Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 285, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 December 1914 — WORK of AMERICAN. DIPLOMATS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WORK of AMERICAN. DIPLOMATS

O entertain and to keep his mouth shut —these H are the duties of an 1| American ambassador r in time of peace. But \ ak when the country to \Wr‘ which he is accredited \ y/ is at war he is called \*/ upon to do so many \l things that pnly a man 1 ’ of the coolest disposition and flneßt ability could make headway against the flood of requests. His duties range all the way from telling a distracted tourist where she can find a doctor for a crying baby to serving as a means of communication between two of the great warring powers. Prom every capital in Europe come grateful appreciations of the splendid work done by the American representatives.

Take, for Instance, the case of Myron T. Herrick, ambassador to France. On August 4, when the German ambassador to France received his passports, Mr. and Mrs. Herrick were sitting in their dismantled mansion in the Rue Francois Premier. Their trunks were t packed and Mr. Herrick was ready to hand over his papers to his successor, Mr. Sharp. They had had a pleasant stay in Paris. It had cost Mr. Herrick something like $160,000 the first year at his post, when he had to purchase his furniture, and about eight thousand dollars a month the second year. Still they had met many interesting persons and no rude story about the crudity of American diplomacy had filtered back to America. Suddenly the avalanche fell upon them. Thousands of letters, telegrams and cables swept, into Mr. Herrick’s office every day. There were panic-stricken tourists wishing to get home by express train where there were no express trains, and there were anxious friends in the United States insistent for immediate news of their friends and relatives. Besides the pleasure-seekers besieging him night and day, there was the resident colony to be thought of, thousands of them craving a private interview and advice about the best way to manage their affairs with the sudden threat of a siege. From Switzerland and from northern Italy the cohorts poured into Paris. They mipßt be given care until they could be got down to the seaports and shipped across the Atlantic. Ships were lacking and there was a general clamoring for the ambassador to cable Washington to supply the deficiency. Added to the genuine cases of distress were the clever crooks and confidence men and women who took the opportunity to reap a golden harvest Then, too,, there were many instances

of base ingratitude. Women accustomed to luxury cried curses on the ambassador’s head for failing to keep them from slight hardships. Soon there came even graver duties for our hard-pressed ambassador. The United States took over the interests in- Paris of Austria and Germany. This was delicate business, enough in itself to keep an envoy at his wits’ ends. Frightened women and children of'nations hostile to France must be protected or at least were convinced that they must be. Then there were questions of state to be handled. Mr. Herrick immediately took advantage of offers of assistance from American friends in Paris and organized a large force as best he could. There were several committees formed for relief, work. He and Mrs. Herrick worked day and night. They placed their motor cars in service. They opened their house and refurnished it and here they gave the homeless lodging and supplied food to many. They used large amounts of their own money in their work. Both fell ill, but kept on working. Finally Mr. Herrick remained the only ambassador in Paris. Mr. Sharp and Robert Bacon, a former United States ambassador, luckily arrived in time to be of assistance, but Mr. Herrick did the principal work and his name will figure in history with that of Washburne, American envoy of 1871-1872, the only diplomatist of Importance to brave the terrors of the Paris siege. The story of Mr. Herrick’s work in Paris is largely that of Walter H. Page in London and of James W. Gerard in Berlin. London probably handled the largest number of tourists.

Mr. Gerard had especial difficulties to contend with. When he took up his duties in Berlin and rented the Schwabach palace at $15,000 a year, besides spending

several thousands more in refitting, undoubtedly he had little thought for other than magnificent receptions and dinners, the usual things Uncle Sam always expects his diplomatists to do and to pay for out of their own pockets.

Bj*t the month of August found this same magnificent home filled with a mob of angry, complaining, frightened tourists, unreasonably demanding the Impossible. Mr. Gerard met them with calm patience. He stood in his office day and night, constantly it seemed, giving words of advice and cheer. Several times he even accompanied trainloads of Americans to Rotterdam just to see that they got through all right. In addition to these duties he had charge of the interest of England, Russia, Japan, France, Belgium, Servia and Montenegro. His efforts were misunderstood by a section of the German press, which saw in his assiduity in getting Americans home the threat of war by the United States against Germany.

Yet the bulk of Germans watched American efficiency with admiration, and Mr. Gerard was acclaimed as a worthy representative of a great neutral country. '• In Belgium Brand Whitlock, our minister, found himself in the actual theater of war operations. First he had to meet a swarm of frightened persons caught in the rapid advance of the German army and escort them to Antwerp. Then came the occupation of the Belgian capital. Undoubtedly Mr. Whitlock should have most of the credit for preventing scenes of violence in Brussels. He accompanied the burgomaster, M. Max, to meet the German conqueror, General Saxe von Arnim. If he did not actually, as told in some cabled stories, take Brussels “under American protection,” yet' he undoubtedly had much to do with arranging the terms of surrefader and in calming the populace. The Bruxellois swear by Mr. Whitlock now. In Vienna Frederick C. Penfleld, like Mr. Gerard, had to look out for the citizens of Russia, England, Japan, Belgium, France, Servia and Montenegro, as well as his own countrymen. His beautiful home was converted to the needs of charity.

.-.-Henry Van Dyke, minister to Holland, and Thomas Nelson Page, ambassador to Italy, also felt the heavy strain and acquitted themselves creditably. It is undoubted that one effect of the war will be to raise the estimation ot American diplomats and diplomacy apndad. The peoples of Europe realize the heavy debt they all owe to American representatives and when the time comes to settle this huge and dreadful war the ambassadors of Washington will have much to do with the difficult task of arranging the terms of peace. v