The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-13

is nc doubt that they are adding mil lions of dollars . year to the foreign trade of the United States.
 k In many places the consular officers are also charged with duties which are diplomatic in character. In sever el Christian countries the consuls have judicial powers. and are empow- cred to adjudicate legal disputes in which an American is a party. On ac- count of the varied requirements of the service. appointment or promotion by competitive examination alone is inn possible. A man might have a very high standing in his examinations. and might be admirably suited for a con- sulate in South America, and at the same time be unavailable for service in China.
 Many complaints made against con- suls originate in Ignorance of the du- ties of those In service. If an American sailor with discharge papers properly attested, applies to a consul for help, the consul Is bound to secure for him return passage to the United States. The law provides for that, and the ex- pense is borne by the government. But stranded on foreign shore has no more right to call upon the consul for assistance than upon any other person. :. If the consul does help him, the consul pays the bill out of his own pocket. The tales of woe from stranded Americans are not the least among the burdens of the consular ofiicer. Notwithstanding the uncertain ten ura of office under q system in which onices are given as rewards for politi- cal activity. there are many men in the consular service who have served their country for years. As there has been no change in party administration in eleven years, the service has not been subjected to a general upheaval for 8 long time. That fact. of course, has aided in the general improvement of conditions.
 The Nestor of the consular service Is Oscar Malmros. now consul at Rouen, France. Mir. Malmros received his first commission as consul from the hands of Abraham Lincoln. just a few weeks before that great man was assassin ated. Ills first post was at Galtz, in Roumania. Soon afterward he was sent to Winnipeg. Manitoba. That great city Swas then a trading post with a population of only 400, and was still under the rule of the Hudson Bay Company. Mir. MaImros has been in and out of the service several times, hay ing been stationed at several places in British America and Europe. Just be- fore his present assignment, he was at COlon on the lSIuuluS or FAudLh1.
 Yet with all his experience Mir. Malmros has always been subJect to the exigenciss of politics. Until this time the consular service has offered few inducements for 8 career for a young man. If promoted to a consulate there was the danger of being superseded by some man who had carried a doubtful precinct for a favorite son. If there was no vacancy in the particular con- sulate where one was employed, there was little hope for any promotion.
 These things have been changed un- der the new order of things. The twen- ty-six consular representatives who were brought to Washington from the four ends of the earth to take the ex- animation for promotion are nearly all young men. They feel that they are on the threshold of an honorable career in the service of their country. They are devoting their whole energies to the preparation for the important work which they are to do for the United States in foreign lands. They bear tes- timony that the consular service hAs been reformed.
 Copyright, 1908. by Frederick J.
 Haskins) ....
 TomOrrOw--Successfu Ideas in Re- taiIinE.