1932

I am writing this in the pleasant afterglow of the annual trip to Hanover that all of you make possible for the class secretary. Hanover in the spring still has the charm we remember when we bask under each year's first full moon in May.

The presence of 12 of the 19 Washington members of '32 at the March dinner of the Dartmouth Club of Washington brought us the attendance prize. Let me tell you about their interesting activities.

Howie Sargeant, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs. After wartime service with the Alien Property Custodian, Howie has for several years been in the business of trying to tell the rest of the world what goes on in the U. S. and why. His part of the State Department is responsible for broadcasts over the Voice of America, for the distribution of American documents and pamphlets and for the exchanges of students and other persons. In a world where mutual understanding is more essential than ever, the importance of the work is self evident. Howie's wife Myrna Loy has participated in the programs with him as a fellow member of the U. S. staff for UNESCO relations.

Bob Black is in the same part of the State Department. He spent three years in Cairo as cultural attache of our Legation, and is now in the International Exchange of Persons work. Bob and his wife live in the Georgetown section of Washington.

Tom Curtis, Republican member of Congress from Missouri, still has his family of four kids in his home state. He is most often heard on the floor of Congress energetically working for lower costs of Government. In a debate in March on a cut in funds for one of Howie Sargeant's programs, he stated his approach to budget matters: "I try to get the details, because I know that is the way you get these things cut down. It is not through generalities."

Charlie Odegaard has been Executive Director of the American Council of Learned Societies. He lives on the outskirts of Washington with his wife and 9-year-old daughter. Chuck has just been appointed Dean of the College of Literature, Science and Arts at the University of Michigan, to take effect September 1. Not only is he the youngest man to be Dean of the College; he is, I am sure, the first of our class to be dean of anything. There are two more, besides myself, in the State Department. Bain Davis is Officer in Charge of Venezuelan Affairs, a spot where he can draw on several years' experience in Latin American countries as a foreign service officer. The Davises have a girl and a boy, live in Maryland across the District Line, and take part in many of the activities of the Society of Friends. Chuck Owsley is a foreign service officer, now assigned to the Office of the Director for Mutual Security, Mr. Harriman, who supervises all the foreign aid programs. Chuck and his wife, with their six children, live in Georgetown.

Bill Brister has recently left the State Department's Institute of Inter-American Affairs to work on Latin American problems in the National Production Authority's foreign division. Bill has four children; lives in the District. Two others in the foreign affairs field have recently left Washington: Don MacPhail went to Paris with the Mutual Security Agency and Bill Cole went to our Consulate in Accra in Gold Coast, Africa.

Mike Isaacs and Deke Mack are with the S.E.C. Mike is Chief Counsel of the Division of Public Utilities. He has two sons, 12 and 7, and two daughters 9 and 1. Deke is Assistant Director of the Division of Corporation Finance. He has two children—one new this year.

The others in the Government group are Fred Orner, Ev Stuhrman, Joe Sawyer and Jildo Cappio. Fred is with the Railroad Division of the Office of Defense Transportation. Ev works on electronics programs in the Munitions Board of the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Jildo is an economist with the Bureau of Employment Security. I haven't previously reported his shift to Washington from the Vermont Employment Compensation Commission. He has a boy, 10, and daughters, 7 and one. Joe Sawyer is with the National Production Authority.

Joe Fanelli is practicing law in his own office. His experience as former Chairman of the U. S. Board of Immigration Appeals has made him one of the experts in the field of immigration and naturalization. He has three kids, lives in Virginia.

Brandy Marsh is Assistant to the Business Manager of the Washington Post. He also has three kids and lives in Virginia.

Ben Burch lives in Georgetown where he is still remodeling old houses, but has recently branched out, with his wife, into an enterprise called Foggy Bottom, Inc., which will deal in imported pewter, pottery and the like.

Paul Leach is in the Military Transport Division of the Association of the American Railroads. He has a girl, 14, and a boy, 9; they live in Virginia.

Bob McGuire is with the McGuire Funeral Parlors; at last report had two kids.

As for me, I've been a lawyer for Uncle Sam since December, 1938, and T have a feeling of warm contentment growing from a conviction that public service is a rewarding and worthy career. The rewards, of course, are more in the inner satisfactions than anything you can see. Since I've decided to leave my job as Assistant Legal Adviser for Economic Affairs in the State Department, however, a few words of explanation are due.

People often wonder if the constant smears aimed at Government employees don't take their toll on our will to stick to our posts. While they undoubtedly hurt the recruitment of presidential appointees, I don't think the attacks have much effect on the mass of Goverment workers who have the confidence that springs from knowing they're doing a worthy job. Futhermore, we're in politics when we work for Uncle Sam, and we know that the game calls for some roughing up. In the State Department, where the attacks have for so long been sharpest and meanest, we've been able to observe the example of our boss, who has kept his eye on the ball through the gauntlet of as bitter and unjust charges as could be slung. What is discouraging in public service though are effects of the philosophy that the cheapest government is the best government. After nearly 14 years in various goverment offices, I'm convinced that a few competent, adequately paid executives, with sufficient staff and the tools to work with, can save the taxpayers millions by their more effective, imaginative and efficient production -far in excess of the extra cost of maintaining the whole office.

The most common explanation for leaving government service is that private work means more money. That's not enough reason, though, for many. Lots of government people turn down profitable offers and opportunities. To them the spiritual satisfactions make up for a lot of the money they miss. Still, there may come a time when you see yourself at the end of a road. The chance to move ahead, especially financially, seems remote, and you realize you'll never be able to pay for a college education for your kids. Then, too, after years of the tension of government work, you would welcome a change. You may have been in foreign affairs, where a day off means a day's delay in answering some frantic plea from a far corner of the world. The radiating effects of the day-to-day operations of a government office are so far reaching, even when you're not a wheel but a mere cog in the machine, that you can't relax and enjoy a ball game when the whim tempts. So you're ready for a change, and your family is demanding one.

Then along comes an offer. It means the fulfillment of one your long-smoldering ambitions, to teach in a university. No riches, of course, but a change to smoother tempo, still in a field of public service, but far less restrictive on the public expression of your thoughts. You'll be able to get out of your system some of the ideas so long in gestation. And maybe someone will help you eke out your salary by paying you for legal advice where they think your experience is valuable. These, anyway, were my thoughts when the Cornell Law School invited me to join their faculty next year to teach international law and related subjects. I accepted with pleasure.

We'll all be moving to the heights above Cayuga's waters late in the summer, leaving behind the glamour, the wrangling and the sinus of the hub of the free world. First, though, I'll see you all in Hanover June 12— and remember there are places in the class dorm for the kids, so bring the whole family.

Reported elsewhere are the awards for the best club secretaries of the year to FrankEggleston and Bill Lieson of the Providence and Springfield Dartmouth clubs, respectively. '32 is proud. Frank, incidentally, became the father of a new daughter, his second child, in March.

Secretary, 3909 North 5th Street, Arlington, Va.

Treasurer, 144 Brixton Rd., Garden City, N. Y.

Class Agent, 40 Meritoria Dr., East Williston, L.I., N. Y.