Transcriber Notes

• Obvious typos corrected. Inconsistencies in punctuation kept as in original.
• Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation made consistent, e.g.: handbook, shipboard, to-day, chargé(s) d’affaires.
• Spelling of Quebec and Colombia made consistent, but otherwise spellings of city and country names left as printed in the original.
• Unclear name suffix in the original was confirmed as Jacob Meyer Jr. elsewhere.
• Page number in Table of Contents for Lecture III—Consular Service—Duties changed to 83 to match actual start of chapter.
• The Diplomatic Service and Consular Service tables in the Appendix have footnotes that are referenced in multiple entries across the original pages in the text. Rather than retain multiple footnotes with identical content, multiple anchors in the text may refer to a single note.
• P. 208 in the original indicates a footnote * that has no corresponding anchor on that page, so it does not appear here.
• The column headers with vertical text in the Synopsis of Commercial Treaties table on pp. 212-213 have been moved to a Key.
• The Synopsis of Commercial Treaties table uses Unicode characters dagger (U+2020) and double dagger (U+2021). If the device font does not support these characters, † and ‡, they may not appear correctly.
• Indent of Lethbridge, Alberta in table on p. 226 made to match surrounding entries since it falls in alphabetical order of those.
• If the device allows, some full page images can be clicked on to view a larger version.

UNCLE SAM ABROAD.

Uncle Sam

Abroad

By J. E. Conner

Illustrated by

Clyde J. Newman

Chicago and New York

Rand, McNally & Company

Copyright, 1900, by J. E. Conner.

CONTENTS.

UNCLE SAM ABROAD.

The Professor Has An Idea.

It is the opinion of Professor Loyal of the University of ---- that the average American, to put it bluntly, knows little or nothing about Uncle Sam’s foreign service.

He is also of the opinion that the time is at hand when the aforesaid average American must know more about it, owing to the growth in importance of our foreign relations, both politically and commercially.

Now if the good Professor could only work miracles he would take the dry details which he has in mind upon this subject, and make them as interesting as fiction. Instead, however, he chose a method to which he was more accustomed, the “university extension” plan, aiming primarily to stimulate interest in his subject, and secondarily, in some small measure to gratify it.

The reader is indebted to the notes of a shorthand reporter who happened to hear the entire course, both for the text here given and for the illustrations with which it is adorned. If he thinks that the latter are not always in harmony with the text he must remember that the Professor and the Scribe did not see things from the same standpoint. Moreover he must not hold the Professor too strictly to account for his language, for it is not to be wondered at if he occasionally forgets himself and uses large words, which might be considered out of place in a popular lecture; and again, in his effort to impart life and present-day interest to his subject he at times introduces a levity which he hopes will not too seriously offend the sober-minded, or make them distrust his statements of fact.

On the evening of the first lecture the speaker, having been presented with the usual complimentary remarks, first spoke briefly in explanation of the nature of the course and of such courses in general. He mentioned among other matters that syllabi or leaflets containing outlines of the lectures, together with copies of the “Diplomatic and Consular Register,” would be distributed to all in attendance. He also announced that opportunity would be given at the close of each lecture for questions from the audience, and he promised to attempt to answer the same. Then he turned to the subject of the evening.

THE STATE DEPARTMENT.

LECTURE I - THE STATE DEPARTMENT.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:

What is the attitude of Great Britain, Germany, France, Russia or the United States upon this or that question?

Such a query you often hear, and perhaps you stop to wonder how it is when the collective opinion of any one country cannot be known in a short time, that there can be such a thing as a German attitude, an English or an American attitude, or who has a right to determine upon this or that as our attitude.

Well, it is evident that in domestic affairs, that is to say in national affairs, we as a people can take time to deliberate and choose our path; and it is just as evident that in international affairs we cannot always do so. “It is the unexpected that happens”, and we must have some means of meeting emergencies that will not wait. Hence a free people is least free, theoretically, when it has to do with the claims of treaties and international law, for it cannot take time to consider and decide upon all the facts; nay, even legislatures may interfere seriously with the proper discharge of such duties; so that in actual practice, even the most democratic nations have found it best to entrust the management of foreign affairs, or in other words, the preservation of their national equilibrium, to a Premier, Chancellor or Foreign Secretary, who is generally the ablest statesman that the country can afford.

This officer, with slightly differing functions, is known in our country as the Secretary of State, and he presides over the State Department. Probably there is no office under our Constitution that requires greater sagacity, greater breadth of intellectual grasp and practical training than this one of Secretary of State, and the fact that it has been held by such men as Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, William H. Seward and James G. Blaine is sufficient evidence of its importance.

It was intended at first that the cabinet officers should be as nearly equal as possible, and the salaries were fixed and remain the same to this day; but in the nature of the case they could not remain of equal importance, for the Department of State is more intimately associated with the President than any other. Washington would not allow foreign ministers to address him—they must reach him properly through the State Department,—hence, if for no other reason, it is easy to see how the Secretary of State assumed an official dignity that does not belong to the other cabinet officers.

Let us see how he stands related to the general government. Suppose we assume the attitude of an intelligent foreigner, looking at the “Great Republic” from the outside, and trying to discover into whose hands the logical working out of the Constitution has placed the real power.

It has been said[^[1]] that we will at length discover that in all ordinary times of peace the government is practically in the hands of six men, namely,—

• the President and two men whom he appoints—
• the Secretary of State, and
• the Secretary of the Treasury;
• the Speaker and two men whom he appoints—
• the Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, and
• the Chairman of the Committee of Appropriations.

Of these six, one-half are concerned with the finances of the government; and of the other half, one is the Chief Executive, another may be called the chief legislative factor, while the third is our official representative to the rest of the world. This practical division of the functions of government does not seem to agree very well with the more theoretical division into legislative, executive and judicial. In other words, finance has assumed an importance it was not intended to have, just as was observed concerning the Secretary of State.

It may seem rather strange to speak of one of our officials as the chief social functionary in our governmental machinery, but we have such a one, and he is no other than the Secretary of State. The office of functionary host for the government might be supposed to belong naturally to the President, who is spared this duty, however, owing to the multiplicity of others that are unavoidable. Consequently the Secretary of State, because of the breadth of the field of his operations, bringing him into touch with representatives of other nations as well as the principal statesmen of our own, and because, moreover, diplomacy’s natural atmosphere has always been that of society, must “keep open house”, as it were, for the Republic. This alone would be a sufficient burden for any one man, but it is expected that the Assistant Secretaries of State shall share it with him. Thus our Secretary maintains the only semblance of a court that will be tolerated by our “fierce democracie”, and even for this we do not contribute a cent of support, though around it and through it operate vast interests, both national and international. It is a manifest injustice to these officials that we do not provide for such legitimate expenses as must necessarily occur on these semi-official, semi-social occasions.

Now let us see what is the scope of the State Department, for it is much more than a foreign office, though that is its principle function. It embraces the duties which in other countries are given to the Keeper of the Seal, the Minister of Justice, etc., such as—

• (1) keeping, promulgating and publishing the laws,
• (2) custody of the Great Seal,
• (3) preservation of the Government Archives, and
• (4) charge of all official relations between the general Government and the several States.

Its scope is more particularly indicated by the bureaus into which it is divided, namely,—

• the Bureau of Indexes and Archives;
• the Bureau of Accounts of the State Department;
• the Bureau of Rolls and Library;
• the Bureau of Appointments;
• the Bureau of Statistics, or Foreign Commerce;
• the Consular Bureau;
• the Diplomatic Bureau.

Each of these bureaus is presided over by a chief, and at the head of them all is the chief clerk, who is “the executive officer of the Department of State under the direction of the Secretary.”

The Bureau of Indexes and Archives is a sort of postoffice and recorder’s office combined, for it receives the incoming mail, opens it and classifies it as either diplomatic, consular or miscellaneous, then indexes it so that if necessary it can be readily traced, and then turns over to the Chief Clerk the diplomatic correspondence and the more important consular and miscellaneous correspondence. This the Chief Clerk reads, and the most important is submitted to the Assistant Secretaries of State, while the remainder is turned over to the various bureaus for their attention. Likewise after the Secretary and his Assistants have signified the replies which are to be made to the most important of the mail and have examined and signed the same, it is collected from all the bureaus, and the out-going mail is indexed in another set of books.

