ONE

NE of the hardiest of the duck family, the goldeneye, or whistler-duck, seems to enjoy his happiest moments when the bay is frozen over, the North Wind whistles through any number of layers of woolen clothing, and the majority of the other less sturdy birds are seeking shelter. The music of his wings as he "whistles" through the early morning air brings its own message to those who have ears to hear. It says first, of course, "Here am I"— a welcome greeting to the hunter or bird-lover who has reluctantly left a specially warm bed long before dawn to be able to answer just such greetings. It also foretells probable cold and bitter weather. Few expert naturites would prophesy a rise of the thermometer when the whistlers were "cuttin' around." They do not arrive until late in the season, and their departure takes place before the spring thaws.

With their brilliant golden eyes, which are continually rolling around to take in new objects of interest in the surroundings, and their distinctly "oversized" heads-soft green in the case of the male and a dull brown in the female they win one's heart at the outset. To watch a bunch of whistlers bobbing up and down in a wind-hole in the ice, apparently unconscious of the drifting "slush" forming into ice-pack all around them as they dive fifteen or twenty feet below the surface in search of fish, or the tender roots of wild grasses that grow on the bottom, for their morning meal; until finally, sent a mile or two away to another ice-hole by some whim or unknown urge, they clatter up into the air and "musically" disappear in the distance-to watch this is to add one of the beauties of life to the list of lasting memories.

WH

family of nations he found it necessary to set up some kind of an office to deal with foreign countries. The Continental Congress had a "Committee for Foreign Affairs," but this was found inadequate, and in 1781 a "Department of Foreign Affairs" was established. Robert R. Livingston of New York was the first Secretary, and he was succeeded by John Jay. The entire staff in those days, including the envoys abroad, numbered only fourteen. The business of the Department was conducted in two rooms, and five record-books served to hold all its correspondence and reports, including its accounts.

When the new Constitution came into effect in 1789, the first executive department provided for was a Department of State. The new office had certain duties in addition to the conduct of foreign affairs. It was "to provide for the safe-keeping of the acts, records, and great seal of the United States; for the publication, preservation, and authentication of the acts of Congress," and so forth. It thus became the most important of the government departments and its secretary was named to succeed to the powers of the Presidency in case of the death of the President and Vice-President.

Thomas Jefferson was the first Secretary of State. He was aftervard elected President, a precedent hich was followed in the case of five of his successors, Madison, Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Van Buren, and Buchanan. Several other Secretaries of State, such as Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, James G. Blaine, William Jennings Bryan, and Charles Evans Hughes, have been prominent candidates for the Presidency. Thus the office has always been considered one of the most responsible in the government.

The chief duty of the Secretary is to advise the President on the conduct of our relations with other countries. While the actual power to declare war belongs to Congress, all of the preliminary matters which may lead to or avoid war are handled by the State Department. And it is the chief adviser of the President in making treaties of peace or other international agreements.

To enable the Department to do this work, all of the representatives

the Secretary of State. In the more important capitals such as London, Paris, Tokyo, and Buenos Aires are ambassadors. Of these diplomatic officers of the highest rank, the United States now has fourteen. In the capitals of states where we are not represented by ambassadors are stationed ministers. The United States has thirty-eight legations, as the establishments of ministers are called, in foreign countries. In a few of the smaller countries where our interests are not large, we are represented by consuls-general who act as "ministersresident."

Besides the ambassadors and ministers and their staffs of secretaries and clerks, the Department of State has in all of the important cities of the world officers known as consuls. In the great commercial centers are higher consular officers who are designated consuls-general. These officials have numerous duties in connection with the handling and promotion of trade, the protection of American citizens abroad, and the care of their property in case of their death in a foreign country. If you are traveling anywhere in the world, in Europe, in China, or in South America, and you get into trouble of any kind, the first thing to do is to find the nearest American consul and put yourself in his hands. There are nearly 200 consular headquarters, and in each of them are officers ready to assist you out of your difficulties.

