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Show What of Foreign Ambassadors? jB A hundred Eastern papers are still discussing jS the question of how our representatives in for- 'jB elgn courts should be treated. Very many pa- B pers resent the imputed words of the German emperor, that the gentleman appointed to fill the B role of ambassador to his court has not the neces- jB sary fortune to keep up the position that the B United States should maintain there. The kaiser B may or may not have said anything of the kind, ym but if he did, were not the words true? And is it not all mostly buncombe for people B on this side to keep saying that what we need S abroad is the kind of man who by his character fm alone can command respect? 3jR A great corporation pays a superintendent S . $50,000 or $75,000 per antrum for his services and jB thinks it economy. Is not tho laborer worthy of B his hire? George Bancroft once represented the fE United States at Berlin. He had brains and B acquirements sufficient to draw to him tho very foremost of Gorman scholars. He did not need j . money to gain his way there, but on what grounds 31 "can tlie United States excuse itself for retaining & tho services of such a man on the pay of an ordi- B nary clerk? jsf The business of an ambassador is to give his $1 country the utmost service in his power. To do -if that he must roach the foremost men of the mk country to which he Is assigned. Cannot the ;M United States do as well by such a man as a steel or coal oil or railroad corporation would? ii It is true enough that we do not want a for- elgn minister to make a vulgar display of 'm wealth, though that has Its direct influence and mt carries many a favor with it. ' fflk But nations are estimated by the showing . they make. This being true, our country should have homes of its own in all the great foreign capitals for its ministers. And much thought ' fj should be expended on those houses. They ;T ought to be so largo and so finished and equipped , that they would bo distinct features in the cap- tm itals whore they are situated. Then the salary i should bo one worthy of the highest intellect aud tho most exalted character, and then no one should over be appointed and confirmed unless he had heen proven to possess the needed quallflca- ik tlcns. When a mere rich man is given such 'a smM plaoe, the United States is humiliated; the coun- M try to which he is assigned is insulted. It is as 'fflt though we said to that foreign country: "We $1 send Jones to you as ambassador. He is a little 'B short on intellect, but he is long on cash, and he m can feed you and get you drunk six nights in the -j week." m Charles Francis Adams was our minister to ;W England during the great war. He had all the I high qualifications for the place, and tho record 'I, ho made was superb. But had he been paid a salary that would have enabled him to bring the legs of tho nobility under his table two or three ! times a week, lils labors would have boon greatly lessened and his triumph greatly increased, for : the truth is, money has more influence on the ' ' average man, be ho peasant or prince, than any I other one tiling. And that thought should never be put aside :! when thinking how to provide for our foreign j ambassadors. |