I shall speak more particularly this evening, said the Professor, upon
facts associated with the persons employed in the consular service; the
selection, preparation and such other matter as may be of interest,
leaving the duties of the service until the next lecture. Of course,
this division is arbitrary, and is adopted merely as a matter of
convenience. The data which I shall adduce may be found for the most
part in the “Consular Regulations”, which anyone may purchase from the
Superintendent of Documents in Washington.
The Consular Service, as was said before, makes a small army of about
1,000 men. These men are chosen from all parts of the United States
(aside from the foreigners in the service), and are sent to all parts of
the world. They are above all things else, agents of trade—messengers of
commerce. Yet they stand in so many relations to our government and
people that it is doubtful if any other position in our modern
civilization calls into service a greater versatility—a wider exercise
of intellectual capacity.
We shall consider the method by which these officers are chosen, then
some reforms in that method which should have been adopted long ago, and
which, it is hoped, we shall soon see in operation. But before
describing these methods and reforms, let us notice briefly the _grade_,
_rank_ and _classification_ of the service, likewise the definition of a
few technical terms, in order that we may know exactly what we are
talking about.
There are three principal grades in the consular service, namely:
(1) Consul General.
(2) Consul.
(3) Commercial Agent.
These three are “full, principal and permanent consular officers as
distinguished from subordinates and substitutes”. These latter include
Vice Consuls General, Deputy Consuls General, Vice Consuls, Deputy
Consuls, Vice Commercial Agents, Consular Agents, Consular Clerks,
Interpreters, Marshals and Clerks at Consulate.
The term consul, as applied to the second grade, has also a common,
generic meaning, including every consular officer, and it is in the
latter sense that we shall generally use it.
In the same way the word consulate seems to waver in meaning, sometimes
covering the entire region over which a consul has jurisdiction, i. e.,
the consular district, and sometimes implying only the official
residence—the room or building in which the consul does business. The
boundaries of the consulate—using the term in its broadest sense—are
prescribed by the President, and are usually defined in the consul’s
commission. The general rule is that all places nearer to the official
residence than to any other consulate within the same country are to be
included in a consulate just forming. These boundaries in most cases
have long since been determined.
Now as to the difference in power between these three principal grades
there is little to say, for there is very little difference except that
of grade. Their functions as consuls are quite the same. The only
difference is that the Consul General, except in three cases, Calcutta,
Dresden and Mexico, has limited supervision over consuls within his
jurisdiction. This supervision is confined to such as “can be exercised
by correspondence” and is intended to insure that the Consular
Regulations are complied with and the Consular Reports prepared for the
State Department. The Consuls General are “in no sense auditing
officers”.
A Consulate General usually includes all the consulates within any one
country, though in a large or important country there may be several
consulates general. In some cases also there are no Consuls General
whatever, and the Consuls are then subordinated to the Diplomatic
Service.
The Commercial Agent is simply a consul of a lower grade and under
another name. The title is quite unfortunately chosen, especially since
the same term is used in other countries to designate an officer quite
inferior in rank and privileges.
As to subordinate officers and substitutes, a word may be said in
passing.
Vice Consuls General, Vice Consuls and Vice Commercial Agents are just
what might be inferred from their titles—appointees to take the place of
their principals whenever the latter are absent.
The deputy officers, on the other hand, may discharge the duties of
their superiors while the latter are at their posts, though they may
never “assume the responsible charge of the office”.
Consular Agents represent their principals in places throughout the
consulate where the latter do not reside; but their functions are
limited. In certain cases citizens of the country may be appointed to
this office.
As to Consular Clerks, the President is authorized to appoint as many as
thirteen who may be assigned to duty as the Secretary of State may
choose. They may not be removed from office “except for cause, stated in
writing, which shall be submitted to Congress”. This is a peculiar freak
of legislation, but it has some valuable suggestions.
Interpreters are stationed only at certain consulates in China, Japan,
Korea, the Turkish domains, and Zanzibar. They are usually natives of
the country. Marshals are appointed only for certain consular courts in
the less civilized countries.
Lastly Clerks at Consulates are such as attend to the routine clerical
work of the office.
For all these subordinate positions it is recommended that American
citizens be employed whenever possible.
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