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The necessity for a trained staff is obvious. The notion that a wide-awake, average American can do anything is flattering to the American pride, but costs the Government dearly. In every line of effort-professional, commercial or industrial-it is thoroughly understood that you cannot obtain the necessary technical equipment through mere general experience or by reading instructions. There are thousands of items of necessary information which are a part of the common knowledge of men whose lives are entirely devoted to a class of work which cannot be obtained by anyone who is suddenly introduced from the outside. I have no regard for artificial technicalities and I fully understand the dangers of departmental routine, but it is a very shortsighted and foolish view which would confuse routine and expert knowledge. The patent fact is that you cannot have an efficient Foreign Service without having trained men and you cannot secure trained men without an adequate system for their selection and maintenance; and you cannot keep men who have been properly selected and trained and are invaluable to their country unless you offer reasonable opportunities for promotion.

I grant the importance of appointing men from outside the service to important diplomatic posts. It is most advisable that the country should have the opportunity to draw upon its reserves of wide experience, sagacity, and ability; that it should secure the benefit of the mature judgment of those who represent the fruition of American opportunity, culture and discipline, and thus invigorate the processes of diplomacy. But it must be remembered that these men, despite their training and ability, would be helpless if they did not have the backing of trained staffs. If you are to secure the full benefit of the most distinguished service at the top you must still have your organized service in all the other grades. And, as I have said, while you cannot sacrifice the great advantage of appointments from the outside to the chief positions, it is absolutely necessary that there should be a sufficient frequency of promotions from the Service itself to the chief positions, that is, of heads of missions, so as to make possible a career warranting its pursuit by a fair proportion of the very best of our young men. The Consular Service through appropriate legislation was long ago (in 1906) placed upon a merit basis, and also by recent enactment, in 1915, supplementing an Executive Order of 1909, the secretarial portion of the Diplomatic Service has been placed upon a non-political basis by provision for appointment after competitive examination and by promotion for reasons of merit and efficiency up to Class I. The examinations are conducted so as to afford satisfactory tests, both of attainment and of adaptability to the requirements of the service. The examinations are conducted in the Department by men of great experience who know precisely the needs which must be met and the sort of equipment desired.

But while in recent years there has been great improvement by reason of this method of selection, we have serious difficulties to meet. These are:

The Diplomatic Service is greatly underpaid. A man of moderate means, whatever his ability, cannot accept the more important posts of Ambassador or Minister. These high offices are reserved to men of wealth, when in the interest of the country they should be within the reach of men of ability, whatever their private fortune. Certainly they should be within the reach of men of talent who have ignored the opportunities to amass wealth by reason of their long employment in the service of their country.

The salaries are so low in the classified Diplomatic Service that the choice of candidates is largely restricted to young men of wealthy families who are able and willing to a considerable extent to pay their own way. It is a most serious thing to be compelled to say that a young man without means, who desires to marry and bring up a family after the American tradition, cannot be encouraged to enter upon one of the most important careers that the country has to offer. I say bluntly that no American can face the facts without a sense of humiliation, and he is compelled to qualify his boasting of our intelligence and civilization so long as this condition continues.

In the present situation there is a double harm, first in keeping out men who would invigorate the Service, and on the other hand, in creating the impression that it is a rich man's club. Let me, however, warn you against an erroneous impression. It does not follow because a man has the advantage of the background of success and wealth in his family, generally won in a hard, competitive struggle, that he is not entirely worthy of appointment and promotion. On the contrary, we have some of the finest young men of the country in our service, and we ought to be grateful that under the existing conditions they are able and content to turn aside from financial opportunities to follow an intellectual bent and seek a career of honorable service to the nation. I do not depreciate those who are in the Service, but I do decry the method which limits the selection and discriminates against the poor man of equal ability. We talk a great deal of love of our country, and I should like to see a better appreciation of what its interests demand.

We have the same difficulty in the Consular Service because of the present salary scale. It is difficult to retain its best men because of tempting offers constantly made to them by the business world.

It must be borne in mind that we have always had in this country a very large proportion of our young men of the highest ability who are strongly influenced by other ideals than those of pecuniary gain. It is because of this fact that in the past generations, while America was advancing by leaps and bounds, and vast fortunes were being accumulated, the church and the teaching profession were enriched by our best blood. But there is a limit to the sacrifice that can be asked. There is a difference between plain living and actual poverty and distress. Further, the prospect that invites the young man of intellectual ambition is one of career, of recognition, of distinction; hence, it is of vital importance in organizing our Diplomatic

and Consular Services that we should provide sufficient for a decent living, and hold out the hope that conspicuous ability and fidelity will be appropriately recognized.

