The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-09-13

It's battery of aI1tiquated ca passing public.
 Inside, however, the Department is not 50 forbidding. It stands on far less ceremony than any foreign once in Europe. Its bureaucratS are not as unfriendly as they look. And the Negro messengers, who study law in its corridors, are per- n1itted to receive their clients and render eloquent legal advice, be- tween carrying code messages upon which may hang world peace.
 On Che whole the machinery of foreign affairs has functlOned with reasonable efficiency. But In the last few years there has been . noticeable increase In the self-contentment and red-tape rustiness which always accumu- lAtes, like barnacles, around any departmental ship not put regu- larly into dry.dock.
 Recently, however, the Depart Il1ent of State has been given one of the most thorough overhaul ings of its staid existence, and this house cleaning = as differentiated from the shake-up of the career service-haS done 1t Q world of good.
 Chief ruffler of State Depart Hi1ent dignity has been Sumner Welles, newly appointed Under- Secretary. WelleS is Q man of de- cision, broad ideas, and an acute understanding of human nature. Furthermore, he and Cordell Hull see eye-to"eye so closely that Q .well.trained team is now running the foreign affairs of the United States.
 Russian Poison
 One of the first things Welles did was to root out the bureau- cracy in charge of appropriations, buildings, consuls, visas, etc., by transferring the gentleman in charge of this work, Wilbur J., Carr, assistant secretary of state.
 Carr had been there for years, long had passed the peak of his efficiency. Although charged with getting bigger and better appropriations from Congress, 1t was discovered that certain
 members of the Appropriations Committee would not attend when he was present. So Mir. Carr was made Minister to CxechOslovnlEia.
 Next was busted Robert Kelley, for years chief of the Eastern Eu- ropean Division which handles so- viet Russia. Kelley was the man who fed the anti-Russian poison to Hughes and Kellogg. He had nev- CT been to Russia, but was con- stantly in touch with the Jesuit fathers at Georgetown University. Kelley was sent to Istanbul.
 Transferred from Istanbul to Washington was c. Howland Shaw to take charge of personnel. Shaw was educated in . Jesuit school, once planned to enter the priest. hood, but does not let religion eni ter into his work. One of the most brilliant men in the State Depart rnent, his chief religion now Is more efncient career service. Rats Nest
 Welles also discovered c rats nest in the ofilce in charge of For. eign Service Buildings. Estimates on the construction of American embassies and consulates abroad were thousands of dollars out of whack. A million dollar embassy was purchased in Berlin, then al- lowed to stand six years unusud, supposedly because money was not available to recondition 1t. Mean- while new buildings were erected in other countries.
 In Havana, the American Em- bassy has stood idle for 10 years, while money was spent renting another building. Keith Merrill, executive assistant in charge of this, resigned in order to push . new medicine which his chain drugstore family is promoting, and Frederick LArkin, of the public buildings branch of the Treasury Department, was ap. pointed In his place.
 Appointed assistant to Larkin Is Mrs. Warren Delano Robbins, wife of the late American Minister to Canada, and cousin of the Pres- ident. Mrs. Robbins Is 6 charming and vivacious lady with lavender tinted hair, who is to advise oil the interior decorating of American embassies.
 If she Is able to decorate these embassies as attractively as she decorates herself, sine may be worth her e0,000 salary, but, this appointment Is one which already is bringing 6 deluge Of hrickbats around the placid head of 0ordell Hull.