Evening star. [volume], April 09, 1937, Page A-15, Image 15

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
MODIFIED BY ROOT
Attempted to Guide Nation
Along Paths With Few
est Hurdles.
The story of Elihu Root—the
lawyer "whose lifelong client ivat
the United States," who. for more
than 40 years before his recent
death at the age of 92. was the man
behind American history—is told
here in a series of articles, of which
this is the fourth. The writer,
eminent as editor and author and
professor of international law at
Columbia University, had many
close contacts with Mr. Root.
BY PHIUP C. JESSUP.
“To keep the country out of trouble
In the right wav,” Secretary of State
Root wrote to St. Loe Strachey in
1905, “is the main object of diplo
macy.” But Root, unlike some other
Secretaries of State, was not content
merely to avoid the hurdles as they
appeared in his path; looking long
ahead, he planned paths in which
there were likely to be fewer hurdles
and devised methods for removing
hurdles when they appeared.
One of his first concerns was with
Latin America. "The South Ameri
cans now hate us,” he wrote to Sen
ator Tillman in 1905, “largely be
cause they think we dispise them and
try to bully them. I really like them
and intend to show it.”
His predecessor, John Hay, for all
his charming and able qualities,
thought of the Latin Americans as
“dagoes .” To Theodore Roosevelt, the
President, of Venezeula was a “vil
lainous little monkey." Root himself
was frequently exasperated, partic
ularly by events In Central America,
but he never let his exasperation be
translated into hasty action and he
avoided t he common error of lecturing
our neighbors to the south on our own
virtues and their defects.
Father of “Good Neighbor” Policy.
With Joaquim Nabuco, the Brazil
ian Ambassador, as his stanch ally,
ha set about to lay the foundations
for what is in these days called the
“good neighbor” policy. He began by
shifting the social emphasis in Wash
ington so that the Latin American
diplomats were no longer slighted.
He continued by restraining the fiery
T. R from using the big stick when
ever, as Root, described it, “the Cen
tral American children” had “an
other attack of infantile disease,
whether scarlet fever, mumps, or
revolution, it is difficult to determine.”
He reached a climax with his tri
umphal tour of South America in
1906, the first Secretary of State to
•how that attention to a pan-Ameri
can conference and to set the prece
dent which has since been wisely fol
lowed. “The keystone of our Latln
Ametrican policy,” he said later, “is
antl-imperalism, and if we set ore
foot off that basis we are gone ”
Root had had his first taste of in
ternational problem* when he was
Secretary of War. Due to the illness
of Secretary of State John Hay, he
had borne the burden of much of the
negotiation attendant upon the In
ternational measures to reecue the le
gations at Peiping during the Boxer
rebellion. He was largely responsible
for arranging the remission of the
American share of the Boxer indem
nity, a gesture for which the Chinese
people are still grateful. He took
over the War Department mainly for
the purpose of administering the
Islands which we had acquired from
Spain—Cuba, Puerto Rico and the
Philippines,
Created Cuban Republic.
Ralying heavily on Gen Leonard
Wood, he brought the Cuban Republic
into existence, still tied to American
apron-strings, to be sure, by the
Platt amendment, but nevertheless
free and no colony of the United
States. He wrote for the Philippine
commission the instructions which are
a model charter for colonial gov
ernment. Here again he displayed
rare administrative ability by full
delegation of power and responsibili
ty to William Howard Taft, then
president of the Philippine commission.
Theodore Roosevelt had a flair for
international affairs, and before Root
took over the State Department had
already won for himself the Nobel
peace prize by ending the Russo
Japanese war. Root was never
bothered about his share of the credit
if the job was done as he thought it
ought to be done. He continued to
guide the President by humor, per
suasion and irrefutable argument.
Roosevelt was irritated by the presi
dential duty to send "absurd and
fatuous” congratulations to his "great
and good friends” who ruled other
nations. On one such occasion Root
■wrote to him:
"I observe by a specimen of your
correspondence which is passing under
my eye that you are much excited over
the fact that her imperial highness
the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Mavriki
evna. consort of his imperial highness
the Grand Duke Constantinovitch was,
on the 11th of this month happily de
livered of a daughter, who Is receiv
ing the name of Vera.
Cites Wadsworth BilL
"Permit me to call your attention
to the difference between your treat
ment of this interesting and important
topic and the letter written by you
when his royal highness the Hon.
James W. Wadsworth, charman of the
Committee on Agriculture of the House
of Representatives, was delivered of a
beef bill.”
When Root received a presidential
order forbidding work on Sunday in the
State Department, he wrote back:
"Would It be deemed proper if we
■were to do work on Sunday regard
ing the affairs of the Far East, where
it is already Monday, and transfer our
labors as Monday comes around and
Sunday recedes westward through the
Near East and Europe?”
we were long ago told on nigh au
thority that "there is no new thing
under the sun.” The similarity be
tween the problems which Boot faced
in the State Department and those
which Secretary Hull faces now are
an evidence of this truth. Take, for
example, the problem of protecting
persecuted peoples abroad. In Root's
day the people of the United States
were wrought up about the atrocities
in the Belgian Congo. It had been the
name with the Japanese annexation of
Korea.
"Many people,” Mr. Hoot remarked
later, "are still angry because we did
not keep Japan from taking Korea.
There was nothing we could do except
fight Japan; Congress wouldn't have
declared war, and people would have
turned out the Congress that had.
All we might have done was to make
threats which we could not carry out.