The Bureau of Accounts of the State Department classifies its business as follows:

(1) International indemnities, or trust funds. If you are an American citizen living abroad and suffer a loss of property unlawfully, you may expect the loss to be made good through this Bureau of Accounts; that is unless you happen to be a missionary, for Uncle Sam doesn’t always extend, or try to extend, to missionaries the same protection that is enjoyed by other citizens living abroad.

(2) Diplomatic and consular accounts, i. e., the salaries paid to these officers, together with all expenses incidental to the service.

(3) Accounts of the Department proper.

(4) Passports. If you wish to secure passports before going abroad, it must be done through the State Department, as they are issued nowhere else in the United States.

The telegraphic correspondence of the State Department, mostly in cipher, is conducted by this bureau.

The Bureau of Rolls and Library has the custody of the laws and treaties of the United States, together with the Revolutionary archives, etc. Its chief business is the “publication of the laws, treaties, proclamations and executive orders, work which must be performed with the utmost attainable promptness, speed and accuracy”, and its busy time is just after the adjournment of Congress. It is this Bureau that is honored with the custody of the original draft of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of the United States. It also has charge of the following:

• The records and papers of the Continental Congress,
• The Washington papers,
• The Madison papers,
• The Jefferson papers,
• The Hamilton papers,
• The Monroe papers,
• The Franklin papers,
• The papers of the Quartermaster General’s Department during the Revolutionary period.

The Bureau of Appointments receives applications and recommendations for office. It issues commissions, exequaturs and warrants of extradition—terms to be explained in connection with the consular service.

It also has charge of the Great Seal of the United States, a symbol of authority which has been carefully guarded by one faithful man for nearly fifty-three years.

The Bureau of Statistics, or of Foreign Commerce as it is now called, takes charge of the data gathered all over the world by the consular service. Whatever is of immediate importance is published without delay in the “Advance Sheets” of the Consular Reports, and these are distributed to boards of trade, the press and elsewhere. This prompt distribution of valuable information was begun in January, 1898, and since that time the American system of Consular Reports is freely acknowledged the best in the world.

The Consular Bureau is charged with correspondence with the consular service. The variety of this correspondence cannot be guessed by those unfamiliar with the Consular Reports, but its extent may be inferred from the fact that out of 1,000 officers in this service, perhaps half of them correspond with the Department. In addition to the above, this bureau has much to do by way of interview with consular officers coming and going. Moreover, this bureau has charge of examinations of applicants, and after a candidate is appointed it furnishes the particular instructions for the position in view. This Bureau must keep itself informed as to the personnel of the service, and must even send inspectors to the various consulates and report thereupon. “Recently”, we are told, “the Chief of the Bureau personally visited over one hundred consulates in Cuba, Mexico, Canada, Europe, India, China, and Japan”.

Last and most important of all, politically, is the Diplomatic Bureau. Its dealings are with our own diplomatic officials at foreign capitals, and with foreign diplomats at Washington. It is chiefly concerned, as we are told, with the “examination, consideration and discussion of diplomatic subjects, such as treaties, claims, questions of international law, and policy, etc.”

So this last sentence is the only tantalizing peep we are allowed to have within the sanctuary of the State Department. This Bureau with which the Secretary and his three Assistants are chiefly concerned shares its secrets with very few. The expediency of observing secrecy in international politics was noticed before; but there is another side to the question which most of us see and perhaps some of us talk about, and that is the point in negotiations at which the government may take the public into its confidence.

For the public feels, and has a right to feel, that it has a proprietary interest in public affairs. More than this, it is in an unhealthy state when it doesn’t feel such an interest. The public, at least the enlightened public, knows that secrecy is apt to be troublesome anywhere, especially in government. It knows of many a historic instance of corruption fostered by secrecy, of intrigue, cabal, plot and counterplot, until the whole fabric of the state became vitiated. The public,—that is, the American public,—may have some reason to dread secrecy in local government, for many an alderman wants nothing better than to be let alone, and many a “convention boss” with a few “ring” associates would prefer to “fix the ticket” without any inspection by the public whom he expects in a few days to browbeat into supporting it.

Granting that we haven’t been watchful enough as to local politics, how is it nationally? How about the Department of State—for that alone is the place where secrecy is justifiable?

It was said by an authority on American diplomacy about fifteen years ago that “there is scarcely a country, even Russia or Germany, where so little is known by the public of the negotiations carried on at any one time by the Secretary of State”. What did this indicate? the efficiency of our government as a negotiating machine? Did it indicate an indifference of our people to their welfare? Well, however it may have been at that time, it is certain that there has been a growing and insistent demand during the present decade that negotiations shall be revealed at the earliest possible moment. Public opinion has even been known to dictate foreign policy—nay, more, to reverse it after it had once been determined upon by the State Department, as in the case of the notorious “Queen Lil”. Indeed, this instance in our diplomatic history shows very satisfactorily that no administration can stand or ought to stand against the overwhelming volume of enlightened public opinion raised against an unpopular measure or a distrusted service. The public is bound to know whenever it can, and when it can not it is bound to guess, and its guessing may be more disturbing to foreign negotiations than a knowledge of the facts. Thus, while it may not always be able to determine the course of negotiations, it is always in its power to seriously affect them and ultimately to overthrow them.

But such cases as that of the Hawaiian queen are rare, and the American public fortunately has seldom had reason to apprehend that state affairs were being grossly mismanaged. Perhaps, on the other hand, it has needed at times to be cautioned against over-insistence upon its right to news—a vulgar itching for a sensational stimulant. Perhaps it has needed the reminder that it “had its say”, directly or indirectly, in the choice of officers, and that having chosen them, it should, as a rule, reserve criticism until election time returns; for between an eternal “nagging” of public officials and a profound indifference to public affairs there isn’t much to choose. The New England town-meeting has often been justly commended for cultivating an interest in public affairs; but, on the other hand, it frequently sets up its select-men merely to be targets of abuse. No nation and no community can have, or deserves to have, the best possible government when its officials are subjected to a perpetual cross fire of criticism.

The Secretary of State should have as free a hand as possible in the great game of world politics, for the state being a gigantic business firm, must, like all such firms, keep its business to itself.

It has long been a standing objection to federal governments such as ours that they are “weak in the conduct of foreign affairs”, the imputation being that they are weak because the Secretary of State lacks the initiative afforded by a more centralized government. But, as a matter of fact, the same official in England, France, Italy, or Spain, is more likely to be called upon for the progress of foreign negotiations than in our own country.

But the Constitution does not grant the Secretary, that is to say, the Executive, entire freedom in foreign affairs, for it explicitly states that “the President shall have power, by and with the consent and advice of the Senate, to make treaties ... to appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls,” etc. However, this restraint is not always irksome, and it may sometimes prove salutary. It is always a measure of assurance to the people that the administration will not commit the government to an unwise policy; and more than this, it is an assurance to a power with which we may be dealing that the result of the negotiations is not likely to be repudiated by the people when the chief executive is backed by the legislature.

The Senate entrusts its diplomatic functions, except in the ratification of treaties and the approval of the appointments of ambassadors, to its Committee on Foreign Affairs. This Committee leaves the initiative in diplomacy to the State Department, taking care, nevertheless, to keep track of any negotiations that may be pending. Whenever the Senate wishes to know the progress of negotiations it passes resolutions calling for them, the Chief Clerk of the Department gets them ready, and the Senate then meets in closed session during their consideration. Thus diplomatic business is fairly well guarded and at the same time a reassuring degree of legislative oversight is maintained. To be sure, we hear more or less criticism of Senate control, which in the nature of the case must mean a sacrifice of expediency, yet it remains to be seen whether or not our system is too cumbersome for prompt, prudent and adroit statesmanship when brought into closer rivalry with Europe.

