The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-06-09

his country. Yet by plundering his own
by the Standard oil Company. he is able TO
do something now and then, in a modest
He is not able TO bear himself like a consul
or even third-rate power, but he does
eomport himself like a gentleman won
der at how many foreign points the Stand.
ard on Company Is thus saving our face"
came away from Bombay with 10 inclina-
be In 20 ssv az Inc lact al s,e MI n,
has seen what have of our country's con-
suls he will agree with me that II the
up among the powers OF the earth, II n is
mean enough 10 accept favors which IL Dies
not intend to return. If IL is too pennywise
TO equip its consuis 10 play their parts in
the formalites by which nations are judged
and rated by one another-then we are in
deed fortunate to possess in the Standard
OIL Company a private corporation which is
willing TO do at least a fraction OF these
things for us.
Aboard the ship on which I went to India
was an Englishman who is consul at
Madras Madras is the third city in the
worlds greatest seaports. The consul's fees
amount TO about s., 0oo-S1.0 900 OF which he
Keeps for himself. Mr.. Scott. the gentle
the most courteous and well-appearing men
IN the large and distinguished company
But he is an Englishman. The rulers with
whom IL must be his occasional duty 10
deal IN delicate matters. and with whom he
own blood and are his superiors. Therefore
ne cannot be our consul except On name. IL
is not In nature for an Englishman to do
justice to US Americans when our point OF
view and that Of the English do not COIN
eide; In other words, when We most sorely
he cannot give US the service we should
have.
FOREIGNERS REPRESENT U.s.
We are worse of there than we were In
Turkey when the war broke out with Greece.
Then (and now, L believe) our consul in
Salonca. the second seaport of the country,
was Greek. / doubt IL the average reader
| can realize how monstrous that was. The
Turks were righteously locking up some Of
his countrymen and expelling others. Among
them all none was more intense lover Of
| his country than our consul. and the Turks
knew it. but they could not deal with him
as the rules of war demanded, because he
was our consul. / believe he had sworn
of others in Turkey have done. though they
DO so for every other reason than love OF US
or intent Mt ever to live within our borders
| Us had we needed his help-or. for that mat
| ter If we needed Il now,
In one OF the largest cities of Russia /
| wanted the advice of my consul i drove
| far from the heart Of the city. and mounted
three or four flights of stairs. to read these
L
America Office open from $3.50 y. m. to Z
| p. m. daily AS that the period when
every one except the American consul took
dinner. | was not able TO see him.
| Why does he give his government the
pairing of one finger nail like that?' 1 in
Quired
He cannot come until he closes his shop"
| was the reply. He keeps a small hard
Fancy the standing of a man who keeps
small shop In that proud capital. in that
land Of taste and show and pompl Fancy
pie of that city must have! Worse vet. try
| to conceive what the consuls of all the
| other great and little powers there assem-
keeping such representative in such style
| as that! But you cannot conceive IT, for
| they cannot know what to think.
ROTATION IN OFFICE.
| When was i'm China we had for consul
general at Shanghai a Mr.. Jernigan. the
ablest, proudest, most thorough American
/ have ever met in our consular service.
| Any other country would have retained him
in the service, promoting him to be consul
| general in Calcutta Bangkok or Yoko-
hama, then minister to China or Japan
| Thus he would master the peculiarities of
| the peoples and the governments of the
| Orient and their commercial needs, and his
| great knowledge would be at our command.
| But he went out with President Cleveland
AT the same time that he was in China we
| were so disgraced by one of our consuls
II
| see me to protest against the outrage he
committed upon the fair name of America.
1 could say nothing. What was charged
against the consul was true Of many others.
| Ii. my travels hear the same stories every
| now and then. Here we have a drunkard:
| there We have sent loafer, i'm the next
| place 1.-TWO that have recently heard of
we Keep man who IS married 70 black
or brown woman. who is outcast to both
| the blacks and the whites
| What Of all this?" fancy / hear some
Senator ask If any foreign countries
| portance. we can mighty soon show them
what we are" Or Ii might be said. IL
has been said in formal session of the Sem
consular assistance for? Why can't they
stay at home? Isn't this country good
/ enough for them?
In reply respectfully suggest that our
| trade is branching out all over the globe
| and our merchants and ship captains will
| more and more need fit American agents
| abroad. Our navy, too, Is swelling; our
/ territories are multiplying. The other day
| the Raleigh came up the Red sea. and a
few days since we met the Machias going
east. Every day, wherever we stopped the
papers made conspicuous the news OF our
doings In Cuba and the Philippines. IL Is
| too late to ask why we don't stay home.
| when our army and navy and our manu-
features have gone so far abroad
| Perhaps il is not too late to advocate the
| foundation of a proper consular service I
! know that for years some OF the ablest OF
my countrymen have urged this In speech
| and writing. But has any one, before this
| Standard Oil Company is giving TO the
| good cause? Has IL ever been suggested
| that we turn the entire service over TO that
| giant corporation? i know OF three Stand
| ard Oil agents now representing our coun-
| try abroad They are picked men-proud
| accomplished. shrewd rejecting great
credit upon their country Why not have
l would be TO our advantage il we could