The Philipsburg mail., 1899-04-28
THE AMERICAN CONSUL.
British View of the Hustling Activ-
ity and Enterprise OF That
Oficial.

I should say they take great dea,
more trouble over getting informa ton
and go to work in different fashion.
The American consul, as {. rule, is the
sort Of man to cultivate the acquaint-
ance of BUSINESS men in hi. district, and
of course, we know that The citizens or
the stars and stripes are champions of
the gentle art of questioning and their
questions are usually very much to the
point. If man in a large way of busi-
ness is willing to open cut" at all.
the American consul will stick to hiin
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 tie gets any.
thing he thinks of Importance he does
not wait for month to include the
information in comparatively lengthy
report. He writes out .he statement
concerning the matter rLmptly, per-
haps even the same nigh:-as was the
case in one instance that came under
my notice-he catches the next mail.
it is published in Washington in two
or three weeks, and it is circulated all
over the United States with no longer
interval from the time the information y
was acquired than would be taken by
many of our consuls in preparing TIE
report. ! quite admit that the Engl.sl.
reports may be more strictly correct in
some respects, which is cIly to be ex-
pected as the result of much great de-
liberation, but in these days of tele-
phones and telegraphs. and steam and
scramble, promptitude is almost every
thing and an ideal consul should be al
most as smart as journalist.
Then there is this about it: In order
to supply the sort of Information to
merchants which is furnished by Amer
ican consuls, it is necessary to adopt
more or less aggressive tactics. I ad-
nit that, and of course, up to now, the
British coEsul has never considered
himself in the light of commercial
traveller, but the American consul takes
himself that way with the utmost good
will. Now. whether it would be wise
for the British foreign Office to encour-
age our consuls to throw aside their
traditions in this respect is, perhaps
mooted point, but l certainly think
that where the other and imperative
duties of a consul prevent him from Civ
ing large amount of his time to pure
ly commercial matters an assistantcon-
sui should be appointed, who coull
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 WIS losing dig
nifty. But, depend upon It, the time for
the old-fashioned notions prevalent in
British consulates has gone by. Even
supposing 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 pub
lished within few days Of their arrival
in London. The custom CT elaborateiy
editing and revising them, involving
often delay of several weeks, is alto
gether mistake and could be easily
amended. At Washington the consular
reports are, believe, issued daily, and
the advantage of this prompt publica.
ton is highly appreciateG.-Robert p.
Yates. in London Commerce.