For there is no doubt that for good or for ill we are entering upon a degree of activity in world politics such as we have never known heretofore. Consequently it becomes a matter of the highest necessity that our whole diplomatic machinery be in a condition to afford the greatest utility. Diplomacy in these modern times is said to be the art of maintaining peace; but it sometimes implies a rivalry, nevertheless, which is far from pacific. We should remember, therefore, that European diplomats have behind them the advantage of many years of study of their great problems from their own standpoint and the judgment of men of the greatest sagacity upon intricacies of long standing, and that most of them have governments more centralized than our own. It means a great deal to be able to quote in support of a position the weight of an authority like Metternich, Cavour, Bismarck, Gortschakoff, Richelieu, Grotius or Canning. But if anyone thinks that America is putting herself in a fair way to be worsted in this greatest of fields of intellectual battle, let him read the history of American diplomacy and let him study the part she has recently played in the world drama. If he thinks she is taking this greater part without adequate prestige, let him but observe the flattering attention she is now receiving, the coquetry for her favor and the dread of her rivalry to be observed in every quarter.

The State Department, therefore, may be expected to meet its new obligation successfully, provided it is allowed to act without too much interruption by people or legislature, and provided that the same wise discretion is observed in the choice of its chief officer that has usually been exercised.

It may not be out of place to mention here another provision which lies outside of the province of the State Department but affects its usefulness, nevertheless. A well-known case which occurred in Louisiana a few years ago, illustrates the point. A number of Italians, members of a band called the Mafia, were killed by a mob, and as a consequence loud complaints came from the Italian people, and many bitter criticisms were urged against a government which must needs leave the administration of justice for aliens within its borders to any locality where prejudice was evidently high. Our government could only give assurances of a satisfactory settlement of the matter; but it was humiliating to feel the powerlessness of the United States to take the administration of justice in a case involving foreigners out of the hands of the State of Louisiana and into its own. Such cases have happened more than once in our history, and the fact that they are liable to occur at any time is a standing menace to our peace, and will be so until the proper legislation is enacted. This is an acknowledged weakness in our government, a source of annoyance and humiliation to every patriotic American, and of embarrassment to the State Department. One cannot do better in view of such a defect and our comparative indifference to it, than to quote the warning comment of James Bryce: “As it is, that which might prove to a European nation a mortal disease is here nothing worse than a teasing ailment. This is why Americans submit, not merely patiently but hopefully, to the defects of their government. The vessel may not be any better built or formed or rigged than are those which carry the fortunes of the great nations of Europe. She is certainly not better navigated. But for the present at least,—it may not always be so,—she sails upon a summer sea.”

We have been considering the State Department thus far with respect to its relation to the general government, its chief officer, its division into the various bureaus and some general remarks upon its most distinctive feature, the Diplomatic Bureau. There remain several minor topics to be briefly presented, leaving until the next lecture the method of choosing men for the consular and diplomatic service, a subject which might profitably be considered here.

The Department has varied in its scope somewhat from time to time, now enlarging its domain as the country grew, and greater needs developed, and now surrendering some of its functions to other departments, mainly the Department of the Interior. It was first known before the outbreak of the Revolution as the “Committee of Secret Correspondence”, with Benjamin Franklin at its head. Next it was known (1777) as the “Committee for Foreign Affairs”, and its first Secretary, Thomas Paine, was dismissed for making an official matter public. Next (1789) it was known as the Department for Foreign Affairs, and finally as the Department of State, with Thomas Jefferson as the Secretary. The Patent Office originated under this Department, but in 1849, when the Department of the Interior was organized, it was formally transferred to that department. In the same way the Census Bureau was transferred to the Department of the Interior in 1850. Likewise, until the organization of the Department of the Interior, the affairs of the Territories remained under the Department of State.

One important functionary not mentioned among the bureaus is the Solicitor. This officer is detailed from the Department of Justice to “examine claims by or against foreign governments” and to advise upon points of international law involved in treaties, protocols, etc. The Solicitor is not subject, in the discharge of his duties, to the direction of the Attorney General.

Besides the regular business of this department, and in addition to the work of the Diplomatic Service, there are a number of bureaus and foreign commissions appointed for purposes more or less temporary, many of which require diplomatic ability of the highest order and others technical skill and knowledge. There are at present under commission the following:

(1) Bureau of the American Republics, with a Director, a Secretary, five translators, an Editor of the Monthly Bulletin, a Chief Clerk and a Chief of the Division of Information.

(2) Intercontinental Railway Commission, four members.

(3) United States and Mexican Water Boundary Commission, three American and three Mexican members.

(4) Nicaragua Canal Commission, three members.

(5) Commission to the Paris Exposition of 1900, three members.

(6) Reciprocity Commission, a special Commissioner, a Secretary, an Assistant Secretary and a Messenger.

(7) Consular Board of Examiners, under Executive Order of Sept. 20, 1895, three members.

(8) Joint High Commission, six members besides a Secretary and a Messenger.

(9) International Tribunal of Egypt, three members.

(10) Dispatch Agents, three; at New York, San Francisco and London, England, respectively.

Such, then, is the State Department to-day. Is it likely to assume a greater importance in the future? That may well be, for though it may lose still other functions besides those it has already parted with, there will always remain the one characteristic class of business known as foreign relations, and this seems likely to increase in volume and interest. It is possible that it may yet become the department through which the influence of the Executive shall reach the dependencies, when the necessity for military occupation shall have gone by.

Now, before throwing the subject open for discussion, I wish to refer you for further information to the publications with which the State Department has kindly furnished me and from which I have gathered most of the data that I have given you. Among the most interesting and instructive of its publications are the “Historical Papers”, previously mentioned, its works on “international law, diplomacy, and the laws of foreign nations”, the “Consular Regulations”, “Consular Reports” and various editions of “State Papers”, “Messages and Documents” and the “Report of the Committee on the Conduct of Business in the Executive Departments”. The subject is now open for question or discussion.

After some moments’ silence the Professor remarked—“I should have said at the proper time that there is a House Committee for Foreign Affairs, as well as a Senate Committee. However, it has no diplomatic functions—it merely serves as an auditing committee.”

Q. “How much does the Secretary of State get a year?”

A. “$8,000. It was once raised to $10,000 and the very next year it was reduced to $8,000.”

Q. “And on that salary he ‘keeps open house’, as you say, for the Republic?”

“Just so.”

“Humph!”

“But, Professor”, said a wise-looking man near the platform, “I suppose you think it is good policy to stick to our traditional simplicity? What’s the use of so much entertaining? Is that a necessary part of government?”

“Well”, said the Professor, “I would say that our traditional simplicity is all right as an ideal, provided we don’t make a religion out of it. Hospitality is also a good ideal to keep before the people,—international courtesy, if you please,—and perhaps there is as much virtue in the one as in the other. At any rate, if there were no other reason, no self-respecting nation would allow its representatives abroad to receive every courtesy and not make an equal endeavor to return the courtesy. Now, entertaining costs money, and there is no government appropriation for any such purpose, thanks to our democratic ideals, and as was shown before, the burden of it falls on the Secretary of State, which is unjust; for it is well known that the salaries we pay our national officers are ridiculously small when compared with those of other nations. Some measures should be taken, apparently, to meet this legitimate expenditure. Have I answered your question?”

“Yes, but I think just the same as I did before.”

“Exactly.”

“Professor,” said another man, “you have spoken of the Secretary of State as if he were responsible for our foreign policy; but do you not mean that the President is responsible?”

“The Secretary is responsible to the President and the President to the people”, said the Professor; “that is to say, the Secretary is responsible potentially and the President officially. If they were to differ in opinion, why, of course, that of the President would prevail.”

“Do you not think that our Secretary of State should be elected by Congress, in some such way as the Premier and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs is elected in England?”

