St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1945-10-19
Washington
Spotlight
By Louis Lautier


Presidential officers and civil
service employees. Presidential ap'
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 wal
agencies. But since the Taft ad'
ministration there has been no ap'
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 H
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-Blanchard of Louisiana, both
white, successfully, to the post al
Port-au-Prince.
During the American occupation
this Government was represented
at POrt-au-Prince by General John
81. 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, or
June %, 1880, and Norman Armour
white, also of New Jersey, on July
&c, 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 OF
additionally black jobs. Every
American citizen should have al
equal opportunity to serve his coun'
try according to his ability anc
character.
Being quite realistic, however, il
appears ~ that greater recogni
ton in Presidential appointments
should be given to colored persons
and ~ 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 we'll 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, Oceanis
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 ant
Angola, Africa.
Democratic party chieftain'
might well consider some of thes'
posts as rewards to deserving
cOlored Democrats, whose educa
ton, training and background Fl
them to represent this Government
in foreign countries.