stu v FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES HEARINGS 2 10 BEFORE THE [TTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS MOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SIXTY-SEVENTH CONGKESS ^ FOURTH SESSION OS ON ?1 H. R. 12543 3 I 7 THE REORGANIZATION AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STflfes, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES DECEMBER 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, 1922 STATEMENTS OF Hon. CHARLES EVANS HUGHES, Secretary of State Hon. ROBERT Pi SKINNER, Consul General of the United States London, England Hon. WILBUR J. CAKR, Director of the Consular Sendee State Department Mr. TRACY LAY, Consular Service, Department of State Hon. JOHN W. DAVIS, Formerly Ambassador to Great Britain Hon. FRANK L. POLK, Formerly Undersecretary of State WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1922 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES HEARINGS BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS y.S.C^HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SIXTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS FOUUTH SESSION H. R. 12543 FOR THE REORGANIZATION AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES DECEMBER 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, 1922 STATEMENTS OF Hon. CHARLES EVANS HUGHES, Secretary of State Hon. ROBERT P. SKINNER, Consul General of the United States London, England Hon. WILBUR J. CARR, Director of the Consular Service State Department Mr. TRACY LAY, Consular Service, Department of State Hon. JOHN W. DAVIS, Formerly Ambassador to Great Britain Hon. FRANK L. POLK, Formerly Undersecretary of State WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1022 COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. SIXTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS, FOURTH SESSION. STEPHEN G. PORTER, Pennsylvania, Chairman. JOHN JACOB ROGERS, Massachusetts. J. CHARLES LINTHICUM, Maryland. HENRY W. TEMPLE, Pennsylvania. CHARLES M. STEDMAN, North Carol ii AMBROSE KENNEDY, Rhode Island. ADOLPH J. SABATH, Illinois. EDWARD E. BROWNE, Wisconsin. TOM CONNALLY, Texas. MERRILL MOORES, Indiana. W. BOURKE COCKRAN, New York. ERNEST R. ACKERMAN, New Jersey. R. WALTON MOORE, Virginia. JAMES T. BEGG, Ohio. HENRY ALLEN COOPER, Wisconsin. THEODORE E. BURTON, Ohio. BENJAMIN L. FAIRCHILD, New York. HAMILTON FISH, JR., New York. THEODORE HUKRIEDE, Missouri. J. M. C. SMITH, Michigan. CYRBNU8 COLE, Iowa. EDMDKP F. EBK, Clerk. II INDEX. A. Page. Ability, special , 6 Absence : From service Leaves of Accounts 2, 54, 55 Advancement, prospects of 7, 39, 77, 86, 87, 89, 90 Age: At death 31,32 Of appointees 31 Of retirement 3, 9. 34-36 Agriculture. Department of 12,80.81 Aliens and immigrants Allowances : Local 22,73 Post 11, 19. 24, 65. 73, 97, 99 Representation 3, 20-24, 73, 90, 94, 97, 99 Representation in the British foreign service 20 Ambassador : American, at Paris 23 British 22,23 Ambassadors : Assignment to Department of State 50-53 Bonds 64 Retirement 3.72 Withdrawal of 53, 74 Americanism of officers 69,70,77,79 Americanization of service 79 American citizens 1 Annuitants 3. 9. 31 Number of 31. 33 Annuities 3, 31, 35 Applications, number of 97 Appointments : Charges 3. 66 Commissioners 3.66 Consular officers 1, 16, 40-47. 87 Diplomatic agents 3, 66 Diplomatic secretaries 1. 16. 40. 41, 43-47, 66. 87 Foreign-service officers 1. 3. 16. 40. 41, 43-47. 66, 87 From eligible list 43,44 In Department of State 42 Ministers 3. 66 Appraisers, Board of 14 Appropriations : Consular and Diplomatic Service 10, 27, 55 First, for retirement fund 3, 9, 10, 29 Subsequent, for retirement fund 4, 9, 10, 29, 31, 55 Approval of H. R. 12543 by President 4. 58, 59 Aptitude for foreign service 5. 6 Army officers 33. 34. 70 Army retirement 9,33,34. 70 Assignment of ambassadors and ministers to Department of State. 50-58, ."4. (58 Assignment of foreign service officers 1, 46. 55. 65 in IV INDEX. Page. Assignment of foreign service officers to Department of State 3, 50-53 Austria : Foreign ser\ ice of . Retirement system 16 Availability for special work 5,6 Average annual salary '. 81,35 B. BakhmetefY, Mr., Russian ambassador 74 Ballantine. Mr., interpreter 50 Barnes. Mr. Julius H. : Letter from Secretary of State Gl Letter to House Committee on Foreign Affairs Basic salary 73 Belgium : Foreign service of 78 Retirement system 16 Bills of health 81 Bonds 2, 19, 53, 64 British Ambassador at Paris 23 British Ambassador at Washington 22 British foreign service, table 20.-J1.-J2 British general consular service ' 15 British far eastern service 15 British near eastern service 15 Buildings, ownership of ._ 11,13,23,75,93,94,95 r. CHIT. Mr. Wilbur .!.. statement, of l!>-7<; Chamber of Commerce of the Tinted States 98 Charges, appointment of foreign serv.ee officers as 3, OU China, foreign service of 7.x Citizenship _ i 82 Civil Service Commission 43 Civil-service Employees 32. 42 Claims Department at London 85 Classes: Annuitants 3, 9, 31. 35. 3i; Officers in British foreign service _> United States consular oilicers 5. ID. -- United States diplomatic officers 5, 19. JS United States foreign service officers 1,4, 2 -jx. L'!t Climatic conditions 7o. 71 Colleges and universities, courses in 40 Commerce, Chamber of, of the United States 98 Commerce. Department of 11,12,17,18.80,81 Commercial attaches 1:2. XI Commercial work and reports 11, 17. 79, X',' Comparative statements. (See Tables.) Commissioners, appointments of foreign service officers as :?. lit I Compensation of foreign service officers I.L'S Comptroller's decisions , 0!) Conferences, trade p,. OX. 09 Confirmation of consular and diplomatic officers 45, J .! Confirmation of foreign service officers 1, 46, 48, (57, 6* Congresses : ?, Congress of Vienna 07 Consular Service, appropriations for 10,27,55 Consular and diplomatic duties compared 5. 30, 4x Consular officers : Appointment of 1, 10. 4O-47, S7 I'er cent of contribution to retirement fund 30. in.: 1 ,.", Rccommissioning of : ^ 1. -j, Consular Service: Personnel. British and United States compared -J2 1'roposed reclassification of ._ 27-29,99 INDEX. V Page. Consuls general at large Contributions to retirement fund 3, 9, 29, :JO. 31 . 84, TS From ambassadors and ministers 72,73 In British service - 1C>. 31 Per rent of. by Government and officers -_ 30,81.83 Costa Rica, withdrawal of minister to 74 Cost of Hving_Tl 11,15,20,78 Courses in universities and colleges Credit reports - 17, IS 1). Date on which act takes effect 4 Davis, Mr. John \V., statement of 89 Deductions from salary tor retirement fund " 3 Demotion 1,30,43,45 Denmark, foreign service of 78 Designation by 1'resident 1 Details for special duty 3.08 Details for duty in other departments 72 Dignity of United States representatives abroad 11,90 Diplomatic and consular duties compared 5,36,48 1 >iplomatic agents, appointments of foreign service officers as 3, 06 Diplomatic Service: Appropriations for 10, 27, 55 British and United States compared 22 Diplomatic secretaries : Appointment of 1, 16, 40, 41, 43-47, 87 Kecommissioning of 1, 2 Disability, retirement on account of 5,36,45 Dispatch agency ._ 12, 13 Econouiic character of international problems 5. 17. 79^80, 98 Economic conditions ;it posts ._ 11,15,20 Eligible list 43,44 Entrance into service 1,16,26,37,40-47,85,87 Examinations 1, 37, 40-44, 85 Statistics of 42 Expansion of service 8,29,31 Expenses for subsistence 3,68,69 F. Federal Reserve Board, work performed for 79 Fees : Accounting for 2, 54, 55 Revenue from 10 Fletcher. Ambassador, assignment to Department of State 50, 52, 73, 74 Foreign service, British and United States compared 20 Foreign service: Inspectors 2. 54, 62, 63 Officers Appointments--.! 1,3, 16, 40, 41, 43-47, 66. 87 Assignments 1. 8, 46, 50-53, 55, 65 Classes of 1.4. 22, 2S, 29 Confirmation 1, 46, 48. 67, 68 Contributions to retirement fund 3,9.29,31,34,78 Hcta.ls for special duty 8. 6S. 72 Expenses for subsistence . 8,68,69 Per cent of contribution to retirement fund.._. __ 30,31,33 Ueclassification 27-29 Recommissioning 1. 19. 46 Reimbursement of contributions 78 Retirement 3. 30, 31, 38, 45, 78 Salaries _ 19. 29, 31. 49. 55 VI INDEX. F< > reign service Continued. Officers Continued. Pa *- Service in and outside of Washington, D. C 68 Status as diplomatic or consular officers Subsistence expenses 3. 68,69 Transfers 1, 19, 36, 42, 43, 46, 47, 49, 50-53, 35, 74 Fortunes, private 8, 40, 78, 86, 89, 92. 96, 99 France : Foreign service of 10,26,39,78 Retirement system 16 G. Qermany: Foreign service of 78 Retirement system : 16 Government, per cent of contribution to retirement fund 30, 31, 33 Great Britain: Fore gn service of 10, 15, 16, 19, 20. 26, 39. 73, 88 Representation allowances 20, 22 Retirement system 15 Salaries in foreign service 20,96 H. Hughes, Mr. Charles Evans, statement of 412 I. Immigrants and vises 1 82 Improvement in service since 1906 37-39 Incapacity to serve 35 Incentive for young men 7. 29. 77, 86 87 Income, private 8. 40, 78. 86, 89. 92, 96, 99 Incumbents, present 6, 9 Inspectors and inspection 2,54.62,63 Interest of officers in the bill 17, 27, 86 Interest rate on retirement contributions 3 Interior, Secretary of _T 4 Interpreters ' -<- 49, 50 Investments by consul ^ 78 Invoices, consular 14, 85, 86 Italy: Foreign service of_I 39 Retirement system 1 16 J. Japan, foreign service of 78 .Judicial officers, retirement of 34 K. Kerensky government, ambassador of " 74 L. Labor turnover in Diplomatic Service 91 I.eavi-s of absence ' 71 Lehlhach bill 30. 34. 35 Length of service 3.32.85,78 Letters : Harnes. Mr. .Julius H.. to Committee on Foreign Affairs , 98 Chamber of Commerce, of the United States 98 President to Committee on Foreign Affairs 58 President to Mr. Rogers 59 .Secretary of State to Mr. P.arnes 01 Secretary of State to Mr. Rogers 59 Liverpool, consulate at 6,9.88 INDEX. VII Local allowances _____________________________________________________ 73 Lodge, Senator, letter from President __________________________________ 58 London, consulate general ___________________________ 6, 9, 14, 36, 47, 48, 79, 88 Longevity ____________________________________________________________ 31,32 M. Maximum annuities ________________________________________________ 3, 31, 35 Means, private ____________ ________________________ 8, 40, 78, 86, 89, 92, 96, 99 Medical care _________________________________________________________ 34 Mexico ______________________________________________________________ 74 Minimum annuities ________________________________________________ 3,31,35 Ministers ____________________________________________________________ 3 Assignment to Department of State ________________________________ 50, 53 Bonds ___________________________________________________________ 64 Ministers resident, appointment of foreign service officers as ____________ 3,66 Ministers, retirement of ______________________________________________ 3, 72 N. Navy Department attaches ____________________________________________ 12,81 Navy officers ____________________________________________________ _ ____ 33, 34 Navy retirement ___________________________________________________ 9,33,34 Norway, foreign service of ____________________________________________ 78 Notarial services _____________________________________________________ 85 Number of annuitants ________________________________________________ 31, 33 Numbers retired _____________________________________________________ 31, 33 O. Officers, foreign service, per cent of contribution to retirement fund 30, 31, 33 Official acts of foreign service officers _________________________________ 1 Official positions in department _______________________________________ 3 Officers, foreign service: Classes _______________________________ i ___________________________ 1 Compensation ____________________________________________________ 1 Other departments _______________________________________ 11, 12, 17, 18, 80, 81 Work for _______________________________________________________ 72 Ownership of buildings- ._ 11.13,23.63,75,93,94,96 Paris: Ambassador at American ___________________________________________________ 23 Brit : sh ______________________________________________________ 23 Consulate general _______________________________________________ 6, 9, 88 Peck, Mr. ( interpreter )___. _________________ _________________________ 49 Pensions __________________________________________________________ 3, 31, 33 Per cent of contribution to fund by officers and by the Government ___ 30, 31, 33 Per diem ____________________________________________________________ 3, 68 Period of service _____________________________________________________ 3 Personnel, British and United States Consular and Diplomatic Service 22 Polk, Mr. Frank ______________________________________________________ 95 Portugal, retirement system __________________________________________ 16 Post allowances __________________________________________ 11. 