All of the consular officers and all of the diplomatic secretaries belong to what is known as the Foreign Service. These men make diplomacy their life-work, just as an army or navy officer devotes himself to his profession. It used to be that any politician could secure a consular appointment for one of his friends, no matter how poorly qualified the man might be for the work he would be expected to do. But that time has passed. Men are admitted to the Foreign Service only after passing examinations, and they can only be discharged for failure properly to perform their tasks.

The State Department not only has to supervise the work of all of these officers abroad, but it is the place to which foreign representatives in this country bring all of the matters with which they are charged.

There

foreign nations in Washington, and all of these frequently have business which demands the attention of the high officials of the Department of State. Then too, international conferences on all kinds of subjects, disarmament, opium, radio, tariffs, and many others, are becoming more and more frequent, and all of these require study and attendance on the part of our diplomats.

With all of this increase in foreign business which has come to Uncle Sam as he has assumed a more important position in the world, the Department of State has long since outgrown the two rooms it began with back in 1781. After various moves to secure larger quarters, it moved in 1875 to the remarkable structure across the street from the White House, known as the "State, War, and Navy Building." Since then the State Department has entirely crowded out the Navy, and many of the War Department offices are in other buildings. In time, the international business of the country will occupy the whole building, if plans for a State Department Building, made in 1911 and dropped because of the war, are not carried out.

Behind the innumerable columns of the present structure, nearly seven hundred officers, secretaries, and clerks are at work on the foreign business of Uncle Sam. At their head is, of course, the Secretary of State. His chief assistants are an Undersecretary and four Assistant Secretaries. These are the men who bring all the facts together, study possible courses of action, and consult with the Secretary in the formation of policy. Their work is vital to the welfare of the people of the United States, for a mistake on their part may mean injury to the rights of American citizens and, in some cases, may even lead to war. The importance of these positions has been greatly increased since the World War, but Congress has not recognized it and the salaries paid to these officials are not sufficient for their living expenses in Washington.

yet

Below the Assistant Secretaries are the Chiefs of Division. The world is divided into six divisions for special study. These are Western Europe, Eastern Europe, The Near East, The Far East, Mexico, and Latin

America. The Division Chiefs, with their staffs, watch and record every move in the great game of world politics. They may be called upon at any moment to advise the Secretary just what has happened in their part of the world and just how it affects American interests.

Then there is the Solicitor, or law officer, of the Department. He acts as legal adviser of the government in all matters affecting the treaty relations of the country. He has eighteen assistants, and no communication is allowed to leave the Department

THE WHITE HOUSE

DRAWN BY E. H. SUYDAM

until one of them has approved it, so that no right of the country or its citizens may inadvertently be prejudiced.

An Economic Adviser follows in a similar manner all of the important economic developments in every country so that the Department may know just how any political change will affect our trade and commerce. The Economic Adviser keeps in close touch with the Department of Commerce so that every phase of the commercial life of the world is constantly under study.

A Division of Passport Control supervises the issuance of the identification papers known as passports, which certify to the officers of foreign governments that the bearer is an American citizen and entitled to treatment as such. A Division of Publications issues the statutes of the United States as they are passed by Congress, and publishes from year to year the documents relating to diplomatic affairs. A Division of Current Information gives out bulletins to newspaper correspondents so that the (Continued on page 255)

URING the war with England in 1812, a Scotchman by the name of Alexander Stuart, carried supplies for American soldiers from Albany The route by which he went is now a series of excellent State roads which a motor-car can traverse between a summer dawn and dark; Stuart required two weeks to cover the distance.

to Buffalo.

So

The wagon he drove was not the covered Conestoga of the Western pioneers; it was topless, his supplies being snugly protected by layers of canvas, and boat-shaped, high at front and back, curving to its lowest depth in the middle of the sides. massively was it constructed that, empty, and on a hard road, the roar of it could be heard half a mile away. Under it hung pails for watering the horses, and a green-painted tool-box for possible repairs along the way. Loaded, four good horses were needed to draw it.

