ALANSON : BIGELOW HOUGHTON : A NEW KIND OF AMBASSADOR
WHEN it was announced that Mr. Kellogg, the American Ambassador in London, was to be appointed Secretary of State in Washington there was much speculation as to who his successor would be. Mr. James Beck, the Solicitor-General, Mr. Medill McCormick, whose family control that great newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, and Mr. George Wickersham were all thought to be possible candidates. But those in close touch with American affairs were right in thinking that Mr. Alanson Houghton, the American Ambassador to Germany, would be nominated.
Mr. Houghton (pronounced HOton) is a close friend of President Coolidge, and is not, like most of his predeces- sors, either a lawyer or a journalist, but a cultivated and scholarly business man. Some of the comments in the British Press picture him as a typical- " big business " ' man, a kind of film ideal of the American millionaire industrialist. These are very wide of the mark. Mr. Houghton was educated at Harvard, at Gottingen and in Paris—an education that few young. men can boast of. He returned to America, to take over. the glass manufac- turing business established by his grandfather, Amory Houghton, at Corning, New York. His work there as the owner and organizer of a huge industry has always. been marked by his profound knowledge of industrial• conditions throughout the world, and his belief in the importance. of scientific research as an aid to industry no doubt his training in Germany stood him in good stead here. To-day that factory is one of the largest. of its kind in the world.
Till 1919 Mr. Houghton took no part in politics. That year he stood for the 37th New York District, and was returned to Congress. Only three years later Mr. Harding appointed' him. Ambassador. to Berlin. Mr. Houghton has been extraordinarily successful in a very difficult position. He went to a country that was inclined to be hostile, and was certainly suspicious. By his tact and sympathy he has won the friendship of all with whom he associated. He has always stood for reconciliation with Germany as an essential step towards the well-being of all nations. He even.created a mild sensation in the American Press by his earnest advocacy of this theory. It is said that it was largely due to the authority that he exercised in Berlin that Germany accepted the Dawes Scheme.
One is becoming accustomed to hearing that American Ambassadors are strong believers in friendship between Britain and America. But with Mr. Houghton this belief is almost a creed. He believes that the peace of the world rests on this friendship, and that its importance for the future of civilization is greater than that of any other single factor. He comes to London at a moment when the barometer of British-American friendship is " set fair." The relations between the two nations are probably on a more satisfactory basis than they have been at any time since John Adams took up his post here in 1785. There are several reasons for this, but perhaps the Wash- ington Naval Treaty, the abrogation of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, the Irish Treaty and the British Debt Settlement are mainly responsible for this good will.
Mr. Houghton has already many friends in England, and he will make many more during his term of office. His firm grasp of affairs, the result of many years of study and travel, fits him specially for his new post. All who 'believe that the English-speaking nations have a great work to do in bringing about sanity in international relations will be glad indeed that Mr. Houghton has been called upon to take so large a part in this work.
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