The time has been when our consular service was simply a plaything for
politicians, and the diplomatic service was not essentially different.
The improvement has been very slow for the reason that it has been at
the mercy of Congress for the annual appropriation which enables it to
live, and to politicians everywhere for the frequent changes in its
personnel. Or to go farther back for causes, its improvement has been
delayed because the people have had more interest in the home market
than in the foreign market. When our merchants send bales of advertising
matter printed in English to a country where English is unknown, what
can you expect of our people?
But there has been some improvement; so that notwithstanding the present
weaknesses of the system there are some reasons for congratulation that
it is as good as it is. There was an executive order issued in
September, 1895, which recognized the justice of some of the complaints
made against the service and provided for some measures of reform. Among
these we notice that consulates or commercial agencies paying between
$1,000 and $2,500 per year shall be filled in one of three ways—
(1) “By transfer or promotion from some other position under the
Department of State of a character tending to qualify the incumbent for
the position to be filled.”
This enables the Department to be something of a training school for the
service, in a small way.
(2) “By appointment of some one not under the Department of State, but
having served thereunder to its satisfaction in a capacity tending to
qualify him for the position to be filled”.
This gives second preference to those who may have been discharged for
political reasons.
(3) “By the appointment of a person who, having furnished the customary
evidence of character, responsibility and capacity, and being thereupon
selected by the President for examination, is found upon such
examination to be qualified for the position.”
The order of preference given above seems to be very judicious and
thoroughly in harmony with the spirit of civil service reform. The
President further stated that “a vacancy in a consulate will be filled
at discretion only when a suitable appointment cannot be made in any of
the modes indicated”.
It will be observed, however, that this order makes provision for
filling only the less important consular positions, that is, those
paying between $1,000 and $2,500 per annum. As to the method of filling
the others it is silent.
In pursuance of this order the Secretary of State added a list of the
subjects to which the examination should relate, namely—
(1) General education, knowledge of languages, business training and
experience.
(2) The country in which the consul or commercial agent is to reside,
its government, chief magistrate, geographical features, principal
cities, chief production and its commercial intercourse and relations
with the United States.
(3) The exequatur, its nature and use.
(4) Functions of a consul or commercial agent as compared with those of
a vice consul or consular agent; relation of former to latter, also to
the United States minister or ambassador at the capital of the country.
(5) Duties of a consul or commercial agent as regards:
(a) Correspondence with the State Department and the form thereof.
(b) Passports, granting and visaing.
(c) United States merchant vessels in a foreign port, and their
crews, whether seeking discharge, deserting or destitute.
(d) Wrecks within jurisdiction.
(e) Wrongs to United States citizens within jurisdiction.
(f) Invoices.
(g) Official fees and accounts.
(6) Treaties between the United States and the foreign country.
(7) Relation of ambassador and minister to laws of the country to which
they are accredited, as compared with those of consul or commercial
agent to those of the countries where they reside.
(8) Acts of ambassador or minister, how far binding upon his country.
(9) Diplomatic, judicial, and commercial functions of consuls or
commercial agents.
(10) Piracy, what it is and where punishable.
(11) Consular Regulations of the United States—copy of which (to be
returned to the Department) will be supplied to each candidate upon
application.
(12) Such other subject or subjects as the Board may deem important and
appropriate in any particular case.
One might suppose that a man who could pass a good examination on the
above subjects would be pretty well qualified for the service, with one
glaring exception, namely, that nothing is said about _requiring_ an
acquaintance with modern languages, especially that of the country where
the consul is to be located.
Moreover, complaints are still coming in as before, so that, although it
is somewhat the fashion to condemn our consular system as the “worst in
the world”, it is evident that we haven’t got to the bottom of the
difficulty yet.
