THE CABINET: Fee Simple

It was announced that the Palace of Schönborn in Prague, Czecho-Slovakia, had been acquired by the U. S. Government. Henceforward, the U. S. Minister at that city will abide on ground that belongs to his Government in fee simple. One more servant of the State Department will be properly accommodated.

Another is likely to be added to the list when Congress assembles; for it is understood that the Administration will recommend that an expenditure of $1,150,000 be made to acquire land and build a new Embassy and Consulate in Tokio, where the old (and inadequate) Embassy was destroyed by the earthquake.

Heretofore, Uncle Sam, as represented by his Ambassadors and Ministers in foreign countries, has as a rule been merely a tenant. The disadvantages of this have been double: 1) Rent has been almost always exorbitantly high; 2) quarters have been, as a rule, inadequate. A third disadvantage, in countries that set more store by outward show than simple-living Uncle Sam, has been the loss of prestige and dignity due to the poor housing of our emissaries, even as compared to that of such countries as Siam, Poland, Cuba, Persia.

In seven Capitals we own our Embassies: London, Paris, Constantinople, Havana, Mexico City, Santiago, Rio de Janeiro. In eight capitals, we now own our Legations*— Prague, Christiania, Tangier, Bangkok (Siam), Peking, Panama, San Jose (Costa Rica), San Salvador. We own our Consulates at Shanghai, Amoy (Southern China), Seoul (Korea), Tahiti.

Elsewhere we rent—in Berlin, Rome, Vienna, Budapest, Brussels. The Hague, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Berne, Madrid, Lisbon. Only in the last decade has much progress been made in putting our representatives into American-owned homes. Several of the few we own—vide London, Mexico City— are the gifts of wealthy Americans. Crowded offices, dirty buildings, bad plumbing have been the earmarks of our official residences abroad. Gradually we are improving.

*Legations differ from Embassies in that their inmates are Ministers instead of Ambassadors and have a lesser salary. When the title of the inmate is changed, the building also changes in rank.