Evening star., 1948-11-28
Britoin's Erudite, Young Envoy

Not Career Diplomat,
But We!fQuo!ified
For the Post
ter. was Minister Of Supply and he
invited suggestions for solutions Of
the persistent and ever-increasing
lproblems. Franks was appointed to
survey these suggestions and report
on needed chSngAs. He was so src-
cessful that he was named principal
assistant secretary to Morrison and
was given special responsibility for
labor problems. He continued to
rise in this agency, to which was
later added the Ministry Of Aircraft
Production. The end Of the war
found him permanent secretary of
the combined ministries at an an
nual salary Of $500, the highest in
the civil service.
Offered Hish.Salaried Jobs
After the war he was importunec
to stay in government service. The
Job offered him was chairman o!
the Steel Board, which carried with
1t enormous powers and prestige
He also received several offers ol
high-payihg jobs in private indus.
try. He turned them all down In
l946 for the provostship at Queen.
that pays $4,000 a year and fur.
nishes lovely Queen Anne resi-
dence in the college grounds.
II doubt whether I shall ever have
a more suitable income" Sir Olive;
told the writer, "or whether I shall
ever live 50 we'll"
In his ambassadorship, he re.
ceives $500 a year and an enter.
tainment allowances Of 100000. This
amounts to $4,000 and $50, 600, re.
spectively. He must pay a stiff in.
come tax. on the $4,000 and hi
personal living expenses are higher
here.
Sir Oliver-he was knighted with
the Order of the Bath in 1916 fol
his war work-was contented with
the contemplative life at his Ole
college. He told a friend:
I'm government all ones energy
goes into trying to decide what is
possible. At oxford, one can think
about what is best"
Within q year, however, the La
Dor government demanded that Sir
Oliver lend his talents in another
world crisis. This time it was over
Secretary Marshalls Harvard speech
promising American aid If the
European countries would organize
to help themselves. Here again
Sir Oliver disproved Francis Bs =
cons assertion that philosophers
make imaginary laws for imaginary
commonwealths and their discourses
are as the stars which give little
light because they are so high"
Services Demanded Again
The Is free nations met in Paris
last year during one Of the hottest
summers on record. He began his
working day at 8 am. by presiding
over the daily meeting of the 40
British delegates. At 10 am. he
would generally be listening to
technical reports; at II am. he
would take the chair at the execu-
tive committee. and he would usu-
ally lunch with other delegates or
journalists. In the afternoon and
evening there would be further
! technical discussions, more meet
ings of the executive or full commit
tee and often a session of the full
conference.
AS the impartial chairman of the
conference or important committee,
he became the advocate Of the ."l5-
minute recess" When 1t looked as
though proceedings had come to an
impasse or If some delegate was
blocking action by his rhetoric, Sir
Oliver would propose a breathing
spell SO we can q i gets some air"
During the recess he would usually
be seen in deep conversation with
the delegate who had blocked &C
ton. When the committee or con-
ference reassembled, things would
go along smoothly.
Words Are Precision Tools
While In the Ministery of Supply
ne had used similar tactics in deal
ing with the Russians. During an
UNRRA conference at Montreal
the Russian delegates blocked action
by their own Interpretation of the
word priority" insisting that So
Wet Russia should have first call on
supplies with little left for other
countries. Franks, to whom words
are precision tools, undertook to
persuade the Russians that they
could accept the conference agree
ment on the word priority" without
violating their Kremlin instructions.
Il talked for many hours with
them," he'said, "and I came to real
ize that they were like lawyers, even
Byzantine lawyers, who have great
respect for written text. The prob
lem was to arrive at mutual agree
ment on the meaning of certain
words. In this instance it was to
convince them that priority con-
noted series or a sequence. 1t is
true that I succeeded in obtaining
their agreement, but the incident
has perhaps been exaggerated
tBy special ARRANGEMENT with the
ST Louis Post Dispatch.)