There is also the need of a greater flexibility. There has long been too great a distinction between the political interests of the Diplomatic Service and the commercial interests of the Consular Service. Both are engaged in political work and both are engaged in commercial work. You cannot at this time take economics out of diplomacy. If you would protect our interests on the one side you must support them on the other, and I believe that the two branches of the Service, now called the Diplomatic and Consular, should be drawn together and treated as an interchangeable unit. This would permit men to be assigned from one Service to the other and thus give a greater range of opportunity for putting men in the places where they belong as their aptitudes and special talents are revealed.

In all these matters we must be realists and not permit our mental processes to be stopped by archaic differentiations. Nearly all nations have found it necessary to make a considerable reorganization in order better to equip their Foreign Service, and this country should not lag behind.

What I have said as to the service abroad applies also to the Department. The Department is undermanned. The work places too great pressure on many of the officials and employees who are required to sacrifice constructive hours to routine. There is need of more and better paid officials to handle important matters. The work of the Department in Washington is interlaced with that of the Field and the aim is constantly to interchange the benefits of the experiences of each. Thus men should be brought in from the Field to the Department so that the Department may be enriched by contact with those who have had the benefit of experience abroad, and at the same time men should be sent from the Department to the Field so that there may be a better understanding and more intimate knowledge of the Department's policies. Happily this reciprocal influence is being maintained and the spirit of both Field and Department leaves nothing to be desired. Then there should be a coordination of effort among the different departments of government. Sometimes it might be supposed that the different departments of government were so many different governments, such has been at times the nature of the intercourse between them. While we are intent upon perfecting any particular agency of government, we can never afford to lose sight of the fact that it is a single government whose varied instrumentalities we are considering and which must act as a single government with a unified purpose and method.

I am glad to say that we are achieving at this time a very gratifying measure of cooperation among the Departments; in particular the relations between the Department of State and the Department of Commerce are most cordial and mutually helpful. We are working with each other and endeavoring each to aid the other in its recognized field of effort. It is my

most earnest desire that all practicable measures shall be taken to promote American commerce and disseminate through all appropriate channels the essential information which the American merchant needs.

The Department of State is carrying the flag of the twentieth century. It aims to be responsive in its own essential sphere to what it recognizes as the imperative demands of American business. It aims at the coordination of the work of all departments bearing upon the same great object of American prosperity. It intends in its contacts with foreign governments to maintain the American tradition of candor and good faith, and at this difficult time it is earnestly desirous of aiding in the reestablishment of stable conditions and thus of contributing to the welfare of other peoples upon which our own prosperity must ultimately depend.

SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE CONDUCT OF OUR FOREIGN

RELATIONS 1

BY THE HONORABLE CHARLES E. HUGHES

Secretary of State of the United States

I desire to take this opportunity to present some observations on the conduct of our foreign relations, not to define particular policies, but to consider method and control.

Recent developments abroad have marked the passing of the old diplomacy and the introduction of more direct and flexible methods responsive to democratic sentiment. Peace-loving democracies have not been willing to rest content with traditions and practices which failed to avert the great catastrophe of the world war. Public criticism in some instances overshot the mark and becoming emotional enjoyed the luxury of a bitter and indiscriminate condemnation. The most skilled diplomats of Europe were charged with having become "enmeshed in formulae and the jargon of diplomacy"; with having "ceased to be conscious of pregnant realities". More potent than the critics were the exigencies due to the war which required the constant contact and direct interchanges of responsible leaders. The aftermath of problems has made necessary the frequent use of similar methods permitting concert, flexibility, more frequent informal intercourse, and decisions which, if not immediate, are relatively speedy. The international conference attests the new effort to achieve the necessary adaptation to new demands. An eminent chronicler of European conferences tells us that he has attended over five hundred international meetings since 1914. There has been a corrresponding stirring in foreign offices, modifications of the old technique and a new sense of responsibility to peoples.

It would be a shallow critic who would associate the United States with either the aims, the methods or the mistakes of the traditional diplomacy of Europe. To her "primary interests", as Washington said, we had at best "a very remote relation". We have had no part in the intrigues to maintain balance of power in Europe and no traditions of diplomatic caste. From the outset from the first efforts of Benjamin Franklin-American diplomacy has deemed itself accountable to public opinion and has enjoyed the reputation of being candid and direct. It has opposed circumlocution and unnecesssary ceremonial. Its treaties have been open to the world. Indeed, instead

1 Address at the Commencement of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, on Monday morning, June 19, 1922.

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