Evening star., 1915-06-20

a cable message ..plain"-..that IS
without putting 1t into code. Sucf
things as political and diplomatic CON
ditions. however. are entirely conf
Dental
Next in Importance TO communicating
by cable is the mail system of the de-
partment This system pertains mort
particularly to the consular service. thu
activities of which are not so closel}
connected with confidential matters
The relief of destitute American.
abroad. the settlement of Americar
estates abroad. the certifcation of shif
careoes and the like are all mattei
which can he handled in the mails
With few exceptions. such as Cairo
Egypt, and other points. the mall Gomez
in special Department of State ieathet
pouches, sealed in the foreign coun,
try and not opened until they reach
Washington.
There is a generally understood aN
rangement between all countries ID
time OF peace TO take exceptional card
of one another's diplomatic and con.
sular mail. and while il goes through
the regular machinery of foreign and
fnterocean postal services. there is un.
doubtedly. special care exercised &c
prevent such mail coming to harm.
In most countries the mail of the
various consulates and consular
agencies is first forwarded to the ems
hassy or legation Of the United States
In the capital of the country. Here tho
mail from all consuls Is ga thered to-
gether, placed in pouch with the ems
bassy mail and sent to the United
States without further delay
These pouches are sent at reeular
intervals. or oftener II the volume Of
mail warrants Some of the comrnuni-
cations received at tho consular bu-
reau. not only from abroad but also
from people in the United States. is
more weird than any of the official
correspondence. This mail is handled
by H. C. Hengstler, chief OF the con-
sular bureau. who is the right-hand
man of Wilbur J. Carr, director of the
consular service
Hengstler often receives shipments
from abroad of butterflies. locusts and
birds, sent by patriotic Americans to-
the National Museum. One queer
looking box Of ashes that came across
his desk one day turned out to he the
ashes of deceas sed American who had
died abroad, been cremated and whose
ashes were being sent TO the consular
bureau for forwarding to his relatives
In this country.
One man wrote to the bureau not
long ago, asking Mr.. HenEstler TO In
form him where he could purchase the
best Bronx cocktail in Paris. and let
ter came in recently from consul
who reported that a drunken but af-
the middle of the night to learn if the
word ''bombshell" was pronounced
"bom-shell" or bum she'll"
The entrance of Italy into the Euro
pean war has rather tangled the cable
situation for the State Department Our
note to Germany on the Lusitania and
kindred matters was sent via Rome
and telegraphed to Berlin. but. since
Italy has entered the war, cables to
Berlin of an important nature must be
sent by wireless or by cable through
Copenhagen.
Both London and Paris have direct
cables. and in almost any event these
two capitals will furnish the depart
ment the least trouble in communicat
ing with their ambassadors. Petrograd.
however, often presents situation of
much difficulty as the telegraph sys-
tenn between Copenhagen and Petro-
grad has a habit of failing at important
times.
At no time, however has the COM
munication system of the department
been put to the test as occurred at the
outbreak of the European war. when
thousands of Americans abroad were
destitute and were appealing to the
American consuls and ambassadors for
funds.
An enormous fund was expended In
cable tolls at that time, sending money
to these refugees, but much of this
money was reimbursable. as the depart
ment charged the cost of the cable
tolls against the assisted ones when
they returned home.
In nearly all cases the government
gets a reduced cable and telegraph
rate, which is about two-thirds of the
regular commercial rate, but despite
this reduction the monthly bill charg-
ed by the various cable and telegraph
companies to the department account
would pay the salaries Of any number
of consuls.