19, 24, 65, 97. 99 Present incumbents __________________________________________________ 6, 9 President of the United States: Approval of H. II. 12543 ________________________________________ 4, 58, 59 Letter' to Secretary of State _____________________________________ 56 Letter to Senator Lodge __________________________________________ 58 Letter to Mr. J. J. Rogers ________________________________________ 59 Prestige of United States representatives abroad ______________________ 11.90 Private fortunes ____________________________________ 8, 40, 78^86, 89, 92. 96, 99 Promotion ______________________________________________________ 1, 30, 43. 45 Pro rata representation for States _____________________________________ 44 Provisions of previous law ____________________________________________ 4 VIII INDEX. K. Page. Recruiting new officers 26 Reclassification. proposed 27-29.99 Recommission of consular officers and diplomatic secretaries ._ 1, 19. 46 Reimbusement of contributions 78 Removal from service 48,49 Representation allowances . 3. 20, 22, 24, 90. 94, 97. l>!> In British tore gn service.: '.'-. -- '_'<). '2'2 Rquirements of service J Residence of ambassador at London 12. 18 Resignations 22, 26, 87, 9r. !>7 Retirement 3 Age of 3 Of ambassadors and ministers 3,72 Annuities : Of Army officrs 9,33,34,70 On account of disability 45. <>!> Before age of 65 . 78 Cost of, to Government 30 Fund, appropriations for 3,4,9,10,29.31.5.") Great Britain, system of 1." .Judicial officers 34 IVr cent of contribution to. by officers and Government 30,31,33 Of ministers and ambassadors 3,72 Of Navy officers 9,33.34 Hosiers. Mr. John Jacob 59 Letter from President 59 Letter from Secretary of State 59 Russia 51.03.74 S. Salaries : Average ^ , 31 . 55 Basic 73 British foreign service 20,21,95 Increase in 27, 29, 88. 89 Reduction in 8, 9 Retired officers in British service :;:. Size of 8, 9. 19, 23, 26, 7S. SS. 92. 90 Uniform scale T 19, 29, 49 Seamen 81 Secretary of State: Letter to President 56 Letter to Mr. J. J. Rogers 59 Letter to Mr. Barnes 61 Statement of 4 Separation from service 3,12,26,32,48,49,87" Service : In Department of State 3,68 In United States outside Washington, D. C 68 Length of 3, 32. 35, 78 Period of 3 Shipping 81 Shipping Board 12 Skinner. Mr. Robert P., statement of 12-18, 76-89 Special duty 3 Stall' of consulate general at London 14 Staffs of embassies 7 Statement of Mr. Carr 19-76 Statement of Mr. Davis 89 Statement of Mr. Hughes 4-12 Statement of Mr. Polk Statement of Mr. Skinner 12-18,76-89 Statements ( Nrr Tallies.) Statistics : ( 'ollection of Of entrance examinations 42 INDEX. IX Page. Status of foreign service officers 48 Subsistence expenses 3, 68, 69 T. Tables : British foreign service 22 Comparative statement British and United States foreign service 20 British and United States salaries Ambassadors and ministers 21. Consuls 21 British and United States personnel Diplomatic service 22 ( 'onsular service 22 Consular Service, United States, proposed ^classification 27-20 Diplomatic Service, United States, proposed reelassilication 27-29 Entrance examination statistics 42 Foreign service retirement 30 Proposed reclassifi.cn tion 27-29 liet.'rement pay in British consular service 33 IJetiremc-nt pay in United States Army and Navy 33 Retirement fund, United States foreign service 80 Trade conferences 3, 68, 69 Trade promotion 5, 37, 19, 80 Transfers: Service to service 19,36,46,47,49 Department of State to foreign service 1. 42, 43 From foreign service to Department of State 50-53,55.74 Place to place 49 Travel expenses 3, 69 Treasury Department 12. 81 Turnover, labor, in Diplomatic Service 91 U. TTnhealthful posts 34, 70, 71 Unification of services 5,19,29.46,47,76,96,99 Uniform salary scale 19,29,49 United States Public Health Service 81,82 United States Public Health surgeon 81, 83 V. Vacancies, number of 97 Vienna, Congress of 67 Vises for alien immigrants 82 \V. War claims 85 War Department 12, 81 Washington. D. C. : Service in 68 Service outside of 68 White, Mr. Henry 18 Withdrawal of ambassadors and ministers ._ 53, 74 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Monday, December 11, 1922. The committee this clay met, Hon. Stephen G. Porter (chairman) presiding. The committee had under consideration H. R. 12543, which reads as follows : A BILL For the reorganization and improvement of the Foreign Service of the United States, and for other purposes. lie it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congrexx assembled; That hereafter the Diplomatic and Consular Service of the United States shall he known as the Foreign Service of the United States. SEC. 2. That the officers in the Foreign Service shall hereafter be graded and classified as follows, with the salaries of each class herein affixed thereto: Ambassadors and ministers as now or hereafter provided Foreign Service officer, class 1, $9,000: Foreign Service officer, class 2, $8,000; Foreign Service officer, class 3 (of whom as many as may be provided for by Congress annually upon the recommendation of the Secretarv of State shall be designated as For- eign Service inspectors), $7,000: Foreign Service officer, class 4, $6.000; For- eign Service officer, class .">. $5.000: Foreign Service officer, class 6, $4.500; Foreign Service officer, class 7, $4,000; Foreign Service officer, class 8, $3,500; Foreign Service officer, class 9. $3,000. SEC. 3. That the official designation " Foreign Service officer," as employed throughout this act, shall he deemed to denote permanent officers in the Foreign Service below the grade of minister who are subject to promotion on merit and who may be assigned to duty in either the diplomatic or the consular branch of the Foreign Service at the discretion of the President. SEC. 4. That Foreign Service officers may be appointed as secretaries in the Diplomatic Service or as consular officers or both : Provided, That all such appointments shall be made and confirmed as heretofore: And provided fur- ther, That all official acts of such officers while on duty in either the diplomatic or the consular branch of the Foreign Service shall be performed under their respective commissions as secretaries or as consular officers. SEC. 5. That hereafter appointments to the position of foreign service officer shall be made after examination or by transfer from the Department of State, under such rules and regulations as the President may prescribe : Provided, That no candidate shall be eligible for examination for' foreign service officer who is not an American citizen and who has not been designated by the President. SEC. 6. That before the date on which this act goes into effect the Secretary of State shall recommend to the President the names of those secretaries in the diplomatic service, consuls general, consuls, and vice consuls who for reasons of demonstrated efficiency are entitled to be recommissioned as foreign service officers of the respective classes specified in this act, and the names of those officers who, through failure to demonstrate or maintain the requisite degree of efficiency, should be recommissioned to classes lower than those specified or otherwise treated as exceptions within the discretion of the President. SKC. 7. That subject to the limitations imposed by section 6 hereof secretaries now in the diplomatic service, as provided in an act entitled "An act for the improvement of the foreign service." approved February n. 191;". shall, in addi- tion to their present commissions, be recommissioned and reclassified as follows: 2 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. Secretaries f>f class. bnVadtlns sis counselors of embassy shall be recommis- sioned as foreign ^service officers of .class one. Secre;; jju$ on;- a::ti;.g as counselors of legation shall be recornmis- sioned as fofeigtt service officer's of class two. Secretaries of class one not designated to act as counselors shall be recom- missioned as foreign service officers of class three. Secretaries of class two shall be recouimissioned as foreign service officers of class four. Secretaries of class three shall be recommissioned as foreign service officers of class six. Secretaries of class four shall be recomruissioned as foreign service officers of class eight. SEC. 8. That subject to the limitations imposed by section 6 hereof consuls general, consuls, and vice consuls now in the service, as provided in an act en- t.tled "An act for the improvement of the foreign service." approved February 5, 1915, shall, in addition to their present commissions, be recomuiissioned and reclassified as follows : Consuls general of class one and consuls general of class two shall be recom- missioned as foreign service officers of class one. . Consuls general of class three shall be recommissioned as foreign-service officers of class two. Consuls general of class four and consuls general at large shall be recommis- sioned as foreign-service officers of class three. Consuls of class one. consuls of class two, and consuls of class three shall be recommissioned as foreign-service officers of class four. Consuls of class four shall be recommiss.oned as foreign-service officers of class five. Consuls of class five shall be recommissioned as foreign-service officers of class six. Consuls of class six shall be reconnnissioned as foreign-service officers of class seven. Consuls of class seven shall be recommissioned as foreign-service of;:re:s of class eight. Consuls of class e'ght and consuls of class nine shall be recommissioned as foreign-service officers of class nine. Vice consuls of career, interpreters, and student interpreters shall be recoin- missioned as foreign-service officers, unclassified. SEC. 9. That consuls general of class one and consuls of class one holding office at the t me this act takes effect shall not as a result of' their recommis- sioniug suffer a reduction in salary below that which they are then receiving : ]'ri-i<1r;d. Jwirevcr, That this provision shall apply only to the incumbents of the offices mentioned at the time this act becomes effective. SEC. 10. That sections 1697 and 1698 of the Revised Statutes aiv hereby amended to read as follows : "Every foreign-service officer, before he receives his commission or enters upon the duties of his office, shall give to the United States a bond, in such form as the President shall prescribe, with such sureties, who shall be perma- nent residents of the United States, as the Secretary of State shall approve, in a penal sum not less than the annual compensation allowed to such officer, conditioned for the true and faithful accounting for. paying over, and deliver- ing up of all fees, moneys, goods, effects, books, records, papers, and other property which shall come to his hands or to the hands of any other i>erson to his use as such officer, under any law now or hereafter enacted and for the true and faithful performance of all other duties now or- hereafter lawfully imposed upon him as such officer: Provided. That no foreign-service officer shall be required to give more than one bond, which bond shall cover by its stipula- tions all official acts of such officer, whether as foreign-service 'officer or as secretary in the Diplomatic Service, consul general, consul, or vice consul. The bonds herein mentioned shall be depos ted with the Secretary of the Treasury." SKC. 11. That the provisiu. s of scct ; on 4 of the Act of April 5, 1906. relative to consuls general at lar-e arc hereby made applicable to foreign service in- spectors. SEC. 12. That the provisions of sections 8 and 10 of the Act of April f>. 