REFORM URGENT IN SERVICE

Curtis Guild '81, spoke in Emerson A yesterday afternoon on "The Needed Reorganization of Our Department of State." At the outset he made it clear that his comments were not intended to reflect on the present administration nor on the personnel of the present service, but rather on a system which, through the neglect of Congress, has for many years been a source of embarrassment to the Department of State.

He urged the authorization of an enlarged force of clerks and secretaries and cited instances of costly delay caused by the lack of enough clerks on hand to decipher code telegrams. He also mentioned important European cities where the United States is either insufficienty represented or not represented at all today.

He advocated the placing of a service on a permanent basis, as in other countries, so that an ambitious and patriotic young man might take up diplomacy as a career, knowing that his efforts would be rewarded. Here, a change of administration means a change of Secretary of State and most of the ambassadors and consuls. In every country except the United States there is a permanent secretary who knows who is who in diplomacy and remains in his position for a long period of years.

Proper embassies in foreign cities are also important. The unsatisfactory quarters of most American ambassadors compare very unfavorably with the magnificent and stately dwellings of those of the other nations of the world. If the Department of State would spend more money on its foreign service and less on Civil War pensions all this would be eliminated.

In conclusion Mr. Guild spoke of President Lowell's suggestion of having a United States Diplomatic Academy for the training of diplomats. Many American representatives abroad today do not even know the language of the country they are in. Such a school on the lines of the United States Military and Naval Academies would probably obliterate many evils in the present service.