Omaha daily bee., 1896-12-19

FEES CUT DOWN.

The well known republican friend of Mr.
Mckinley who recently began a still hun
for his reward, made another discovery il
the State department. which panied him
He came upon a letter of instruction "tC
the consular officers of the United States >
dated only two weeks before the November
election. and signed Richard Olney. The
effect of this letter is to cut off the invoice
affidavit fees of all American consuls in
Great Britain. Until now the office of con.
sui general to Liverpool has paid about
$4,000 year, $1,000 in fees and $1,000 in
salary. The new instructions cut off hall
OF the income and make the office worth
about $4,000. The same is true of the Lon.
don consul generalship, and of all the con,
sular offices in Great Britain. The London
consul generalship was worth $4,000 OF
more year. John C. New had 1t under
President Harrison, and eX-Congressman
Patrick A. Collins of Boston is the present
incumbent. Under the new instructions the
office will be worth about $4,000 a year.
The consuls In Great Britain are panic
stricken over the action of the department.
Their statements quite generally agree that
the order means the loss of about half of
their incomes. About a dozen of the fifty
three consular places to be filled at the
discretion of the new president are among
those thus affected. Half OF their attrac-
tveness is suddenly destroyed by Mr.. Oh
news instructions of October 21.
These ttirty-fve diplomatic appointments
and tfty-three consular offices constitute
the sum total of patronage of which Presi-
dent Mckinley will have disposition. They
allow an average of two places to each
state, IL the free silver kingdom of Nevada
be left out OF consideration. The foreign
service is taking on the condition of pent-
up Utica for the oficeseecer.
Heretofore these consular officers have re-
quired an oath TO be made for the yerifca-
tion of invoices OF merchandise sent from
their consular districts to the United States
The notarlal fees collected from this source
We're a part of the consular income. The
secretary now directs:
l. No oath shall be required for invoices
of merchandise which Is on the free list or
subject to specific duty.
2. An oath may be required on invoices of
goods subject 10 ad valorem duty il the
consul has reasonable ground TO suspect
fraudulent differentiation or other willful
but in no other case" This
oath can be taken before any officer who is
legally qualified to administer IT,
The third instruction strikes the consular
fee business hard blow. Consular officers
are prohibited from receiving the whole or
any part of the fees charged by a commits
sioner or other officer for administering
oaths to invoices; from receiving ANYTHING
as a gratuity or otherwise on account of
the administration of such oaths; and from
being In any way, either directly or lndi-
rectly, pecunlarily interested In such fees
The Cleveland administration has taken
ont OF politics the most Of the consular
patronage, and has made the few places
left to be filled at the discretion OF the
president worth only half as much as they
were, The worst of 1t for the office seekers
Is that there is not the slightest probability
Mr. Mckinley will undo any OF this work
OF his predecessor.