Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-19
Our New Envoy to Japan

officer, rose to assistant chief of Western
| European affairs, then to chief and
| finally accepted his appointment as AS
| sistant Secretary of State.
Extent OF Jurisdiction.
When he became Assistant Secretary
of State in April, 1927, the foreign re-
| lations of the United States with West
ern and Eastern Europe and the Near
East fell under his jurisdiction. AS
Western Europe includes the British
Empire, and as the British Empire in its
turn has ramif1cations everywhere, it
can be seen that the scope of his activi-
ties was very wide. In diplomacy, of
all professions, mo news is good news"
and it is no small testimonial to Mr..
Castles ability that during his term as
| Assistant Secretary the complicated
business of the United States in these
many parts of the world was so eff
GENTLY and quietly handled.
He initiated many reforms as Assist
ant Secretary, most of them of a kind
too special to be appreciated by the lay
man. With regard to all of them he
denies firmly that they were his BRAIN
children or his accomplishments. In
stead Of trumpeting his deeds from the
housetops in the fashion all too COM
mon in Washington, he will say: "Oh.
preached it to many others"
In diplomacy, of all professions, per-
sonal qualities-of appearance as we'll
as of mind-are most important. Mr..
Castle is slender, we'll dressed and has
an agreeably low voice. He is a good
linguist, for 1t was he who received the
Ministers of several dozen countries and
listened to their requests and discussed
problems with them. He has an I'M
usual gift Of getting his own way in
negotiation, because he is so unfailingly
patient smiling and polite. The great
est bore cannot wear him out. And
when the time comes for Mr.. Castle to
speak he can usually make a penetrat-
ing point because he has not only
studied his interviewer's mind, but has
made searching investigation into the
subject.
Processes Of Opinion.
But his greatest gift of all seems to
me to be his knowledge of the processes
OF public opinion knowledge found
In all successful editors but rarely en-
countered In Washington. To the new
conner in the Capital 1t is strange how
rarely one meets this capacity, for it
seems so very essential. For some rea-
son 1t Is not yet realized that the art
of explaining complex matters to the
than mere luck. So it Is that frequently
We have cabinet ministers who are so
deficient in this art that they dare not
see newspaper correspondents at all
MIR. Castle, on the other hand, could
discuss the most delicate questions with
group Of hostile correspondents for a
whole afternoon and never make a
blunder
The specific problem to which Mr..
IL xxyin iva
only be stated in general terms, because
the course Of the conference is bound to
present unpredictable factors. The pri-
mary object Of the London conference
Is to secure limitation of auxiliary YES
sels-cruiserS. destroyerS and Subma-
rines. The Washington conference set
ratio for battleships which applied to
the United States, Great Britain and
Japan in the proportion of 10-10-6.
Japan had previously claimed higher
figure than 6, but was persuaded to &C
cept the final result when the United
States and Great Britain agreed not to
tortify their possessions in the Far East.
When the Japanese delegation was in
Washington in December it presented
Japan's demand for ratio of 10-l0-7
on auxiliary vessels. If this means
more than diplomatic trading the
United States will probably remind
Japan that such an increased proper
ton will justify us in fortifying Manila.
OF course. Mr.. Castles negotiation will
involve other elements more imponder-
able than this. There are factors in
Japanese opinion which he will have to
consider-such as the resentment over
the American exclusion act and Japan's
special position with regard to China.
But one can certainly say that If the
problems he will meet in Toxic are in
any way soluble Mr.. Castle, of all men,
can be counted on to solve and adjust
them.