19( KUAN. 1 beg your pardon. Secretary HUGHES. Mr. Chairman. I understand that the bill before the com- mittee is House bill No. 12543. This bill is a revision of the bill known as House bill No. 17, of the Sixty-seventh Congress, first session, introduced by Mr. Rogers in April, 1921. The present bill, No. 12543. was redrafted after consultation with the Department of State. The changes that, have been made In the bill have been made in view of certain recommendations in the interest of the objects of the previous measure which were suggested by the Depart- ment of State. In view of the fact that the original bill had been gone over In this way with the desire to secure in the best possible manner the increased efficiency of our foreign service I took the liberty of sending the measure to the I'res.dent for his suggestions and determination with regard to his own attitude as to the bill. The President examined the proposed bill and, I believe, com- municated with the chairman of the committee in both Houses to the effect that the purposes of the bill had his approval. I desire to discuss it, of course, in its general aspect, and then.it will be quite appropriate and in the natural course ['or the committee to take up particular details which may or may not require, in its judgment, amendments to meet those purposes which I am sure all of us cherish. The desire is to have an im- proved foreign service. The provisions of the bill are in the interest of a broader basis for the selection of foreign service officers, for greater flexibility in appointment, transfer, and general supervision of the service, and, of course, in those and in other respects to promote the efficiency of the service. You will observe that in section 2 of the bill it is provide,! "That the officers in the foreign service shall hereafter be graded and classified as follows, with the salaries of each class herein affixed thereto, ambassadors and ministers as now or hereinafter provided foreign service officer, class one, $9,000, foreign service officer, class two, $8.000." and so on down to class 9. $3,000. The effect of that provision, if enacted into law, would be to take, for the purpose of this gradation, the salary classification of our present consular and diplomatic officers below the rank of minister and put them into one class, called " foreign service officers." You will observe that this provision does not affect ambassadors or ministers HOW or hereafter api>ointed. It only affects the grades of the Consular or Diplomatic Service below the rank of minister. FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 5> In order that you may understand the practical bearing of the salary classifi- cation at once, before I proceed to discuss the merits of the change I might call your attention to the fact that at present we have in the Diplomatic Service below the grade of ministers four classes ; that is, diplomatic secretaries, with salaries ranging from $2,500 to $4,000. In the Consular Service we have a num- ber of classes. We have consuls general and consuls and vice consuls of career in a number of classes. The effect of this provision would be to put all these officials under a classification by the President into these grades of foreign service officers. Mr. COOPER. May I ask a question? It will not interrupt at all, seriously. The consuls to-day have no diplomatic functions, and to combine both diplo- matic and consular service under one title, how would you distinguish consuls from members of the regular diplomatic forces if they are all called foreign service officers of class IV Secretary HUGHES. You have anticipated me, Mr. Cooper, in what I was about to say in support of this provision. The object of this provision is two- fold to have an appropriate basis of selection by an improvement in the oppor- tunities and emoluments of the service ; and, second, to have a greater flexibility in the appointments and arrangements of the service. In the first place, let me call your attention to what the bill does not do. The bill does not make a diplomatic officer out of one who is not a diplomatic officer. A diplomatic officer in the view of international law has certain im- munities and we can not change those by statute. In other words, you can not, by making a man who is not, from the standpoint of diplomatic usage, a diplomatic officer, you can not make him a diplomatic officer so as to give him or entitle him to recognition and immunities which go with the diploma tc appointment. Secondly, the President, under the Constitution, in accordance with his authority, will, of course, appoint counselors and secretaries and diplomatic persons who would have diplomatic standing and who would have the function; associated with their work. {Similarly he would appoint consuls who would have the work which consuls have had to do. This classification into foreign service officers simply has the effect of a gradation for the purpose of establish- ing the salary relation of groups of men. Now, I have said that there were two reasons for that, and in view of your question, Mr. Cooper, I will discuss the reason I put second in the first place ; that is greater flexibility, you know ; the particular duties of consular officers. Since 1906 consular officers have been selected in the Department of State, under rules prescribed by the President, upon a merit basis. Politics have been taken out of the Consular Service years ago, so that men have been selected upon an examination devised in the department, under those intimately familiar with the necessities of the work, to discover the applicant's special attention for that work. Similarly, since 1909, we have had diplomatic secretaries below the rank of ministers selected upon a merit basis under rules prescribed by the President for the determination of their fitness for that work. In 1915 the practice received legislative support by the provision that secretaries and con- suls of various sorts should be commissioned to a class, and the selection should be in accordance with the rules prescribed by the President. Now, while there is a very clear distinction between the Consular Service and the Diplomatic Service, "each conceived simply as such, you have in both cases a great deal of actual work which does not differ in the one case from that of the other. For example, you have consuls in many places where there are no ministers, and they keep in touch with affairs and they will advise the department as to the course of events. In some places they are called upon, if American citizens get into trouble, immediately for what a minister might be called upon if they were at a place where a minister was available. Again, at this time, with economic questions so closely fitting in with political questions and all political questions, you might say broadly, have some economic aspect or some economic force lying back of them diplomatic officers must acquaint themselves very intimately with a great many commercial or business or economic questions. Now. selecting young men on a merit basis through examinations, one having applied for the Consular Service, another having applied for the Diplomatic Service, you get men who have had training in language, in history, in the science of politics, so far as it can be taught. They show by the'r general knowledge an aptitude for the foreign service. It is impossible, however, ac- curately to foretell just what that man's special ability should lead him to in b FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. the future. Consequently, you may discover in the Consular Service a man who ought to be available for diplomatic work. His work shows this, his knowledge and his experience show it. In other words, by a rigid distinction between the two classes you make it impossible to avail yourselves many times of a service which would be of great importance to the country, which has a different name or, in a broad sense, another aspect. You will tind that there is a diplomatic agent or a secretary who may be very useful as a diplomatic- agent in a way. but yet he has shown by his experience and by the character of his work that there are places in the Consular Service where he would be much better employed and could give a wider play to his natural and acquired ability. Now, what is the sense of having your service so arranged that you can not adjust this within reasonable limits, w'thin constitutional limits? You should have a class that you can qualify as such and then have an interchange- ableness which is of the greatest importance in elliciency. I have not. of course, any desire to blur the distinction between the Con- ular Service and the Diplomatic Service, hut we are in a very practical world. We want to have the foreign service of the United States as well equipped as any. and the way to have that is to have a service by which you can draw upon the right men who have had a large experience in one class of work or another class of work, and who are fitted for a certain post, to serve in that post. That is what I mean by flexibility. The other reason that I gave was to provide an appropriate basis of selec- tion, or a field of selection. Now. you will observe that these salaries called for in the bill run from $9,000 to $3.000. or from $3.000 to $9001). In the Consular Service we have at this time two consuls general at $12.000 one in London and one in Paris. We have our Liverpool consul receiving $8000. There is a provision in the bill which safeguards dur'ng their terms of office the present incumbents. As to reduction, therefore, there would be a reduc- tion of these highest salaries, because The highest under this bill would be $9,000 : but the reduction would not be effective as to the present appointees because of the saving provision. In regard to diplomatic secretaries, our present classification gives us from su ."(> to $4.000. The new classification would embrace both consuls and diplo- matic officers and the classification would be in charge of the President and would be based on efficiency and experience, and. of course, a considerable number of those in our Consular Service would go into the higher trrades. It does not mean that there would be a general elevation of diplomatic secre- taries to the highest grade. It does, however, mean this, that you would democ- ratize the selection of diplomatic secretaries. Now. there is nothing in which I am more interested than this. Let me assure you this has no political or partisan bearing whatever. Mr. COCKUAN. Did I understand that these two officers the consuls at Liver- pool and at Paris, the present incumbents shall finish out their terms and not he reduced to $!M!OMV Secretary Hrcins. Yes. This is not a matter that has the slightest personal tinge to it. It is simply my desire, while I happen to be spokesman for the Department of State, to use my influence to the highest degree to put this foreign service on the basis on which it should be. We have to-day more than twice as much work in the Department of State as we had before the war. It is not only double in volume but far more important with respect to the quality of the work demanded be- cause of the problems presented in every part of the world, because of the intricacies of the questions left by the war. because of the kaleidoscopic char- acter of conditions all over the world, the instability which is unfortunately presented to us in many parts of the world. You have the minimum of diplo- matic service required when you have the maximum of stability. You have the maximum service required when you have unstable conditions, new devel- opments, and a constant need for the protection of American interests. There sire some who have had the idea that because of the increase in the fac lities of" intercourse by cable, by radio, and in every way by which corn- nmnicatii n is made easy the importance of the diplomatic agent is diminished, That, from my point of view, is a very erroneous conception. The more you develop the facilities of intercourse the more you develop the very situation in which the need for an agency is increased, because you multiply the opportuni- ties for questions to arise. There is not any business house of importance in the United States who in any matter of d fliculty will send a "wire" if they can send a man. They will send their " wire ' and the man. It is, of course. FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 7 a matter familiar to everyone who has had any wide connection with affairs that the personal contact in the last analysis is the vital and determining con- tact. I might send an instruction; I might write out in detail, textually. just what is to be said, but much will depend upon the man who presents that, upon his manner and his exper.ence. and whether he is persona grata whether he is a man who has won the esteem and confidence of the foreign office with which he is called upon to deal. This great country can not afford