The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1922-12-28
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Washington. - "This bill is the best
constructive measure we have yet seen
laid before this committee" declared
Director Of the Consular Service Will
bur f. Carr, in concluding his testi-
monybeforethe House Committee on
Foreign Affairs on the Rogers bill for
the reorganization and reclassification
OF the U. 8. Foreign Service. This
BILL" he continued, will give you a
basis upon which to build a foreign
service which will most nearly ap-
proach the ideal you gentlemen have
in your hears, and which will give the
United States a foreign service the
equal OF that possessed by any other
foreign government"
Mr.. Carr has been on the stand for
four days explaining the various sec
lions of the Rogers bill and showing
thevital necessity OF placing our Cor
eign service on a higher plane OF eff
iciency to meet the desperate compeh-
ton for markets and other advantages
which has already set among the ma
tons Of the world, and which will con-
tinue for the next century, or as long
as mankind is main-springed by self
interest. The director OF the consular
service entered the service of the State
Department In 1892. and for more than
30 years has been an untiring analyzer
of the foreign service of the United
States, AS an authority on consular
systems, ancient and modern, foreign
and domestic, he is considered without
a peer either in this country or abroad
The Rogers bill provides for re-
classification Of all officers In the d.
plomatic and consular service below
the grade OF ambassador and minister
into nine classes, Glass / carrying a
salary Of $1,000, and Glass 9, the low
est or entrance class, carrying $4,000
salary annually. In addition there Is a
provision for retirement pay, the max
lmum being $4,000 and the minimum
being ss75, depending on length OF
service and salary drawn for a certain
period Just prior to retirement. In this
regard the bill applies the principles
of the Lehlbach retirement bill for
government employees, the Rogers
measure making the retirement age 65,
and the contributionof the officers 5
per cent OF their salaries for the pur-
pose Of building up the retirement
fund.
In addition, by rating both services
as foreign service officers the wall
which has heretofore separated the
diplomatic from the consular service
is broken down, and a foreign service
officer may be assigned to one branch
or the other. as the Department OF
State may see fit, having acquainted
Itself with the merits and abilities Of
its officers. In the words of Secretary
Hughes, who approves the bill, 1t
the foreign service Of the
United States, and parallels the sys-
TENS already adopted by the leading
nations OF the yorld.
These are the three main features OF
the bill. There are q number Of minor
features which will improve the for
eign service, such as representation
to cover certain necessary
on the part OF consuls
and diplomats which, under existing
they must pay out OF their
own pockets; greater flexibility in as
signments to duty at home or abroad;
the matter of bonding, inspection, etc.
The Rogers bill also has the earnest
Of President Harding, who
has addressed Chairman porter and
Chairman Lodge on the subject, while
the members Of the House Committee,
regardless Of party. seemed TO be thor
oughly In sympathy with the measure.
1t win shortly be reported to the House
and a comfortable majority is pre-
dicted for it. Unless 1t gets snarled up
in the Senate tangle 1t is fairly certain
to pass this session and thus place an
additional credit mark on the Repub-
lican account, larger, perhaps, than
the Republican diplomatic reorganiza-
lion of 1906 under Roosebelt and Root.