The Laclede blade., 1905-01-28
WASHINGTON LETTER.
= Our Regular Correspondent Writes From the
National Capitol.


ito congress, suggesting means to pro-
mote foreign trade is in line with his
,well-known views regarding the con-
.sular service. The next four years
will doubtless witness such strength
.ening and bracing up of this service
AS has never before been known.
The consular service of the United
States is one of the weakest, if not the
very weakest, branches of our civil
service. The unfit men who have
been sent abroad to represent us in a
commercial and semi-diplomatic ca
pacity are perhaps the very worst
sent by any government for that pur-
pose. A majority of them have not
even known how to speak the Ian
guage of the country to which they
were accredited. A consul sent to
Cadiz, Spain, few years ago, was not
in the habit of wearing collar in
this country, and considered it etfemi-
nate and un.American to wear one.
He chewed tobacco incessantly and
was one of the most slovenly slipshod
men of his class. Doubtless there is
much truth in Burns lines that "a
mans a man for a. that" but was not
the man that was under consideration
it was the consul-the person who
represented us IN an alien country,
among people who had been educated
for ages to consider dress, bearing and
the graces the end and aim of life, and
who measured and judged our country
by our representative. This consul to
the old and aristocratic port of Cadlz
was doubtless an extreme type, but
we have many consuls abroad who
are better only in degree. They
have been appointed without regard
to fitness-but on account of kinship
or because of some political service
rendered. They have never Travelled
and it is rare that they know the Ian
guage of the country to which they
are sent. When it is considered that
these consuls of ours have to compete
with the debonair educated and poly
elot consuls that England and Ger
many send abroad, we haye before us
the reason why those countries take
trade away from us in South Ameri-
ca, Mexico, Cuba and other lands.
Xxx
The president in his message rec
ommends that six commercial attach
.es shall be sent to various foreign To-
calities to promote trade. Each one
is to receive salary of $4,000 year
exclusive of travelling expenses, and
it is estimated that the total expense
of maintenance will be annually $780,
900.
There is a promise of important
and far-reaching improvement in the
strengthening of our whole foreign
service in the interest Of trade and the
gradual development of our foreign
trade capacity. For many years ag-
riculture in the United States has
provided, through the demand from
abroad for our surplus crops and more
home market, great as it is, and are
now looking more and more for for
eign markets.
Xxx
We do not pay our foreign ambas-
sadors or ministers abroad as much as
other countries, or as much as minis
ters from these countries accredited
to the United States, but recent ad-
ministrations have been taking advan-
tage of the fact that these places are
eagerly desired by rich men, and
Presidents Cleveland, Mckinley and
Roosevelt have all favored the policy
of giving our multimillionaires a
chance to die poor by appointing
them ambassadors.
***