Charles W. Eliot to Woodrow Wilson
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Dear Mr. President
Have you noticed that the instructions given by Mr. Lane to the Registers of the land offices were not that they divide the advertising fairly between Republican and Democratic papers, but that they advertise in newspapers “favorable to the Administration”? I venture to think that fair division between political parties of offices, advertising, and other patronage, although better than any onesided distribution, is not the guiding rule toward the building up of honest, effective, and patriotic Public Administration.
I have nothing but admiration for the way in which your Administration has dealt with the Consular Service. It is first–rate politics as well as first–rate promotion of efficiency; for American exporters have got firm hold of the doctrine that consuls should be active, intelligent, experienced promoters of American trade. ¹I confess that I am surprised that you have found any of the men in the Diplomatic Service, who entered it on examination intending to make it a life–career, unable or unwilling to adopt loyally and completely any new ideas about foreign affairs which your Administration wished acted on. To make such changes loyally when Administrations change is the fundamental idea of a trained diplomat who enters the Service for life. I should have thought that there would have been left over from the terms of Roosevelt, Taft, Hay, and Root, a considerable number of young men in the Diplomatic Service who would be simply delighted to have the chance to represent the moral and public considerations which ought to control the foreign policy of the United States, rather than the material interests of individual Americans or groups of Americans.
Sincerely yours,
Charles W. Eliot
President Wilson.
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