“No, not by any means. Foreign affairs belong essentially to the executive, not the legislative branch of government. France, in my opinion, is particularly unfortunate in that its Foreign Secretary is chosen by the President and the Premier, but is responsible to the legislature. In Germany, according to the constitution, ‘the Emperor represents the Empire internationally’. He can even ‘declare war if it is defensive, make peace, enter into treaties with other nations, and appoint and receive ambassadors’. Hence, you see, as between Germany and the rest of the world, the Kaiser can almost say, ‘I am the State’; which, if the Kaiser is infallible, is a very fine thing. But to return to your question, it is not quite exact to say that in Great Britain the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs is elected by and responsible to Parliament. He is not always the Premier as he is at present; besides, you must remember that with us the Cabinet is an advisory board to the executive, while in Great Britain, the Cabinet virtually is the executive. Hence, no good analogy can be drawn.”

“Do I understand, Professor, that in your opinion, our system compares favorably with the corresponding systems of other countries?”

“That is certainly my opinion. The Senate oversight—the only feature that is severely criticized—may at times be troublesome and costly, but it is a valuable check and can not be dispensed with safely. After all, the great advantage enjoyed by American diplomacy is that we are more able than any other nation to act the part of the umpire, or peacemaker. This follows not only from our geographical position, but from the fact that at the very beginning we were free to choose advanced ethical positions because we were not tied to precedents.”

As there seemed to be no further questions, the audience was dismissed.

LECTURE II
THE CONSULAR SERVICE—OFFICERS.

I shall speak more particularly this evening, said the Professor, upon facts associated with the persons employed in the consular service; the selection, preparation and such other matter as may be of interest, leaving the duties of the service until the next lecture. Of course, this division is arbitrary, and is adopted merely as a matter of convenience. The data which I shall adduce may be found for the most part in the “Consular Regulations”, which anyone may purchase from the Superintendent of Documents in Washington.

The Consular Service, as was said before, makes a small army of about 1,000 men. These men are chosen from all parts of the United States (aside from the foreigners in the service), and are sent to all parts of the world. They are above all things else, agents of trade—messengers of commerce. Yet they stand in so many relations to our government and people that it is doubtful if any other position in our modern civilization calls into service a greater versatility—a wider exercise of intellectual capacity.

We shall consider the method by which these officers are chosen, then some reforms in that method which should have been adopted long ago, and which, it is hoped, we shall soon see in operation. But before describing these methods and reforms, let us notice briefly the grade, rank and classification of the service, likewise the definition of a few technical terms, in order that we may know exactly what we are talking about.

There are three principal grades in the consular service, namely:

• (1) Consul General.
• (2) Consul.
• (3) Commercial Agent.

These three are “full, principal and permanent consular officers as distinguished from subordinates and substitutes”. These latter include Vice Consuls General, Deputy Consuls General, Vice Consuls, Deputy Consuls, Vice Commercial Agents, Consular Agents, Consular Clerks, Interpreters, Marshals and Clerks at Consulate.

The term consul, as applied to the second grade, has also a common, generic meaning, including every consular officer, and it is in the latter sense that we shall generally use it.

In the same way the word consulate seems to waver in meaning, sometimes covering the entire region over which a consul has jurisdiction, i. e., the consular district, and sometimes implying only the official residence—the room or building in which the consul does business. The boundaries of the consulate—using the term in its broadest sense—are prescribed by the President, and are usually defined in the consul’s commission. The general rule is that all places nearer to the official residence than to any other consulate within the same country are to be included in a consulate just forming. These boundaries in most cases have long since been determined.

Now as to the difference in power between these three principal grades there is little to say, for there is very little difference except that of grade. Their functions as consuls are quite the same. The only difference is that the Consul General, except in three cases, Calcutta, Dresden and Mexico, has limited supervision over consuls within his jurisdiction. This supervision is confined to such as “can be exercised by correspondence” and is intended to insure that the Consular Regulations are complied with and the Consular Reports prepared for the State Department. The Consuls General are “in no sense auditing officers”.

A Consulate General usually includes all the consulates within any one country, though in a large or important country there may be several consulates general. In some cases also there are no Consuls General whatever, and the Consuls are then subordinated to the Diplomatic Service.

The Commercial Agent is simply a consul of a lower grade and under another name. The title is quite unfortunately chosen, especially since the same term is used in other countries to designate an officer quite inferior in rank and privileges.

As to subordinate officers and substitutes, a word may be said in passing.

Vice Consuls General, Vice Consuls and Vice Commercial Agents are just what might be inferred from their titles—appointees to take the place of their principals whenever the latter are absent.

The deputy officers, on the other hand, may discharge the duties of their superiors while the latter are at their posts, though they may never “assume the responsible charge of the office”.

Consular Agents represent their principals in places throughout the consulate where the latter do not reside; but their functions are limited. In certain cases citizens of the country may be appointed to this office.

As to Consular Clerks, the President is authorized to appoint as many as thirteen who may be assigned to duty as the Secretary of State may choose. They may not be removed from office “except for cause, stated in writing, which shall be submitted to Congress”. This is a peculiar freak of legislation, but it has some valuable suggestions.

Interpreters are stationed only at certain consulates in China, Japan, Korea, the Turkish domains, and Zanzibar. They are usually natives of the country. Marshals are appointed only for certain consular courts in the less civilized countries.

Lastly Clerks at Consulates are such as attend to the routine clerical work of the office.

For all these subordinate positions it is recommended that American citizens be employed whenever possible.

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RANK.

Since a consular officer generally holds office such a short time, one would not expect him to rank with Navy and Army officers, but such is the case. Here are the equivalents in rank:

• Consuls General
  • rank with
  • Commodores in the Navy or
  • Brigadier Generals in the Army.
• Consuls and
• Commercial Agents
  • rank with
  • Captains in the Navy or
  • Colonels in the Army.
• Vice Consular officers,
• Deputy Consular officers,
• Consular Clerks and
• Consular Agents
  • rank with
  • Lieutenants in the Navy or
  • Captains in the Army.

It is an event of some consequence when a United States naval squadron, or even a lone cruiser, enters a foreign port where an American consular officer is stationed; for the time to “put on airs” and “show off”, if you ever do such things, is when you are away from home. On such an occasion a commander of a squadron sends an officer ashore to visit the consular officer and to invite him on board the flag-ship. Or, in case it is but a single war-vessel, the commander thereof first goes ashore, visits the consul and invites him on board. In either case the consul accepts the invitation, as in duty bound, goes on board and “tenders his official services to the commander”. Usually upon his return to the shore a salute is fired in his honor—nine guns if a consul general, seven if a consul or five if a commercial agent. While it is being fired he faces the vessel and at the end of the salute lifts his hat in token of acknowledgment and the formalities are over.

Consular officers are expected to advance the interests of the Navy socially and otherwise whenever they can do so without expense to the Government. One cannot but smile at the frequency with which these words or their equivalent occur throughout the “Regulations”.

CLASSIFICATION.

Thus far we have considered the grade and the rank of consular officers. Turning now to classification, we find that it is merely a matter of convenience to the State Department—an arrangement according to salary. Again there are three classes, or schedules, namely:

(1) Schedule B. This includes 38 consuls general, 196 consuls and 10 commercial agents. It embraces all those who “receive a fixed salary and are not allowed to transact (private) business”. These, of course, occupy the more responsible positions and receive the highest salaries, ranging from $5,000 down.

(2) Schedule C. This includes only 10 consuls. It embraces those who “receive a fixed salary and are allowed to transact (private) business”. The salaries of these ten consuls are lower than those in the first schedule, but they may make it up if they can by going into business for themselves.

(3) The third schedule (which apparently ought to be D), comprises all others who receive no salary, but who are allowed to retain the fees of their respective offices and to engage in business. Of these there are 48 consuls and 20 commercial agents.

SELECTION AND APPOINTMENT OF CONSULAR OFFICERS.

The time has been when our consular service was simply a plaything for politicians, and the diplomatic service was not essentially different. The improvement has been very slow for the reason that it has been at the mercy of Congress for the annual appropriation which enables it to live, and to politicians everywhere for the frequent changes in its personnel. Or to go farther back for causes, its improvement has been delayed because the people have had more interest in the home market than in the foreign market. When our merchants send bales of advertising matter printed in English to a country where English is unknown, what can you expect of our people?

