Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-06
MORROW'S TALENTS
RECOGNIZED EARLY
Was Picked by Coolidge at
Amherst as Marked for
Great Success.

1
make his prophecy come true by nam
ing his classmate, as Ambassador to
Mexico, q post which brought Mr.. Nor
row an international reputation and
paved the way for his election as United
States Senator from New Jersey.
But previously the Coolidge estimate
had been indicated by Mr.. Morrow's
successful career, first m law, then as
a member Of the banking firm Of J.. p.
Morgan & Co. and as an adviser to the
| Allied Maritime Transport Council in
the World War days Of 1918. This lat
| ter activity lasted only IL months, but
it brought him the Distinguished Serv-
ice Medal of the United States and CT
| tationS from France, Italy and Greece.
| Gen. John j. Pershing described Mr..
Morrow's work in connection with the
military supply aspects of the work as
exceptionally meritorious," Judgment
which was echoed by Gen. Charles G.
| Dawes.
the White House President Hoover
confirmed the Judgment Of his prede-
cessor as to the Morrow talents and
capabilities, by naming the Ambassador
as a member of the American delega-
| ton to the Five-Power London Naval
Conference of 1890.
There he and Gen. Dawes, the latter
of st. James, specialized on the Franco
Italian naval problem and it was said
that it was no fault of theirs that the
ultimate treaty, in the drafting of which
| Mr.. Morrow took a leading part, did
not become flve-power pact instead
Of being limited TO the United States,
/ Great Britain and Japan.
In 1928 he was one Of the American
delegates to the sixth Pan-American
| Congress, held in Havana.
Started as Law Clerk.
! Mr.. Morrow's list Of achievements in
| professional life, business, diplomacy
and practical politics sprang from an
intellectual heritage, but a background
Of decidedly moderate worldly possess
sions. His father, Prof. James E. Nor
row. was president of Marshall College
at Huntington, w. Va, when his second
son was born there on January IL. 1873.
| The mother was Clara johnson Morrow
reared on an Ohio farm, but known to
] her girlhood neighbprs as literary be-
cause of the number of books she read
and because she was a champion
Speller. They named their second son
| for Prof william Dwight Whitney OF
Yale, author of q famous English
grammar.
The future diplomat finished his or
n.
where his father had become a teacher
in the high school. He worked his
way through Amherst College, winning
| the degree Of bachelor of arts in 1895.
Then he turned TO the study of law
! and after four years struggle with Gcant
finances, graduated with an LIB. de-
| gree from Columbia University in 1899.
j. p. Morgan & Co. Joined.
80 Ii sAI- H.
with the firm of Simpson, ThacheP &
Bartlett in New York, persuading them
that he was worth $50 a month to
start Six years later he was a member
of the flrm and nine years after that
in 1914, he transferred his allegiance
to finance and became a partner in
j. P. Morgan & Co.
With that famous house he spe-
cialized in international loans, spending
| devoting attention to the increased
European business that followed the
| outbreak of the world war.
In these activities he displayed not
| only keen commercial sagacity but also
| qualities of tact. sympathy and under
| standing that marked him as leader
in business diplomacy.
1t was President Coolidge's knowledge
| Of Mr.. Morrow'S talents as a conciliator
1
banker in 1925 as chairman of the
| board which studied the dispute over
airplane defense between Gen. William
Mitchell and high Army officials. This
board sifted the wheat from the chaff
of the controversy, then made unani-
nous recommendations which within a
year were made effective by Congress
and put in force as Government policies.
| Made Envoy to Mexico in 1927.
| Two years of continued business sue
cess followed, then on September 80,
| 1927, the banker became Ambassador
to Mexico, first resigning his partner
ship in the Morgan concern.
Mexico was then just beginning to
emerge from a long period of tumult
marked by civil wars, the overthrow of
several administrations, widespread
banditry, revolutionary laws relating
| to property rights of foreigners and
anti-religiouS propaganda. Outstanding
in the pending questions with the United
States was controversy over oil rights
on which 10000 words of notes had
been exchanged with Washington with
out tangible result.
Ambassador Morrow found that con-
| fidence between the two governments
was decidedly minus quality. So first
he started to make the Mexicans believe
| in the United States and his own coun-
try believe in its smaller southern
neighbor.
| A famous ham and eggs breakfast
with President Elias Gales at the lat
ter's ranch outside Mexico City has been
/ credited with being the real start of
this campaign.
Discarding the useless system Of ex-
changing notes, the new diplomat
adopted the method of direct, friendly
conversation with responsible officials
| as means of settling international
problems. Groups in disagreement on
| the oil questions were brought face to
face, the essential similarities in their
viewpoints were stressed and after
much earnest study Mexico adopted
legislation confirming oil lands conces-
sions that was acceptable to both sides.
Another big question, but with no di-
rect American Government interest,
arose when President Gales put into
effect constitutional provisions upsetting
the position of the Roman catholic
Church in Mexico. Priests were with
drawn from their parishes by the church
authorities, the government halted re-
ligious education and abrogated many
church property rights and for three
years there ragged a controversy that
was punctuated by bloody fighting in
several States of the southern republic.
The whole subject was outside the
Ambassadors jurisdiction but both sides
turned toward him as friendly neutral
and, more than any other one man, he
was credited with having paved the
way for final adjustments that were
signed in June, 1929, by representatives
of the hierarchy and Provisional Pres
ident Portes Gil, successor to Gales.
Daughter WEEDS Here.
Before this Mr.. Morrow had thorough
ly convinced Gales and other Mexican
leaders that he was actuated by sincere
friendship for the Mexican people. The