It needs no argument to show that the “spoils system”, pure and simple,
is the most suicidal policy possible. The logic of history—our own
history—upon this very point, is conclusive. But to throw the consular
and diplomatic service into the “classified list”, or, in other words,
to decide upon the fitness of a candidate merely upon the merits of a
civil service examination would make but small improvement. It would
tinker the old machine instead of replacing it with a new one. Such a
process may determine upon a candidate’s preparation—if an examination
may be said to determine anything—but it can not reach his
personality—what he is,—nor can it reveal his capacity for work—what he
can do.
Now these three points are to be considered in determining a candidate’s
fitness for any position whatever—what he is, what he knows, and what he
can do. The practical problems for the State Department are how to
determine what a man is when in the majority of cases he is an entire
stranger, how to discover what he can do when he has never been tested
by experience, and how to expect him to know much about the business
when there is not a school anywhere prepared to give the needed
instruction.
Suppose you want to prepare for this service, how would you go about it?
How would you find what was needed, what you should study and where to
look for it? The government provides no means whatever of preparing men
for foreign service. They simply get into it somehow—always, of course,
through political influence—and then learn it necessarily at government
expense. Just about the time they have mastered the language and are
prepared to do their best work, along comes a change of administration
and turns them out of office, and then the government begins again the
expensive task of training a new set of men. This is not a hypothetical
case. It is the rule rather than the exception.
Well, what ought to be done?
Why, establish some means of instruction for one thing. No one will
doubt the wisdom of maintaining the academies at West Point and
Annapolis for the Army and Navy, and are not the needs of the foreign
service, Diplomatic, Consular, and lately Colonial, as urgent and
important as the others? We have often heard the need of a great
national university urged, and we occasionally hear a timid plea for a
national school at Washington for the training of consuls and diplomats,
but it is gratifying to notice the declaration in favor of the latter by
such an eminent body of educators as those university presidents
constituting the committee chosen by the National Educational
Association to consider this very subject.
The need of a school of political science, economics, and modern
languages, and the need of its location at the capital of the nation and
under national control, is all the more urgent and unmistakable now that
questions in colonial government are coming up for solution; and when
one considers the multitude of problems afforded by the work of the
consular service, together with the statecraft of the diplomatic, it is
easy to see that there should be such an institution. A government which
has provided so liberally for general education ought not to neglect
that wise provision where its own efficient service demands it and
nothing else can well supply it.
But the school cannot do it all, and its work must be supplemented by
experience—say a year or more of residence for successful candidates at
a foreign consulate or legation. And whenever a new man is appointed it
should evidently be to one of the lower positions, leaving the higher
ones to be filled by promotion.
It is gratifying to notice that an honest and intelligent effort is
being made in Congress to bring about some needed reforms in the
consular service. A bill[2] is before the present House of
Representatives which provides that “appointments shall be made to
grades and not to specific places”. “A consul’s station”, says one
authority[3] commenting upon the bill, “should depend on the exigencies
of the service, and should not necessarily be permanent. Good consuls
may thus be obtained for undesirable places, a thing which is now well
nigh impossible”. “It provides also”, says the same authority, that
“removals shall not be made by caprice or for other than specified
cause. To put a check upon appointments only or removals only is to
leave at either end a loophole for evasion of the spirit of the reform.
By crowding one man in, another may be crowded out”.
Footnote 2:
H. R. 1026, 56th Congress. A Bill to increase the efficiency of the
foreign service of the U. S. and to provide for the reorganization of
the consular service, by Mr. Adams of Pennsylvania.
Footnote 3:
See article by Mr. Gaillard Hunt, Independent, Oct. 26, ’99.
One would be astonished that such common-sense measures as these have
not been in operation this long time, were it not for the power of
“practical politics”. The “practical politician” is discovered easily
and in every precinct. You have only to speak of efficiency or merit as
the chief test of a candidate’s fitness for office, and he will have
something to say about “giving every man a chance”, “changing around”,
“getting out of the ruts”, etc. Should a consul’s station depend upon
the “exigencies of the service”? Certainly; what is the service for? May
he not be “removed by caprice”? Certainly not; for again, what is the
service for?
