Evening star., 1927-12-04
u. S. CONSULS MUST PAY
TO ENTERTAIN TOURISTS
Allowance Fund for Nations Representatives
: Abroad Urged-Naval Officers
Also Heavily Taxed. ~.


Winter. The American consul will
have to be host to that crowd. In
China. Malaga. India, Africa, South
America, Japan, Panama, Europe and
all other quarters of the globe the
tourists are appearing and will ap-
pear. The act of May "a, 1924, should
be broadened.
1t would seem that much support
would be found In Congress to pro-
vide an entertainment expense fund
for our foreign representatives. or
representation allowance" as the
fund is called in the law. since sc
many members of Congress have
been beneficiaries of entertainment
given by consuls and ENJOYS. Not
all may have known that the indi-
vidual consuls and ENJOYS had to
bear the cost of the entertainment
But most members Of Congress. ex'
pecting to continue to travel, will
see the injustice of imposing ex-
penses upon other officers of the Gov
ernment without 'compensating them.
Survey Proposed.
Representative Frederick NJ. Dav.
enport of New York has proposed a
survey of the Department of State
| with the view of giving it larger ap'
propriations as means of promoting
peace in the world. The department
he holds should be able to cable more
complete information about American
affairs to our representatives abroad.
so they may have correct data with
which to meet criticism of the United
States. That is only one way in which
| he finds the department cramped for
| funds. Allowances to all representa-
| tfx-nc fa ".
penses no doubt will be given sympa-
| thetic consideration in any survey of
the department.
Citing Singapore. as all six of the
world cruises will touch that port,
the consul there cannot avoid being
hospitable to the tourists. nor does he
or other American consuls wish to
avoid it, even while depicting their
bank accounts. During 1927 one Far
Eastern city had four world cruisers
| in port. one United States Senator and
| two or more Representatives: the usual
| heavy contingent of commercial
agents, for Singapore gets about $400,-
600. 900 a year of American gold for
rubber, tin and other products; and
visits by our naval vessels. Besides,
one American steamship line now
maintains round-the-world service
which puts ship with tourists into
Singapore every two weeks through
out the year, and to many other ports
along the globe-girdling route. The
| 1928 travel will be heavier from all in
| dications, and the consuls' entertain
ment expenses heavier in consequence.
| The topmost salary of consul is
| $4,000 year. The salaries range
| downward to $4,000 a year. No pre-
se,. Hxy4 sd -
State that Americans can be COM
pensated for their services in the con-
| sular branch as they would be in
| private industry for equal abilities
THE rewards of the foreign serv-
| Ice are not merely monetary" the
prospective consul is told The ap.
peal. however. is not to those who seek
only material gain. The foreign
service offers instead the cultural ad.
vantages of foreign travel, active con-
! tact with leaders in other lands, and
the opportunity of distinguished patri-
otto achievement" There are some
retirement fund provisions which lift
partially the specter of old age with.
out resources if the consul has not
been able to save much out of his
salary. &
Some idea of the increase i'm tour
list travel and travel for all other
reasons may be gained from statis-
ties on passports issued by the De-
partment of State. In 1913, the last
normal year before the World War.
the total was 23,463. In 1927 the
total will run close to 100000! The
number in 1926 was 176,033.
These figures do not by any means
indicate the total number of Ameri-
cans going to foreign countries. A
passport is good for two years and
thousands of Americans go to Europe
| or elsewhere abroad several times in
| that period. Moreover. a passport
may cover several members of the
same family. Nearly 100000 tourists
| or travellers on various missions will
| have gone from the United States in
| 1877. 1t has been estimated that they
spend abroad. that is i'm Europe alone,
more than $500,O00,00O in one year.
Travel More Cheaply.
The cheap tourist cabin rates have
| given a squirt to travel in the
| last three years. Students, teachers.
| salaried people i'm the medium in
| come grades now may visit Europe
for as low as $170 for the round trip,
or even cheaper If they will accept
| more limited accommodations. The
| attraction this has is shown by the
| fact that May invariably is the larg-
est month for issuance of passports,
| coming just before schools close in
June. In May, 1913, 1854 passports
were issued, while in May 1927,
| 32,S63 were issued, or more than
| eight times as many as in 1918. In
| any one of the months of April, May
and June, 1927. more passports were
| issued than for the entire year of
| 1913
Nothing but hard times in the
United States will stem this flood of
tourists. The Winter months are
| showing consistent gain in travel
as indicated by the increased number
| of world and special cruises this
| Winter over any other Winter BY
special cruises is meant steamships
which are set aside for a specific
tour. OF course any number of
| Americans travel in the regular sail
| ings of ships, sometimes in small
conducted parties, often without any
| guidance of that kind. The abound
| ing wealth of America and the
| greater sOphistication of thousands
as travellers is causing them to seek
out-of-way places for novelty tours.
| Thus no American consul is so re-
| mote now that he does not expect
tourists. 1t may be Riga. far up on
| the Baltic i'm Latvia. or Cape Town,
at the tip end of Africa, or Manila,
or Seoul in Korea, or Penang, in the
Malay Peninsula, and so on. The
travel to South America and South
| Africa is three or four times as heavy
this year as it was two or three years
ago.
. Geneva Is Popular.
Then something like the League of
Nations creates special tourist inter.
est in q town otherwise not specially
marked such as Geneva. Switzerland.
! Here thousands of Americans go each
! year especially in September. when
the League is in session, and the con.