THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE 
 
 ACTIVITIES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF STATE 
 
 RADIO ADDRESS BY THE 
 
 HONORABLE CORDELL HULL 
 
 Secretary of State 
 
 Washington, September 1, 1937 
 
 UNITED states 
 
 government printing office 
 washington : 1937 
 
Publication No. 1065 
 
 This address was originally issued by the De- 
 partment of State as a mimeographed press 
 release, for publication September 1, 1937. 
 
ACTIVITIES OF 
 THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE ' 
 
 It is a particular pleasure to talk to you 
 about the work of the Department of State. 
 Too many people arei prone to disregard its 
 activities except in time of crisis and not to 
 realize that its successful functioning is vital 
 to the national well-being and hence to every 
 citizen in the United States. Ye^ it is the un- 
 dramatic, unseen, day-to-day work of the De- 
 partment which keeps our relationships with 
 other countries on an even keel, which prevents 
 a crisis from breaking out, and which one stage 
 further back removes a cause of friction before 
 it has had time to assume serious proportions. 
 It is in these day-to-day tasks that some of our 
 most useful work is done. 
 
 I do not propose tonight to list specific cases 
 or instances where we may have accomplished 
 a given purpose, but rather by giving you a 
 picture of the. type of problems we are con- 
 stantly facing and the mental attitude with 
 which we are meeting them to let you judge for 
 yourselves what our accomplishments have been 
 and to what degree we have profited. 
 
 Reduced to elementary terms, international 
 problems bear a striking analogy to the private 
 relationships of a group of human beings. 
 There are the same instances of altruism and 
 selfishness, of complacency and jealousy, of 
 good nature and backbiting that we find in any 
 normal community we are familiar with. And 
 the individual we most admire is the one who, 
 while not yielding his rights or allowing him- 
 self to be imposed upon or standing in judg- 
 
 ^ Address by the Honorable Cordell Hull, Secretary 
 of State, over the network of the Columbia Broadcast- 
 ing System as a "Cabinet Series" broadcast, Washing- 
 ton, Sept. 1, 1937. 
 
 14622—37 (1) 
 
2 
 
 ment on his neighbor, yet goes out of his way 
 to understand the other man's problems, to 
 give him a helping hand, and to try to pre- 
 vent quarrels from breaking out that might 
 split the neighborhood. When translated into 
 international affairs, the picture is not far too 
 different, and the guiding principle of good 
 neighborliness is the most effective contribu- 
 tion a man or nation can make to the well- 
 being of the community. 
 
 Now what is the present state of the inter- 
 national community and what are some of the 
 most pressing problems confronting us? I 
 wish I could -tell you that the situation was 
 easing, but for the past few years the world 
 has seen a succession of wars and threats of 
 war, of revolution and crises that have con- 
 fronted us with a series of situations that have 
 required the most careful handling. 
 
 Our entire Nation is determined to avoid be- 
 ing again entangled in hostilities. This is a 
 cardinal principle of our foreign relations and 
 one which is never lost sight of. No act or pol- 
 icy of the American Government could be held 
 by its most bitter critic to promote or induce 
 war. For ourselves, we have practiced self- 
 restraint, nationally and internationally; we 
 have refrained from interfering in the domes- 
 tic affairs of other nations; we have practiced 
 the adjustment of international relations by 
 peaceful means ; we have observed our treaties 
 in letter and in spirit. All these things we 
 have advocated for others, but not without the 
 consciousness that we have practiced them our- 
 selves. And each and every one will help in 
 keeping us out of trouble. 
 
 But the surest way of all for us to avoid un- 
 fortunate entanglements is that there should 
 be no war — anywhere, any time, between any 
 nations. And for this we have gone further 
 than mere precept — we have cooperated with 
 other nations in trying to root out the causes 
 which lead to war. We have refused to make 
 
