The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-09-14

William Jennings Bryan became
the first woman diplomat ever to
represent the United States
abroad. This in itself was no mean
assignment, and the career boys
in the state department baked
like steers before they gave 1t to
her.
The only thing that brought
them around was a White House
intimation that Mrs. Owen might
be appointed assistant secretary
of state. So they thought 1t
would be better to have her across
the Atlantic rather than just
down the corridor.
They hadn't anything personal
against Mrs. Owen. In fact they
liked her. It was just the idea Of
a lady diplomat.
Expensive Life
Mrs. owen had one major OBJ
stacle at Copenhagen, and that
was finances. She was quite frank
about 1t. Her salary as American
minister was $4,000, and 1t took
a lot more than that 10 enter
tain.
She solved the problem by
taking with her Helen Lee
Eames Doherty, adopted daugh-
ter Of Henry L. Doherty, the
utilities magnate. Mr.. Doherty
considers most Of the economic
ideas advocated by Mrs. Ovens
father and by her friend, F. d.
Roosevelt, to be darby sacrile-
giOus..
However, he gave his STEP
daughter a very handsome al
lowance as Mrs. Owens secretary,
and Helen Lee, in turn, got a
much-prized diplomatic passport
and the privilege Of paying the
entertainment bills.
All Of this gave Mrs. Owen the
reputation in Denmark Of being
a very wealthy woman.
Miss Doherty's marriage, plus
her fathers lack Of enthusiasm
for F. D. Roosevelt's holding
company bill, eventually lost Mrs.
Owen her secretary. However, she
continued to do fairly well.
Her friend, Secretary Of the
Treasury Morgenthau, sent
coast guard cutter to take her
from Denmark to Greenland
She wrote a book, some magazine
articles, and delivered a series OF
lectures about the trip.
Enter Captain
About this time love began to
stir In the eyes of Captain Beorge
Rohde, aide to the king OF Den
mark. Because Mrs. owen was
single, he had been detailed by
the Danish foreign ministry to
accompany Mrs. owen to official
functions.
Captain ROhde Is very at
tractive and intelligent gentle
man. But he Is not wealthy.
Moreover, his job Is not CLAM
orOus, and corresponds TO that
Of military aide TO the White
House. Danish officers are not
Overpaid, and his salary Is
about $4,000.
Therefore, Mrs. owen had
every intention OF keeping her
Job and salary as minister tc
Denmark.
But here, her old friends, the
career boys at the state depart
ment, stepped In. Never enthu'
siastic about lady diplomat In
their ranks, they felt that Mrs
Rohde was enjoying dual ma
tionality, that she could not serve
two masters.
Legally and technically they
were probably right.
Anyway, all this was behind
the cordial exchange Of telc-
grams between Mrs. Rohde and
the president. Whenever resig-
nation kilograms are especially
cordial, you know something Is
up.
The question now is what Ruth
Bryan owen Rohde will do next
Actually, the president does fee
very cordial toward her, and Il
reelected. undoubtedly he viii
do something for her.
Taking No Chances
Mrs. James F. Byrnes, wife o.
South Cardinals New Deal sena.
tor who won such a smashing
denomination victory last week
believes In taking no chances.
On election day Mrs. Byrne'
and her husband went to the
polling place together. AS they
were about to enter the voting
booths she asked Jimmy to ad.
wise her In making her ballot.
In the senatorial colum I
Jimmy marked an x opposite the
name of Thomas p. Stoney. for
mer mayor of Charleston ans
Byrnes' chief opponent.
Jimmy" Mrs. Byrnes de-
manded, "why are you doing
that?"
"oh, It's the sporting thing
TO do"
"Hmmph," was the retort.
ut may be sporting, but vote
Is q vote. I'm casting my vote
for Byrnes."
Job Canvass
Harry Hopkins WPA exec
have been working on ways ant
means Of carrying out the presi