Gibson Silent

Events in Poland have reached a state where the prognostications of a writer in the New Statesman (TIME, July 30) to the effect that there will be another partition of Poland within the next 20 years seem to be fully justified.

Last week Poland was engulfed in a general strike, with which a weak government was trying to grapple. Troops were sent against the strikers; the strikers surrounded and disarmed them; the city of Cracow, the storm center of the strike, was in darkness; troops were confined to barracks; police dared not appear on the streets; theatres, cinemas, schools were closed; armed patrols of workers tried to keep order among their more radical brethren. No news of strike negotiation was given; the situation was pregnant with unutterable gloom and vagueness.

Although the situation was brighter in Warsaw, the capital, Hugh Gibson, U. S. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Poland, preserved a dignified silence so far as the press was concerned. Whatever the situation was, is, or may become, Mr. Gibson's experience is such that he can be fully relied upon to protect U. S. interests in the land to which he is accredited.

Another event which closely affects the U. S. Minister in Poland is the opening of the new trans-Atlantic radio station at Warsaw by President Wojciechowski, who sent a message to U. S. President Coolidge stating that he hoped "the new means of intercourse . . . will contribute greatly to the strengthening of the existing friendship between our countries." It follows, then, that Mr. Gibson will be able to get into touch with the U. S. State Department at much shorter notice than heretofore.

Hugh Gibson was born at Los Angeles, California, in 1883, has been in the U. S. Diplomatic Corps since he left school. He has seen service in Honduras, England, Cuba, Belgium, France and Santo Domingo. He has held his present position since 1919, the year that the Independence of the Republic of Poland was recognized by the Treaty of Versailles.

Mr. Gibson is best known for his service in Belgium during the War, as Secretary of the U. S. Legation. His A Journal from Our Legation in Belgium was widely read on its appearance in 1917, its dramatic quality, especially in the chapter on " The Last Hour of Edith Cavell" not at all impaired by his rigid adherence to facts.