WHITE] DIPLOMATIC SERVICE OF UNITED STATES 131 
One of the thoroughly wise arrangements of every British Em- 
bassy or Legation—an arrangement which has gone for much in 
Great Britain’s remarkable series of diplomatic successes throughout 
the world—is to be seen in her maintaining at every capital a full 
number of Secretaries and Attachés. These serve, not only in keep- 
ing the current office work in the highest efficiency, but become, as 
it were, the antenne of the ambassador of Minister—additional eyes 
and ears to ascertain what is going on among those most influential 
in public affairs. Every Embassy or Legation thus equipped serves 
also as an actual and practical training-school for the service. 
VII. I would appoint each Attaché from the ranks of those espe- 
cially recommended and certified to in writing by leading authori- 
ties in the department for which he is expected to secure information : 
as, for example, Political Attachés by the State Department ; Military 
Attachés by the War Department; Naval Attachés by the Navy 
Department ; Financial Attachés by the Treasury Department ; Com- 
mercial Attachés by the Department of Commerce; Agricultural 
Attachés by the Department of Agriculture; but always subject to 
the approval of the Secretary of State as regards sundry qualifica- 
tions, hinted at above, which can better be ascertained by an inter- 
view than by an examination. 
I would have a goodly number of Attachés of these various 
sorts, and, in our more important Embassies, one representative 
from each of the departments above named. Every Attaché, if 
fit for his place, would be worth far more than his cost to our 
government, for he would not only add to the influence of the 
Embassy or Legation, but to its efficiency. As a rule, all of 
them could also be made of real use after the conclusion of their 
foreign careers: some by returning to the army or navy and bring- 
ing their knowledge to bear upon those branches of the service; 
some by taking duty in the various departments at Washington, 
and aiding to keep the government abreast of the best practice in 
other countries; some by becoming professors in universities and 
colleges, or writers for the press, thus giving us, instead of loose 
guesses and haphazard suggestions, information based on close 
knowledge of international problems and of their solution in coun- 
tries other than our own. 
From these arrangements I feel warranted in expecting an evolu- 
tion of better out of present good in our diplomatic service. Thus 
formed, it would become, in its main features, like the military and 
naval services, and, indeed, in its essential characteristics as to 
appointment and promotion, like any well organized manufacturing 