But there has been some improvement; so that notwithstanding the present weaknesses of the system there are some reasons for congratulation that it is as good as it is. There was an executive order issued in September, 1895, which recognized the justice of some of the complaints made against the service and provided for some measures of reform. Among these we notice that consulates or commercial agencies paying between $1,000 and $2,500 per year shall be filled in one of three ways—

(1) “By transfer or promotion from some other position under the Department of State of a character tending to qualify the incumbent for the position to be filled.”

This enables the Department to be something of a training school for the service, in a small way.

(2) “By appointment of some one not under the Department of State, but having served thereunder to its satisfaction in a capacity tending to qualify him for the position to be filled”.

This gives second preference to those who may have been discharged for political reasons.

(3) “By the appointment of a person who, having furnished the customary evidence of character, responsibility and capacity, and being thereupon selected by the President for examination, is found upon such examination to be qualified for the position.”

The order of preference given above seems to be very judicious and thoroughly in harmony with the spirit of civil service reform. The President further stated that “a vacancy in a consulate will be filled at discretion only when a suitable appointment cannot be made in any of the modes indicated”.

It will be observed, however, that this order makes provision for filling only the less important consular positions, that is, those paying between $1,000 and $2,500 per annum. As to the method of filling the others it is silent.

In pursuance of this order the Secretary of State added a list of the subjects to which the examination should relate, namely—

(1) General education, knowledge of languages, business training and experience.

(2) The country in which the consul or commercial agent is to reside, its government, chief magistrate, geographical features, principal cities, chief production and its commercial intercourse and relations with the United States.

(3) The exequatur, its nature and use.

(4) Functions of a consul or commercial agent as compared with those of a vice consul or consular agent; relation of former to latter, also to the United States minister or ambassador at the capital of the country.

(5) Duties of a consul or commercial agent as regards:

• (a) Correspondence with the State Department and the form thereof.
• (b) Passports, granting and visaing.
• (c) United States merchant vessels in a foreign port, and their crews, whether seeking discharge, deserting or destitute.
• (d) Wrecks within jurisdiction.
• (e) Wrongs to United States citizens within jurisdiction.
• (f) Invoices.
• (g) Official fees and accounts.

(6) Treaties between the United States and the foreign country.

(7) Relation of ambassador and minister to laws of the country to which they are accredited, as compared with those of consul or commercial agent to those of the countries where they reside.

(8) Acts of ambassador or minister, how far binding upon his country.

(9) Diplomatic, judicial, and commercial functions of consuls or commercial agents.

(10) Piracy, what it is and where punishable.

(11) Consular Regulations of the United States—copy of which (to be returned to the Department) will be supplied to each candidate upon application.

(12) Such other subject or subjects as the Board may deem important and appropriate in any particular case.

One might suppose that a man who could pass a good examination on the above subjects would be pretty well qualified for the service, with one glaring exception, namely, that nothing is said about requiring an acquaintance with modern languages, especially that of the country where the consul is to be located.

Moreover, complaints are still coming in as before, so that, although it is somewhat the fashion to condemn our consular system as the “worst in the world”, it is evident that we haven’t got to the bottom of the difficulty yet.

It needs no argument to show that the “spoils system”, pure and simple, is the most suicidal policy possible. The logic of history—our own history—upon this very point, is conclusive. But to throw the consular and diplomatic service into the “classified list”, or, in other words, to decide upon the fitness of a candidate merely upon the merits of a civil service examination would make but small improvement. It would tinker the old machine instead of replacing it with a new one. Such a process may determine upon a candidate’s preparation—if an examination may be said to determine anything—but it can not reach his personality—what he is,—nor can it reveal his capacity for work—what he can do.

Now these three points are to be considered in determining a candidate’s fitness for any position whatever—what he is, what he knows, and what he can do. The practical problems for the State Department are how to determine what a man is when in the majority of cases he is an entire stranger, how to discover what he can do when he has never been tested by experience, and how to expect him to know much about the business when there is not a school anywhere prepared to give the needed instruction.

Suppose you want to prepare for this service, how would you go about it? How would you find what was needed, what you should study and where to look for it? The government provides no means whatever of preparing men for foreign service. They simply get into it somehow—always, of course, through political influence—and then learn it necessarily at government expense. Just about the time they have mastered the language and are prepared to do their best work, along comes a change of administration and turns them out of office, and then the government begins again the expensive task of training a new set of men. This is not a hypothetical case. It is the rule rather than the exception.

Well, what ought to be done?

Why, establish some means of instruction for one thing. No one will doubt the wisdom of maintaining the academies at West Point and Annapolis for the Army and Navy, and are not the needs of the foreign service, Diplomatic, Consular, and lately Colonial, as urgent and important as the others? We have often heard the need of a great national university urged, and we occasionally hear a timid plea for a national school at Washington for the training of consuls and diplomats, but it is gratifying to notice the declaration in favor of the latter by such an eminent body of educators as those university presidents constituting the committee chosen by the National Educational Association to consider this very subject.

The need of a school of political science, economics, and modern languages, and the need of its location at the capital of the nation and under national control, is all the more urgent and unmistakable now that questions in colonial government are coming up for solution; and when one considers the multitude of problems afforded by the work of the consular service, together with the statecraft of the diplomatic, it is easy to see that there should be such an institution. A government which has provided so liberally for general education ought not to neglect that wise provision where its own efficient service demands it and nothing else can well supply it.

But the school cannot do it all, and its work must be supplemented by experience—say a year or more of residence for successful candidates at a foreign consulate or legation. And whenever a new man is appointed it should evidently be to one of the lower positions, leaving the higher ones to be filled by promotion.

It is gratifying to notice that an honest and intelligent effort is being made in Congress to bring about some needed reforms in the consular service. A bill[^[2]] is before the present House of Representatives which provides that “appointments shall be made to grades and not to specific places”. “A consul’s station”, says one authority[^[3]] commenting upon the bill, “should depend on the exigencies of the service, and should not necessarily be permanent. Good consuls may thus be obtained for undesirable places, a thing which is now well nigh impossible”. “It provides also”, says the same authority, that “removals shall not be made by caprice or for other than specified cause. To put a check upon appointments only or removals only is to leave at either end a loophole for evasion of the spirit of the reform. By crowding one man in, another may be crowded out”.

One would be astonished that such common-sense measures as these have not been in operation this long time, were it not for the power of “practical politics”. The “practical politician” is discovered easily and in every precinct. You have only to speak of efficiency or merit as the chief test of a candidate’s fitness for office, and he will have something to say about “giving every man a chance”, “changing around”, “getting out of the ruts”, etc. Should a consul’s station depend upon the “exigencies of the service”? Certainly; what is the service for? May he not be “removed by caprice”? Certainly not; for again, what is the service for?

Appointment to grades instead of to particular positions allows a shifting of men from one post to another whenever it is desirable, and it does so without sacrificing valuable experience. For it is true that a long residence at one consulate may so familiarize a man with his surroundings, especially if he finds himself in a lucrative business, that he becomes in some degree alienated from his own country without being aware of it. He may lose track of events at home or else become accustomed to viewing them from a foreign standpoint, so that as a result he falls into an apologetic tone toward those who criticize or a critical attitude toward the home government. He is then in a fit condition to be sent home. It has been suggested as a preventative to this that consuls be recalled from time to time to give lectures throughout the country, or instruction in a school for the consular service. Otherwise the same result will be accomplished so far as the consul is concerned, by shifting him to another position along with some salutary advice as to what his business is. This provision also puts the service more on a footing with the Army and Navy, which in many respects would be a decided gain.

Since this bill or a similar one is likely to become a law, and in any event has already earned strong endorsement, I append a few more of its provisions.

Instead of consul general, consul and commercial agent there are to be four grades, namely consul general of the first and the second class and consul of the first and the second class.

All consular officers shall receive compensation in salaries—none in fees.

