Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-30
Issue Taken With Gen. Dawes
On Career Men in Diplomacy

The one branch of the Government
service which demands more training,
receives comparatively less pay, and is
certainly the least understood and APP
preciated of all the various branches is
the foreign service. To enter the for
eign service a candidate must, after be-
ing designated, pass written examina-
ton which covers economics, interna-
tional law, international banking, eco
nomic geography, business law, world
history and politics, and also an oral
examination covering the same subjects
and any other facts with which the ex-
an1inerS believe that the future oficer
should be converSant. In other. words,
the foreign service officer is thoroughly
trained expert in banking, commerce,
trade, politics and law. His work could
not be administered by the average
business man, for precisely the same
reason that a plumber cannot repair a
telephone, nor an engineer conduct an
opera.
I have pointed this out merely to
combat the existing idea that the "ca-
reer" man in modern diplomacy is a
miSflt. President Hoover's recent APP
pointment of former Vice President
Dawes as Ambassador to Great Britain
has created some feeling that the con-
duct Of our foreign affairs is going to
be placed in the hands of big business
men and taken away from trained Dip
lomats. Two fundamentally incorrect
notions OF the foreign service and the
trained diplomat" seem to exist today,
as they have existed for decades, in the
minds of the American people A con-
spicuouS illustration of this misconcep-
ton can be seen in the remarks ad-
dressed by former Vice President Dawes
to the graduating class of a certain
act Av.cify
icized the trained diplomat" on two
scores: First, because he is "out of
touch" with American interests, due to
MS long residence abroad, and, second,
because he is unable, due to his purely
diplomatic" training to cope with
practical questions of finance, COM
merce and trade. Now / don't know
what Mr.. Dawes means by "out OF
touch" with affairs at home, and even
II 1 did know I would fail to see the
connection. The truth is that the dip
lomat residing abroad must keep lin
touch" with certain affairs which Soon
Germ the interests of the u. S. A. in the
country to which he is accredited and
must be "out of touch" with many
purely local issues in American COM
munities which have no possible bear
ing on his duties.
AS for the second criticism, one is
AAANAAlC0 W WOIlo6E IL MI. bdWcS mas
investigated the purely diplomatic
training for the foreign service. AS ]
nave tried to point out, the foreign
service officer Is a highly specialized
expert on the particular subjects which
$50 years of experience and the Con-
gress of the United States have insisted
are pertinent to the conduct of Ameri-
can foreign relations. II any one has
the least doubt about the merits OF
fnroiuYN nf6 lot HI
Rogers act of 1924, the various PAM
phlets issued by the State Department
and lastly as a final test, let him try
to pass the foreign service eXamina-
ton. He will find out that it Is not 9
pink tea party.
But Mr.. Dawes criticism is not the
only one that is directed against thu
much maligned foreign service; there
are others, which, unfortunately, ar
made more often and by more people
OF all these, the most common. and TIT
most fallaciouS is what may be called
the pink tea" white spatS" concep
ton of diplomacy. The average per
son seems to think that all an Ameri
can diplomat abroad has to do is Il
attend social functions. Unfortunatel.
the diplomat does have to attend man.
such affairs, far more than he can at
ford. But the idea that the diploma
knocks off at for tea is just silly
he is lucky if he can knock of at
for dinner. More than likely he vii
have to stay until in order to send
cable TO the department in Washington
or to finish a dispatch. One must no
forget that his duties are numerous, hi
pay inadequate and If he gets an
thanks for his trouble he is lucky
People call at the embassy for ever
conceivable reason, from question O
law to a question about finding out tn
name of the artist who painted grand
fathers picture In 1s47 when ne was y
Paris. The vast volume of America
business abroad is keeping every EN-
bassy busy with technical, financial an
legal questions In addition to all thi
extra ofhcial work, the embassy has 7