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Show Wanted A Statesman One of the greatest public offices in the world is the Chairmanship of the United States Senate Committee Com-mittee on Foreign Affairs. That office was left vacant va-cant when William Joel Stone, senior Senator from Missouri, died on" April 14. It hUs been nothing less than a calamity that during these critical years in the life of the nation and the world this position of international power has been occupied by a man extremely ex-tremely unfit for it. , It is an understatement to say that in his death the nation has suffered norloss. He was a crafty politician, as his nickname, "Gumshoe Bill," indicates. He knew how to appeal to the ignorant igno-rant among his constituents without imperiling his own position by solidifying too much the opposition of the intelligent During .the months hat elapsed between the outbreak out-break of the war and America's entrance into it, Senator Sen-ator Stone was one of the centers of pro-German propaganda; pro-paganda; and he went so far as to throw his influence, in favor of the yielding of American rights to Germany's Ger-many's policy of terrorism. After America declared war Senator Stone'sattitude was nominally loyal, but his influence was still unwholesome. He was master of parliamentary camouflage, and his remarks in the Senate were often the object of the amusement of his colleagues, because in making them he was so obviously obvi-ously disregardful of the intelligence of his Immediate Immedi-ate hearers and so obviously directing his words to the uninformed in Missouri. His presence in the Senate has been a discredit to his State, and his occupancy occu-pancy of the Chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs has been, a discredit to the country. A foreigner might yell, inquire why; such a man comes to such a position,! The answer is one which Americans cannot make with any pride. The Senate Sen-ate fills the chairmanehips of the various committees by the unutterably stupid 'traditional plan of seniority. senior-ity. -The man who happens to be the longest' in the service on a committee among me majority '.ecomes ' its chairman. No other method coMd conceivably have put Senator Stone into that office. If there had been a man of statesmanlike qualities in. that position, the whole course of the country with reference to the war might conceivably have been, radically different, with a resulting saving of countless lives, the preservation preserva-tion of the country's honor, the securing of freedom for peoples who Have been enslaved by Germany, and the prevention of untold misery through the shortening short-ening of the war. It is expected that Senator Stone's successor will come to the leadership by the road by which Senator Stone himself reached it the road of seniority. In that case the chairmanship will be assumed by.Seha-ator by.Seha-ator Gilbert M. Hitchcock, of Nebraska. It is no compliment to Senator Hitchcock to say thathe is an improvement on Senator Stone; but Senator Hitchcock Hitch-cock is not one of the men supremely qualified for the office". AtSuch'a time as.'this when the country's "destiny is at stake1," political 'tradition and partisanship partisan-ship ought to be laid aside. There are two men on the committee distinctly qualified for the chairmanship. chairman-ship. One is Senator Lodge, one of the best known authorities in the world on international relations; the other is Senator Knox, who has been Secretary of h State. But both, are Republicans, and Senator Knox is the junior of all the members on the committee. It is too much to expect that intelligence will really rule in our public affairs when tradition stands in the way. Is it necessary for us to wait until we suffer suf-fer as England has suffered before we put the na- tion's welfare above party? The Outlook. |