SELECTION AND APPOINTMENT OF CONSULAR OFFICERS.

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:

(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”.

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”.

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.