President Wilson has apparently established a new plan, or rather revived an old one. He is selecting his foreign representatives from the class known in Europe as the “intellectuals.” This policy is adopted at a highly critical time in the history of the foreign trading of the United States, and at a time when virtually all the great international questions and controversies are those of respective economic advantage, one nation over another. It comes also at a time when the great commercial and industrial rivals of the United States are pursuing a different policy, one which is perhaps worth considering. England and Germany to a notable degree, and France, Russia, and some others of the great Powers to a sufficient degree to be noticeable, are training men for all diplomatic positions, and promotions are made even to the highest places almost entirely upon the merits and suitability of the candidates. The young man who enters the foreign office service of England or Germany in a subordinate position has within his power, if he develop accordingly, to become in time an ambassador to some important country. He is thoroughly tried out, step by step, as consul and minister before the highest rank is given to him. He is moved about from one part of the world to another until he becomes in truth a cosmopolitan not only in thought and habit, but in language and knowledge. The most serious part of the education of these men is, first, the economics of their own country, and, secondly, the economics of the country to which they are to be accredited. This education is practical and not theoretical. This is true to so great an extent that, when a technical matter of trade enters into a controversy between the two state departments, the minister or ambassador is often found fully qualified to fight the battle himself in aid of the material interests of the country he represents. There are no more practical men anywhere than a majority of these who now represent the progressive industrial countries of Europe as foreign ministers or ambassadors. This particular feature of their equipment for the office is not unnecessarily paraded, however, for their social and political qualifications are more in the public eye. It is in the private talks at the State Department at Washington, in London, Berlin, Paris, St. Petersburg, or elsewhere, that their real fighting strength is disclosed. It is not a question of private fortune with them, for their governments remove any anxiety on that score by an adequate and even abundant allowance of funds not only for salaries, but for housing and maintenance. The British ambassador to Washington receives more in salary and expense allowance than does the President of the United States in proportion to the necessary expenditures of his office.