THfe AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Georye Washington Bicentennial Commission. WASHINGTON MONUMENT Vol. IX FEBRUARY', 1932 No. 2 BANKING AND INVESTMENT SERVICE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD The National City Bank of New York and Affiliated Institutions THE NATIONAL CITY BANK OF NEW YORK HEAD OFFICE: 55 WALL STREET, NEW YORK Foreign Branches in ARGENTINA . BELGIUM . BRAZIL . CHILE . CHINA . COLOMBIA . CUBA DOMINICAN REPUBLIC . ENGLAND . INDIA . ITALY . JAPAN . MANCHURIA . MEXICO . PERU . PHILIPPINE ISLANDS . PUERTO RICO . REPUBLIC OF PANAMA . STRAITS SETTLEMENTS . URUGUAY . VENEZUELA. THE NATIONAL CITY BANK OF NEW YORK (FRANCE) S. A. Paris 60 AVENUE DES CHAMPS ELYSEES 41 BOULEVARD HAUSSMANN Nice 6 JARDIN du Roi ALBERT 1 cr. INTERNATIONAL BANKING CORPORATION Head Office: 55 WALL STREET, NEW YORK Foreign and Domestic Branches in UNITED STATES . SPAIN . ENGLAND ant! Representatives in The National City Bank Chinese Branches BANQUE NATIONALE DE LA REPUBLIQUE D’HAITI Head Office: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI CITY BANK FARMERS TRUST COMPANY Head Office: 22 WILLIAM STREET, NEW YORK ~T- THE NATIONAL CITY COMPANY HEAD OFFICE OFFICES IN PRINCIPAL 65 WALL STREET, NEW YORK AMERICAN CITIES Foreign Offices: LONDON . AMSTERDAM . GENEVA . TOKIO . SHANGHAI Canadian Offices: MONTREAL . TORONTO The National City Company, through its offices and affiliations in the United States anti abroad, offers a world-wide investment service to those interested in Dollar Securities, London Offices 54, BISHOPSGATK, E. C. 2 11, WATERLOO PLACE, S. W. 1 United States George Washington Bicentennial Commission This is a photograph of the famous Houdon bust of George Washington made from life at Mount Vernon by the great French sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon in 1785. The bust has never been away from that shrine. This picture has been selected by the Portrait Committee of this Commission as the official picture of the Father of his Country for the Bicentennial Celebration of his birth in 1932. FOREIGN S JOURNAL PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION VOL. IX, No. 2 WASHINGTON, D. C. FEBRUARY, 1932 George Washington Bicentennial Celebration in 1932 By HONORABLE SOL BLOOM, Representative from New York, Associate Director, United Stales George Washington Bicentennial Commission TO UNDERSTAND George Washington There he encountered dangers and privations and what he means to America of today, we that would have daunted a less sturdy soul. That must think of him as a man and not as an he performed this work of surveying well has ideal. been shown by repeated resurveys along the lines As a man we can more nearly take his measure he laid down. and estimate his greatness. The glamor that has We find him again when not yet of age, com¬ surrounded his name has tended to obscure his missioned to perform important military and dip¬ human qualities. lomatic exploits into the frontier country. It is not my purpose to dwell upon the heroic Inheriting the great estate of Mount Vernon side of our greatest American. I want to impress while still a young man, George Washington upon the people of this country that George Wash¬ showed unusual interest in the subject of farm¬ ington was a normal man, subject to normal temp¬ ing. He was the first scientific farmer in this tations, normal perplexities, and normal sorrows. country. He was the first student of methods The greatness of George Washington lies in of improving livestock, of rotating crops and of the fact that he surmounted tremendous obstacles diversified agriculture. Had George Washing¬ and accomplished his purposes through sheer ton done nothing more than devote himself to force of character and perseverance. the study of agriculture, he would have been Let us consider George Washington’s career in America’s pioneer authority on that subject. the order of his outstanding accomplishments. Not only was George Washington a farmer, First, there is the boy, the son of a Virginia but he was one of the foremost business men of farmer, living in the country and having limited his time. He knew how to make his farms profit¬ educational advantages. able. He had a commercial vision far beyond This boy, destined by Providence for such his¬ his contemporaries. He organized corporations, toric achievements, was a normal boy. He was opened mines and quarries, and did a considerable in every sense a good boy, obedient and ambi¬ shipping business. tious. Although he had scant opportunities for George Washington was the first inland water¬ schooling, he made the most of what he had. ways advocate. He actually surveyed and planned At an age when other boys are mostly con¬ waterway connections between the Ohio Valley cerned in sports and play, George Washington and the Atlantic seaboard, which