3 
 
 any commitment, express or implied, which 
 would, limit our complete freedom of action or 
 judgment. But we have nonetheless helped: 
 we have taken a full and active part in moves 
 for the limitation and reduction of armament, 
 and although disappointingly little has re- 
 sulted to date, we stand ready to lend our full 
 weight in any genuine effort that may be made. 
 International armaments are bankrupting the 
 world. We seem to be caught in a vicious cir- 
 cle where each increase begets another, and 
 where more and more men are taken from pro- 
 ductive work, and more and more capital re- 
 moved from constructive use. To seek an im- 
 mediate and concrete disarmament is to attack 
 the problem from one flank. Thus far it has 
 not given the results we wished. But where an 
 attack on one flank fails, sometimes an attack 
 on the other flank may succeed. And I confi- 
 dently believe that if we could solve the eco- 
 nomic difficulties now facing the world, a po- 
 litical appeasement would shortly ensue. In 
 attacking the economic problem, the present 
 administration has taken an outstanding lead, 
 and the efforts we are making to reduce exces- 
 sive or artificial barriers to trade have already 
 resulted in a goodly measure of success. Many 
 of the worries confronting statesmen today 
 spring from the inability of their countries to 
 sell their surplus products abroad in their nat- 
 ural markets and under conditions of reason- 
 able competition. Blocked in their normal 
 outlets, they have tended to improvise an ab- 
 normal economy, which in turn has reacted 
 upon their normal suppliers. Even worse, the 
 temptation to seek economic relief by vast en- 
 rollments in military organization and in the 
 mass production of war supplies has embit- 
 tered relations between nations by causing fear 
 and, as Sir Edward Grey once said, fear is 
 what brings out all the worst in nations and 
 buries all that is good. Is it too much to think 
 that had there been a large and normal flow 
 
4 
 
 of international trade these past years, many 
 of the manifestations we have most deplored 
 would have been avoided, as with fields all 
 under cultivation and factories crowded with 
 workers, there would have been no urge to 
 "take up the slack" through other means. 
 
 Our program has been based on several ax- 
 ioms, for instance, that increased trade be- 
 tween tAvo nations benefits both nations and 
 that increased trade throughout the world will 
 ease existing tension ; that trade cannot in- 
 crease or even maintain itself where artificially 
 stifled by excessive barriers that have no eco- 
 nomic justification, or by forms of discrimina- 
 tion; that only by the principle of equality of 
 treatment can true economic competition be re- 
 stored and trade returned to normal channels. 
 These things being so, we have sought to break 
 the log- jam at the very beginning of the rapids 
 and, by a series of trade agreements making 
 mutual concessions, to do our part in removing 
 trade barriers, overcoming discrimination and 
 increasing international commerce on a give- 
 and-take basis. 
 
 Thus far we have concluded 16 trade agree- 
 ments. In each and every case our trade both 
 in exports to and imports from the other coun- 
 try has shown substantial gains. But even 
 more gratifying has been the slow but steady 
 change of attitude on the part of statesmen 
 throughout the world, until today there is al- 
 most unanimous testimony that the policy of 
 trade liberalization and international economic 
 fair play can alone relieve the tension that is 
 holding the world in its grip. 
 
 All of this we have done without sacrificing 
 a single vital or important interest, or yielding 
 a principle for a point of expediency. But we 
 have been fair, and have not sought to "out- 
 smart" a competitor, or to use any superiority 
 of size or wealth or position to coerce him into 
 doing what he believes to be against his true 
 interests. The result has been that throughout 
 
5 
 
 the nations of the world — and nowhere more 
 so than in this hemisphere — there has grown 
 up a feeling of trust in our motives, and as 
 nothing promotes friendship faster than con- 
 fidence, a feeling of genuine friendship as welL 
 And when friendship exists, frankness is pos- 
 sible, and many and many a misunderstanding 
 which a short while ago seemed insuperable^ 
 has been dissipated! in a free and frank dis- 
 cussion between friendly equals. 
 
 I wish I could give you an adequate picture 
 of the amount and variety of work done in any 
 given day in the Department of State. Tele- 
 grams come in from all over the world, giving 
 us careful and accurate reports of what is go- 
 ing on, with analyses and estimates by our 
 Ambassadors and Ministers and Consuls as to 
 their probable effects on international rela- 
 tions ; foreign Ambassadors and Ministers call 
 to discuss various problems with my associates 
 and myself, and memoranda are prepared of 
 the conversations to help carry out policy ; Sen- 
 ators and Congressmen and prominent citizens 
 call to discuss some phase of our policy which 
 they do not understand or to offer helpful ad- 
 vice ; our own agents, home on leave, may stop 
 in to discuss developments in the country to 
 which they are accredited, or to gain a clearer 
 understanding of some phase of our policy, 
 foreign experts may call by appointment to 
 discuss some knotty point with our ow^n ex- 
 perts. Some of the problems brought up to 
 me require consultation with the Legal Adviser, 
 or with the Economic Adviser ; others may be 
 referred to and dealt with by the four geo- 
 graphic Divisions; others require opinions 
 from specialists; still others must be referred 
 to some other executive department; while 
 some must be taken up with the President and 
 Cabinet. And all the while, there must be a 
 reasonably general knowledge in each Division 
 of what we are doing elsewhere, so that we 
 may not do one thing in one field and some- 
 
6 
 
 thing else in another. We work as a team, and 
 it is through the interplay of ideas and opin- 
 ions of different members of the team that we 
 are able to keep consistency of policy and 
 avoid many mistakes. 
 
