Evening star., 1944-11-05
Reopening Americas Busiest Embassy
BY Joseph H. Baird.

tne CnlteQ states diplomatic establish.
ment in Paris-again has resumed busi.
ness "at the old stand"
Establishment of full diplomatic re.
lations with the French regime of Gen
Charles de G&ulle has started an inf1u,
of foreign service officers to Paris
There, under the guidance of Ambassa.
dor Jefferson Caffery, a 57-year -olc
professional diplomat who has seer
service in all parts OF the globe, the
Embassy again is building up a large
staf to deal with the many postwar
diplomatic problems which will con.
front this country during the next sew
eral years.
Joint chiefs of staff to Mr.. Caffery, q
soft-spoken Lodisianan. are Selder
Chaplin and Hugh Fullerton, both o1
whom have spent many years in the
foreign service. Mr.. Chaplin, one time
aide to the Undersecretary of State, was
stationed at Algiers during the months
Gen. de Gaulle made his capital there
and is we'll acquainted with him. Both
Mr.. Chaplin .and Mr. Fullerton enjoy
the rank of counsellor of Embassy
and Mr.. Fullerton will serve as consul
general as well. Under them are being
assembled a large staff of diplomatic
secretaries, economic experts, clerks and
technicianS.
Busiest in the World"
The Paris Embassy received its highly
unofficial distinction as the busiest in
the world" because the tremendous
number of Americans under its pro-
lection required of it and of the con-
sulate attached to it a mass of detail
work probably unequaled by any other
such establishment. After the World
War quite a number of men in the
AEF, some of whom had married
French girls, elected to stay in Paris.
To this nucleus were added thousands
OF other United States citizens who
became permanent residents of the
capital of gayety'
Some Americans, financially inde-
pendent, migrated to Paris because they
liked the Intellectually stimulating and
artistic life of the French metropolis.
Others were representatives of Amer
lean corporations which maintained
Paris Offices. Still others were students
and artists.
Added to this permanent colony, par
tlcularly in summer, were literally thou
sands of tourists who were doing"
Europe. And, whatever other capitals
they might miss, they never missed
Paris. Their troubles, ranging from lit,
tie Louise's lost dog to grave illness,
were deposited readily in the ample
lap of the American Embassy.
Americans in Paris
In 1929 it was estimated that there
were 10000 permanent American resi-
dents in Paris. enough to make them.
in fact, city within city" The de-
preston of the early 193Os, wiping out
comfortable investments in stocks and
bonds, sent many of the leisure-claSs
Americans scurrying home from Paris to
save what they could from the fnan-
clal wreckage, and reduced incomes here
also cut radically into the tourist trade
But until the very outbreak of the pres
ent war Paris had a larger American
population than any other European
city.
Now, with the Germans driven back
across their borders, Americans again
will be streaming to Paris-only busi-
nessmen on essential missions at first,
according to State Department rul-
ing; but with the defeat of Germany
thousands of others will again migrate
to the 'city of light" Foremost among
this tide of immigrants will be those
who once lived in Paris, many of whom
have family ties there then the idlers,
the students ana the tourists.
BY next summer, probably, the Amer
lean Embassy and consulate will be
humming busily. as OF yore.
Doing business at the same old
stand?"
Pretentious Diplomatic Quarters
Yes. Well, the stand" is rather ele-
CANT, at that. In fact there are two
stands" for the United States has in
Paris the most pretentious diplomatic
setup maintained ip any foreign cap
ital.
First, there is the dignifed, solid
looking stone residence of the Am
bassador at No. 2 Avenue dIena. which
was purchased in 1924 at a cost of
S200,775. Few American tourists, un-
less they are important enough to rate
a personal invitation for cocktails or
dinner with the Ambassador, ever see
this building
Much more elaborate, larger and more
centrally located is the chancellory
building at the corner of the Rue
Boissy d'Anglas and the Avenue Gabriel
on the Place de la Concorde where all
the official American activities in Paris
are centralized. The great white-stone
building houses not only the Offices of
The Embassy and consulate but also
those of the military attache, the naval
attache, the commercial attache and
The American Battle Monuments Com
mission which planned and now su-
oervises the French cemeteries where
are buried the American dead of the
First World War. Before the war some
800 persons in all categories were en-
ployed by the Paris Embassy.
1t is to this imposing building that
Americans go to have their passports
their wrongs righted and
their troubles adjusted. 1t is, in fact,
the workshop of the American diplo-
matte mission.
An Elaborate Workshop
But actually workshop is the last
thing one thinks of when, strolling
aown the Place de la Concorde, he first