he was unable was seriously devoted to the study of a profes¬ to complete because of the stress of the times. sion. When barely 16 years old, he was com¬ George Washington looked beyond the bounda¬ missioned to perform a responsible piece of sur¬ ries of the original 13 Colonies and his eyes veying work which sent him into the wilderness. rested upon the Pacific Ocean as the limits of the 45 future Republic. To him, more than to any other Congress has asked the governors of the va¬ man, is due that impetus to foreign trade which rious States to appoint State commissions to co¬ has ever been America’s outstanding business operate with the National Commission. It is the policy. purpose of the associate director to make this But George Washington was too great a man celebration nation-wide and all-American. to live in the peaceful security of his plantation We have no exposition in mind. There will home. The state of the Colonies demanded the be no world’s fair, no concentration of material resourcefulness, the calm judgment, and the evidences of the Nation’s growth. character of its greatest men. George Washing¬ The celebration will be in the hearts of the ton had all of these qualities to a greater extent people themselves. It will be in the nature of than any other man upon American soil. He was a revival of knowledge of and appreciation for a natural leader, and instilled into his country¬ our greatest American and the greatest human men that spirit of confidence and devotion which being in all history. made the winning of the War of the Revolution The Federal Government has authorized the a possibility. publication of all of the definitive writings of It was George Washington who realized more George Washington, which will be published as than any man of the time what the freedom of a memorial edition in approximately 25 volumes. the Colonies meant to the men and women who The great Memorial Boulevard between Wash¬ were to come after him. It was his council, his ington and Mount Vernon is under construction judgment, and his sure knowledge of men that and will be one of the most beautiful highways guided the infant Republic in the formation of in all the world. A regional park system for the our present system of Federal Government. National Capital, unsurpassed in America, is now In advocating American independence, George authorized by Congress as a George Washing¬ Washington staked his life, his property and the ton Memorial Parkway. This great parkway will interests of his family. He realized, perhaps include some of the beautiful and historic places more than any other man, the hazards and uncer¬ with which George Washington has been iden¬ tainties of a war for independence. tified. Great as were George Washington’s achieve¬ Congress has also established Wakefield, Wash¬ ments as a soldier, far greater were his achieve¬ ington’s birthplace in Virginia, as a national park ments as a statesman and a citizen. and will erect upon the site a replica of the house As the first President, he faced problems never in which George Washington was born. It is before faced by any man. By his wisdom, by his also proposed to build in the City of Washing¬ patience, by his persistence, he molded the des¬ ton a great George Washington Memorial Audi¬ tinies of the young Republic and placed it upon torium, which is most urgently needed. a sure foundation for future growth. As we These are Federal projects contributed, or to study the life of this great man, there develop be contributed, by the Government itself. It is new and interesting phases of his character. the purpose of the associate director to bring the Has America sufficiently honored the memory message of George Washington to every church, of George Washington? I unhesitatingly say it every home, every school, and every group of has not. It is gratifying to every American citi¬ citizens in the United States. We want to of¬ zen to realize that the United States is prepar¬ fer an opportunity to each man, woman, and child ing now to express in the most appropriate way in America to participate in this national cele¬ possible the honor which is his due. bration. The Congress of the United States, in recog¬ In our plans it is proposed to foster and en¬ nition of the two hundredth anniversary of the courage in all parts of the country local, re¬ birth of George Washington, to be observed this gional and State celebrations. These celebra¬ year, has created a Commission to formulate tions the people themselves will organize and plans fittingly to honor his memory. take part in them. It is hoped that in 1932 there At the head of this Commission is the Presi¬ will not be a school room or school building in dent of the United States. Other members of the United States without its pictures of George the Commission are the Vice President of the Washington.