A DIPLOMATIC SOLDIER

Almost every young man carries somewhere in the secret places of his heart the words "I want to be a military man". Unfortunately, no doubt, many a young man is given the chance and then he may or may not become a real military man. For to be a great soldier takes head as well as heart and to be such a soldier and diplomatist, too, takes both head and a magnetic personality.

Major-General Allen, who speaks to night at the Union, has proved himself both soldier and diplomat. His military training he gained in the way of the ordinary soldier; his diplomatic ability has been built up out of his experience, as a military attache in Russia and Germany, as an organizer of native constabulary in the Philippines, and in the delicate position of commander-in-chief of the American forces at Coblenz on the Rhine. His success in the latter position may be judged by the fondness which the Germans felt for him and his forces and the disappointment felt both by the Allies and by Germany when the troops were finally withdrawn.

When the ideas and the background of the Rhineland situation, reparations and national policies lie so misty in the minds of most, General Allen's impressions of Europe should be of the greatest value. People are weary of hearing about the "mess in Europe" but they are weary because they get nothing but second-hand reports and cross-reports. One may be sure that the words of the United States representative on the Inter-Allied Rhineland Commission will be fresh, clarifying and weighty.