Evening star., 1899-11-11
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elements in the test. The tester then. with
the aid Of a spoon. inhales the rising steam
from the mixture. This is called getting
the arena. and is the most important part
of the test. He may perhaps In some
cases actually taste the liquid, but this is
no longer generally done. Color aroma and
the 'liquoring qualities of the tea are suf
hcient grounds to judge by. The Oid-time
tea tester was high-salared expert who
frequently ended his career with neart dis
ease or fits, the result of slow poisoning
from the quantities of adulterated teas he
tested: but now rule every tea importer
tests his teas by the recent and approved
method.
only the largest tea importing houses at
present employ tea testers of their own
The smaller houses have their tea tested by
a tea broker, whose sole business is in test
ing and fixing a price upon the delicate and
finely favored beverage of China and
Japan. The prices of the different grades
of teas range from - to 81 cents per pound
and the tester is expected to fix the exact
value of the tea, even to the half and quar-
ter cent. 1t can thus be seen how very
finely his sense of smell must be cultivated
The testing of teas is usually done in
the morning, the tester preferring the hours
before noon to those later in the day. Tea
testing Is q remunerative business to those
who get enough to do to keep them busy
The big importing houses who employ test
ers of their own pay them all the way from
SI5 to $3.50 per week, and the brokers with
an established reputation in the trade earn
a much larger income from their work.
x X X
There are probably no such complications
in any other class of appointments in
the selections for the consular and diplo-
matte service.
Secretary Hay refuses to have anything
to do with the matter of consular patron
age, just Mr. Blaine refused after hav
| ing brief experience with it. II taxes too
much a mans powers of perception. Cen
orally speaking, there is more non-partisan-
ship in the consular service than the pub
| lie knows of. and it is often difficult for an
administration to determine whether a GER
tain appointment is partisan or not.
When Mr.. Blaine was Secretary of State,
before he decided not to have anything to
do with consular appointments, he adopted
the plan of occasionally appointing a dem
ocrat at the personal request of a senator,
and in this way he got number of con-
SulS of that party into office. Such aD-
pOlntmentS were sometimes charged to his
own account. the request of the senator not
appearing. When Mr.. Gresham went into
the department there were political reasons
why he should not undertake to pass upon
democratic partisan appointments and
therefore Assistant Secretary Josiah Quincy
was given charge of the appointments. In
Il spirit of reform, Mr.. Quincy undertook to
get rld or republican COnSulS as rapidly
was consistent with the absolute needs of
the service. To do this with delicacy, 1t ap-
pcared more consistent to remove those
who had been recently appointed by the
late republican administration before TAX
ing off the heads of those who by long serv-
Ice had lost much of their political charaC-
ter and Were particularly efficient. One of
the first things that struck Mr.. Quincys
eye in looking over the list of cOnsuls was
the name of a man in q well-pa wing con-
suiate charged to the personal account of
Mr.. Blaine. 1t took but turn of the hand
=
that day the name of a democrat was sent
to the Senate as successor to Mr.. Blaines
protege. While Mr.. Quincy was still medi-
tating upon this worthy act a democratic
senator from Maryland burst into his room
with an unaccustomed energy and wanted
TO know what sort of democratic admins
tratOn 1t was that began by cutting off the
heads of worthy democrats. II was then
disclosed that the unfortunate victim of
Mr.. Quincys n-partisanship had been
appointed by Mr.. Blaine for the Maryland
senator.
An interesting and curiously complicated
case was recently disclosed. a man from
Illinois had been appointed under this ad-
mniStration to consulate somewhere in
Germany, and, unexpectedly, charges We're
filed against him by his vice consul, who
it was discovered. was his brOther-in-law
An investigation disclosed the fact that un-
der the first Cleveland administration the
brother-in-law had been consul, and that
the present consul had been his vice When
Mr.. Harrison was elected brother-in-laW
No. / was turned out of office and brother
| in-law No. 2 was appointed to consulate
Of equal Importance, upon democratic influ-
ence, and he Immediately took brother-in-
law No. l for his vice. When Mr. Harrison
| went out Of office No. 2 lost his Job. No 1
then applied for a consulate as democrat
and got the appointment. He then made
/ No his vice. When this administration
! came In another trade was made and the
| two fond brOthers-in-law might have kept
| themselves employed up to the period of
| extreme old age, but for the unfortunate
| circumstance of their having serious fall
/ ing out. which led to charges and a disclo-
/ sure of the whole ingenious system of ro-
| tation in office