Evening star., 1933-02-19
CAREER DIPLOMATS
URGED TO REMAIN
Belief That Roosevelt Will
Avoid Many Changes
Gains Ground.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

action is called for neither by law nor
custom and savors of 'obsequiousness"
and "sycophancy." Mr.. MacMurray,
now director of the Walter Hines Page
. School of International Relations at
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore,
tenders this counsel through the highly
semi-official channel of the American
Foreign Service Journal, which Is pub
lished under the auspices of the State
Department. In the current February
issue, Mr.. MacMurray points out that
"the spirit and tradition Of the foreign
service can only suffer from the prev
alence of the belief in a practice which
does not in fact exist" He sets forth
that there Is no actual foundation
whatever for any "old American Gus
tom" whereby career men who have
risen to be chiefs of mission should sub
NIT their designations to the incoming
President.
Cites Own Experience.
"As an old service man." says Mr.
MacMurray, who happened to be on
duty in the State Department on the
occasion Of three changes Of admins
tration, two of them involving changes
OF party control, I venture to question
the historical accuracy of the assump-
ton that career men are obligated by
custom to surrender their commissions
10 o newly inaugurated President. The
service never had, until the Wilson ad-
ministration came in, in 1918, such
concrete entity as to afford occasion
for the question. At that time, how
ever, approximately dozen service
men had been promoted to be chiefs OF
mission Ambassadors or Ministers).
NY understanding Is that they none OF
them sent in esignaticnS-that, having
communicated among themselves, they
concurred in the feeling that such a
gesture, no matter how becoming in
those whose appointments had resulted
from special personal or political rela-
tionship to the outgoing President,
would be inappropriate in those who
had identified themselves with service
seeking to build up tradition Of non
partisanship; and that being quite
super1uoas (since the President can at
his pleasure displace any such ofhcer
sor). such q self-deprecatory initiative
would be merely obsequious or syco-
phantic."
Tells Kellogg Incident.
Mr.. MacMurray discloses how it came
about that a large group OF Ministers
and Ambassadors was fooled into send
ing designations to President Hoover
four years ago. None Of these career
diplomats, 1t appears, rendered resigna-
tions to Presidents Harding or Coolidge.
But one day newspaper man Is re-
ported to have told Secretary Kellogg
that "a conspiracy was on foot among
the service men to force the incoming
(Hoover) administration to retain them
In Office by Withholding their resigna-
r.. Kn11nOO QnnQrnntlV taken
of his guard, with all good will avowed
his confidence that the men Of the serv- |
ice might be relied upon not to violate
the established practice Of submitting
their designations. The mistaken as
sumption of fact implied in that well
intentioned defense of the service was
very generally accepted, and circulated
in the press as a statement of what had
been done and would be expected to be
done in the circumstances; and al
though no instructions on the subject
were sent out by the department, I
understand that q considerable proper
ton OF career men who were chiefs OF
mission at the time felt obligated to file
their designations.
Many Letters Arrive.
Notwithstanding all this, 1t is off1ci-
ally learned that communications in
goodly number have already arrived at
the State Department, addressed to
Franklin q. Roosevelt, wherein Ambas-
sadors and Ministers respectfully offer
to quit their posts. Several career men
are among them. though for the most
part the designations come from nom
career political appointees, who have
reason to feel certain they will sooner
or later be victims of the Democratic
patronage ak. Ambassador j. Reuben
Clark, jr., at Mexico City, Is the only
foreign service man who has thus far
publicly announced his intention Of
fesigning.
An impression is current in Wash
ington that Mr.. Roosevelt will move
cautiously and slowly in tampering with
career diplomats now on duty abroad.
There are between Is and 80 of them
They are men who have grown up In
the foreign service, with records rang
ing from is to 80 years in it. Half a
dozen of them are in places Of critical
and strategic importance at this hour.
These include Joseph c. Grew, Ambas-
sador to Japan; Nelson T. johnson,
Minister to China; Hugh Gibson, AM
baSSador to Belgium, and Hugh Will
son, Minister to Switzerland. Mr.
Grew, though he has been at Toxic only
something more than a year, has thor
oughly established himself as one Of
the most effective American ENJOYS ever
stationed at the Mikado's court. Mr..
johnson, at Marking, knows China and
the Chinese, particularly their language,
probably better than any other living
American, having made himself an out
standing specialist on all of China;s
problems. Hugh Gibson, at Belgium,
has for five or six years been a rowing
Ambassador in Europe and achieved
eminence as an authority on disarma-
ment, as well as on League of Nations
affairs. Hugh Wilson, at Berne is vir-
tually the United States special envoy
et, If not to, the League in Geneva, and
Is a recognized figure and factor there.
Headed by Career Men.
In Central and South America. with
only couple Of exceptions, all Ameri-
can embassies and legations are headed
by career men. Each one OF them is a
Latin American specialist, each speaks
the language of the country to which
he is accredited, and most of them have
spent years at their present or other
Latin American posts. The group
which represents the largest block" Of
career men Uncle Sam possesses any,
where in the world, includes these serv-
ice veterans: Ambassador Robert Woods
Bliss in Argentina, Ambassador Edwin
v. Morgan In Brazil, Minister Jefferson
Caffery in Colombia, Minister Charles
c. Eberhardt in Costa Rica, Minister
Norman Armour in Haiti, Minister
Charles B. Curtis in El Salvador, Min
1Ster William Dawson in Ecuador, AM
bassador Fred Morris Dearing in Peru;
Minister Matthew E. Hanna in Mica
ragua, Minister Julius G. Lay in Hon
duras, Minister Arthur H. F. Schoen-
field in the Dominican Republic, Min
lister George T. Summerlin in Venezuela,