Minneapolis spokesman. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1945-10-19
Washington
Spotlight
By Louis Lautier

SSENlCe SHlplOySSo' IISolNShSioA Up
pointments, as indicated, are made
by the President, by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate.
Civil service appointments are
made through competitive examin-
ations.
Under the New Deal and during
the war emergency the number OF
colored persons appointed in the
classified civil service increased
greatly, particularly in the war
agencies. But since the Taft adj
ministration there has been no APP
preciable gain in Presidential ap-
pointments. In fact, President Will
son made only one or two.
Presidential appointments in
clude ambassadors, ministers and
consuls. There are in the foreign
service of the United States a total
of 1,O67 diplomatic, consular and
foreign service officers. Of that
number only three are colored.
They are Lester Walton, Minister
to Liberia; William C. George,
third secretary of the legation at
Monrovia, and Clifton r. Wharton,
American maritime delegate in the
Azores. A fourth, Rupert Lloyd
has just passed the foreign service
examination and probably will be
assigned as a foreign service Off
Ger at Monrovia.
At the close of the Taft admins
tration there were thirteen cOlOred
men in the foreign service. Henry
w. Furniss was Minister to Haiti.
In Liberia, William d. Crum was
the Minister, Richard C. Bundy, the
secretary of the legation, and
Colonel (then Captain) Charles
Young was military attache.
Consuls were George H. Jackson
at Cognac, France; Christopher II.
Payne at st. Thomas, Virgin
Islands; William H. Hunt at st.
Etienne, France; Edmond A. Bur-
rill (vice and deputy cousul) at st.
Etienne; James G. Carter at Tama-
tave, Madagascar; William ]. Yer
BY at Sierra Leone, West Africa;
Lemuel W. Livingston at Cape
Haitian, Haiti, and Herbert R.
Wright of Puerto Cabello, Benezu-
ella.
Furniss was the last colored man
to serve as Minister to Haiti. Presi-
dent Wilson appointed Madison R.
Smith of Missouri and Arthur
Bailly-B Blanchard of Louisiana, both
white, successfully, to the post at
Port-au-P Prince.
During the American occupation
this Government was represented
at Port-au-Prince by General John
II. Russell as American High Com
missioner. Upon the withdraw of
the United States Marines, Presi-
dent Hoover appointed Dana G.
Munro, white, of New Jersey, on
June 20, 1880, and Norman Armour,
white, also of New Jersey, on July
26, 1882.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
followed Hoover's example and ap-
pointed George A. Gordon, white,
on June 5, 1885, and Ferdinand L.
Mayer, white, of Indiana, on July
10, 1887. The present ambassador
to Haiti is Ormo Wilson, also white.
In a democracy there ought not
to be any additionally white or
additionally black jobs. Every
American citizen should have an
equal opportunity to serve his coun-
try according to his ability and
character.
Being quite realistic, however, it
appears ~ that greater recogni-
ton in Presidential appointments
should be given to colored persons
and (2) that in the foreign service
there are some countries in which
colored men could ably represent
their Government.
Examples are Brazil, where
Adolp A. Berle, Jr., is the present
ambassador, as well as in other
Latin American countries which
look with distrust at democracy as
practiced in the United States;
Ethiopia where the present ambas-
sador is Felix Cole; the French
possessions-Algeria, French Equa-
torial Africa, French West Africa,
the French West Indies, New Gale
donia in the South Pacific, Oceania
in the Central Pacific, Madagascar
(off the Coast of South Africa),
and Tunisia in North Africa; the
British possessions in West Africa
-Accra, Nigeria and Sierra Leone;
Haiti, Mexico and the Portuguese
possessions of Mozambique and
Angola, Africa.
Democratic party chieftains
might we'll consider some of these
posts as rewards to deserving
colored Democrats, whose educa-
ton, training and background fit
them to represent this Government
in foreign countries.