It was the same in the Congo. People
kept piling down on the department
demanding action on the Congo. We
ittrent the limit, which wasn’t far." A
' Root's skill in handling the agita 1
| tion is indicated by the fact that a
leading representative of the Congo
Reform Association wrote to him: "I
have spoken of you in highest terms
to thousands of people all over the
United States in my Congo meetings.”
In another part of Africa, Root did
not foresee the future importance of
Abyssinia. Roosevelt wrote him about
appointing a Minister to Addis Ababa.
Root replied: ”I never could see any
thing for a Minister to Abyssinia to
do. * * • I understand that Prester
John never was really there and that
their only Theodore killed himself
after grossly violating the constitu
tion.”
Then there was the Important ques
tion of the persecution of the Jews
in Russia. John Hay had struggled
with this problem, but had been par
ticularly influenced by domestic po
litical considerations. Root was more
interested in doing something for the
poor victims of frequent and savage
pogroms. In sending a check to the
relief fund, he wrote:
"We have little power to help them;
but for some of the homeless and de
spoiled money may be helpful, and
for some who are in despair the
knowledge that there is friendliness
and sympathy in the world may be an
encouragement and the expression
of abhorrence and condemnation by
the civilized world for the cruelties
which may have been practiced may
in time come to have some little re
straining effect.”
Principle of Diplomacy.
"One fundamental principle of di
plomacy,” he once said, "has always
been never to do or say anything
which will prevent your having frank
and confidential conversations with
people.” While he sent confidential
instructions to the American Ambas
sador to Russia urging that the Czar’s
government take some steps to check
the atrocities, he was opposed to pub
lic official action by any branch of
the United States Government, be
cause. as he wrote the chairman of
the House Committee on Foreign Af
fairs, 'They would tend, by produc
ing irritation and antagonism (on
the part of the Russian government)
to aggravate the dangers of the un
fortunate people whom they are in
tended to aid.” It Is a lesson which
might well be relearned today, even
by municipal officials.
Perhaps the thorniest problem with
which Root had to deal while he was
in the State Department was the
question of Japanese-American rela
tions. As in the case of South Amer
ica, he did not try to go the whole
way at one bound, but merely laid
the foundations for future policy.
Through his "gentlemen's agreement"
with Japan, he obtained that govern
ment's co-operation In checking the
flow of immigrants to this country. It
was not a solution which satisfied the
Californians and it did not wholly stop
the inflow, but It eased the problem
from the domestic point of view in
the United States and laid the base
for friendly relations with Japan.
When Root, at the age of 76. was
called back to Government service by
President Harding to be one of the
delegates to the Washington Disarma
ment Conference in 1921, the Japan
ese and the Chinese delegates turned
to him as a friend. Upon Mr. Root's
death 16 years later, Japanese, both
officially and privately, were among
the foremost in their sympathetic
homage. Bat the passage of the Jap
anese exclusion law in 1924 dealt a
blow to Japanese-American relations
from which the world has not yet re
covered; it was a step over which Root
grieved greatly.
Woo Nobel Prime in 1912.
Of all the international matters
with which Root dealt, those looking
toward the perfecting of the interna
tional system for peaceful settlement
of disputes will longest be connected
with his name. For them he received
the Nobel Peace Prize in 1912. His
experience in that Held could not have
been more varied. As Secretary of
State he negotiated a aeries of arbi
tration treaties which are still known
by his name. Meager though they
were, they were a first step. As a
Senator he fought for the ratification
of further treaties. He Bat as a judge
in two international tribunals and
pleaded as counsel for the United
States before a third.
He fathered the establishment in
1907 of the Central American Court
of Justice—the first permanent tri
bunal of that nature. He strove val
iantly. but without success, to have
The Hague Conference create a real
permanent international court. How
ever, as he wrote at the time, he did
not put much weight “upon the evil
consequences of a defeat * • * In a
good cause a good fight bravely lost is
always a victory.” Thirteen years later,
in 1920, as a member of a committee
of jurists appointed by the League of
Nations, he solved the problem which
prevented the establishment of the In
ternational Court in 1907 by inventing
a satisfactory method for the election
of judges.
He was urged to take a seat upon the
bench of this World Court which he
helped to create, but he declined on
account of his 75 years. "I am too
old to transplant,” he wrote to Chief
Justice Taft.
Fought for World Court.
Ardent and loyal Republican as he
was, he never shared the view of
the bitter-enders in their light against
Woodrow Wilson and the League of
Nations, but worked patiently, seeking
a solution which would lead to the
ultimate ratification of the treaty with
reservations. There was another "good
fight, bravely lost.” as was his con
tinuous campaign for the participation
of the United States in the World
Court. With Republicanism flowing
into the channels of isolation. Root
stood out for what he knew to be
sound policy. So in his Senate days
he fought against the majority of his
party for President Wilson’s repeal
of the Panama Canal tolls.
On his 79th birthday he responded
again to the call of duty and took
ship for Geneva, where he designed
a plan to meet the objections of the
Senate and bring about ratification of
the World Court treaty.
It was a hard blow for him In his
90th year to have the Senate vote
again for the Court’s rejection: It was
a much greater disappointment to him
than anything which ever affected his
personal fortunes. He was In at the
last ditch, sitting up In his dressing
gown long after his usual retiring
hour, the night before the final Sen
ate vote, to write an appeal to Presi
dent Franklin D. Roosevelt that he
change the administration tactics on
the fight in the Senate. The President
acted on his advice, but too late—the
damage had been done through over
confidence.
(Copyrlsht, 1837, by the North America*
Newspaper Alliance. Inc.)
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