to be represented by any service less than the best attainable. It is not an expensive service. When we consider the responsibil.ties resting upon the Department of State, the vast interests of our citizens and of the Nation itself that are at stake, I think it is the least expen- sive service in the Government. Now, what do you need to make this service more efficient. I am not talking here about ambassadors and m nisters. It will not be for a moment questioned that we ought to have the opportunity that the President should have the opportunity to call distinguished citizens, men of wide familiarity with busi- ness and politics and att'a.rs. well-read, cultivated men whose personality gives prestige to their country wherever they may be; the President should call such men to service at foreign posts, particularly at the more important posts. But a man of that sort. I do not care who he is, can not function without a staff. The more intelligent he is, the move skillful he is, the more he appreciates the necessity of that staff. Take a lawyer in a busy office crowded with clients, at the Trout rank of his profession, with men coming to him with the most im- portant concerns; does he sit there as a repository of all knowledge, depend- ent upon his individual efforts, which he must put forth between calls on the telephone, between interviews? He has a trained staff, and the more skillful and able he is the better staff he will have, not to supply what he gives no staff can do that. No one could give his intell'gence, his acumen, his analysis, his ability to deal with complicated situations, calling to his aid experiences which others know nothing of; but he Vnust have the technical aid. the re- searches necessary to the particular case, the information as to office prece- dents as to all the matters which go into the final action for which he will be responsible. I do not have to argue that to men of affairs. So that however skillful or able the ambassador or minister may be, you do not get rid of the necess ty for a staff. What should that s aff cons ; st of? Of course, it should consist of men who have natural aptitude and knowledge of languages. I think our ministers should know the languages. Certainly, there must be somebody who knows the languages of the countries where they are, and who knows their history, knows all those things which constitute the " common law " of any office or any de- partment. I mean by that the world of things that have been done the rou'ine, the hundreds of interviews, the revelations of attitudes, disclosures of motives, expositions of personalities. To accomplish these results- you must have men of career, and unless you provide for the career, what would happen to a young man who enters the service? I speak now candidly and directly to you: what do you offer to a young man who has no fortune, who has just got God-given ab'lities and a desire to serve, who is interested in interna'ional relations, who has the qualifi- cations that come through specializing in history, in languages, and in study of world politics? What would lead him to enter upon a diplomatic career now, when all that, he sees before h'm is a salary at a maximum of $4,000? He knows, however, that by having an Executive w 7 ho is keen for the serv'ce of the country he may have a remote chance to get an appointment as minister. He might get it. but in the main he can not look forward to it, and. otherwise, be has got there a limit of $4,000. I do not go at all upon the theory that men of spirit, of high ideals, are entirely influenced by money or money considerations. It would be a sad day for the country if our best young men had no o'her ambition. It is not true that they have no other ambition. Of course, you can not compete w ; th what engineering will give or what the pract'ce of law will give, or what the practice of medicine will give to the brightest minds. It would be folly to attempt a thing of that sort. But this country has always been able to draw upon its best blood to a considerable extent because of the desire for distinction, the desire for cultural opportunities, for the relations that are congenial, because of the ideal of public service that a technical opportunity of a profess'onal sort or a business sort might not sat'sfy. That is the reason why during the last generation, or two generations, when America has jumped forward, when 24470 22 2 8 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNiTED STATES. great fortunes have beeii developed, and the country lias expanded in every way. that you have had men in the schools, in the church, in various activities where pecuniary considerations were not dominant. Of course, our colleges* have had to meet the new exigency; they have had to readjust their salaries. Our universities have had to meet it. We have had, in various ways, to meet the higher expense and the increased competition under cond tions at this day. What is necessary is to give a man an assurance that he will he able, at least. to live, that he will be able to get married, that he will be able to support him- self according to reasonable and modest American standards. Is it too much to lay down the maximum for the very best at $9,000. at this time? Well, if 1 thought I should have to argue that question, I should despair of any con- sideration of the department. It can not be possible that I must argue this, that for a man who has chosen this career, who year after year sees his friends at college get rich about him; a maximum of $9,000 and a minimum of $3.000. should be considered excessive. The maximum will only be. of course, t'or the best men of long service. It runs down to $3.000. It is not a good thing for the diplomatic service to be recruited, even on a merit basis, exclusively from men of families of fortune who can afford the life on the present basis. When I say that, I want to say that I am the last man in the world to deny the fine ambition, the qualificat'ons. the creditable work of our young men of families of fortune who have not tried to -idd to their pecuniary competency but have made it available for public service. I do not know what we would do to-day if it was not that we can draw upon men who not only have had the advantages of culture and refinement, but who have private means and can afford to enter the service and are selected because of their ability and not because of any fortune they may have. With all credit to them, however, it is a great mistake, utterly undemocratic, for the Government to so arrange its affairs as to exclude others. This is not an extravagant proposal. 1 his is an effort to make a reasonable classification which will give an opportunity, first, to put men where experience shows their best fitness lies, and next to make a career attractive within limits so that those who enter the service may feel that if they are reasonable and modest that they can get along just as our boys want to get along if they are normal ; that they can have a fair livelihood and a reasonable position in the world. Mr. COCKRAX. About what proportion of these appointees would get Hie highest? Secretary HUGHES. The classification is left entirely to the President, It is all classified on the President's responsibility with reference t<> fitness and experience in the service, proved ability, etc. Mr. COCKRAN. There is not any fixed number? Secretary HUGHES. No fixed number. Mr. COCKRAX. The President can expand or contract that whenever and as ne chooses? Secretary HUGHES. Exactly according to the needs of the service. If yon will take this little volume, available to you all, the "Diplomatic and Consular Services of the United States." and look through this present classification of consuls general and consuls, vice consuls, consuls of career, etc., you will see this, if you will permit me: There are two consuls general of class 1 at $12.000 each. They can not be disturbed, but their successors would get S9.000. Mr. COCKRAX. Would that be enough for London and Paris? Secretary HUGHES. I think it is unequal as it is. I think to take a man I will not mention names, because I am very glad that Mr. Skinner, one of the best men ever in the Consular Service, sits here, and I will not go into names but take a case like Paris. Suppose you take the diplomatic end of it and we would naturally have one of our most experienced counsellors in the service in the embassy, of the highest rank next to the ambassador he gets $4,000. Across the street is a consul general getting $12,000. We have only two places at $12,000. The next highest is $8,000. This would give an elevation of the best to $9,000. We have an unequal situation now: we have the highest salaries paid to the consuls, and there would be no serious increase in the higher ranks. So far as the consuls are concerned, it would be the lower ranks that would be bellied: and in the Diplomatic Service only those would lie brought forward who have special ability and experience. Mr. COCKRAX. I am not at all alarmed about the size of the salaries. I do not think they are too large, from my point of view, but what I do think, and it is rather striking it is not clear to me is why the reduction of these two FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 9 consulates. By reason of their size I think there is twice as much business there as at any other agency, and yet they are reduced from $12,000 to $9,000. Secretary HUGHES. I am not sure about that. How about Liverpool? That is $8,000. Mr. COCKKAX. I am speaking about London; you know better than I. Secretary HUGHES. I know it is very large. Mr. COCKRAX. What strikes me. which has not been quite explained by your address so far. is why they should be reduced. Secretary HUGHES. The present incumbents are not reduced. Mr. COCKRAX. I am speaking of the office. .Secretary HUGHES. The others are reduced only in the interest of the broader classification that is deemed to be just. Now, if the committee wanted to put them all up, I do not object. Mr. COCKRAN. I mean those two offices at London and Paris, not Liverpool. The CHAIRMAN. That would be a matter for us to determine in executive session. Secretar HUGHES. Mr. Carr calls my attention to the fact that our highest salary of a minister is $10,000, and in relation to that it was deemed just that there should not be any consul higher than a minister. That is a matter of good judgment in the arrangement. I am not a stickler for particular amounts, so long as I carry this principle fairly into application. Mr. COCKRAN. All I want, Mr. Secretary, is to get your view as to whether there is any particular reason why these men should be reduced, whether they get too much now? Secretary HUGHES. It is deemed to be a fair arrangement all around. We have another provision in this bill that is important. I can not go into an analysis of it as fully as I should like to, but you will consider it very carefully with all the details before you. That is the retirement feature. We have a general retirement measure for civil-service employees. We have retirement in the Army and Navy, but. in the Diplomatic Service, all you can do when a man has served his country for a very long time is to put him out or else continue him at the expense of the country in a position which he is no longer, on account of his age and on account of his wearing out in the service of the country, perfectly fitted to hold. Mr. COCKRAN. What section is that? Secretary HUGHES. The retirement provision will be found on pages 8 and 9. You will notice that this is, in a general way, adapted to the standards of the retirement act of 1920, with certain modifications. The first modification relates to age. The age is made 65, of course, subject to the number of years in the service, instead of age 70. The reason is that in the more or less routine positions under the civil-service regulation to which the act of 1920 applies, the man may be quite as useful, if not more useful, at 70 than a man would be at 65 in the Diplomatic or Consular Service. This is subject to length of service, the number of years of service involved. The hext point is that the contribution, as shown on p.".ge 10, from salaries is .1 per cent instead of 2i per cent. Then the other main modification is as shown on page 9, in the maxima and min-iina. Class A, which is based on class A of the act of 1920, is put at the maximum of $4,800, and a minimum of $1,500. Class B has a maximum of *4,400, and a minimum of $1,375; class C has a maximum of $4,000. and a minimum of $1.250; and so on down to class F, which has a maximum of $2.800, and a minimum of $875. The various classes, I suppose you may have in mind, but, as we do not profess to carry with us all these statutory provisions, I may briefly refer to the fact that under the act of 1920. class A includes all employees who have served for a total of 30 years or more, and class B those who have served for a total of 27 years and less than 30 years. Class C in- cludes those who have served for a total of 24 years and less than 27 years. Class I) includes those who have served for a total of 21 years and less, than 24* years, and class E those who have served for a total of IS years and less than 21 years. Class F includes those who have served for a total of 15 years anil less rhan 18 years. The actual operation of the act, as I understaivd it, from the figures supplied nu- by Mr. Carr. and I need not tell you how much I value Mr. Carr's experience and services in the matter, is that there will be an initial contribution required for Ibis purpose from the Government of about $50.000. and that according to the expectation this is all that will be required until 1943. Then the amount would gradually increase until it would reach its peak about 1958. The ad- U FOREIGN SKRVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. justnients to which I have referred would cause an increase in appropriations of approximately, as figured, $578,500, divided as follows: About .