Evening star., 1938-09-18
State Department Now Geared
To a Modern, Explosive World
Spanish War Era Passes as Modernization Is
Effected to Meet Crises Effectively
With Electric Speed.
By T. ". Sandifer.

| however, that much indirect advertisement
OF foreign commerce, as we'll as foreign doc
triEe, is achieved in Latin American coun-
tries through local broadcasts, presumably
financed by Tie business agencies in the
cerned, but possibly by subsidy from abroad
The latter is hard to prove.
The Communications Commission, under
Mr.. McNinch, still retains a string on
several bands of radio communications to
South American points, permitting tempo
rary use of these by private groups and de-
clining to allocate them permanently. Un-
| doubtedly such channels would be used
| by the Government should 1t 60 into this
| field.
Meanwhile, the State Department has
| consolidated its political divisions in the
| recent past and gone ahead with its in
| ternal reorganization to meet present world
| conditions. The two new divisions will add
! II persons to the departments force in the
| Communications Division of the depart
ment, which should not be confused with
the McNinch commission, and eight to the
| cultural division. Foreign service personnel
| has been little affected.
One important change which affects the
| whole service abroad has been in effect for
several years, but is now assuming newim-
| portance as conditions grow increasingly
| tense. All American embassies and other
| governmental missions abroad are supplied
with an adequate quota of metropolitan
| American newspapers These are neces-
| sarily late in reaching their destinations.
| however. An American official up the
| Yangtze formerly waited perhaps two
months for his papers and other mail cor
respondence to reach him. Other Amer.
| leans in official positions in various parts
| OF the world might also watt or be de-
| pendent on a trickle of American news in
| the local press. The latter might or
| might not give an adequate summary or a
| dependable one.
Radio Bridges Time and Space.
Even in important foreign capitals up
| to recent years, an American Ambassador
or Minister might find himself handicapped
by lack of prompt general information on
some matter occurring at home the day
before. Not so today. He now gets a
satisfactory summary every morning of the
previous days developments by radio.
This summary will give him the full text,
say of an important presidential address,
such as that in Canada recently when the
world was informed that the United States
would act in case of an invasion Of that
country. 1t will give him what was said
at White House press conference or any
significant statements in a press conference
at the State Department.
The ambassador or minister Is thus safe
guarded to a great extent from any inter-
pretative or secondhand versions or i'm
pressions Of some important American de-
velopment which might formerly have been
the only source OF information available to
him at the moment. He gets, too, vital
economic information, commodity prices,
employment figures and similar facts re-
quired in transacting American official busi-
ness from his Office The bulletin on his
text likely will give him an accurate version
Of some news story also, which might ap-
pear in European paper inadvertently or
otherwise alarming, bacause European news
about the United States is printed for Euro
| pean readers Some fact that has no i'm
portance to an American might be the one
detaiAof interest to the European reader.
This service in no way conflicts with the
| functions of the daily American newspaper.
1t does not compete because the paper is
unavoidably delayed anyway, and it is not
news service, because it concerns itself
| only with official matters, or subjects likely
to have an official bearing The world
flight of Howard Hughes got one line in the
current summary of the day. Once in a
while the department permits itself some
leeway, as when the Army shifted back to
the blue dress uniform. Military attaches
abroad would require this information,
Navy Spreads the News.
| The bulletin is summarized during the
day, including important American edi-
torial reaction to some international situa-
ton. and given to the Navy Department for
transmission by Navy radio overnight. BY
an arrangement with this department, Navy
radio operators. equipped with receiver sets
only, are assigned to strategic locations for
receipt and dissemination of the news re-
port. They are stationed in the embassies
or legations at London, Paris, Rome, Gen.
eva, Berlin, at Cairo, Calcutta, in South
Africa; at Panama, 10, Buenos Aires, San
tiago ard Lima the station ship at Shang-
hal picks up the report and gets it up the
Yangtze by airmail.
| Japanese attacks on mail planes may
affect such service If these attacks are ex-
tended in Asia, but Americans UP the
Yangtze get the report in a matter of three
days instead of two months. Other Navy
ships at various regular stations pick up the
report, and required in that particular
area, relay it to the proper American post
Thus the American legations or embassies
in Batavia. Bangkok, sydney, Australia and
elsewhere in remote parts Of the world,
get the Service"
| As the world catches fire, this prompt
information Of developments may at any
time prove of inestimable value to the
United States The classic instance Of the
Spanish War era, when the poor Spanish
garrison Of Guam, getting mail once or
twice a year, found themselves captured
by foreign warship they had been at
| - ol,,%o obo