Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-13
eIIEeKEEPS ALL LONDON GUESSING

people in the United States wanted to know
whether the general had lived up 10 the spirit
Of the volstead act as well to the letter OF IL.
Next day there was press conference at tho
embassy and the general was asked whether
he had seen the reactions" to the episode la
the American press Yes, he had.
.wen," asked one Qf the correspondents. ARE
there any reactions TO the reactions?"
I "Do you want to know my reactions?" asked
the general. n 81
The press did. ~
"weIi, my reaction Is that it's my own BUSH
ness"
So that's that People in London know just
as much about the generals attitude toward
liquor as they did befOre-just rs much as the
general wants them to know.
But in the matter Of smoking, things are very
different. Dawes Is q smoker and he doesn't
mind telling the world. Dawes without his
famous underslung pipe IS unthinkable. That
pipe has become his trademark in England even
more than Stanley Baldwins pipe was the
trade mark of England's former prime minister.
{; Yes. Dawes is q new kind Of ambassador. The
stony dignity, the saturnine demeanor, the
ceremonial courtesy of the council chamber, are
gone FrankneSs and cordially have taken
their place. In that great room sumptuousiy
paneled and carpeted, which Is the Ambassadors
private Office. Gen. Dawes Is something of an
anomaly. There he sits, surrounded by tina
full-length portraits OF his venerable predeces-
sors tilted back in his chair, pipe in mouth and
with his interyiewers- against eight or ten.
When he doesn't want to tell anything, he
doesn't mind saying so And he makes no
bones about what he doesn't know.
"Just what are our relations with Russia,
general?" somebody asked him.
ASK somebody who knows" said the general.
"Ask So-and-So I don't want to sit here
looking wise and make you think know it all :"
Another time he mentioned some documents !.
which might contain the answer to certain
question But" he said. they're in French. ,
and don't know French"
French is the accepted diplomatic language
or the world. There have been many Ambas-
sailors who didn't know 1t, but one seldom
meets one who admits 1t voluntarily.
But Dawes is not diplomat. He has said 90
himself, publicly "I have my shortcomings. but
you'll have to take me as am" He has come
to London, not so much as Ambassador but
rs q high negotiator in a business that is to
provide for the future security Of the world.
He is doing the kind of job he likes. He
broke through diplomatic obstruction to supply
the allied armies at the greatest crisis In the
worlds history; he smashed through maze
of European prejudice and hostility to salvage
the wreck of German reparations. and he has
now stepped in to unravel the muddle of world
disarmament.
.sI am no diplomat but I understand i'm
structions." Like q soldier, he is carrying out
his instructions.
DAWES knows he Is the man for the job
and says So On the trip to Scotland he
broke every precedent for secret diplomatic mis-
sions small troupe Of American journalists
went along. Did Dawes travel in private conn
partment? Did he lock himself in with his
secretaries and attaches? Not bit of it; he
chatted with the boys" all the way up north.
He told them what he thought Of diplomats
career diplomats-and how he thought they
k13I kI~~wS~ k1nnffE 1A
self made man, the business man, the man of
action always had to come IN and cut the
GOrdian knot when the career diplomats, the
men who had led sheltered lives and were
never trained to deal with emergencies, Were
up against it.
When somebody reminded him that career
diplomat was present Dawes didn't take back
q word he had said. All he said was: "Of
course, there are exceptions to prove the rule
and haven't had q chance TO see how our
friend here is going to work out"
When necessary Dawes keeps his counsel as
well as anybody else, but he abhors the reserve
of Old World diplomacy Even in his public
speeches he is frank Ambassadors speeches
are generally expected to be polite and digni-
fed expressions of nothing In particular or, IN
the case OF American Ambassadors, hands
across-the-Sea platitudes. That however, Is
not Dawes style. When the Travel Association
asked him to speak at that famous loving cup
luncheon at the Winners Hall Dawes gave
them little straight talk. He didn't merely pat
them on the back. but he took few well aimed
cracks at a certain kind Of traveler-Britishers
VINO travel in America and Americans who
travel in England-people filled with their own
Importance, who are incompetent to judge con-
ditions but are free with their opinions when
they get home.
It was not exactly diplomatic pronounce
ment, but 1t struck home.
II don't know what the repercussions of this
speech will be-" said the general, but I'm going