Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-03
BY ANNE HARD.
; HAD listened to their stories. these
tales of the trade commissioners"
sparrow hawks Of American bust


tales Of the trade commissioner"
sparrow hawks Of American busi-
i ness. I had heard them over the
coffee cups on terrace while the
thousand lights of Rio sparkied far
below and the jungle Of Brazil lay black,
far out there beyond us.
| Under the shadow of the Great Pyra-
mid had heard them, under the palms
of Damascus, by the soft waters of the
Danube, in the gray lights OF London,
on the green hills Of Cork, and on the
deck of many ship from the Black
Sea to the south Atlantic, where the
And had seen them in action. those
trade ambassadors, at their Offices in
Buenos Aires or Prague, in Constanti-
nople or Paris-islands of business en-
terprise whirring with the high powered
| efficiency of New York and Boston and
Cleveland and Philadelphia and Chicago
and Los Angeles-or America. They
provided scenes of the great national
adventure Of our foreign trade
The brilliant sweep Of this work of
the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic
| Commerce during the seven years after
its reorganization by Mr.. Hoover makes
one of the many graphs by which you
may chart the possibilities OF the in
coming administration.
This department now has 81 foreign
Offices. Seven years ago there were 81
There now are % district Offices in the
United States. Then there were nine
There now are 2,770,773 individual serv-
ices rendered in year. Then there
were 505,661. Formerly the cost of each
service averaged $2.75. Now it averages
$3.50.
These achievements and scores of
others were not the result Of a natural
growth, but of an uncanny and far
seeing policy.
That policy envisaged many things
Among others, 1t saw that the strength
ening of the purchasers buying capacity
increased the manufacturers possibility
OF selling. Simple as it is, 1t is an idea
which I found in frequent interviews
with important men of affairs III Europe
lay entirely outside the scope of their
thinking
Yet in the work of our American
trade commissioners an important ele-
ment is their surveys Of the possibilities
OF further economic development in the
countries to which they are accredited
Again, the element Of individual per-
sonality plays an important part, Every
man is judged by results. He may write
the most beautiful paper reports in the
world, but If there be no genuine sery-
ice in him he doesn't stay on that lob
very long.
Each one must possess an incredible
combination of qualifications before he
is even tried in the field. He must have
a thorough knowledge, among other
things, of the principles of economies
and banking and foreign trade and
American business practice and of the
resources of the United States. He
must read and speak fluently at least
one foreign language
And, with equal stress, he must be
the sort of person who can be tactful
and diplomatic in his contacts with
foreign business men and foreign off,
Gals, and then be good enough on his
feet to put over with audiences of
American business men accounts of
what he has learned abroad.
These are not museum pieces. but
live wires. These are not only scientific
students but preceptors for those who
cannot go out and see for themselves.
Furthermore. it is by policy and not
by accident that women have been
given an equal opportunity with men
TO qualify for the service
Reference to Officialdom.
1t Is wellnigh impossible for the Or
binary American citizen to realize the
place Government representative
holds abroad. We cannot easily imagine
the national difference paid to official-