INSIDE HISTORY OF THE CRANE INCIDENT
Inside History of the Crane Incident IN the department of "The Interpreter's House" in the January American Magazine, there is an article on the "Crane incident," which is so ably and interestingly...
...Two days before Mr...
...Taft was in California at the moment, and Mr...
...Crane reached Washington, saw Mr...
...that he must return to Washington and explain...
...Although assigned to one of the most critical posts in the present world, Mr...
...Crane is a victim—a vicarious sacrifice, I suppose we might call it—to some unknown power that demanded his head for some unknown reason...
...Knox with all his experience of men and affairs should be willing to do so brutal a piece of work to satisfy it...
...That when the President of the United States has said: 'This is the very man...
...Apparently they had never seen it...
...And that is what the Secretary of State did in the Crane affair...
...Crane went to San Francisco to sail...
...In the weeks immediately preceding his departure he h^d been having a puzzling experience...
...Crane was suggested, the administration and everybody else who knew said, 'Just the thing...
...Knox, saying that Mr...
...Moreover, if it had not been for the importance Mr...
...It hurts my pride to know that my government is capable of such an awkward piece of maneuvering...
...Finally Mr...
...But to bungle—to give a reason that the man in the street sees the holes in—that is the worst thing a diplomat can do...
...Inside History of the Crane Incident IN the department of "The Interpreter's House" in the January American Magazine, there is an article on the "Crane incident," which is so ably and interestingly written that the following excerpts from it are here quoted: "I suppose everybody remembers Mr...
...He will not do what we want...
...Knox and received an explanation...
...Across the continent enroute to Washington reporters invaded the train at every station, fully one hundred in all, and not one of them could give Mr...
...Evidently some strong and sudden pressure was brought to bear on Mr...
...It was laughable—the pretext—laughable because so clumsy...
...Taft admitted he didn't know that there was any embarrassment...
...But what a power it must be that Mr...
...Crane breakfasted with him, and when he pushed the President to explain how he had embarrassed the government, Mr...
...Knox made known the specific interview which he claimed had embarrassed the State Department, the two embassies interested, those of China and Japan, sent out for copies of the newspaper containing it...
...He must go.' And the Honorable the Secretary of State marches him to the door, trying to fasten on him as he does so a faked badge of indiscretion—the disgrace of disgraces in the diplomatic world...
...He understands what we want to do in the East...
...Crane any hint of where or when or how he had embarrassed the government...
...Crane had never been allowed one hour of counsel or given one line of instruction from the Secretary of State or his assistants, although he had repeatedly sought counsel and instruction...
...Why did no one think of it before?' "In October Mr...
...Crane at once showed...
...He saw no way to accomplish it but by throwing a burden of indiscretion and unfitness on him, and he tried it—cruel and unworthy thing that it was—and did it with so little fineness that he has discredited himself...
...We must have him,' the president of some unknown power comes along and says: 'This is not the man...
...The interview of which Mr...
...They were...
...These are the things which are not done by gentlemen...
...When he demurred about going unequipped, he was told over the telephone that if the department had any suggestions they would be sent to San Francisco...
...It was too flimsy to be considered...
...The truth seems to be that Mr...
...Knox complained contained nothing which had not been in the newspapers weeks before, as Mr...
...I confess to a feeling of personal humiliation in this matter...
...Crane's appointment last spring, how the Chinese post was vacant, and how when Mr...
...But why should he have done such a thing...
...Crane had by an indiscreet interview placed the State Department in a most embarrassing position...
...Knox to remove the new minister...
...Crane was to sail he received a telegram from the Hone-able the Secretary of State, Mr...
...Diplomats may lie, I believe, if they are not found out...
...Knox himself had given it, they never would have heard of it...
...Moreover, when finally Mr...
Vol. 1 • January 1910 • No. 52
