MR. CROMWELL ROLLS HIS OWN

That a man like James H. R. Cromwell can serve as American ambassador to Canada is clear proof of the cordial relations existing between these two neighbors. The adverse criticism which accompanied his appointment a short time ago has now been fully justified. For when Mr. Cromwell announced yesterday that America's frontier lies on the Rhine he was guilty of a breach of diplomatic good sense amply testifying to his unfitness for the job.

Underlying Cromwell's blunder is a basic fault in the administration of our diplomatic service. American ambassadors receive salaries far too small for the expenses which they are bound to incur as official representatives of the United States Government. The result quite naturally is that very few men can afford to accept the responsibility of diplomatic service and we must expect incompetence.

But even under existing conditions, Messrs. Roosevelt and Hull should have been able to draw from the pork-barrel a better appointment than that of the present tobacco-minister to Canada. Doubtless they now regret their choice. For by his outspoken attack upon Germany Mr. Cromwell has placed the State Department in a most embarrassing position; many hearers will take Cromwell's outburst as reflecting official American views. But the ambassador's pipe contains only ashes. "How easy," he cries, "it is for unthinking people to proclaim that what happens in Europe is no concern of theirs. . . . How easy to shut one's eyes and thus seek to avoid the horrid sight of the bloody and seething world revolution which threatens to overwhelm us all."

No one is shutting his eyes to the horrid sight of Europe at war. The great majority of Americans merely feel that the United States can best serve the cause of democracy by maintaining it here. They do not wish to add to Europe's blood-bath by our participation in it. Accordingly, they deplore the crusading blasts of James H. R. Cromwell as the type of emotionalism which leads straight to the front-line trenches.