$267,000 is in the Diplomatic Service, and about ,$201,500 is ii> the Consular Service and re- tirement system, initial cost of ,$.">0,000, against which there would be a saving ii> the post allowances leaving the estimate at $378,500. With regard to allowances there is a provision in the law that where there are particular conditions in places, differences in exchange, a difference in economic condit.ons, which make the grade salary not adequate, the President caiv allow sums, of course, to be appropriated by Congress, for that purpose. I thank you for your attention. I have discussed the bill in a broad way and I submit it for your consideration. The CHAIRMAN. I am in entire accord with everything you have said. In fat, I am delighted to know that the department has taken this position. Can you give us an approximate estimate of the amount this bill would increase the expenditures? Secietary Hrc;m:s. Just what I have said. The CHAIKMAX. Only .$:>78,ut we do not require passports from citizens of this country. They have to have them because they can not get into other countries without them. It is in deference to the other countries. In the aid of our immigration act. we have to have vise requirements <>n the other side. On account of the reduction to some extent of the income from passport and vise fees, it can not be said that we are really completely self-supporting. Now. while we have got quite an amount of income, we cost quite a little. Here is the situation, if you want to know what we cost under the current year. Here is the current year. Mr. BURTON. The fiscal year or the calendar year'.- Secretary lire HI s. The current fiscal year 1922-23. We have three items in which our appropriations are grouped. Our items of expense are grouped in three items, leaving out the various expenditures called for by treaties, etc. I refer to those hist items because, for example, this year we have .$."<)< Ml.OOO for Colombia and s2.~>0.000 for Panama, and also various other obligations. Those items come under what we* call "foreign intercourse." but they do not reflect expenditures of the service as such. The expenditures of the service as such are for the Diplomatic Service, the Consular Service, and the Department of State. The appropriations for the Diplomatic Service for the current year were S2.'.i!>4 ."07 : for the Consular Service as s." .").!!. 4<:o ; and for the Depart- ment of State, .$1.185,033. Let me pause to tell you that is what the department down here on the American side of the line costs you .Sl.isn (MM). That makes a total of s:t.711.<;<). which leaves us a net cost of about .$:',.( 500.000. I have here a comparison between that cost and that of Great Kritain. Ours was S:>.711. a difference of about S2.r.:x). We have. of course, a much larger amount of fees. Their net cost is Sx.:;oo.iMM) and ours is s:;.rn I.UMI. I do not think much of the fee end of it. because, as I say. that is a temporary matter. Mr. MOOHK of Virginia. Is there anyone here who can compare this plan with the plan in effect in England and France? Secretary HTCHKS. Yes. Here is Mr. Skinner, who knows everything about England, and lure is Mr. Carr, who knows everything about the Consular FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. ll Service everywhere, and here is Mr. Lay, who has just left the room because he is too modest to hear my commendation of him. Mi'. MOORE of Virginia. I suppose the Department of Commerce would very cordially approve this effort to strengthen our Consular Service. Secretary HUGHES. Yes, I think so. Let me speak a word about that. There is no difficulty between the Department of State and the Department of Com- merce. We are cooperating together. We appreciate each other's aid. In what I am about to say I know there would be no objection, and there could not be upon the merits. When you come to deal with governments you must have a unified service; this is absolutely necessary. You have got to ap- proach governments through a regular agency, and the only question is whether you will have two bridges or one. It will be fatal to divide that responsibility. Getting information, helping trade, dealing with all the activities essential to the extension of commerce, are of the utmost importance and I should be the last to minimize their importance. But when you come to dealing with govern- ments, there must be a single, undivided control. Mr. ROGERS. You alluded toward the end of your remarks to the matter of representation allowances. I suppose that is the new name for what we have known for some years as post allowances. Secretary HUGHES. I suppose that we have had under two names expenses of certain sorts, such as jiost allowances made in various appropriations. But to answer your question, representation allowances would meet the need now covered by 'post allowances, as I understand it. and is a substitute. Mr. ROGERS. The post allowance practice has been always looked at askance by the Members of the House, not so much by this committee as by the larger body, which perhaps has not looked so carefully into the matter. It occurs to me that you might advantageously indicate for their benefit a little more fully why you think it desirable that there should be the principle of representation allowances in legislative form. It might help the committee and the House. Secretary HUGHES. I shall be very glad to do that. It is impossible in any fixed schedule of salaries to reflect the economic condition of the posts. You have differences in exchange, differences in the cost of living ; you have a variety of differences in representation which have got to be met. or you do not carry out the promise of your own bill : and there must be some way of equalizing these differences. It can only be done by appropriation. Congress has always controlled the amount that shall be allowed. But the legislative bas's should not be so expressed as to preclude the making of the appropriate allowances which will enable the mission to serve. That is what you mean ; is it not? Mr. ROGERS. Yes. Mr. FISH. If compatible with the public interest, can you make a brief state- ment here to the committee in regard to American-owned embassies? Secretary HUGHES. That is not in this bill. Mr. FTSH. No, but that is something before the committee, generally speak- ing. It is a matter in which the committee is interested. Secretary HUGHES. Of course, I am vitally interested in it. But I should like to speak to a point or a bill, if there is one. The CHAIRMAN. There is no bill pending. Mr. Secretary. The act of 1910 created the commission. Secretary HUGHES. You have a commission? Mr. FISH. The Secretary is on the commission. Secretary HUGHES. I am represented there. The CHAIRMAN. You are one of the commission. Secretary HUGHES. I am represented by Mr. Bliss. Now, Mr. Fish I am most earnestly in favor of that. Of course, unless a man goes abroad, and goes several times, and knows conditions on the other side in an intimate way, he finds it very difficult to understand the demands in that respect of the Diplomatic Service. One of the most essential factors in successful in- ternational intercourse is prestige. That does not mean an extravagant, an undemocratic outlay. But it does mean a relative position of dignity worthy of the country. You might send a very distinguished American over there, so distinguished that he might live in a hall bedroom, carry his papers in a grip to the foreign office, but. if he did, every one would commiserate his country. Every man who saw such a condition would realize that, while individually he enjoyed the prestige to which his ability and attainments entitled him, his country was sacrified and humiliated because its representa- tive was treated in such an outrageous fashion. This is not for the man ; it is for the country. 12 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. Now, then, what are you to doV You ought to have a place for our am- bassadors and ministers to live. Of course. I have been talking about secre- taries and consuls. But. when you come to ministers and ambassadors, you have a very different situation in most cases unless men have considerable fortunes. It is a sad thing that there are few men who are available for the higher posts, and that they can not make good unless they have incomes far in excess of any salaries which the law would afford. You can help out by at least giving our representative a home ; giving him a place to live, putting him in the same position as others. Why should the American Government, standing out supreme before the world because of its resources, why must it go about its business in foreign capitals in a shame-faced and humilitating fashion, because of inferior equipment? Protect the Government from waste- ful outlays. I am for that strongly, but do not hurt your Government by foolish economies. STATEMENT OF MR. ROBERT P. SKINNER, CONSUL GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, LONDON, ENGLAND. The CHAIRMAN. State your full name and occupation. Mr. SKIXXKR. Robert 1*. Skinner. American consul general. London. England. Gentlemen. I did not anticipate, in coming here this morning, that I should have the privilege of following the Secretary of State, and I have not prepared any general statement on this subject, having .just arrived from London yes- terday evening. I have been much interested in this bill from its incep- tion and 1 regard it as the most important constructive measure thus far suggested in connection with the foreign service of the United States. Mr. Hughes has already mentioned to you the obstacles to securing the talent that we require for the foreign service, chief among them being the impossibility of offering more than a very unsatisfactory salaried position. It is with great difficulty that our young men maintain abroad the position which they should. and we' have seen it over and over again that men introduced into the Con- sular Service are picked off by the great commercial interests, to its serious detriment. It has become, therefore, of the utmost importance that we should make the career sufficiently attractive to enable men to continue in it. I myself foresee the time when the legal distinctions which now exist between the Diplomatic and Consular Service will largely disapi>ear. They should disappear, for they belong to other times and other conditions. From my own point of view, the time may come in London, let us say. when one roo: might very advantageously cover all activities of the Government of the United States, with the ambassador at their head and with as many compart- ments as you choose, each one dealing with its own special branch of the work. At the present t me we have a divided authority, the ambassador representing the collective interests of the country and the consul general representing more particularly its individual or private interests. We have in London at the present time half a dozen activities of the United States Government n various parts of the city, each one separated from