St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1884-06-21
Our Consular Service.

I,;ave lately had long talk with
Honorable ID. 5. Alexander. the Fifth
Auditor of the Treasury, in regard to
our Consular service. From it COM
pie the following, giving the facts and
figures as nearly as can remember.
Our consular officers number S9l, and
they are scattered all over the world.
Many ofthe positions do not pay enough
to make the expenses of the officer and
but few of them are very desirable.
The Consuls are divided into three
| classes First, those who have fixed
salaries and are not permitted to do
business; second. those who have fixed
salaries and are permitted to do other
business; and third, those who are paid
entirely by fees and are permitted to do
| other business. All of the prominent
Consulates and nearly all of the desira-
| BILE ones are in the first class. 1t IS
made up of Consulates, Consuates gen.
erai. and commercial agencies, and its
salaries range from 5000 to Sl,50o
wear. The only $4,000 COnsulates are
Paris, Havana. Rio de Janeiro, and
those paying $1,000 are Cairo, Calcnt-
ia and Shanghai. Then come Berlin,
kanagawa, Montreal, Honolulu and
Hong Kong, $1,000. and then the sew
| eral Chinese Consulates which are paid
| $500, and then the three other classes
at $4,000. $500. $4,000 and 1900
| This first class of Consuls is obliged to
| send in all of its official fees to the Gov
ernment, but there is class Of private
business which they are permitted to
do. and this IN certain cases amounts
to considerable. In the majority OF
places, however, the Consuls get nothing
but their salaries, and it is only in
the manufacturing centers of England,
Scotland. France and Germany that
these private. fees amount to anything.
About seven -elevenths of the Consul
lates are of the first class. In the
second class, which gets less than
81 800, there are one-eleventh, and the
third paid entirely by fees, numbers
three -eievenths of the whole. In the
second class there is no salary above
81 900, and in the third all of the fees
above 81, 800 must be turned into the
Government.
The fees collected by the Consuls
more than support the service. Last
year the excess of receipts over expendl-
lures was Si4,5i9, and the receipts
amounted to nearly million dollars.
OF this sum nearly S1j0,0OO was re-
ceived from certifying invoices at fec
of $3.50 per invoice. From this you
see the only Consuls who can make any
large returns are those of the large
manufacturing and commercial centers.
Paris pays the United States better
than any other Consulate. The fees
collected there last year amounted to
S6a,O0O. These fees, with the eNcep-
ton of S56.72. were received for invoice
certificates, which show that over %. .o0a
invoices of goods were sent from Paris
to the United States in single year:
The fees collected at London for thi:
same time were nearly $4,000, and
those at Liverpool $i7, 900. All of the
London fees, with the exception oi
$1,000. were for the certifying OF in-
voices, but of those at Liverpool SO, ,0U
were received for other than invoice
fees. Fifteen thousand dollars OF thi:
was made up of shipping fees, showing
that more American ships are repre-
sented at Liverpool than at any othel
s port in the world.
Many people believe that COnsuls ART
, not responsible for their collections
and that great frauds are perpetrated
: This is not so now, and the checks ar
= such that dishonesty is easily discov
cred. The invoices must now be issuet
in triplicate. One copy is filed in tn
archives of the Consulate, second !
SEM to the collector where the good
are to be entered. and third is sent t
the consieuee of the goods. At tn
J end of ee quarter the collectors max
: an abstract of all invoices received b.
them. which is sent to the Fifth Auditor
1 and these are there charged up to tn
t Consul issuing them. AT the end Q
Y each quarter the Consul makes his re
< turns, and he is credited with the in
h voice fees that he has reported. II
4 Consul is found not to have reported
4 many fees as are charged to him it
!. evident that something is wrong, AM
5 the matter is investigated.
d 1t is the same with the S135.OOO re
d ceived from shipping fees. Duplicat
5 certificates are made out to ships. OF
of which is given into the hands of tn
Y CAPTAIN to be handed to the Collecto
: Of the first American port at which h
e touches, and this is through him sent
e the Fifth Auditor The Consul, in MAXIM
e up his report, is required to aceour
d for each paper so made out, and If b
d does not report the fact is at once di'
= covered. It is the same with the lant
n ing receipts. which amount to $40. .o0t
: so that in the collection of nearly
8 million dollars from the Consuls an al
n solute check is placed upon the homes
) returns of over nine -tenths of it. Unde
n it the Consular receipts. which in ls6
d were only S99, 113, in 1882 reached tt
n sum of $4,000, and were about ii
e same in 1885, Washington Cor. C2ec
5 land Leader.
q A plant, q native of Africa, is a
rractinr much attention at the res