Arizona sentinel and Yuma weekly examiner., 1912-12-05


 near eastern, and western European affairs. To these divisions were called from the foreign service diplomatic and consular officers possessing expe- rience and knowledge gained by act ual service in different parts of the world and thus familiar with political and commercial conditions in the re- gions concerned. The work was high ly specialized. The result is that where previously this government from time to time would emphasize in It's foreign relations one or another policy, now American interests in ev- cry quarter Of the globe are being cultivated with equal assiduity.
 Merit System in Consular and DlpIo-
 matIe Corps.
 Expert knowledge and professional training must evidently be the essence of this reorganization. Without a trained foreign service there would not be men available for the work in the reor Ge1'zed department of state. Presidv--, .eveland has taken the first step toward introducing the merit system in the foreign service. That had been followed by the appli- cation of the merit principle, with eX- cellent results, to the entire consular branch. Almost nothing, however, had been done in this direction with regard to the diplomatic service. In this age of commercial diplomacy 1t was evi- dently of the first importance to train an adequate personnel in that branch of the service. Therefore, on Novem- Der 26, 1909, by an executive order placed the diplomatic service up to the grade of secretary of embassy, in elusive, upon exactly the same strict non-partisan basis of the merit sys tenn, rigid examination for appoint ment and promotion only for eff ciency, as had been maintained without exception in the consular service. Statistics as to Merit and Nonpartiean
 Character of Appointments.
 How faithful to the merit system md how nonpartisan has been the con. duct of the diplomatic and consula' services in the last four years may be judged from the following: Three ambassadors now serving held their present rank at the beginning of the administration. Of the ten ambassa 1ors whom have appointed, five were 1y promotion from the rank of min ster Nine ministers now serving 1eld their present rank at the begin hing of the administration. Of the hirty ministers whom have appoint 9d, eleven were promoted from the over grades of the foreign service Or rom the department of state Of the nineteen missions in Latin America. where our relations are close and our interest is great, fifteen chiefs of mis- sion are service men. three having 'ntered the service during this admin 'stration. The thirty-seven secreta- les of embassy or legation who have 'eceived their initial appointments after passing successfully the required examination were chosen for ascer- aimed fitness, without regard to DO itical affiliations. A dearth of candi- iates from southern and western tates has alone made 1t impossible hus far completely to equalize all he states representations in the for ign service. In the effort to equalize he representation of the various itates in the consular service I have made sixteen of the twenty-nine new appointments as consul which have occurred during my administration rom the southern states This is 55 Der cent. Every other consular ap- ointment made, including the promo ion of eleven young men from the consular assistant and student Inter- Dreter corps, has been by promotion or transfer, based solely upon efficiency shown in the service.
 In order to assure to the business and other interests of the United States continuance of the resulting benefits of this reform, earnestly re- new my previous recommendations of iegislat king it permanent along some sucn mes as those of the meas. Ire now pending in congress.
 Larger Provision for Embassies and
 Legations and for Other Expenses
 of Our Foreign Representa-
 tlVes Recommended.
 Tn connection with legislation for the amelioration of the foreign sery- ice, I wish to invite attention to the advisability of placing the salary ap- propriations upon better basais. 1 believe that the best results would be obtained by a moderate scale of salaries, with adequate funds for the expenses of proper representation, based in each case upon the scale and cost of living at each post, controlled by system of accounting, and un- der the general direction of the de partment of state.
 In line with the object which I have sought of placing our foreign service on basis of permanency, have at various times advocated provision by congress for the acquisition of govern. ment-owned buildings for the resi- dence and offices of our diplomatic of icers, so as to place them more near, ly on an equality with similar officers of other nations and to do away with the discrimination which otherwise must necessarily be made, in some