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Our man Ho Th BY AIlIUlR HlOPPE Columnist Well, there goes Franco American friendship. It's the fault of our rotten system of selling ambassadorships. rhe whole thing's a scandal to the jaybirds. FLA I Definite This is your 'i fabulous, so collecdion of in willow, blu Strip, cotton Two-ton, cot with print pol Use your "Miss GAM student I.D. Card to our Am buyi A list of the big donors in the 19(;8 campaign has just been published. It shows that Arthur K. Watson, who gave $49,AH) to the Republican cause, was appointed our Am bassador to France by Mr. Nixon, while Guilford Dudley, Jr. who I ly ~ ~~ 1 for thtil ihf A ear or he pnts. . thoe grat lor al-ilaluig . . .e e h otd alo WOSC PANTS ly ot eit rne with flair! eat four toodstock jen todgra! $lor EClCK" hante byccoIDES CRSIfG yo Credrkit top,artmCoent i roh Personal. Fine Eashic DOWNTOWN & D g of a donated S52,(00) to the same cause, was named our Ambassador to lDenmark. You can imagine how the French felt on learning we i sent them a cut-rate Ambassador who was s30Xxm cheaper than the one we sent A9 .4L. 7dcaedle-wtces wo' omli tcy Sgdstock. scee. It' ahe vey athe bone't (heon,it esiny peion tp f'ervice is our aim ... ns is our business UTCH-SQUARE. presidc the l)anes. It s a good thing General I)e Gaulle didn't live to see the day. Our only defense is to confess the sad and incredible truth: when it comes to selling high Government positions to big campaign con re looking so~ Such is our 1 or zip front '10) Center: >. 'IS5) R ight: e, '10 (shown adav by presenting your int tributors. the Nixon Ad minstration. like all previous Administrations, is unbelievably disorganized. Selling ambassadorships is, of course. a cherished American heritage -- cherished particularly by all Presidential candidates. Nor can the results necessarily be faulted. For all we know. Mr. Watson may even be able to speak French and Mr. Dudley might possibly be fluent in Danish. Or vice versa. What is scandalous is the total lack of organization' in this otherwise businesslike system. It may shock you to learn, for example. that no Presidential candidate over the years has ever compiled a job opportunities list -- one that clearly states exactly what ambassadorships are being offered for sale and precisely what they cost. A fixed price would seem rudimentary. The dignity of the office precludes haggling between a potential Ambassador and a potential President. But there's no reason discreet notices couldn't be placed in the help wanted columns to stimulate inquiries: 'Ambass. to Mbonga open. Good sal. Palatial res.. limousine. flags and staff provided. Prestige guaranteed. Investment required: $65.500." But the haphazard way it is now. a contributor donates $65.500 and, if his candidate wins, writes: 'Dear Mr. President: Congrat ulations' I hope my &S.5(0 helped in some small way. As I mentioned. I've long been in terested in Mbonga and its im portance to Mbongan-American relations.'' So he gets the job and discovers our new Ambassador to the Riviera coughed up only $47,300. Think of the ill will and the back biting. No wonder our foreign poliCy is in such a mess. Moreover, in these days of rising campaign costs. desperate can didates are losing millions through the present disorderly system. For one thing. they tend to sell only ambassadorships. But if it's accaptable to sell am bassadorships. why on earth can't they' ~sell the thousands of other high Government jobs available to any' new Adminstration? Surely the Secretary of State carries ten times the prestige of an Ambassador. I don't know what, if anything. Mr. William P. Rogers contributed to Mr. Nixon's cam paign. Hut if he got that Cabinet post f or less than half a million, he got it for a steal. 'The syst em. then. must be put on a businesslike basis. In these perilous times when wars can break out anywhere we simply can't afford cut-rate diplomats in our first line of defense. In our democracy, we are en titled to the very best men to represent us at home and abroad -- and the most organized and businesslike President their money can buy. (,Qpyright Chronicle Co. 1971)i