Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1907-08-08

ships for tle q king; 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 Saes exceeds
the supply. State department examin-
ations held recently were taken by
IS candidates, representing appointees
eager, if passed, to go to different
posts scattred 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. Political influence
becomes less and less a feature OF
consular credentials, The element of
personal worth increases under this
administration.
To help along the movement for
better prepared consuls the state
department, by authority of Secre-
tary Root, has just granted permission
to John Ball Osborne, chief of the
bureau of trade relations of the
state department, to accept a position
on the faculty of the college of po-
litical sciences connected with the
George Washington University. Mr..
Osborne will henceforth be a lecturer
on the consular service.
This appointment is particularly
important in view of the fact that at
the present time the chief function of
our cOnsuls abroad is to foster Ameri-
can commerce. Originally the main OBJ
ject of the service was to protect Amer
can shipping, which a century or
more ago played a prominent part
! in our foreign trade. But while the
American merchantmen has almost
disappeared from the seven seas, our
foreign commerce increases year by
year. Mr.. Osborne is one of the
! younger men in important govern
mental posts. a graduate of Yale In
| the class of 'S9, who served his ap-
premiership as United States consul
at Client, Belgium. from 1889 to
1895 and who was joint secretary of
the reciprocity commission between
! 1897 and 1905.
! Mr.. OsbOrne's connection with the
college of political sciences rein
forces 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 University will
| be officially recognized as a school of
| diplomacy and examinations now held
| at the offices of the state department
! will be held at the university. Hon
John Barrett, formerly United States
minister to Siam, and now at the
head of the interna tional bureau OF
American republics, gave consider
| able prominence to this idea soon ar
ter this school was established. He
advocated, in effect, the abolition of
the state department sysem of exam
! nations and the substitution of at
| least three-mOntn' S course at George
| Washington University which was
then known in the educational world
as Columbian University The state
department examinations continue
but it is wellknOwn here that the
college of political sciences is as yet
the only SHOOT in the United States
for those intending to take up dfpIo-
matte career and that the gradu-
ates of this school, political influence
aside, stand the best chance of secur-
ing 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 woman who on re-
turning from Europe complained In
letter which she sent to a New York
newspaper that the American consul
| at some third rate town in Europe was
not q scholar and a gentleman. "Why"
| she asked. cannot all our consular
positions be filled by men of the Sir
Julian Pauncefote type?" 1t evil
IDENTIFY never occurred to the fair
critic that men fit to to ambassadors
are not likely to be holding down
1900 a year jobs in some town that
has seen better days.
However, there was abundant
cause for much of the criticism pass
ed upon the service, but the times
have changed with them. Today it
| takes a man with a pretty fair knowl-
edge of several important subjects to
qualify for the service The candi-
dates that took the examination just
finished at the state department had
to pass in French, German or Span
ish; on the natural, industrial and
commercial resources of the United
States; political economy; Internal
ional, maritime and commercial law;
American history; government and
it's different institutions; political
and commercial geography; arithme,
tic, and the history of Europe, South
America and the far east since 1850.
The examination was conducted
under the personal supervision of
Chief Examiner Keegan of the civil
service commission The percentage
required to pass was 80, which is ten
points higher than that usually re-
CURED in competitive examinations
for government positions Many of
the candidates were young business
men. It has been found on the whole
that some of the most successful ap-
plicants for consulships have come
{ the old days the service had strong
the old days the servie had strong