the others by shadowy distinctions which would tend to disappear should this bill pass, so that in time we should come to an elastic and symmetr cal organization. The CHAIRMAN. Will you name for us these six activities in London? Mr. SKIXXKR. We have the Diplomatic Service, properly speaking, which is located at 4 Grosvenor Gardens. Mr. COCKRAN. Have we left that place in Victoria Street? Mr. SKINNFR. Yes. Shortly be .'ore the war began that office was closed. The consul general is at 38 Cavendish Square. The Treasury Department is at 4 Haymarket. Then we have the United States Sh pping Board at 10 Gros- venor Gardens, and the military and naval, agricultural, and commercial at- taches at 6 Grosvenor Gardens. We also have the dispatch agency at No. G. and the embassy proper at No. 4. The CHAIRMAN. They are all under separate roofs, are they? Mr. SKINNER. No; under five different roofs, not counting the ambassador's place of residence. The CHAIRMAN. I mean that we maintain four separate and distinct estab- lishments. Mr. SKINNER. Yes. Shortly before I left London Mr. Harvey was much inter- ested in the conception of having all the activities under one roof. Whether that would be practicable or not remains to be seen. The CHAIRMAN. It would certainly reduce the overhead. FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 13 Mr. SKINNKI;. It would reduce the overhead quite considerably. The entire business would be drawn together. The idea was, when I left* London, that possibly in the distant future we might secure a row of buildings in connection with the new embassy in Prince's Gate. Mr. FISH. Have we actually taken over that building. Mr. Morgan's former residence? Mr. SKIXNER. It is actually owned by the United States Government at the present time. Mr. FISH. We have moved into it? Mi-. SKIXXEU, Not yet. The alterations have not been begun. I do not know much about that. I know the building belongs now to the United States Government ; the title vests in the Government. The money has been appro- priated and the plans have been worked out. That will be the ambassadorial residence. Mr. FISH. You do not know whether we have moved in yet? Mr. SKIXXKK. No. It is unoccupied. Mi-. FISH. Can you inform the committee when they will be apt to move in? Mr. SKIXXKIS. I have no nneans of knowing. It is a matter which does not fall under my jurisdiction in any way whatever; I know nothing about it except that they have not yet moved in. Mr. FISH. That work has been going on. It is several years since Congress .accepted the gift. Mr. ROGERS. The delay in some degree arose because the appropriation for modernizing and furnishing the house did not become available until the 1st of July of this year. Mr. COOPER. How much land is there about the residence not covered by the residence? Mr. SKIXNKR. There is a small garden space, possibly six or seven times the area of this room to the rear, and then there are certain rights to a large garden which runs the whole length of the entire block of buildings, of which the new embassy is only one. Mr. COOPER. There is ample surface for additional buildings if we want to put them adjoining the embassy? Mr. BURTON. It would not be entirely available for business; it is a resi- dential section quite remote. Mr. SKIXNKR. The building laws in London are probably of such a nature that it would not be possible to cover much more ground than is now covered by the existing structure, but it would be possible to buy adjoining buildings, as many as might be necessary. The objection to that would be. from the consular point of view, that it would take our special activity too far away from the business center. The CHAIRMAN. Where is the commercial attach^ located? Mr. SKIXXF.R. No. 6 Grosvenor Gardens. The CHAIRMAX. Are the military and ntival attaches there also? Mr. SKIXNKR. Yes; they, together with the representative of the Department of Agriculture and the dispatch agency occupy one building together. The CHAIRMAN. They are all separate organizations. Mr. SKINXKR. They are separate organizations all. however, working in the most complete harmony and. to a degree, under the direction of the ambassa- dor. While organically the.e is no connection between these various institu- tions, because the requirements of the United States Government are such as they are they are all working together in harmony and under the super'or direction of the ambassador. It necessarily works out that way. You can not have a dozen heads; you have got to have one head. We receive our inspira- tion from on high, and each one accord'ng to his lights and opportunities does the best he can to carry out his part of the work. The CHAIRMAX. Proceed. Mr. SKIXXER. As Mr. Hughes so well expressed it a feAv moments ago, there is a very shadowy distinction between the diplomatic and the consular work. As I see it. the consular establ shment constitutes what I might call the court of first instance. We get the case in the first place. The man who finds him- self in difficulty first communicates w'th the consul, and the consul does the best he can with the situation, and be may settle it or may not. If he does not settle it. he appeals to the embassy, and the embassy tries its hand: ami if the required adjustment fails of realization there, then it goes to the Depart- 14 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. meut of State, so that it is extremely difficult to say where one branch of the work begins and the other terminates. Mr. COCKUAX. The commercial work is entirely distinct. Mr. SKIXNKR. Yes and no. If you refer to the granting of invoices and other formal papers, the consul's work is carried on independently of any other branch of the service. If yon refer to commercial inquiries and the like, it is fre- quently the case that the embassy and consulate general cooperate quite actively. Mr. COCKRAN. He verities every invoice? Mr. SKIXXER. Yes: but that is possibly the least onerous part of the consul's duties. In London any morning you wil'l see hundreds of messenger boys pass- ing before the window putting their papers through and coming back in the afternoon to receive the finished documents, and during the interval the various clerks make numerous book entries. It all passes along very simply and quickly. Mr. COCKRAX. Is there not a verification of the statements, or anything of that kind? Mr. SKIXXER. We have such a volume of business in London that it would be humanely impossible for our staff to go into each particular invoice, but we perform a very useful service. Perhaps our most useful service in that con nectiou is to see that the invoice is made out in a technically correct manner \Ve see that the invoice is legibly prepared, made on strong paper, that the statement of costs and all that sort of thing is prepared, so that when these documents reach New York they may come from Czechoslovakia or from some other part of the world and appear before the appraisers, who may or may not be familiar with the usages and languages in those countries, they have a document with which they are familiar and know how to use. In London we have a special arrangement with the Treasury attached who calls every day and looks through our invoice book and picks out those special invoices which appear to be of interest to us or to him, and he makes a very close inquiry and reports to the Secretary of the Treasury, or, rather, to the Board of Appraisers of the Port of New York. Mr. COCKRAN. That is a very important feature of .your work. Mr. SKIXXER. That is a very important feature of the work going on all the time. Mr. COCKRAN. You may have observed an inquiry I addressed to Mr. Hughes. About what is the volume of business that goes through your office in a year? Mr. SKINNER. Expressed in fees? Mr. COCKRAN. Not particularly in fees, but the volume of merchandise. Mr. MOORES. The value of the invoices. Mr. COCKKAX. The value of these invoices? Mr. SKINNER. Sometimes as much as 10.000,000 pounds a month. In Novem- ber. 1922. it was 2.572.042 pounds. Mr. COCKRAN. $50,000.000 a month. That is $600,000,000 a year. Mr. SKINNER. It varies greatly. For 11 months of 1922 it was approximately 31,000,000 pounds. Mr. COCKRAN. That requires an enormous staff. Mr. SKINNER. We have a staff in London of approximately ">."> persons. Mr. COCKRAN. Any negligence or incapacity on the part of those officers. subordinates, would result in very heavy loss to the Government, would it not expose our Government to quite heavy loss? Mr. SKIXNER. Of course, inaccurate work on the part of our representatives might undoubtedly result in heavy losses to the Unite. 1 States Government. Mr. COCKRAX. So the consul at 'the head of that office passing on >WO mn.nito of merchandise in a year is really responsible for the accuracy or correcfnrs> witli which that work is conducted. Mr. SKIXNER. It is his duty to see that the invoices are properly prepared and that they honestly reflect the value of the merchandise. Mr. COCKKAX. Your compensation is the same so long as yon remain in the office, under this bill? Mr. SKIXXER. Yes. Mr. COCKRAN. Do you think it would be possible to get a man equal to such a task for as much as $9,000 a year? Mr. SKINNER. I know that I have many colleagues in the service who would be abundantly competent to carry on the affairs of the office. Mr. COCKRAX. So you think $9.000 would secure them? FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 15 Mr. SKINNER. They would be abundantly fitted by their qualifications to" do the work, but I doubt whether if they were required to carry on the office for any length of time that they would be content to remain in the position. Mr. COCKRAN. The market value of the service is above $9,000? Mr. SKINNER. Modesty compels me to decline to answer that question. It is a practical fact, however, going back to the question of the representation allowances, that within the last year my own compensation has been reduced by 20 per cent by the effect of exchange. Mr. COCKKAN. That, of course, is a very serious matter. Mr. SKINNER. It is absolutely indispensable, if we are going to equalize con- ditions in our foreign service, that there should be some method of relieving that position. It is a very serious matter to a man with a family and wholly dependent upon his official income, and a very small income in the first place, when the rate of exchange is $3.27 in the beginning of the year and then goes to $4.65, or something of that sort, within 12 months. You must do something to remedy that situation. Mr. MOORE of Virginia. Can you tell us now regarding the question that I asked the Secretary, how this bill compares with the plan that is in effect in England, selecting and compensating officers of rank similar to these officers that are enumerated in the bill? Mr. SKINNER. The British foreign service is a very complicated mechanism, indeed. In the first place, they have not one consular service but three consular services. They have what is called the Far Eastern service, limited to officers who have served in China and Siam, and Japan, and who are educated in a special way, compensated in a special way, and who are promoted and live and die in that particular branch of the service. Then they have a near eastern consular service that is an outgrowth of the old East India Company, the staff of which was taken over by the British Government and reorganized as a near eastern consular service. These men work in Turkey, Egypt, and the near east generally. They are educated in a different way and promoted in their own lines. Then they have what is called the general consular service, which is a totally different organization, whose members serve in the United States and in South America and in various parts of Europe. That service, to a very large extent, is composed of noncareer men. We have right in the United States a number of them at American ports, noncareer men; men who are paid considerable sums of money for office expenses and things of that sort. On top of that they have what is called the commercial secretarial staff. They are men who do some things which our consul generals now do. while at the same time they are commercial attaches with diplomatic rank. They are attached to embassies and legations and they carry on commercial work of one sort and another ; and then they have also the diplomatic service, properly speaking, composed of secretaries, ambassadors, and ministers. Mr. MOORE. They have then a very elaborate and stable