The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-05-13
Our Consular Service.

| corrected, is thHt III tnt
| May number Of The Worlds Work.
upon "Our Consuls and our Trade"
| from the pen of Frederick Emory.
| chief of the bureau of foreign COM
mcrce in the United states depart
| ment of state.
10 begin with what Mr.. Emory re-
| fers to in the closing subsection of
his illuminative paper--the opening of
new special courses IN leading educa-
tional institutions. the University of
| Pennsylvania being the pioneer. for
| training young men for the diplomatic
and consular services. Mr.. Emory not
only admits but emphasizes the value
of such academic training for the dip
| lonlatic service" (which is essentially
| polite profession, In which the greater
| the degree OF intellectual and social
| training, the better the results But
| for the consular service he contends
that while it has or will have a dis
| tinct value. it is by no means suffl-
| Cient ''rraning of this kind he
says. sis an excellent specific for the
evils complained of. but the eXper-
| ii is easy to take an overdose. BY
all means give us educated consuls;
| but may ii not be found wiser to in
| sist that they shall first have served
an apprenticeship. such as most of the
present consuls have served. in n
newspaper office. Il comntins-house. Il
| workshop or II bank?"
For, he explains. tn" burden of all
the demands of reform in the consul
lar service is. greater efficiency in
| trade: and practical. experimental
| knowledge of business and trade con-
| ditiOnS and requirements is of pri-
mary value. Moreover before arriv
ing at this final conclusion, he has
| in his paper pointed out how craSsly
| ignorant of what our cOnSuls already
| abroad and the department at home
have been for many years accom-
| plishing. are the professional critics Of
| the American consular service. Both
| British ana German merchants and
| manufacturers watching the trade re-
suits brought about for themselves and
| for the same classes in the United
| States by the respective foreign con-
sulS of each of the three great COM
peting countries. have recently brought
about the adoption by Great Britain
and Germany of the American consul
lar and governmental report methods
of our own land.
Mr. Emory quotes "the secretary Of
one of our leading boards of trade dur
| ing the sessions of the International
Commercial congress at Philadelphia
about a year ago, who gravely made
the point that our consular service
lacked education and was therefore in
ferior to the services of other coun-
tries in procuring commercial infor
| nation: and who was greatly sur
prised' on being confronted with the
| evidence that whether our conSuls
lacked education or not. they were ad-
mitted by foreign governments to be
without peers in this branch of their
work. Mr.. Emory also refers to "a
professional reformer who is very
much in evidence" who continues to
dwell glowingly on the superiority of
foreign consuls and the systems
which foreign countries are abandon
ing to follow American methods. There
continue to be none SO blind as those
determined not to see.
Part of a paragraph from a recent
book by Rr. Nosberg Rekow. head Of
Germanys central bureau for prepar-
ing commercial treaties is Il volume. Il
treatise, in itself on the superiority of
the American consular system and its
| results as obtained by its present MEM
bers--men of practical experience. He
says: I'm all countries with which it
has trade relations. the United tSatcs
has stationed consuls and consular
agents. Every shipment of goods to Il
United States port must pass through
the hands of these officials, and the
amount value, place of origin, market
price ruling in the country of produc-
tion, method of production, etc. are
noted. The consuls thus dive deeply
into the economic conditions of their
! districts and obtain information the
steadily increasing expectations of
their home country"
The United States daily publication
in the press of all consular reports of
| immediate business value and import
ance. and the additional special mfor-
nation gained ana given to manufac-
turerS and exporters who apply to the
government to have II sought for, are
set forth convincingly and clearly by
Mr.. Emory. He concludes that If the
academic examinations following spe-
cial studies are to be introduced, there
must be also proof of personal fitness.
especially in business training and en-
perience.'
A greater stability of tenure of the
consular office, an equitable system of
rewards for meritorious service and to
secure much needed elasticity in per-
mittng the transfer at the option of
the department of state, of any con-
sular officer from one post to another,
as occasion requires, are what really
practical business men who have been
looking into the consular service deem
the real reforms worth having. These
are heartily indorsed by Mr. Emory.
than whom no other man in the coun-
try has had opportunity for 81 thor,
ough knowledge of the entire subject
under review.
| 1t is satisfactory In see for onCe--in
San Francisco dispatches saying that
Mrs. Mckinley will launch the new bat
{, ~. l.. st,,,t