Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-03-16
WITH A RUSH.
Applicants for the 288
Foreign Consulships.
Where the Reform Comes ln--Must
All Pass Examination.
Difficult Tor Any But First Class Men 10 Sc.
cure Positions.

/
! very large number Of good men arc doom.
ed to disappointment. A member of the
presidents official household, one Of the
clerks, who has been in the White House
for many years. says the number of appli.
cants for consulshirs this year exceeds any
thing he has ever known. This Is explain.
cd in part by the fact that SO many other
federal places have been put under tho civil
service rules, and also by the business de-
preston from which the country has suffer
cd, the latter operating to bring into
| competition for appointment to consul
lar places many business men who have
hitherto depended upon themselves for a
| livelihood and have scorned to seek en-
ployWcnt in the public service. The idea
of getting an appointments to consular
post is indeed u fascinating one. The won
der Is that there are not more candidates.
Almost every man In the country possess
ing fair education imagincs nc would
make good consul, and as he and his fam
/ lily talk it over and picture to themselves
| the delights of a foreign trip ut the expense
OF the government they grow very enthusi-
astic about it.
A Roscate View.
Perhaps they have never been in Europe,
| and the prospect of q trip across the ocean
pleases them immensely 1--WE won't have
| much to do, says the head Of the house,
land we can live SO much cheaper over
there, even If the salary isn't very large y
YES, /" says the wife. "and it will be such
| good opportunity for the children to learn
French and German. And we can take lit
| tie trips around on the continent and see
everything that is to be seem
So they hunt up the atlas and the guide
books, and the railway and steamer SEIZED.
ules, and map out their voyage and dc.
eide how much they are going to spend
and how much save, and have real nice
| time over it, Then the head of the house
| and future consul stirs about and gets in
dorsements from politicians and writes u
great many letters to senators and repre-
sentatives with whom he has more or less
acquaintance, and the whole family is hap
Ply. The appointment will soon be made,
and then the trunks will lie packed, and
away they will so to their post OF duty.
Civil Service Reform.
But for ninety nine out OF hundred OF
these dreamers disappointment is in store
Some one else gets the prize. There are
altogether too many pegs for the holes, and
some ore has to fail by the wayside. Ono
OF the first things the man who was ambi
tious enough to put in his application fol
a $4,000 consulship discovers is that u
number of big politicians, men who have
claims upon the party and the president.
are after il. OF course he is lost in the
shuttle. The more modest man, who goes
60. -,.o,,. ,,,,. ~ Iii -, sns inc
ard tho. H. Ill, ~. .h.D.slI go. .,i''''
road SOON learne that for tho ,,,;ror cor,
sulships, for all, in fact, paving less than
ST. 500 year. there is bothersome civil
service examination.
1t is not true. as many suppose, that the
consulships have been placed under civil
service laws The civil service commission
has nothing to do with them. The prcsi
dent makes appointments of consuls now
as he always did, by nomination to the
senate, and his nominations must be con
firmed BY that body. The civil service mar,
Of the business is a mere device to assist
the president in getting good men. Can
didates have to be examined by a board
composed of Judge John Davis. w. w
Rockhill, the first assistant secretary OF
state, and Robert Chiffon. chief of the
consular bureau. They submit to appli
cants great lot of questions and make a
report to the president. The president
may be guided by the estimate which the
examining board puts upon the candidates
or he may not. lust as he chooses But SO
firmly has the civil service spirit taken
possession of the men who are running thu
government that the president rarely
makes consular appointmonts cxcppt from
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