Arizona republican., 1899-03-23
THE AMERICAN CONSUL.
A British View of the HustIinE Activ. ity and Enterprise of That
 Official.

I should say they take a great deal
 more trouble over getting information
 and go to work in different fashion. | The American consul. as q rule, is the sort of man to cultivate tEe acquaint- ance of busness men in his district, anu, | of course we know that he citizens or
 the stars and stripes are champions of
 the gentle art of questioning and their questions are usually very much to th-
 point. If a man in q large way of busi-
 ness is willing to "open cut" at ali. the American consul will stick to him
 until he has got all the essential facts
 likely to be useful to the traders supply. ing the particular description of goods
 used. Then again, when lie gets any
 thing he thinks of importance he does
 not wait for q month 10 include the
 information in q compara iNely lengthy
 report. He writes out :he statement
 concerning the matter prG mptly, per
 haps even the same nigh:-as was the
 case in one instance that came under
 my notice-he catches the next mai. it is published in Washington in two
 or three weeks, and it is circulated air
 over the United States with no longer interval from the time the informatioG
 was acquired than would be taken by
 many of our consuls in preparing tie
 report. I.quite admit that the Engl.sl.
 reports may be more strictly correct ip
 some respects, which is cIly o be eX-
 pected as the result of much greater de-
 Hbera ton, but in these days of tele- phones and teiegraPhs, and steam and scramble. promptitude is almost every thing and an ideal cOnsu. should be al most as smart as a journalist.
 .. Then there is this about it: In order to supply the sort of Information 10 merchants which is furnished by Amer ican consuls. it is necessary to adopt more or less aggressive tactics. I ad- init that, and of course, up to now, he British consul has never . considered himself in the light of a commercial traveller, but the American consul takes himself that way with the utmost good will. Now, whether it wuuld be wise for the British foreign office to encour- age our consuls to throw aside their traditions in this respect is. perhaps a mooted point, but I certainly think that where the other and imperative duties of a consul prevent Jim from giv- ing large amount of his lime 10 pure ly commercial matters an assistant con sul should be appointed. who coul ] make that department his special care. And there is room for great deal more useful activity. Probably no British consul would adopt American methods without feeling that he was losing dig nifty. But, depend upon T. the time for the old-fashioned notions prevalent 1T British consulates has cone by Even *upposing that the consuls go on work ing upon the same lines as. heretofore. their reports might certainly be sent in more promptly, and they should be puh- lished within a few days of their arrival in London. The custom cf elaborateiE editing and revising them, involving often a delay of several weeks, is alf5- gether a mistake and could be easily amended At Washington the consular reports are, I believe. issued daily, and the advantage of this prompt publica- tion is highly appreciatcG.-Robert P. Yates. in London Commerce.