Evening star., 1940-04-14

Underwood Photo.
her credit. She was a founder of the
Colony Club in New York and for many
years Its president. With the aid Of
friend, young Franklin Roosevelt, then
just getting start in politics, she es-
tablished chain of free milk stations in
New York that cut down infant NOR
tality in remarkable way. Woodrow
Wilson appointed her the only woman
member Of the Federal Industrial Rela-
tions Commission and during the last
war she went to England to make a
study OF women in war industries. Her
father was Edward S. Jaffray. Britisher
who headed large importing firm. Her
husband was a member of the famous
banking family.
Nine. Kollontai was a member of the
Oslo diplomatic corps representing the
Soviets for several years. and then in
1880 she was made Minister to Sweden.
For 10 years she has held this post, and
until the outbreak of the Russian Fin
nish war and the Soviet campaign of inn
perialism she had won considerable
popularity in Stockholm. This was in
spite Of deep prejudice against the Rus
slams going back to past centuries.
Soviet Minister. @
This large, calm woman has achieved
not little merely by surviving She Is
the last Of the old Bolsheviks, coming
down from the days Of the 1917 revolu-
ton. Virtually all Of her companions in
arms, with the exception of Stain him.
self, have lost their heads. Rumor has
frequently had her under suspicion of the
dictator, but she has lived through all
the purges, thanks in part, ironically
enough, to the friendship of Swedes high
in the government.
For two years King Gustaf had an
other woman diplomat at his court
This was Nine. Isabel de Palencia, MIN
lister Of the Spanish Loyalist govern
ment to the three Scandinavian coun-
tries. Nine. de Palencia, now in exile
in Mexico, won wide popularity among
all classes in Sweden. A woman of bril-
liant intellect and great charm, she pre-
sided over what is the handsomest lega-
ton in Stockholm. It had formerly
been the palace Of Prince Karl.
Because her country was involved in
bitter civil war, many problems arose
She solved them all with the tact and
sympathy that have marked her varied
career. When Franco triumphed and
her government fell, a number Of
Swedish friends both in and out of public
ONCE tried to persuade her to make her
home in Stockholm as kind of diplo-
mat-at-large. And briefly she did take
q small house in suburban Appeelviken.
But she decided finally that she had q
duty in connection with the refugee
problem and moreover she felt she
should rear her family in q Spanish
speaking country.
Mrs. Hartman was not the first
American envoy to be named to q diplo-
matte post. That honor fell to Mrs.
Ruth Bryan Owen, daughter of William
Jennings Bryan. Mrs. Owen was named
by President Roosevelt to be Minister to
Denmark in June of 1888, after a brief
career in Congress and longer one as
public speaker. A woman with q
vigorous and original mind, Mrs. Owen
was impatient with the conventions in
Copenhagen, where the court and diplo-
matte circles have always been rather
stiff and solemn. When she presented
her credentials to King Christian she
arranged for her family and secretary to
60 on bicycles to the palace gates as q
kind Of guard Of honor which shocked
the court.
Romantic Diplomacy.
Mrs. Owens diplomatic career came to
q romantic end. She had met hand
some misunderstanding at the court,
Capt. Rohde. They decided to be mar
ried. Mrs. Owen cherished the hope
that she might continue rs American
Minister despite her marriage, but there
were intimations from the State Depart
ment that this would hardly be . de-
sirable arrangement.
Before the appointment Of Laurence
Steinhardt as Ambassador to Russia it
was rumored that woman would get that
post. The woman mentioned was Mrs.
Charles G. Broy. Her name, it was re-
liably reported, was on list Of four, the
other three being men, that President
Roosevelt studied for long time before
he finally sent the nomination to the
Senate. Mrs. Broy has lived abroad IL
years with her husband, who is In the
consular service.
Ultimately the honor and responsibility
Of an ambassadorial post will come to .
woman. Today women Ike Mrs. Harri-
man are proving themselves under IRE
In the midst Of history -making shocks
to the established order Of the world. A
Mrs. Hartman, doing her job as ehl-
ciently and as quietly - possible, helps
| 10 break down Old preiudices.