Subjects in examination shall relate “chiefly but not exclusively to the duties of the consular service, and for consul of the first class examination in one foreign language will be required”.

The President is to appoint a board of five examiners, “who are to be the Civil Service Commissioners and two officials of the State Department”. These, however, shall have no connection with the reorganization of the entire service, which is entrusted to a committee consisting of two Senators, three Representatives and one officer of the State Department. It is intended that this committee shall have a pretty free hand in the inauguration of desirable changes, and the President is given large discretion as to the manner of putting such changes into execution.

There remains one important subject to be mentioned—the very difficult subject of the selection of men for examination, or after examination it may be. The present system is purely political. If you happen to have “influence” which will secure you a recommendation to the President you may be permitted to take the examination whenever a vacancy occurs. Hence the way is pretty effectually barred as far as unsupported merit is concerned; so it depends much more upon the “influence” than upon your merit. This is open to obvious abuses, and in case restrictions as to preparation are set aside, what have we but the “spoils system”?

On the other hand the Department must know something more about you than an examination can show. It must have some assurance of your powers of observation, your business acumen, your vigilance and alertness, and especially your dignity and integrity of character, so that you may well represent your country’s interests among foreigners, and defend the international rights of your fellow citizens.

Whether any better way can be devised remains to be seen, but in justice to the present system it must be said that it has secured many good officials—so many, indeed, that the American consular system, according to one writer[^[4]], has become a subject of careful study by European nations. The same writer quotes from La Revue Diplomatique as follows:

“The Americans are practical men and their instinct for business is marvelous. Nothing is more characteristic in this respect than the organization of their consular corps. Its duty is that of a sort of bureau of information at the expense of the state. It is recruited principally from journalists, who carry into their official career the trained instinct of observation, the quick grasp of passing events which belong to their former profession.

“The American consul does not understand that he has a commercial situation to maintain but always a commercial situation to conquer. His ingenuity is exercised to invent and find new markets, and in his study of ways and means, he descends to the most minute details. Despite their colonial conquests, the Americans have comprehended that the real struggle remains in the old markets—that there especially is the hard school that will force them to manufacture and sell better than all others”.

It appears from the above quotation, as well as others, that, in the judgment of Europeans, the peculiar excellence of the American consul is analogous to that of the American soldier—his ability to take the initiative, to be his own commander.

After all, the man is more important than the equipment and harder to discover.

AFTER APPOINTMENT.

Now let us watch our candidate get ready for business after he has received notice of his appointment. Every consular officer before entering upon his duties must take the prescribed oath of office and give bond for a sum of not less than one thousand nor more than ten thousand dollars. Then his commission is made out and given to the Diplomatic Bureau along with a special passport and an order on his predecessor to turn over the office to him. The commission is forwarded to the diplomatic representative in the country where he is to be stationed with instructions to procure from the government an exequatur.

An exequatur, in a word, is permission to act. It is simply a formal recognition of the right of any country to grant or refuse to any other country, or any of its representatives, the right to do business within its territory.

Meanwhile our newly made consul is supposed to be very hard at work completing his preparation, for he is to be at his post within thirty days of the date of his commission, his salary having begun on the date of his taking the oath of office. Having arrived at his post he notifies the American legation of that fact and receives his exequatur. Then he applies to the person in charge of the consulate for the government archives, the seal and all other government property. In company with his predecessor or the one in charge of the office, he makes an inventory of all the effects, and transmits a copy of it to the State Department.

It is expected that the consulate shall remain in the same place; but if our consul prefers to move he may move. He must do so, however, subject to instructions, for he is expected to establish his office “at the most convenient, central location that the sum allowed for office rent will permit”, and then give in minute detail a description of the new office in a report to the State Department. “The arms of the United States should be placed over the entrance to the consulate, unless prohibited by the laws of the country.” The flag may be hoisted occasionally, on national holidays, etc., if there is no objection, and it is always hoisted when required for protection.

Nothing is stipulated as to his residence except that it must be within the town in which he is doing business. Though he is expected to have regular office hours, he must be willing to be at the service of the public if called upon outside of those hours.

PRIVILEGES.

The consular service originally comprised some of the functions and enjoyed many of the privileges of the diplomatic. It lost those functions and most of the privileges when the diplomatic service developed and became common, except in uncivilized countries. The consul has lost, in the main, his representative character and has retained in uncivilized countries his judicial power—capacity to act as a judge. The consul has lost the right of exterritoriality, that is, the right to be subject to the laws of his own country and not to those of the country where he is stationed. However, he is under the special protection of international law and is regarded as the officer “both of the state which appoints and the state which receives him”. The extent of his authority is derived from his commission and his exequatur, and the extent of his privileges is defined for the most part by treaties between his own government and the one where he is stationed. Among these we will notice the following:

TREATY RIGHTS.

The-most-favored-nation clause in a commercial or consular treaty between two powers entitles the consuls of those two countries to all the privileges that those countries grant to the consuls of other powers. It is no more than an agreement between Smith and Jones that in a certain particular they will treat each other as decently as they treat any of their other neighbors.

Inviolability of the archives and papers of the consulate means that they cannot be seized or examined by anybody.

Inviolability of the consular office and dwelling secures those places from invasion even by officers of the law; but it is understood that they are not to be used as an asylum or place of refuge for fugitives from the law. If it is known that they are so used it is doubtful if there are many countries where this would hold.

Exemption from arrest secures to a consul the freedom of a diplomatic officer, but this is seldom enjoyed in full. Usage inclines to grant every liberty to a consul consistent with public welfare. He is seldom exempt from arrest for crime.

Exemption from obligation to appear as a witness “except for defense of persons accused of crime” is secured in several countries.

Exemption from taxation of personal property is secured in a number of countries, provided the officer is not a citizen of that country, and provided also he is not engaged in business.

This first proviso may sound a little strange, yet it is a fact that Uncle Sam has often jeopardized his reputation for shrewdness by employing citizens of a country to represent his commercial interests right in their own home. A study of treaties will show that foreign governments do not look upon this arrangement with more favor than we should, hence it is a good practice to abandon.

Exemption from military billetings and public services is granted upon the same proviso mentioned above.

These are not all the points covered by treaties in reference to the consular service, but the remainder contemplate his duties rather than his privileges and may be mentioned, possibly, in the next lecture. Bear in mind that these privileges do not exist in any country unless it is so stipulated in a treaty between the United States and that particular country.

PROHIBITIONS.

Uncle Sam doesn’t propose to have his public servants abroad intermeddling in foreign politics. Consuls are desired to “cultivate friendly social relations with the community in which they reside”, but to “refrain from expressing harsh or disagreeable opinions upon local, political or other questions which divide the community within their jurisdiction. They are forbidden to participate in any manner in the political concerns of the country. In their (public) dispatches upon such subjects, they will confine themselves to the communication of important or interesting public events as they occur, avoiding all unnecessary reflections upon the character or conduct of individuals or governments, and they will not give publicity, through the press or otherwise, to opinions injurious to the public institutions of the country or the persons concerned in their administration”.

This is good, sound diplomacy; and the same paragraph goes on to say, “It is at the same time no less their duty to report freely and seasonably to their own government all important facts which may come to their knowledge touching the political condition of the country, especially if their communications can be made to subserve or may affect the interests of their own country”.

Public Speeches.—He is “not allowed to allude in public speeches to any matters in dispute between the United States and any other government, nor to any matters pending in the consulate. It is a still better rule to avoid public speeches when it can be done without exciting feeling”.

The Press.—The prohibitions extend also to correspondence with the press, not literary or non-political articles, but to such as touch upon public affairs in any foreign government, or communications to newspapers relative to epidemic diseases abroad.

Gifts, Testimonials.—Consuls are not permitted to ask or accept for themselves or anybody else “any present, emolument, pecuniary favor, office or title of any kind from any foreign government”. If any such offers are made to them “they may apply to Congress through the Department of State for permission to accept the same”.

