The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-08-04
YANKEE CONSUL NEEDS SCHOOLING Positions no Longer Go to Men
 With Pull SERVICE IN EARLY DAYS Something About John Ball Osborne, Chief of the Bureau of Trade Re
 lations and Teacher
 of consuIs.
SERVICE IN EARLY DAYS

Washington, August 3-Consulships for the asking; but you need to go to school to capture one these days Just at present the demand for men qualified to enter the consular service of the United States ex- ceeds the supply. State department ex amnatons held recently were taken by thirty-eight candidates representing ap- pointees eager, If passed, to go to differ ent posts scattered all over the world. This number, however does not by any means represent the actual needs of the service. in which the wedding process is now more marked than ever before. Po- Iltieal influence becomes less and less a feature of consular credentials. The ele- ment of personal worth increases under this administrations
 To help along the movement for bet ter prepared consuls the state depart ment, by authority of Secretary Root, has just granted permission to John Ball Osborne. chief of the bureau of trade relations of the state department, to ac- cepl a position on the faculty of the college of political sciences connected with the George Washington university. MT. Osborne will henceforth be a lecturer on the consular service.
 This appointment is particularly i'm portant in view of the fact that at the present time the chief function of our consuls abroad is to foster American commerce. Originally the main object of the service was to protect American shipping, which a century or more ago played an important part in our foreign trade. But while the American mer- chantman has almost disappeared from the seven seas, our foreign commerce increases year by year. MT. Osborne is one of the younger men in important governmental posts, a graduate of Yale in the class of 'S9 who served his ap- premiership as United States consul at Ghen., Belgium. from 1889 to 1895, and who was joint secretary of the reciprocity commission between 1897 and 1905
 MT. Osborne's connection with the Col lege of Political Sciences reinforces the Idea which for many years has prevailed among students of the consular service that sooner or later the political science department of George Washington univer- sity will be officially recognized as school of diplomacy and examinations now held at the offices of the state de- partment will be held at the university. Hon. John Barrett, formerly United States minister to Siam, and now at the head of the international bureau of American republics gave considerable prominence to this idea soon after this school was established. He advocated, in effect, the abolition of the state depaptment system of examinations and tho substitution of at least a three months course at George Washington university which was then known in the educational world as Co., lumbian university. The state department e14lninations continue, but it Is well z Known here that the College of Political Sciences is as yet the only school in the United States for those intending to take up a diplomatic career and that the grad uates of this school, political Influence
 ,1,n ,f n the most attractive posts of the service.
 There has been a great deal of criticism on the consular service founded on no better observation than that of the wom- an who on returning from Europe com plained in a letter which she sent to New York newspaper that the American consul at some thlrd-rate town in Eu- rope was not d scholar and gentleman. Why she asked, "cannot all our consul lar positions be filled by men of the Sir Julian Pauncefote typeY' It evidently never occurred to the fair critic that men fit to be ambassadors are not likely to be holding down $l5OO year jobs in some town that has seen better days.
 However, there was abundant cause for much of the criticism passed upon the service. but the times have changed and the service has changed with them. To- d knowledge of several important subjects 10 qualify for the service. The candidates that took the examination just finished It the state department had to pass in French, German or Spanish: on the nat ural, industrial and commercial resources of the United States; political economy; international, maritime and commercial law; American history; government and it's different institutions; political and commercial geography; arithmetic and the history of Europe, South America and the far east since 1850.
 The examination was conducted under the personal supervision of Chief Ex- aminer Keegan of the civil service com mission The percentage required to pass was S0 which is ten points higher than that usually required in competitive ex- aminations for government positions.