The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-11-12
AN EFFICIENT SERVICE


our commercial relations undoubtedly
our Consular corps is most valuable.
Though the men occupying consular po-
sitions are not specially trained 20 their
work, as the French German and Brit
ish Consular corps are. it is remarkable
what an amount of information they
gather and then transmit 70 the depart
ment Of State Their industry appears
untiring, and ranges from comments on
political changes and events to the
prices Of various American goods and
the best method Of shipping them.
Industrious as our consuls are the in
formation that they collect might sleep
on the musty shelves Of our public Of
fees were il not for the daily reports
which are issued by the department Of
state and scattered broad cast through
the length and breadth Of the land. 1t
is this branch Of the service which
brings the consular work in immediate
contact with the people. 1t is not work
that goes simply into a bureau and then
issues from it i'm a year or so in the
form Of an indigestible blue book. or
yellow book, which no one but a statis-
tician or a statesman wades through,
but it arrives daily on the desk of the
merchant, and by glancing through the
neat index the business man can tell if
there is anything which may interest
him and further his interests.
Take for instance the number for Oc-
tOber 26, 1901, one of the latest of the
reports which have reached here. The
German sewing machine industry is
commented upon by our consul at
Frankfort, and the warning is given
that there will be a material increase in
the duty upon these articles in order to
protect the German manufacturer. The
use Of iron sea lighters which has not
yet been adopted to any great extent by
us is explained by our consul at Stettin
If such lighters can be used to advan-
tage in the North sea and in the Baltic
there seems no reason why our inter-isl-
and trade might not be well assisted by
their Introduction. 1t is even stated by
Consul Kehl that lighters of this class
have carried goods from Germany to
Bordeaux, and if they can be towed
through the Bay of Biscay, there is
nothing that we have here more diff
cult
The principal advantages claimed for
sea lighters are: Small cost of operating
(crew consists of three or four men)
low draft. rapidly of .discharging or
taking on cargo (there being practically
one large hatch) small capital invested
when compared with steamers Of the
same tonnage, and small expenses Of
maintenance.
But to return to the report. Consul
General Hughes tells of a harbor con-
cession granted by the Sultan to the
Anatoli Railway, and suggests that
American contractors had better set to
work figuring upon supplying ma
chinery, building elevators for grain,
erecting warehouses and so forth. And
no doubt by this time there may be half
a dozen American contractors in the
field.
Then Consul Thompson writes from
PrOgresso, Mexico that he has authen-
tic information that within a year the
S'hJ VI +lNl iLc Nllt capital 1 lHE DldltS
of Yucatan will construct drainage
works and pavements. He says: Il re-
port the matter in order that our firms
interested in this line of trade may have
ample time to learn the special condi-
tions prevailing here, and be fully pre-
pared to enter the competition. Any
questions will be answered to the best
-
pare report upon the city of Merida,
with all data | can secure in regard to
the proposed works"
Though the index is not exhausted,
enough has been given to show with
what ability and what diligence our
consuls work, and how, though our de-
partment of state, the information
which these gentlemen collect is dis
siminated There is no country in the
world which uses its official class so
thoroughly for the people as ours does.
1t is often urged that our consular sys-
tenn is no system, and that we are not
properly represented abroad. This is
not really the case. We do not send men
out as Consuls who have been mere
clerks of a foreign office, or who are
half pay officers and other shelVed in
dividuals, but we send in nine cases
out of ten live business men, who have
taken an active interest in their local
works at home, and who therefore are
looking with like interest upon the COM
mercial relations abroad, and are ever
alive to the fact that information is of
value TO their country, that it must be
accurate and that it must be trans
mitted quickly.