The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1933-02-24
Our Government
How II Operates
OUR FOREIGN SERVICE
BY William sruckers

leaders everywhere agree, ! be-
lieve, that the demand Of our age
is for the specialist. The farmer
has to be specialist in the several
lines he follows; the professional
man or woman can hardly rise
above mininum level without con-
centrating on particular subject,
and the industrialist who does not
understand all phases of the buSi-
ness that is his finds the road full
of ruts.
our government is leader in
this field of specialization. II has
experts here. there and everywhere
and for this and that and the other
subject. but believe few of them
receive more thorough training than
do those who are classified as for
eign service officers. | do not mean
that they have the technical train
ing required of the scientist, or the
legal learning of the law divisions,
or the skill and training of the type
who draft plans for a battleship or
a great post Office building. II is
another type of training, but just
as intensive.
1t has been less than score of
years since congress finally was
willing to enact legislation to make
our foreign service one of n career
type, service i'm which capable
individuals might properly expect
promotion. That has been done and
now only our ambassadors and min
listers to foreign capitals remain as
political plums to- be picked by the
victorious party each four years. Ii
seems to me that they. too. ought
to be career" men, but 1t has not
happened. Some of the foreign ma
lions maintain their ambassadors
and ministers in that classification
and it has long been the conviction
of students of the subject that such
diplomats are among the best to be
found in the corps ut Washington.
To get into the foreign service
now; it is first necessary for the APP
plicant to pass a stiff examination.
II is not test of grade school ma
lure. The applicant has to know
one or more foreign languages; he
has to have rather broad acquaint-
ance with business and finance and
he has to satisfy board of exam
iners that he knows how to conduct
himself when he meets people
whether on the business of his gov
eminent or In social way.
After he has done all of these
things satisfactorily. he starts to
school under guidance of the De-
partment of State which has
group of men who have been
through the experience necessary to
enable them to teach the newcom-
ers what TO do. The course of study
entails not only study but work in
the various divisions of the depart
ment where the applicant can see
what is done and how and why it
Is done. He learns there all of the
questions that have arisen between
his government and others; he
learns how they were handled and
The results, and he is informed of
how pending matters are viewed. In
other words, the course provides a
perspective of American policy re-
speeding international affairs, and IL
he is good timber. the training he
has received fits him to start shap-
ing policy on his own initiative once
he is assigned to a post in a for.
eign land.
The, young diplomat who goes
abroad enters on his duties with
special instructions concerning ques-
lions concerning the particular peo-
pies and government where he is
detailed. II is obvious that there
are different questions to be consid-
cred in western Europe than in
Latin America. Likewise. they are
different in the Near East than in
the Far East. The department OF
state, therefore. has divided its
work so that one section supervises
relations with a particular part OF
the world where the problems and
the people have some common basis.
To accomplish this end and sim
plify administration, six divisions
have been created in the depart
ment. They are the divisions of Far
Eastern affairs. Latin-American ar.
fairs, Western European affairs,
Near Eastern affairs. Mexican af-
fairs and Eastern European affairs.
II will suffice to show the scope OF
these groups 10 point out that China
and Japan are among the nations in-
cluded In the Far Eastern division:
that all Of South and Central Amer
lea are included in the Latin-Amer-
lean list: that Great Britain and
France are among those under
Western European supervision; that
Albania and Bulgaria are listed as
Near Eastern; that Finland and
Poland are termed Eastern Enro-
pean and that Mexico Is dealt with
alone In one division.
Acting under the general super
vision OF the secretary. or the under
secretary. the chiefs OF these divi-
sions are the direct contacts Of the
foreign service personnel with their
government hs home. OF course. In
time Of crisis. the secretary or the
under secretary Is kept constant
" informed of every development.