Recommendations for Office.—Consuls are forbidden to recommend any one for any governmental office or trust of profit. By permission of the Secretary of State they may make recommendations to offices subject to their own jurisdiction.

Uniform.—Consular officers are forbidden to wear any distinguishing uniform. The Regulations are indulgent enough to allow them to wear an Army uniform if they happen to have been in the Army of the United States during the Rebellion.

Absence.—Consuls are forbidden to be absent from their posts longer than forty-eight hours without reporting to the Department about it. No one is permitted to be absent more than ten days at any one time without permission from the President. Special permission must be obtained in order to return to the United States, and the statutes do not provide for a continuance of salary for an absence of longer than sixty days.

This is about all that need be said about the consuls themselves. What remains to be considered will come up in connection with the duties of the consular office. We will wait a few moments for questions.

Q. “Professor, aren’t there other needed reforms in the consular service besides those you have mentioned”?

A. “Certainly, but I preferred to dwell only upon the most difficult and at the same time the most vital of them all; namely, the choice and preparation of the men. I think it might be well to emphasize just a point or two more in this connection. The first is that the consular service ought not to be filled with foreigners. The Consular Register of July, 1899, shows that out of 706 subordinate positions, including commercial agencies, 412 are filled by men born in the country where they are stationed. In fact, out of a total of 1,020 men in the consular service only 547 are of American birth or parentage. The reason for this is that so many of the positions don’t pay enough to induce Americans to undertake them. Four or five hundred dollars a year may mean something to a man who is on the spot, small as the sum is, but it shuts Americans out of a large majority of the subordinate positions.

“The second point to be mentioned is the effect of this parsimony—miscalled economy—upon the higher positions. For instance, suppose a man is appointed to a place, the duties of which involve some diplomatic responsibility. Such a man must live on a scale becoming his position, or bring himself and his country into contempt. As a matter of fact it has frequently happened that a thrifty consul, profiting by the example in frugality set by his government, has tried to save money by living in rented rooms above his business office, only to find when the inspector came around that he had to move out and live in a more sumptuous fashion. Aside from the question of sentiment, democratic or undemocratic, the government is best served by a consul who, other things being the same, enters a great deal into society and is not too careful to live within his income. It gives him an influence, a prestige among his surroundings which inures to the financial advantage of his country. Uncle Sam pays less for his consular service than does any other power of equal wealth, but those who know best the service and its possibilities have always claimed that it is poor economy.”

Q. “Will you please distinguish again between Consular Clerks and Clerks at Consulate”?

A. “Certainly; Consular Clerks are not stationed at consulates at all. They are specialists who work upon some task assigned by the State Department. Such a one may specialize upon a certain line of textile fabrics in all its degrees of quality and the methods employed in its manufacture. Another may become an expert authority on chemicals or iron and steel products, etc. Clerks at Consulate are, as you may suppose, those engaged in ordinary clerical duties at the consulates.”

Q. “Do you think that the present movement in favor of consular reform has any partisan purpose”?

A. “Not at all. The last two administrations, i. e., Cleveland’s and McKinley’s, have done more for this cause, perhaps, than all the others put together. Moreover, the time just now is ripe for this reform and Congressmen should be more than ever awake to the necessity of it, irrespective of party”.

Q. “How about that school for consuls and diplomats, Professor? It seems to me that however desirable it may be, it is hardly feasible for partisan reasons.”

A. “That, of course, is the stock objection to such a proposition. Yet I fail to see why such a school might not be put into the hands of a non-partisan board—say the second and third Assistant Secretaries of State, who do not change with the administration as a rule. And we might add to these the Civil Service Commissioners, or any other competent men, provided they are not to be meddled with on the score of partisanship. Partisanship does not enter into the management of West Point or Annapolis to any noticeable extent, nor does it prevent our numerous State universities from being as well managed as other institutions of learning.”

Q. “But why not leave all this to the institutions already established?”

A. “Well, perhaps as good a reason as any is that none of them are in Washington. The government has here its great scientific museum, the Smithsonian Institute; also its historical museum, various experiment stations, and above all, perhaps, its Congressional Library and collections of State papers and archives. Besides, diplomacy should be learned from diplomats in active service—men acquainted with their occupation both past and present, European and American. Such a school need not be continuous, perhaps, or conducted as many months of the year as other schools, its chief purpose being to satisfy the exigencies of the Government, rather than to furnish a liberal education”.

Q. “I suppose, Professor, that our Government has treaties with most other countries covering the principal points of commercial importance”?

A. “Yes, in the main, though there are some surprising exceptions. For instance, ‘the-most-favored-nation’ clause is not in the treaties with either Great Britain or Sweden and Norway. With many of our neighboring states we have no extradition treaties whatever. A glance at the synopsis[^[5]] given will show that our treaties are fullest with the following named countries: Austria, Belgium, Colombia, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Roumania, San Salvador and Servia. Evidently the treaties with some of the other countries need overhauling.”

LECTURE III - THE CONSULAR SERVICE—DUTIES.

Consular duties, like household duties, are very numerous; and about as multiform as they are numerous. The mere mention of them, aside from any description or dwelling upon particulars, would leave little time for anything else to be said in the same lecture. We shall content ourselves, therefore, with a cursory view, a glance over the whole field of those duties, without stopping to distinguish between those of a consul and those of a consul general, or of a seaport and of an inland town.

The following classification will be found to be helpful and very nearly comprehensive:

• (1) Duties commercial.
• (2) Duties in connection with customs regulations.
• (3) Duties to merchant vessels.
• (4) Duties in case of wrecks.
• (5) Duties to officers, naval, diplomatic and departmental.
• (6) Duties to seamen.
• (7) Duties in regard to immigration and quarantine.
• (8) Duties to citizens other than seamen.
• (9) Duties judicial—in non-Christian countries.
• (10) Duties to the State Department.

There are a few others, such as duties in regard to extradition, the purchase and transference of foreign built vessels, etc., etc., which we shall term miscellaneous.

DUTIES COMMERCIAL.

The most important of these—the one indeed which is now, as it always has been, of central importance in the consular service, is the one first mentioned—commercial duties. Owing to its importance I will quote in full from the Consular Regulations, pages 248-51, the list of subjects upon which the consul is expected to report to the State Department:

“1. Conditions of foreign commerce and internal trade, manufacturers, mechanical industries, agriculture, etc., especially—

“(a) Statistics of exports and imports, of shipping and of revenue and expenditure of the country; amount of public debts, national and local; rates of taxation, character of taxable basis, how taxation is levied and collected, amount of taxation per capita, etc.; value, actual value in exchange, and also as measured by the dollar of the United States; changes in purchasing power of the currency; banking—new systems, especially of savings banks and of banks as associations for lending money to agriculturists, mechanics, and factory operatives; public loans and the matters of finance affecting the industry or commerce of the country; commercial credits—rates and periods usually granted to foreign purchasers, and those expected from foreign shippers; trade usages and peculiarities; special demands of consumers as to demand and quality of goods or supplies already in use or capable of being introduced among them, with suggestions as to the best and most economical style of packing to conform to local requirements of sale and transportation.

“(b) Improvement of old and development of new industries, including inventions or discoveries, and the result obtained from the practical application of them.

“(c) Introduction of inventions made in the United States or imitations of them; application of business or mechanical methods employed in the United States.

“(d) Importation and use of food supplies, raw materials and manufactures from the United States, or the possibility of introducing them, and local or race requirements to make them acceptable to foreign consumers.

“2. Facilities for direct and indirect communication with the United States—establishment of new ocean or international railroad lines or agencies; development of internal transportation lines—railroads, highways and steamboat or other carriage on rivers and canals, or betterment of them; opening up of new trade routes or abandonment of old ones; changes in transportation rates, both freight and passenger, which are of general interest to commerce; bounties or subsidies to railroads and shipping.

“3. Development or decline of commercial and manufacturing centers; causes of drift of agricultural population to towns and cities; diversion of trade from one local market or district to another; projects for great manufacturing or other industrial enterprises for harbor or river improvement, for better methods of lighting, street paving, water supply, sewerage and disposal of sewage, economy of municipal taxation and expenditure; hygienic and quarantine measures; police systems, urban and rural.