 But there is still another phase to our work — 
 the relationship between the Department of 
 State at home and its field service. The former 
 determines policy and instructs ; the latter car- 
 ries out instructions, but at the same time sup- 
 plies much of the first-hand information on 
 which policy is determined and instructions 
 issued. So here too is an interplay of ideas 
 a-nd a partnership in our common purpose. 
 Our representatives, at 338 posts throughout 
 the world, have four main tasks : the first is to 
 keep us informed — speedily, accurately, and 
 with absolute impartiality. They must avoid 
 undue sympathy with or prejudice against the 
 country where they are stationed and remem- 
 ber that what we want are the facts, with a 
 fair and conscientious judgment of those facts, 
 and not colored facts or preconceived ideas. 
 The second is to represent us abroad, to inter- 
 pret our ideals, and to explain our policies, to 
 make friends with the people of the country, 
 and to facilitate through informal contact the 
 transaction of public business. The third is to 
 carry out instructions and to engage in any 
 negotiations that may be entrusted to them. 
 Tliese are often highly technical and require 
 considerable study and knowledge. Fourth, 
 and by no means last, I refer to the protection 
 of the lives and property of our citizens in 
 foreign lands. Americans abroad are subject 
 to the laws of the land they may happen to be 
 in, but sometimes even law-abiding citizens 
 become involved with the authorities, through 
 no fault of their own, and here our good offices 
 are freely given. This is particularly true in 
 time of war, commotion, and civil strife, and 
 as examples I can point with pride to the work 
 done during the past year by our diplomatic 
 
7 
 
 and consular officers in Spain, in watching out 
 for our citizens, in protecting them in time of 
 peril, in evacuating them from zones of danger,, 
 and in protecting their property from seizure 
 and destruction; and more recently, to great 
 work being done in China. Testimony that 
 has reached me from hundreds of returning 
 Americans bears witness to the integrity, the 
 zeal, and the efficiency of our agents abroad.. 
 Occasionally articles appear in certain columns 
 of our press that belittle their work and im- 
 pugn their abilities. But I should like to pay 
 sincere tribute, from the point of view of one 
 who sees the results of their work almost daily, 
 to the constant, unrelenting, and successful 
 efforts of our diplomats and consuls to protect 
 American interests and to carry out American 
 policies. The day is long past when diplomacy 
 was synonymous with a pleasant, easy-going 
 existence. Today it means hard work, long 
 hours, technical knowledge in a variety of 
 fields, objectivity, skill in negotiations, and, 
 on rare occasions, physical danger in carrying 
 on the work. In the four and one-half years 
 I have been Secretary of State, our Foreign 
 Service can be proud of its record. 
 
 Let me digress just a moment to tell you how 
 slight is the cost of maintaining the organiza- 
 tion of the Department of State, both at home 
 and abroad — a cost that is infinitesimal in 
 comparison with what it would require to deal 
 with the emergencies which would occur in our 
 foreign relations should its work fall down. 
 The cost to the taxpayer for the current fiscal 
 year is less than one-fifth of 1 percent of our 
 Federal budget and less than 1 percent of the 
 amount required to support our military and 
 naval establishments. Yet on that the Depart- 
 ment is able to function as "the first line of our 
 national defense", to protect our citizens, to 
 carry out our immigration laws, to supply 
 trade information, to perform notarial acts, to 
 obtain and collate information for other Gov- 
 
8 
 
 ernment departments, to mention only a few 
 of our tasks, as well as representing our trea- 
 ties and beliefs and policies to foreign govern- 
 ments. 
 
 I referred a minute ago to the dire results 
 that would happen if the work of the State 
 Department should fail. That was a true 
 statement but negative in form. I should like 
 to conclude by rephrasing it in a positive way, 
 and refer to the advantages that naturally fol- 
 low from a policy of friendship and good will. 
 They are advantages that are reflected in closer 
 contact with other nations, that help us mu- 
 tually to increase trade, to ease existing ten- 
 sions, to talk over and solve difficulties, to 
 cooperate in the common solution of joints 
 problems, to exert a more helpful influence in 
 avoiding or mitigating international crises. 
 These things we have endeavored to do and 
 will continue to endeavor to do, so that I trust 
 we may truly merit the name that has some- 
 times been given us, namely, the Department 
 of Peace. 
 
 o