Evening star., 1937-08-22
Ambassador to China
Versed in Oriental Lore
Nelson johnson, Washington Born and
Educated, Fills Career Post With
80 Years of Experience.

CApe|LeItCe.
petition with hundreds of other
young men from all over the United
States, being evaluated as to his store
Of knowledge by Government experts.
As a gala finale" he confided to
his parents, there was to be 4 tea at
the home Of Elihu Root, then Secre-
cary of State. After the grind Of the
recent examinations. written and oral,
be their outcome what it might, young
went with high anticipation
OF a party with this great man as
host and enjoyed himself quite as
much as he had expected to.
Nor was 1t until after he was
designated as one Of the small group
Of IS who had been selected to be
the wards Of the State Department in
its foreign service field, did he discover
that the tea had been the last acid
test of social and linguistic fitness
Upon thinking the party over his
friends tell you he did recollect being
interrogated in German, his school
major, by an attache of the German
Embassy and OF the strangely fatter-
ing interest, State Department Of
f1cial standing nearby, seemed to have
in his slow, careful reply.
1t is 80 years ago this August since
johnson. the youngest of the entire
group, received an appointment with
them and somewhat dazed by the sud-
denness with which fate had charted
his course, found himself en- route
for the Orient at $1,000 a year upon
the first rung Of the ladder by which
he has subsequently climbed to be
our Ambassador to the Republic of
China.
Receives Degree Years Later.
February %. 1882, during the BIZ
centennial observance of the birth of
Washington, the George Washington
University bestowed in absentio, upon
its one-time student. the honorary de-
gree OF doctor of laws in lieu Of the
diploma which he did not receive in
course. because he had gone forth
from its class rooms to study the
Orient at first hand under the tutelage
OF the State Department.
From the day Of his appointment
to the foreign service, johnson has
made point Of living on his salary
from the United States Government,
no inconsiderable feat in itself.
Each new field of duty has been
definite step toward an ultimate goal.
There were the student days in Pekin
as the Peiping OF today was then
called, when he applied himself so
assiduously to learning the Chinese
language. 1t was a Herculean task in
itself, but one which has stood him
in good stead during all of the sue
cessive years of his career Then came
his first post as vice and deputy coun-
sci general and interpreter at Harbin.
Others followed at Mukden, Hankow
and Shanghai, present theater of the
war.
during the revolution which set up the
Chinese Republic
At Shanghai came the designation
that he was to have judicial authority
in civil and criminal cases before the
mixed courts Of law
One OF the most famous of his de-
lightful stories, many of which. with
his rare sense Of humor, are turned
upon himself, has to do with the ap-
pearance before the Shanghai court
where he was sitting of a wretched.
cringing coolie. The man WAS charged
with the theft Of several plump ducks.
These had been brought into court
with him as evidence of his guilt in
being caught red-handed when it was
evident from his lowly station that
he would be incapable OF owning fowl
SO plump or in such numbers.
Tries Mercy.
The culprit charged with the crime
was evidently so terror stricken as to
apparently be incapable of speech, de-
spite our Foreign Service oficer's re-
peated efforts to extract his story from
him. The hour dragged, lunch time
approached the complainants we're
exceptionally bitter and without mercy
In their recriminations Finally, to
the thinly-disgused CONSERVATION Of
the native policeman, johnson decided
to exercise his power Of mercy and or
dered the man released. Fleeing from
the court as if the powers of darkness
we're upon his heels, with his ducks
apparently quackins in his wake as il
they, too, were dissatisfied with the
sentence. the freed man seemed as
much terrified with his freedom as he
had in being tried.
The answer came that evening on
Nj. Johnsons return to his own
quarters. The ducks were the tame
ones upon his own duck pond which
he had been accustomed to feed from
time to time.
In 1914 came Johnsons appoint
ment as Consul at Chungkin. in what
is the Manchukuo Of today; his desig-
nation to Chanesha the following year
and his subsequent return to Shang-
hal. this time as Consul General.
Nineteen eighteen found him as
signed to the State Department in
washington in the Division Of Far
Eastern Affairs
In 1921 came his designation As an
expert assistant to the American
commissioners on the World Confer
ence on Limitation of Armament here
in Washington.
Becomes Mass Rescuer.
His appointment as Consul General
at Large followed, with an assignment
to an inspection of the district of
Eastern Asia, accompanied by his
mother. 1t was at this time that the
American Consul at Yokohama, Japan,
was killed in the earthquake. which
devastated the city and johnson; sum-
moned by the State Department to 70
to the rescue, became the American
man Of the hour there. Overnight he
took charge Of the rescue work among
the stricken foreigners. With that
quiet, sure effectiveness for which he
Is noted, he secured the cooperation
Of his boyhood friend. Admiral Bad
ger. then in command OF our feet In