A QUESTION OF DIPLOMACY

The news that Brand Whitlock is to be displaced as minister to Belgium comes as a grim reminder that political tradition is still rampant. No matter how able a man his successor may be, the act smacks of an antiquated political bogie that dies hard. Mr. Whitlock has given eight years of the most efficient and most self-sacrificing service. Throughout the war he carried on not only delicate relations of the United States as a neutral and as a combatant, but served as well the interests of the other warring nations which were intrusted to him. His humanitarian work outside the embassy alone was enough to make him a lovable figure. In Belgium he has become a popular hero, and through his personality the United States has been idealized in the estimation of the people.

But partisan politics must have its fling. The important foreign posts are the plums that politicians grow to feed campaign fund contributors; until some political Burbank produces a new variety they will continue to be eaten as soon as they are ripe. America's international relations cannot reach the plane attained by other nations, as long as our foreign representatives are subject to change without notice. And the appeal for a higher quality in our public servants will not be answered as long as they have so doubtful an incentive to service as now exists.