These horses were dappled grays; so thorough a horseman was Stuart, so careful in conserving the animals' strength, while at the same time keeping to an unvarying schedule, that he was able to use the same four throughout an entire season. There were no relays waiting for him in the

scattered towns through which he passed; he carried extra horseshoes as the motorist of the present day carries spare tires; if a horse should become crippled through casting a shoe or other accident, the whole team would be invalidated since it would have been impossible for fewer than the required four to handle the load. The harness, except for such parts of it as touched the animals, was of chain.

Much of the distance was of course covered at a walk, but even a Scotchman has a latent dramatic instinct, and on entering a town, Stuart would flick his leaders lightly with the longlashed whip he had the old four-inhand driver's trick of snapping the lash forward, touching a horse at any selected point, and catching the lash neatly in the hand holding the whip-stock, as it snapped back: at the same instant he would check the leaders sharply, a matter accomplished by a movement of the wrist and middle fingers of the left hand which held the four reins. The lead-grays, tossing their heads in acknowledgment of the familiar

signal, would break, arched-necked, into a hand-gallop, the wheelers following at a dashing trot, and in this fashion Stuart, blue-eyed, sober of face, and erect upon his high seat, would pass through the village, while people ran to their doors to see the Government wagon.

Alexander Stuart was a man of courage as one must be who drives alone through sparsely settled country in war time, carrying essential things to the army: medicine, stimulants for the wounded, even mail, at times. Not only as he neared Buffalo, was he exposed to danger, for at this time the campaign lay largely along the Niagara frontier, but there were perils all along the way, and not the smallest of these was the menace of hostile Indians.

Stuart contended that Indians had been unfairly used, that their animosity toward whites was prompted by the white man's treatment of them in the early days of exploration and colonization. He believed that fair dealing with an Indian evokes fair dealing in return, and cited as an example the harmony that had ex

His friends warned him that the prejudice and ill-feeling was now of too long standing to be changed in favor of one well-disposed individual. Moreover, it was well-known that the British had Indian allies, and that, along the region bordering the frontier, there must be many who, while not openly aiding the British, were sympathizers with them and with tribal brothers fighting under the English colors. Thus, a carrier of supplies for the United States army was exposed not only to the Indians' general dislike of any white man, but also to their particular hatred of a foe to the power to which they had given allegiance. Occupying territory east and north of Buffalo, at that time only a small trading-post, was the Tonawanda tribe; these people, while not officially organized against either side, were

otherwise, to the British.

Occasionally Stuart encountered Tonawanda Indians as he neared the trading-post, but so far they had never molested him. Gravely and silently they watched the passing of the wagon, acknowledged with cold dignity, Stuart's fearless and direct gaze and silent gesture of good-will. He sometimes thought of how easily a stray arrow darting from the forest along the trail could find a mark in him, and breathed more freely when distance was put between him and the Tonawandas; relieved not only for personal danger averted once more, but because he took pride in the fact that never, so far, had he failed to arrive at headquarters on time and with supplies intact.

Dignity and courage appeal to an Indian; whatever trepidation Stuart may have felt, was never betrayed by his grave and level eyes, his expression

unhurried way. They permitted him to pass, unharmed.

It was in the early autumn of 1814. Heavy rains had made the trip unusually arduous this time. Through Central New York the roads had been bad enough, but there gravelly soil prevailed, and as Stuart entered the level region of the Tonawandas, sticky with clay, progress became a torture, and he was still twenty miles from Buffalo. He drove with his usual cautious judgment, but through here the country was primitive and little-traveled, the slippery footing and heavy roads made difficult going for the tired horses and lumbering wagon, and in spite of his most watchful efforts, Stuart miscalculated. With a jolt, the wagon rocked into a mud-hole; the horses threw their weight into the collars but the wagon stuck fast.

A man carrying a rough cargo,