Appointment to grades instead of to particular positions allows a
shifting of men from one post to another whenever it is desirable, and
it does so without sacrificing valuable experience. For it is true that
a long residence at one consulate may so familiarize a man with his
surroundings, especially if he finds himself in a lucrative business,
that he becomes in some degree alienated from his own country without
being aware of it. He may lose track of events at home or else become
accustomed to viewing them from a foreign standpoint, so that as a
result he falls into an apologetic tone toward those who criticize or a
critical attitude toward the home government. He is then in a fit
condition to be sent home. It has been suggested as a preventative to
this that consuls be recalled from time to time to give lectures
throughout the country, or instruction in a school for the consular
service. Otherwise the same result will be accomplished so far as the
consul is concerned, by shifting him to another position along with some
salutary advice as to what his business is. This provision also puts the
service more on a footing with the Army and Navy, which in many respects
would be a decided gain.
Since this bill or a similar one is likely to become a law, and in any
event has already earned strong endorsement, I append a few more of its
provisions.
Instead of consul general, consul and commercial agent there are to be
four grades, namely consul general of the first and the second class and
consul of the first and the second class.
All consular officers shall receive compensation in salaries—none in
fees.
Subjects in examination shall relate “chiefly but not exclusively to the
duties of the consular service, and for consul of the first class
examination in one foreign language will be required”.
The President is to appoint a board of five examiners, “who are to be
the Civil Service Commissioners and two officials of the State
Department”. These, however, shall have no connection with the
reorganization of the entire service, which is entrusted to a committee
consisting of two Senators, three Representatives and one officer of the
State Department. It is intended that this committee shall have a pretty
free hand in the inauguration of desirable changes, and the President is
given large discretion as to the manner of putting such changes into
execution.
There remains one important subject to be mentioned—the very difficult
subject of the selection of men for examination, or after examination it
may be. The present system is purely political. If you happen to have
“influence” which will secure you a recommendation to the President you
may be permitted to take the examination whenever a vacancy occurs.
Hence the way is pretty effectually barred as far as unsupported merit
is concerned; so it depends much more upon the “influence” than upon
your merit. This is open to obvious abuses, and in case restrictions as
to preparation are set aside, what have we but the “spoils system”?
On the other hand the Department must know something more about you than
an examination can show. It must have some assurance of your powers of
observation, your business acumen, your vigilance and alertness, and
especially your dignity and integrity of character, so that you may well
represent your country’s interests among foreigners, and defend the
international rights of your fellow citizens.
Whether any better way can be devised remains to be seen, but in justice
to the present system it must be said that it has secured many good
officials—so many, indeed, that the American consular system, according
to one writer[4], has become a subject of careful study by European
nations. The same writer quotes from _La Revue Diplomatique_ as follows:
“The Americans are practical men and their instinct for business is
marvelous. Nothing is more characteristic in this respect than the
organization of their consular corps. Its duty is that of a sort of
bureau of information at the expense of the state. It is recruited
principally from journalists, who carry into their official career the
trained instinct of observation, the quick grasp of passing events which
belong to their former profession.
“The American consul does not understand that he has a commercial
situation to maintain but always a commercial situation to conquer. His
ingenuity is exercised to invent and find new markets, and in his study
of ways and means, he descends to the most minute details. Despite their
colonial conquests, the Americans have comprehended that the real
struggle remains in the old markets—that there especially is the hard
school that will force them to manufacture and sell better than all
others”.
Footnote 4:
Francis B. Loomis, North American Review, Sept., 1899.
It appears from the above quotation, as well as others, that, in the
judgment of Europeans, the peculiar excellence of the American consul is
analogous to that of the American soldier—his ability to take the
initiative, to be his own commander.
After all, the man is more important than the equipment and harder to
discover.