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McCormick International Farm Equipment • INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER International Trucks • International Industrial BUILDER OF ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT FOR ESSENTIAL WORK Power • International Harvester Refrigeration OCTOBER, 1951 1 THE BIGGEST ."No Unpleasant PLUS IN CIGARETTE HISTORY After-taste" — added to the world’s most famous ABCs — (ways Milder B etter Tasting Cooler Smoking I -r, the ^onewal^^-^ E NL "CHESTERFIELD IS ™ , ° ^° oUu^taste l'<*G£ri brands tested in which members #< panel found no unE!5252i! From th« repo" °l a well-known research organiia*'on ^^Iwoys ^Juy ^ s TOBACCO CO. See PAUL DOUGLAS, starring in "THE GUY WHO CAME BACK" A 20th Century-Fox Production 2 FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL OJLAXKJV "W Pseudonyms may be used only if your letter includes your correct name and address. WHERE WAS FLORODORA? ($64 QUESTION) To the Editors, FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL: The Bern item in the latest JOURNAL about “Flora-dora” girls, recalls the good old days when people knew how to spell Florodora but few—even then—knew where it was. “There it is,” someone called to me, as we sailed by a leafy island in the Long Ago. We had just been talking of Leslie Stuart’s opera Floro¬ dora, the hit of New York and the famous show-girls of ... to do one job well! that tropical isle. And now, we were actually sailing by it. Wonder how many of our Foreign Service folk, recognize It is Grace Line’s job to provide transporta¬ it, when their tour of duty takes them to the Philippines tion service between the Americas, and for and they pass a tiny paradise, as they sail into Cebu? Of course, it’s not called Florodora any more—and never generations it has been Grace Line’s goal to was; except by Leslie Stuart who laid the scene of his opera do this one job well. From the days of the there. clipper ships, Grace Line has sought to antici¬ We hope the Flora-dora girls of Bern will mark the place in their geographies. And try to see it some day. pate the growth patterns of Hemisphere Maurice P. Dunlap trade with increasingly efficient facilities. (F.S.O. retired ) Today, Grace Line’s fleet of fine modern "Santas,” operating on regular schedules, MORE ABOUT TAXES provide a dependability of service which has Santanoni, Saranac Lake, N. Y. won the confidence of importers and trav¬ August 6, 1951 elers. By laboring to do a good job in one To the Editors, sphere of foreign trade, Grace Line is con¬ FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL: tributing strength and vitality to the whole The JOURNAL has recently carried two letters proposing international trade structure. that the Foreign Service be exempted from income tax. No one else seems to have presented the less popular negative side, so I shall try to do so, although I am reluctant to differ REGULAR DIRECT AMERICAN FLAG in public with my former chief and good friend, Selden Chapin. PASSENGER AND FREIGHT SERVICES 1 believe that the discussion, so far, has overlooked the BETWEEN THE AMERICAS basic theory underlying the change in the income tax law, some years ago, to provide that U. S. Government employees Between New York, Atlantic Ports and N.W.I., abroad should be subject to U. S. income tax. Up to that Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Canal Zone, time, Foreign Service personnel did not pay such taxes either Ecuador, Peru (Bolivia), Chile. at home or, because of diplomatic immunity, abroad. It seemed unfair that a select group should be exempt from such taxes altogether. Between U. S. Pacific Ports and Guatemala, El The fact that American business men abroad are exempt Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, from U. S. income tax is no justification for a similar ex¬ Panama and West Coast of South America. emption for the Foreign Service. Business men are subject For detailed information address both to local law, and to local taxes of all kinds, but Foreign Service employees are not; and in many cases the tax burdens are so onerous, on companies and individuals, that the Department has devoted much time and effort in recent years to the negotiation of agreements to avoid double taxa¬ GRACE tion. Similarly, I think it erroneous to say that the American employee abroad gets no or few benefits from the taxes he pays. Or haven’t you been as glad as I have, when things LINE were tight, to see the U. S. Army or Navy arrive? 10 Hanover Square, New York So much for the theory; now for the practice. Agents and offices in all principal cities If this proposal were adopted, the Foreign Service would be the one group of Americans exempt from income tax. (Continued on page 5) OCTOBER, 1951 3 LETTERS TO THE EDITORS (from page 3) This would put us in an invidious and indefensible position in the eyes of the American public. It seems to me that the Foreign Service is subjected to sufficient criticism—unin¬ formed and unwarranted as most of it is—without giving its critics solid grounds for their strictures. In these days of heavy tax burdens for everyone, such a “special interest” exemption could only arouse hitter disapproval, to the detri¬ ment of the Foreign Service. Secondly, we in the field of foreign affairs will probably have to continue, for years, to recommend heavy expendi¬ tures of public funds for foreign aid—ECA, MDAP, Point Four, etc. Our position in doing so would be greatly weak¬ ened, if we ourselves paid no taxes. I shudder to think of the vitriol in the pages of the Congressional Record, and of the press, if men who paid no taxes abroad were called Coming to Washington? back to testify in favor of heavy foreign aid spending, fur¬ ther burdening the American taxpayer. Our effectiveness in HERE'S a place to spend your weekends urging such measures, however essential they might be, in restful comfort — or take your vaca¬ would be impaired. tion in the pine-scented air of southwestern Quite apart from a personal desire to share in the burdens Pennsylvania. Play golf, swim, ride, bowl — which world developments have placed on the shoulders of or just sit! the American people, I think the Foreign Service would be Open the year round . just an easy trip most unwise to urge its own exemption from income taxes. from Washington . We'll meet train or WILLIAM P. COCHRAN. JR. bus at Cumberland, Md., or if driving take FSO Pennsylvania Route 96 from Cumberland to the Springs Road and direct to the Inn. AMALGAMATION AND SALARIES Making people comfortable is our business. September 27th Write to White Sulphur Springs Hotel, via To the Editors, Mann's Choice Post Office, Bedford County, FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL: Pa., for folder and rates. I noted with interest the paragraph in Haywood Martin’s letter in your September issue which promised that the younger generation of FSO’s would not lose out financially under the proposed amendments to the Act of 1946. A formula which will make sure that this group is not made to bear the cost of creating additional FSO classes is essential. It is manifestly unjust to ask these younger offi¬ cers, with growing families, to accept what amounts to re¬ duction in salary as well as a slower rate of promotion in AMERICAN EASTERN order to meet the terms of the Directive. In the meantime I counsel patience. The younger FSO’s are assured, at least, that efforts are being made to preserve their promotion potential. FSO SHOULD RATING CONFERENCES BE OPTIONAL? AFTER OVER TWENTY YEARS EXPERIENCE IN THE NEAR AND Hamilton, Ontario September 10, 1951 MIDDLE EAST HAS EXPANDED To the Editors, INTO EUROPE AND HAS ADDED FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL: BARTER TO ITS ACTIVITIES OF I recommend that it be made mandatory for supervisory TRADE, SHIPPING AND DE¬ officers to discuss the performance of their subordinates VELOPMENT with the latter in accordance with a prescribed set of rules based on the efficiency report, at least three months in advance of submission of the report. This would give the junior officer an opportunity to correct his weaknesses be¬ fore they became a part of his official record and it would assist the rating officer in preparing his final report.