New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1917-09-10
C0NSULS OF future
MUST KNOW TRADE
knowledge Of Commerce Recog-
niZed As Chief Asset

washington, Sept. lO.-TraininR for
foreign service is discussed in Bulletin
81, 1917, just issued by the Bureau
of Education of the department of the
interior. This bulletin gives an &C
subject, which was held in the city of
Washington, on invitation of the
commissioner of education in CO.
operation with the director general of
the Pan American Union, the director
of the consular service, the chief of
the bureau of foreign and domestic
commerce, and the organizing secre-
,tary of the conference DR. Glen Levin
.SWiggett, assistant secretary general of
the second Pan American scientific
congress. The bulletin prints in full
the addresses of the director of the
consular service and the president of
the national foreign trade council
Training for foreign service says
DR.. SWiggett, who prepared the bull
letin, must be based upon satisfactory
courses in commercial education. In
dustry, trade, and diplomacy are
working conformity in creating a new
international policy for the nations of
the world. The technique of COM
merce must be familiar to the consul
i
and religious welfare Of q nation in
foreign fields, with or without the su-
pervsion or. patronage the govern
ment, can not be efficient without
training in foreign, relations courses
based on the fundamentals of COM
mercial education"
The address of the director of the
consular service, Mr.. Wilbur J. Carr
deals at length with the functions of
consuls of the United States, the or
ganization and administration of the
consular service and the qualifications
for entrance. Mr.. Carr does not ac-
cept the view that business experience
Is lndispensab BILE to a successful con-
sular career. Some of our business
men," he says, "are fond of the view
that the consular service should be
made up of men who have had prac-
teal business experience, and this view
exists not only to some extent in the
United States but also in Germany and
Great Britain, and presumably in
France and other countries. 1t is
based, however, on the fact that bust
ness men see only one phase of the
activities of consuls, namely, that of
direct promotion of commerce, and
they overlook several other important
duties of consuls. Another objection
to the proposition that consuls should
be trained business men is that the
government will never be able to in
duce a large number of men of a hieh
order of ability to give up the indie
pendence and rewards of a successful
private business for. the meager COM
pensation now or likely to be offered,
and the unsuccessful or mediocre bust
ness man is not wanted
VIII Train Men for Work.
Enlightened business men Of the
United States, as we'll as of other
commercial nations, are of one mind
in regard to the necessity and value
of adequate. educational preparation
for business, domestic and foreign,
and nearly all countries are already
making plans to establish courses Of
study that will meet the business
needs of these countries, particularly
in the field of export. James A. Far
rell president of the National Foreign
Trade Council, in the course of his
remarks, sums up this situation as
follows:
Those who are taking the initial
steps by creating export departments
in their organizations and adjusting
or changing their products to meet
conditions prevailing in the markets
they would reach, are, first of all con-
fronted by the problem of obtaining
Workmen, office men, statesmen and
executives trained to handle their
business, a \difhculty which, it is safe
to say, but few companies finaJeasy
of solution. This condition prevails
because the foreign trade Of the
United States is in it's infancy and
only recently has the question of
special training been considered by
public men, corporations, public
men, corporations public schools and
universities.
We are only just realizing that this
is one of the handicaps we have been
under in the competition with our