Foreign Service Offers Unusual Attractions as a Career Says Embassy Member--Is One of the Smallest Professions

In the choice of careers which present themselves to college men, there can be no doubt that the foreign service offers unusual attractions, combining, as it does, the occasion for foreign travel and residence, the opportunity for contact and acquaintance with the moving minds of the world, and the satisfaction of a patriotic service to one's own country. Considering the amount of space in history, and in current events, which diplomacy occupies, and the amount of public attention which it has always received, it is surprising to note that it is without question one of the smallest professions. There are probably less than 12,000 officials in the whole world in the combined Diplomatic, Consular and Foreign Office Services of all Powers, and if we should take the Diplomatic establishment alone, it would presumably be about a quarter of this number, or some 3,000. One can get some appreciation of these figures from considering the proportion of the Foreign Service in the United States, where there are approximately 750 persons in the Foreign Service (of which about 200 are in the Diplomatic and 550 in the Consular Service) and in addition there are about 700 persons in the Department of State, making a grand total of 1,450 out of 130,000,000, or approximately 1 to every 100,000 inhabitants. I have given these statistics, not to be discouraging, but to indicate the fact that, like all Government activities, the work of the Foreign Service must be viewed by the persons entering upon it not simply as a personal career, but also as a representative function in which he must take the share of many of his countrymen in representing to other nations the ideals and interests of his own.

Large Percentage of College Men

A university education is not a prerequisite to entry into the Foreign Service, since entry is dependent on the examinations especially adapted for the purpose including such subjects as international Law, Modern History, Economics and Languages. However, it is the general experience that not only the college degree, but some graduate work is almost necessary in order to pass these examinations and about 95 per cent of the whole Service is made up of college graduates representing a wide variety of the universities of this country.

Foreign Service Not So Romantic

The conduct of Foreign Affairs is neither so brilliant and romantic as the writers of fiction and the producers at Hollywood would make it, nor so tedious and dry as the memoirs of statesmen, with their concomitant quotations of dull documents, might lead you to believe. It is a career with a constant heavy routine and something of the emergency quality of the physician's profession, since no one can know when the ills that the body politic is heir to will break forth, and when the outbreaks occur, first aid is always sought of the diplomatic representatives. No Secretary of State or Minister of Foreign Affairs, and consequently none of their subordinates, can lay down a plan of work to cover months in advance because changing conditions and new elements are sure to arise at any moment and any scheme proposed will be interfered with before it can come to fruition. There fore, in practice, the conduct of foreign affairs takes on something of a juridical character, in that the persons concerned must endeavor to settle cases as they arise, considering both precedent and expediency in the light of the new conditions which may surround the problem at the moment of decision. All the rest of the diplomatist's occupation is only incident to enabling him, in urgent cases, to act promptly and wisely with the interest of his own Government, and the necessity for maintaining friendly relations with the Government to which he is accredited in mind. It is this purpose and this purpose only that all the traditional ceremonial, and representation through entertainment and public appearance serve. A Foreign Service officer newly arrived at a post must first seek acquaintance and stimulate friendship among the people of the country in which he finds himself both in order to obtain information which will be useful to his own Government as a basis for future decisions, and likewise to lay the foundations for advice and friendly assistance when some interests of his Government are involved. To this end the ceremonies of presentation of letters, of official calls, and of dinners given and received all serve. Likewise, the cultivation of certain hobbies and proficiency in certain sports contribute to the speedy establishment of a common basis of mutual interest with new acquaintances.

Foundations of Career

Naturally the first few years at the beginning of a career must be spent in learning the tools of the trade and its routine. Therefore, it has been the policy of the Department of State in recent years to assign all new officers to rather distant spots as Vice Consuls in order that by mastering the basic elements of foreign intercourse which in the present day is mostly founded on trade relations between countries he may have sound foundation on which to build principles of action in his later career. Likewise he learns to be considerate of foreign customs and foreign ways and that it is not imitation, but tolerance combined with understanding that is the sincerest flattery.

After this foundation has been well laid, the special aptitudes of the young officer are taken into account. Special skill in trade promotion and protection, in office organization and in economic analysis will lead to the high places of Consul General in London, in Paris, in Shanghai, or Buenos Aires. On the other hand, special talent for drafting, tact in negotiation and just estimation of political situations would be recognized by work on international conferences and the positions of Counselor of Charge d'Affaires in great capitals. From either branch the President may select Ministers and Ambassadors, and there are at present some thirty who have been so chosen.

Maintenance of Peace.

The primary task of modern diplomacy is the maintenance of peace. Since the World War, the attention of the Foreign Offices of the world has shifted from the idea of checks and balances, of military alliances and understandings, to projects and methods for the peaceful settlement of disputes by arbitration and by conciliation, to the reduction and limitation of armaments, by agreement among nations, and to a solemn pledge not to resort to war as an instrument of national policy. I have been fortunate enough in my assignments as Charge d'Affaires in Switzerland and as Chief of the Western European Division in Washington to have had some part both in the efforts for general disarmament its contemplated by the Preparatory Commission of the League of Nations, and in the specific naval disarmament question confined to Great Britain, Japan, France, Italy and the United States, with the conferences in Geneva in 1927 and in London in 1930. I likewise had the opportunity to work with Secretary Kellogg in the arduous negotiations preceding the conclusion of the Kellogg Pact, and went to Paris shortly before the signature to make the final arrangements for that purpose. In all these experiences I have been particularly struck by the earnestness and intensity with which the responsible heads and representatives of the countries of the world are applying themselves to the problem of immediate mitigation and the ultimate disappearance of war. Among the elements which go to make for the success of a policy of peace and perhaps the most important is the element of friendly contact and personal acquaintance between statesmen which have developed in the course of conferences on these important subjects. Mr. Kellogg's visit to Paris in 1928, Prime Minister MacDonald's visit to Washington in the Autumn of 1929, and Mr. Stimson's sojourn in London during the Naval Conference, all have given proof of the value of that personal, friendly intercourse which it is the principal task of diplomacy to maintain.

I have outlined the principal purposes of the Foreign Service, namely, the protection of American citizens and their interests, the promotion of American trade, and lastly, the preservation and invigoration of peace. If these subjects interest you, if these ideals inspire you, and if you would care to devote yourself to a life in a variegated and colorful pattern in the pursuit of them, you will find the Foreign Service a career of rich rewards if, on the other hand, you are hoping to accumulate a fortune or to grow old in one scene with one set of friends, you will not find happiness in this career its greatest satisfaction lies in the fact that as a representative of your country it makes you very much a part of the stirring times in which you live