THE CABINET: In the Tradition

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> For 95 years either Second Assistant Secretaries William Hunter or Alvey Augustus Adee provided continuity in the State Department, saved inexperienced secretaries serious mistakes. Hunter came in with Andrew Jackson, worked under Martin Van Buren, served 57 years. Adee came in in 1878, served until 1924. Deaf, reserved, unmarried, Adee often slept in his office when work became heavy, examined almost every written State Department communication for 30 years. When he became third assistant Secretary of State, John Hay cried, "The country is safe!" Known as semper paratus, faithfully keeping a diary and never entering a syllable that dealt with his public life, Adee gave the Department one of its favorite anecdotes: during the Boxer Uprising he was asked what happened during an interview between Secretary John Hay and Wu Ting Fang. Said Mr. Adee, "Mr. Hay was rather hazy and Mr. Wu was rather woozy."

Says Professor Bailey of isolation—"Between 1689 and 1918 there were eight general European wars. And the American people were involved in every one of them, whether they wanted to be or not." Unjustified is the conclusion that the U. S. must be drawn into every general war, but "it seems reasonably clear that America has never been, and probably can never be, completely separated from Europe."

Said Elihu Root: "When foreign affairs were ruled by autocracies or oligarchies, the danger of war was in sinister purpose. When foreign affairs are ruled by democracies the danger of war will be in mistaken beliefs. The world will be the gainer by the change, for, while there is no human way to prevent a king from having a bad heart, there is a human way to prevent a people from having an erroneous opinion."