF the nation,
and England, which in its turn has
abandoned its long tradition OF 1ndi-
vidualism. America is beginning to put
in practice the axiom which today Is
truer than ever that one of the normal
functions of the state is to sustain and
promote its foreign commerce.
Bureau Termed indispensable.
AT the present time the Bureau Of
Foreign and Domestic Commerce Is in
dispensable to the American. He could
not do without 1t. Thanks to this
bureau, he knows as much as 1t is
humanity possible to know OF the gen.
eral resources of all the nations Of the
world"
So far as possible, the bureau aims
to avoid any conflict with the foreign
service of the State Department. Nat
urally, some disputes have arisen, CEN
tering chiefly on differences Of opinion
over jurisdiction. Consular offices have
many other functions to perform than
those connected with business.
The foreign agents of the Commerce
Department, the commercial attaches,
counselors and commissioners. are con-
:erned mainly with the promotion of
American trade with foreign countries.
Where overlapping does exist the solu-
| ton lies III an informal understanding