The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-09-16
SOME AMERICAN coNsULs.

~'"AAJ INepiGStulGu AIlOIS
 Uncle Sam's Official Abroad-Bad
 Effects of Political Appointments.
 l stepped to the door of the Slavonski Bazar, the principal hotel in Moscow, the other day, and addressing myself to the head porter, with the three short bits of peacock feathers in his round cap asked; Where is the United States consul?" Of course in reality said American Consul" because nobody knows the United States by any name except America, once you get past Cuba and the Bahamas on your travels, He told me to go so and son and so and to find the consul, and the office was so out of the way that [ hired drosehky and drove to it. This was at Il o'clock in the morning. When l reached the consulate, with the famil- jar egg-shaped sign board of blue and yellow, picturing an eagle clutching a shield and a bunch of arrows, I climb ed to the third story and to the con- sulate door. I never got any further on that day or any other, because in front of me I read on a piece of paper: This office is open from 5 o'clock to 7:90 every evening"" In Moscow, mind you, the second city of Russia. I in quired in the building if it was the fix ed custom of the American consul to open his office during everybody's din- ner hour, and close it again as soon as people were free for the evening. Yes, it is his custom, but if monsieur is a friend of his let him go to such and such a street, where the consul keeps a little shop-hardware, if I remember and there visit him. But do not go there on official business, because that he will not do, except up here-two or three stories up stairs in this out-of- the-way street, between and 7:30 p. m. NO, thank you" said l. ''as usual I must go to the English or the German consul, who will not be away all day keeping a hardware shop, but will have a consulate and stick to it, and who will have been trained in the foreign service of his government, and will prove a intelligent and ambitious ser want of his government
 But, you say. this is rather far fetched, isn't it, to make that Moscow case to represent our service abroad No, indeed; though I should be proud to be able to say that It was a repre- sentative case in some respects, for by no means all our ministers and consuls are practical, sober men, able to keep shops on their own account. When was in China the foreigners came to complain to me of the drunkards and blackguards we had sent to at least tw oseaports of that country-men who spent their days in the club, were drunk every day and were the means of bringing scandal on our nation. The consul general, MT. Jerngan, at Shang- hai was an excellent official-a gen. tleman, a patriot to the bone, a capa- ble, alert, proud and dignified man, who wanted to make his country felt and respected when it was tricked and in- suited by the Chinese. But the only thing he could do was to make himself respected, for our weak and gullible minister at Pekin had left his son in charge, and our secretary of state was being pulled about by the nose by the oily Chinese minister at Washington When I went to the war between Tur-
 
 Minister Terrill at Constantinople, but who do you suppose represented the United States in the second city in Turkey, Salonica? A Greek, above all things in the world. He was a man oi excellent parts, but, mind you, he was Greek, and therefore by birth and | training unfit to represent America al any time--and more than unfit at 6 time when a Greek was an enemy ot | the Turks.
 Do you think it queer that we should have a Grek to represent us anywhere? Look at the list of consuls, and unless Mr. Mckinley has greatly overhauled 1 them you will find far queerer nation. aliites than Greece represented in the | list And when you come to that, I an very positive that I would rather have a Greek or an Armenian or half breed l Pacific islander in such a post than tc 1 find here a man whose qualification is | that is is a nove1ists brother, some where else drunken country politician | and in the next place dude who gets ! his place because his father contributed a few thousands to the national cam- paign fund. Everyone of these cases | have met as our consuls in my knock. ing about the world.-London Letter tc l Providence Journal.
 SITE FOR REPAIR SHOP.