“4. Changes in economic condition of producing communities, urban and rural; fluctuations in rates of wages, cost of living, prices of products, raw and manufactured, especially for food supplies, wearing apparel, agricultural and domestic implements, machinery, etc.; scarcity or glut of articles of consumption of all kinds, particularly those produced in the United States; changes in hours of labor or other conditions affecting workingmen, trades’ unions; strikes and lockouts; systems of co-operation and profit sharing; government measures (national, municipal or local) or private (organized) projects for insurance or care of infirm or superannuated laborers, for improved sanitation of factories and dwellings, for regulating the labor of women and children, and for combating usury in the lending of money; technical and commercial education; museums, exhibitions, merchants’ unions and similar organizations for promoting trade, and the functions assumed by the state in connection therewith.

“5. All changes in tariff legislation, including new rates of export, import, or transit duties, special care being taken to state whether they discriminate in favor of or against the United States as compared with other countries. When a wholly new tariff law is enacted it should be given in full with an explanatory statement of increase or decrease in duties as compared with the tariff previously existing. Prompt notice of contemplated tariff legislation should be sent to the Department. By tariff legislation are meant not only measures affecting export and import duties, but also those relating to customs administration, transit duties, octroi or municipal taxes upon supplies entering cities and towns, taxes imposed upon the import or export of articles from one political district of a country (such as a state, province, canton, arrondissement, etc.) to another, tonnage, taxes and port dues, or other taxes upon shipping, etc.

“6. Legislation or proposed legislation of interest to farmers, merchants, mechanics, inventors, etc., such as changes in patent, trade mark, and copyright laws; laws to prevent adulteration of food, or to prohibit importation or sale of adulterated or impure food; laws prohibitory of importation of diseased animals, impure seeds, etc.; measures discriminating for or against any particular class of products or against imports from any country; bounties granted to special lines of manufacture or agricultural production; changes in legislation concerning agricultural, commercial or industrial concessions, such as government land grants, railroad bonuses, special privileges, and exemptions for colonists; encouragements to or restrictions of immigration; rights of citizenship; taxation or exemption of manufacturing plants, machinery and implements; licenses to trade; taxation of commercial travelers; legislation as to bankruptcy and collection of debts, etc. Also decisions of courts or of government officers on important commercial questions; government regulations relating to law changes; changes in commercial procedure.

“7. Undertakings and enterprises of moment—the construction of public works, the opening of mines, the granting of concessions for working minerals or forests, or for other similar purposes”.

This is an admirable list for any one to study if he would learn what are the signs of a nation’s material prosperity. It deserves further comment because of its importance to the consular service, but we must pass on.

DUTIES IN CONNECTION WITH THE CUSTOMS REGULATIONS.

A large share of the routine of every consulate is concerned with the customs regulations, certifying to invoices, guarding against fraud, keeping account of all transactions and reporting the same to the State Department. If you are engaged in importing “fancy Scotch cheviots” (your imported Scotch goods are made in America, however), the goods must be described in full in a consular invoice. This invoice must be signed by yourself or agent and accompanied by an “official shipper’s certificate”, which amounts to saying that the invoice is “all right”, and this again must be signed by the shipper and certified by the consul. Thus the consular service facilitates the work of the customs officials by having imported goods invoiced before arrival at the “port of entry”.

DUTIES TO MERCHANT VESSELS.

An American merchant vessel sailing from an American to a foreign port is required under penalty to deposit its register and also its sea letter with the American consul immediately upon reaching its destination. “It is usual also to deposit its crew list and shipping articles”. These documents are known as the “ship’s papers”, and are kept by the consul until the ship has received “clearance”.

The consul is required to give the masters of vessels all information in his possession concerning coast surveys, pilot and hydrographic charts, etc., such as are published by the Navy Department, and to furnish to the State Department any information that may be of service to navigation.

DUTIES IN CASE OF WRECKS.

No consular officer is permitted to take any action in case of a wreck, if the “owner, master or consignee thereof is present and capable of taking possession of the same”. If no such person is present, the consul is required, so far as the laws of the land permit, to take all necessary action for the preservation of vessel and cargo, and keep inventories of the same, together with the expense involved. The consul must make a full report of such wrecks to the State Department, whether they occur within his jurisdiction or are brought in.

In case Americans are shipwrecked the consuls are required to “render such assistance as may be in their power”, but they are not authorized to incur any expense with the expectation that it will be met by the State Department.

Whenever foreigners render aid to shipwrecked Americans, the Consul is required to forward to the State Department an account of the facts, giving the name of the master of the foreign vessel and those of the crew who especially distinguished themselves for heroism or humanity. These details should be quite exact, as they are to be laid before the President, who is authorized by Congress to make suitable acknowledgment. In some cases the consul may reward a rescuing crew out of funds at his disposal.

DUTIES TO OFFICERS—NAVAL AND DIPLOMATIC.

Duties to naval officers were mentioned in connection with “rank” in the preceding lecture. Officers of the Navy are under a reciprocal duty to consuls, however, which should be mentioned. On this point I quote the exact words of the Regulations.

“The Navy is an independent branch of the service, not subject to the orders of the Department of State, and its officers have fixed duties prescribed for them; consuls will, therefore, be careful to ask for the presence of a naval force at their posts only when public exigencies absolutely require it, and will then give the officers in command the full reasons for the request and leave with them the responsibility of action. If the request is addressed to the Department of State, the reasons should likewise be fully stated for its information.”

The diplomatic service has general supervision over the consular service in any one country. When there is a consul general, this supervision is exercised through him, and the consuls will not correspond officially with the diplomatic officers—except in reply to inquiries. Where there is no consul general the consuls will correspond directly with the diplomatic officials and “endeavor in all cases to comply with their requests and wishes”. Leaves of absence and recommendations for appointment of subordinate officers are usually sent through the diplomatic officers.

Sometimes in the absence of a diplomatic officer a consul general or consul may discharge the duties of a diplomatic officer. Sometimes the two offices are united in the one representative.

“Consular officers will confer freely with the Treasury revenue agents who may be appointed to visit and examine the consulates. They will remember, however, that these agents have no authority to instruct them as to their official acts”.

DUTIES OR RELATIONS TO SEAMEN.

To no other class of citizens, save in uncivilized countries, does the consul stand in such immediate relationship as to seamen. This would seem to be because as a class, since their occupation takes them to all parts of the world and away from the protection of their own country, and, moreover, because they are laborers and not men of means, they are more at the mercy of circumstances as well as of unscrupulous masters in foreign lands. On the other hand, justice to the masters also requires national authority to enforce contracts and assist in securing harmony often-times on shipboard. Fully 57 pages of the Regulations are taken up with this subject under the following heads:

• 1. Shipment of seamen.
• 2. Discharge of seamen.
• 3. Wages and effects of seamen.
• 4. Relief of seamen.
• 5. Transportation of seamen.
• 6. Desertion of seamen.
• 7. Disputes between masters, officers and crews.

A master of an American merchant vessel who engages any seamen in a foreign port must do so under penalty in the presence of the American consul and only with his sanction. The engagement must be signed in duplicate by both master and men in the presence of the consul, who must see to it that the seamen understand clearly the terms of the contract. Seamen may be engaged for a definite time, for a round trip, for a single voyage or “by the lay”, and the terms of the agreement are called the “shipping articles”. In case of desertion or casualty the master may engage a number of seamen equal to the number lost and report to the first consul he sees. In case a vessel is purchased abroad and the seamen “have not character of American seamen” (subsequently defined), they do not come within the jurisdiction of the consul.

An American seaman is (1) an American citizen or (2) a foreigner shipped in an American vessel in an American port or (3) a foreign seaman shipped in an American vessel in either an American or a foreign port, who has declared his intention in a competent court to become a citizen of the United States and has served three years thereafter on American merchant vessels. For purposes of protection the filing of the declaration is sufficient.