service. Mr. SKINNER. Their service has undergone many modifications within tht v past few years. The staff of commercial secretaries is the product of the last five years! Undoubtedly they have a very stable service, one of the most stable services in the world. They have increased their salaries very considerably the last five years, and. of course, they retire upon pensions which are fixed by acts of Parliament. Mr. MOORE. Give a general idea of the salary basis, going into it in detail. Mr. SKINNKII. My recollection is that the consul general in New York receives about $26,000. Mr. MOORE. So far as you know, Mr. Skinner, are the salary schedules in Wliitaker's Almanac correct? Mr. SKINNER. Yes. sir; they are correct. I think they are entirely correct. Of course, the British consuls receive basic salaries. In addition to that, all the important ones receive allowances to cover the cost of rent and representa- tion. Even the vice consuls, etc.. rece've allowances for quarters. Mr. COCKRAN. Do they not have the right to retire after 20 years of service? Mr. SKINNKR. Yes. sir; after 10 or 15 years' service they have the right to retire. They receive retiring allowances based on the number of years of active service. Mr. COCKRAN. Do they not get full pay after 20 years' service? Mr. SKINNER. No; three fourths pay. 16 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. Mr. ROGERS. I should like to inquire either of you or Mr. Carr whether there have been prepared tables showing the salary scale of the foreign service of Great Britain and other countries, giving both the diplomatic and consular sides. I should like to have that in the record. Mr. MOORE. Will you give us the general method of select 'on that obtains in England of those officers? Mr. SKINNER. The selection of officers, in the first place, does not differ very materially from our own method. Men are designated to take the examination, and thereupon they pass the prescribed tests and are admitted to the service. The CHAIRMAN-. Before you leave that matter of retirement, if you know, how many nations provide for retirement of men in their foreign service? Mr. SKINNER. I really do not know of any important commercial country that has not a retirement system. To my certain knowledge Belgium. France. Germany. Austria. Italy. Portugal all the European powers. I Think ours is the only country that has not a retiring feature. The CHAIRMAN. Will you repeat that, please? Mr. SKINNER. I do not know of any country in the world other than our own. except possibly some South American Republics, that do not have a re- tirement provision. In some cases they are straight pensions, as is true of Great Britain. There is no contribution in Great Britain. Mr. COCKRAN. I understand there is no contribution there. Mr. SKINNER. No contribution. Mr. COCKRAN. I always understood they retire on full pay. You say it is three-fourths pay. Mr. SKINNER. I think that is not the case, not full pay; they do retire on very nearly full pay, three-fourths. I look upon that clause in this bill which gives to the Secretary of State power to lodge men where they will be of the greatest service as of the utmost importance. Of course, we have the foreign service as it now exists, composed of men who were selected as I was selected and others were selected, a good many years ago in a more or less haphazard fashion, but in more recent times, since Mr. Carr has been so successful in his work, we have had an increas- ingly scientific method of selection, and appointment to the service is handled in a somewhat different fashion. The great benefits that are going to result from the enactment of this bill. if it is enacted, will not be realized at once, but 15 to 20 years from now. when all the grades of the service are filled by these new men who are going to be recruited in a different fashion and enter the service with a different spirit, and who will have something to look forward to at the very top of their career. Under this bill, should it become a law, the young man who passes examinations and will be sent by Mr. Carr, or some other directing force in the department, let us say, to some vice consulate in some remote part of the world, where he will serve for a time and learn all that is to be learned in that office. Can he learn in a better school than in a consulate where he meets all our problems as they arise, face to face w'th the public? Then he can be advanced to some' small consulate, then sent as secretary to some small legation, before he goes on somewhere else as secretary, perhaps, to an important embassy, or then turned hack again as :i consul general, in the Consular Service. Thus our men will receive a great variety of experiences, so that ultimately we shall get a finished product with which to till the highest positions in the embassies and legations, with reasonable assurance that you will have the right kind of material. There is no sort of system in the world or any power on earth that can devise a system that is going to guarantee that after 20 yars' service an 1 experience a man is going to give the very best possible results. All that you can do is to provide a means by which you can take material when it : s young and plastic and submit it to certain educational tests, and then throw it into the work in the hope that it will turn out well. We are finding by experience that we are getting that kind of men. and you would be delighted, I am sure. could you step into the London office and see the young men we have there from iivny States of the Union. We have a staff of 55. and I do not think there is more than one from any one State. They represent every type of our citizenship, and it would be illum'nating if you could hear their conversations in the evening, after the day's work is done, talking over the various problems arising in their work. We have language classes in our office at the present time, young men who study German, other young men who study French. The heads of every department meet, perhaps, every week and give little talks to FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 17 .ill the young men on the practical work of their own departments. They are .-ill waiting and hoping that this hill will pass. Mr. MOORE. Would yon say that to stabilize or invigorate our foreign service in the way proposed by this bill would result in widening out our foreign commerce? Do you think that the proposition in this hill has any bearing at all upon our commercial activities? Mr. SKINNER. I do not think there is the slightest doubt about it. I do not think that your foreign representatives can sell goods, but they can ascertain the conditions upon which goods can he sold, as they are on the firing line. They see conditions, and if they have minds that are in the habit of measuring up these conditions, they report back tbe facts in this country. They can be of the greatest utility. That is what we are doing every day. What we are trying to do in our daily work is to get the plain citizen out in St. Louis or somewhere else, who manufactures goods, to write to us directly. That is the sort of commercial work that really counts. The general reports which we prepare and ought to prepare, no doubt, are of very considerable utility. They are interesting. People read them. But the real work that counts and helps foreign trade is the work that nobody hears very much about. The man out in Kansas City writes to London or Liverpool or somewhere else about his business and wants to know what is the credit of so and so and why things are not as they ought to be. and if he receives an intelligent answer to his specific inquiry lie is greatly assisted. Mr. COCKRAN. Can you answer such inquiries as that if a man in Kansas Ci;y or St. Louis should write and ask about the credit of an individual? Would you feel free to answer that question? Mr. SKINNKR. We are not permitted under our regulations to give of our own knowledge information as to the credit of any foreign or other firm, but we are permitted to quote ratings that we get from London agencies, or wherever we can find them, and we try to get that information. You might say the man in Minneapolis, or St. Louis, or Kansas City should know that sucii agencies as Dun's and Bradstreet's exist, and why does he not go to them or to his hanker? However, he wants that information or he would not write for it. So we do not stop to give him a lesson on how to carry on his business, but go out into the market and find the information and give it to him. Mr. COCKRAN. Is there any machinery in the State Department by which that kind of service is made known to the people who could utilize it? Mr. SKINNER. I think Mr. Carr is conveying those impressions to the com- mercial community all the time. Mr. COCKRAN. There is an agency in the State Department for that purpose? Mr. SKINNER. It is part of the standing regulations of the State Department to do that kind of work. Mr. COCKRAN. To make it known to people throughout the country, to make it known to manufacturers and mechants that they can avail themselves of this agency? I never heard of it before. That is a very startl'.ng and gratifying piece of information. Mr. SKINNER. Many of the great commercial concerns are availing them- selves of this information. And certainly every utility of the State Depart- ment, as long as I have been connected with it. has encouraged direct con- tact-; with the business man who wants information which the consuls in the field are in position to get. Mr. COCKUAN. How does it encourage that? How does it actually encourage the merchant and manufacturer to apply directly to the consul abroad? Mr. SKINNKR. It is difficult to say. It is in the nature of things that a busi ness man who des'res some special help at, let us say Frankfort, should write to our consul at Frankfort. Mr. COOPER. I remember your reports, and I have had manufacturers in my own city write to me to get those reports; I have sent them home to them, and me of them told me that it helped his business. He was engaged in making agricultural implements. Mr. SKINNER. I am very glad to hear it. That is the value of the general report. The general report is issued in the publicat'ons of the Department of Commerce, and they get from there into the technical publications; sometimes the whole report is not published, but there is a reference to it, and then some- body in New Orleans sees it and discovers that the mater'al is interesting along a certain line, and writes to the consul and says. " I am interested in this par- ticular detaiLj|L.vour territory. What can you get for me?" 18 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. Mr. MOORE. That is shown in the publications issued by the Department of Commerce, which indicates how closely in contact the commercial interests of this country are with these particular officers we are talking about. Mr. SKINNER. Undoubtedly. Mr. COCKIIAN. There is no doubt about the value of the reports and about their circulat.on. You just now made the remark that in addition to furnish- ing all these reports you looked up the credit of individuals. Mr. SKINNEK. We do that when that information is asked. Mr. COCKRAN. That is a very important thing. Mr. SKINNER. We are not trying to substitute ours for the regular agencies of trade, but we certainly do feel that if a man in the central part of the country, un amiliar with foreign trade, wants to find out what John Smith is worth up to date, we should let him know or tell him where he can get that information. Mr. COCKKAN. There has been a considerable expansion of business here in Washington and elsewhere, and as a result men doing business make applica- tions for credit here. That would be such an occasion where a merchant in this country would call upon a consul for information in a fore Urn country. Mr. SKINNER. Yes. Mr. COCKRAN. That consul would give it to him? Mr. SKINNER. Yes. Mr. BURTON. You were about to state how that information was obtained. Mr. SKINNER. Credit information? Mr. BURTON. Ye*. Mr. SKINNER. In my own practice I do not hesitate to go t<> a reputable commercial agency and buy that information Ijke anybody else. There are n. appropriations for this. If I find I am led into an expense, generally of a trivial amount. I advance it and tell the man out in St. Louis it costs so much to get this information, and I have not known one to fail to reimburse the oflire for the expenditure. As I said in the very beginning, this bill opens the door of opportunity to these young men: and you can only get the right young men by giving them the thought that in the course of time, and if they are successful, they may get into the highest ranks of the service. The CHAIRMAN. To sum it up, it gives (lie department an opportunity to decide the value of a man on the theory that you can not tell what a man can do until he is put under responsibility, and then you can put him in the place for which he is best fitted. Mr. SKINNER. This bill gives an opportunity to the department to send men to those particular places where they are needed and which they, as individuals, are best fitted to fill. The CHAIRMAN. You simply want to follow the policy which all well-organ- ized business firms now follow? Mr. SKINNER. Precisely. There is not any one of our great trade organiza- tions, like the Standard O.'l Co., which has not that sort of method, and they have in effect a consular service of their own. Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Moore, who has been obliged to leave, has some questions. and I have two or three. I understand the chairman thinks it Ms wise to ad- journ now. Mr. Skinner, can you be here to-morrow. Mr. SKINNER. I shall be entirely at your disposition. Mr. ROGERS. A large number of gentlemen have indica'ed an interest in this measure. Among them are Mr. John W. Davis, former ambassador to (Jreat Britain; Mr. Frank Polk, former Undersecretary of State: and Mr. Henry White, former ambassador to France and member of the Peace Conference at Versailles. They are men of very high repute and standing in Mrs country, and have indicated a desire to come before the committee. I do not know what is the pleasure of the chairman or of the committee, but I simply want to make this reference at this time, so that it can be made to harmonize with the plans of fu'.ure hearings. The CHAIRMAN. As I told you, you are the introducer of rhe bill, and the matter of the testimony is entirely in your control. Mr. ROGERS. If agreeable to the committee, my impression is that we had bet er hear our technical experts first, Mr. Skinner, Mr. Carr. and Mr. Lay. and then we can bring in for more general discussion a little later the sort of men that I have mentioned. The CHAIRMAN. Personally, I would like very much to hear them. (Thereupon the committee adjourned to meet again at 10 o'clock a. in., Wednesday, December 13, 1922.) FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 19 COMMITTEE ox FOREIGN AFFAIRS. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, Tuesday, December 12, 1922. The committee this day met. Hon. Stephen G. Porter (chairman) pre- siding. STATEMENT OF MR. WILBUR J. CARR, DIRECTOR OF THE CON- SULAR SERVICE, STATE DEPARTMENT. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will please come to order. Mr. Carr. will you give your full name and official position to the stenographer, and proceed. Mr. CARR. Wilbur J. Carr, Director of the Consular Service, Department of State. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I think I should say at the beginning of my remarks about this bill. H. R. 12543, that the bill contains very little that is new in principle. You have done in Congress, in one form or another, prac- tically everything that is in the bill. You have in the past adopted the principle of classifying the diplomatic service below the grade of minister; you have adopted the principle of classifying the entire consular service, and you have adopted the principle of post allowances. You have bonded consular ollicers, although you have not bonded diplomatic officers. You have established a retirement system for the classitied civil-service employees of the Government. In other words, you have from time to time, first by one act and then by another, done practically everything for other governmental -activities which this bill proposes to do for the diplomatic and consular services. The novel feature of this bill is the combination which it contains of those things which have been adopted by Congress in the past in one form and another and its application of them to the foreign service. The h'rst point to which I would like to direct your attention is that part of the bill which adopts a new and un'form salary scale. You have already classified consuls with a minimum salary of 2,000 in class 9 up to a max muni salary of $12,000 for two consuls general in class 1. You have also classified the diplomatic secretaries, beginning with the minimum salary of $2.500 and going up to a max mum salary of $4.<)00. Now. when you undertake to break down the wall between the two services and bring about Intel-changeability between the two services, there must be provided some basis upon which that interchangeability can take place. Suppose you desire to take a diplomatic secretary of class 1. a counselor of embassy, and semi h m as a consul general somewhere where his peculiar qualifications would be desirable. You would have to promote him from $4,000, his diplomatic-service salary, to $5,500, $6,000, $8,000, $12,000. whatever the grade of consul general would seem to be required. That would be inequitable and immediately impair the morale in both branches of the service. On the other hand, if you should wish to take a consul general of superior commercial expedience and make him, perhaps, counselor of an embassy, following the British plan of having commercial counselors of embassies to deal with quest ons of interest to the trade of the country, you would have to reduce him to $4.000. That would not work. An embassy should be able to avail itself of the commercial expedience of a consul general without the necessity of reducing his salary in order to give him a position in the embassy. The only way that, apparently, it is feasible to provide for an interchangeable service, to unify the foreign service, promote the highest morale in both services, provide for the orderly transfer of men from one branch to the other is to provide a uniform salary scale that shall apply to both the diplomatic and consular branches of the service equally. The salary scale in this bill has been devised for that piirpose. It affords a scale of compensation that is certainly not excessive; $3.000 to $9,000 for all officers below the grade of minister is certainly a modest compensation. I think I can re-enforce that statement a bit by calling your attention to what is done in the foreign service of at least one other government. The British Diplomatic and Consular Service in the last few years since the war has been very thor- ouglsly reorganized, as Mr. Skinner yesterday explained, and the compensat : on very generally increased. A consul general in -the British service would have from $5.SUX) to $7.200 salary, as compared with our $5.500 to $8,000. I would raiher leave out of consideration the two $12000 places in the American service, because they are exceptions to the general ru!e, and it is hardly fair to make these two exceptional posts the basis of comparison. But in addition to the 20 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. British .salaries of .$5,800 to $7,200, us compared with our .S.")..">00 to $8,000, there is in addition a representation allowance of from $1.400 to $1.900 and also a rent allowance of $1,200. Mr. MOOKK. What do you mean by representation allowances? Mr. CARR. I mean by representation allowances those allowances which ma.\ be applied to the excessive cost of living, to entertainment, to various personal outlays that are involved in properly representing one's government in a foreign country place. For instance, the British Government gives its consul general in New York. I think. S7.2OO salary, but its representation allowance is so much that it brings the total amount of his compensation up to $24.000. Mr. BROWNE. l>o they have to give an account of that fund? Mr. CARR. They do, I think, up to a certain point have to give an account of the outlay for representation, although just exactly how they manage That. T am not sure. The representation al!owance is apt to be a rather complex thing as applied to the foreign service of Great Britain. They have a method of splitting up those allowances administratively to cover different things. For instance, in the British service, in the diplomatic service there is an allowance for china, glass, and plate given to any minister appointed. There is an allow- ance for a new consul or a new secretary, for uniform, of $500, approximately. There are allowances for motor cars for each head of a mission, and so on. I might go on here with a long list of things that they provide for. which we do not. We provide for nothing but the office expenses and salary and pay travel- ing expenses, just as Great Britain pays the traveling expenses of its foreign service officers. It is hardly necessary to say that the State Department does not seek authority to supply uniforms and motor cars to ambassadors and ministers. Going back again to the compensation of our consular men, at Bucharest, in Rumania, the compensation happens to be nearly the same. We pay $.">.< >o ; Great Britain pays $5.840. AfGotenborg, Sweden, we pay $4.000; the British pay $9,000. At Stockholm, we pay $8.000; they pay $6.400. In Poland, we pay $6.000; they pay $6.400. In Latin America, at Bahia, in Brazil, we pay $4.000: they pay $8,300. At Para, we pay $5.000; they pay $9.000. At Rio de Janeiro, we pay $8.000; they pay $12.000. At Buenos Aires, we pay $8.000; they pay $11.900. Mr. BROWNE. Do they exceed ns generally in South America? Mr. CARR. Yes. Mr. BROWNE. Are those cases you have given typical? Mr. CARR. Those cases are typical, and that is not true of South America alone; it is true also of other places. I am j\ist outlining the places where the difference is very great. Mr. ROGERS. May I ask whether in all the British places you are giving the figure represents salary plus representation? Mr. CARR. Plus representation allowances? Mr. ROGERS. And other allowances as well? Mr. CARR. And other allowances as well, exclusive of office allowances. We do not include that as part of the compensation. Mr. TEMPLE. The total compensation of one country as compared with the total compensation of the other. Mr. CARR. Quite so. In Italy, at Genoa, the British pay $9.200; we pay $5.500. At Milan they pay $9.200; we pay $5.500. At Naples they pay *<._>< MI : we pay $5,000. At Palermo they pay $6.400 ; we pay $4,000. Those are typical salaries plus representation allowances plus personal and rental allowances. Comparative statement. British and United States foreign service. Great Britain. %8 D *~ Diplomatic Service S3 983 414 $2 994 597 $988,817 6 591 431 5 531 400 1 060 031 Foreign office 1 669 442 1 185 033 484 40& Total.... .. 12.244.287 9.711.030 2.533.2.57 8,332,461 | 3,606,730 j 5,887,985 Percentage by which net cost of British service exceeds net cost of United States service, 60. FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 21 Comparative statement shotcing salaries of ambassadors and ministers at im- portant posts. Great ! Britain. United States. Great Britain. United States. Albania i $8, 515 $10, 000 Italy 1 $38 932 $17 500 43 978 17 500 129 199 i 17 500 Austria . '21.899 10,000 Mexico 14, 599 i 17,500 Belgium Bolivia . 26,765 : 14 599 17,500 10 000 Netherlands Norway 124,332 21 899 12,000 10 000 Brazil 45 014 17 500 15 572 i 10 000 Bulgaria 17, 032 10,000 Persia 24,332 10,000 Chile China . 23,359 : i 24 332 117', 500 i 12 000 Peru 18,102 27 252 17,500 12 000 14 399 10 000 19 466 10 000 Cuba - 19,012 1 12,000 Roumania 19,466 10,000 : 19 466 10 000 Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes . 18,979 10,000 21 99 10 000 Siam 14 599 i 10 000 i 58 398 7 500 Spain i 29 199 17 500 Esthonia, Latvia, and Lithu- Sweeden 21,899 10,000 i 18 006 10 000 Switzerland 1 18, 248 10,000 Finland 18 735 10 000 Turkey - i 42 581 i 17,500 i ! 80, 297 17,500 United States 197 330 Germany Great Britain . 138,932 17,500 17,500 Uruguay Venezuela 20,439 14,599 10,000 10,000 Greece . 19,466 10,000 1 Residences, owned by Government and supplied in addition to salary. CoiniKiratire statement shoiving salaries of principal consular officers at im- portant posts. Great Britain. United States. Great Britain. United States. Argentina: Buenos Aires Rosario $11,922 7,907 6 325 $8,000 3,. 500 3 500 Netherlands: Amsterdam Rotterdam Norway: $6,325 9,246 $5,000 8,000 9 246 4 500 Christiania 6 569 5 500 Brazil: Bahia Para 8,394 9 124 4,000 5 000 Bergen Paraguay, Asuncion Peru, Callao 6,325 6,813 8 150 4,500 4,000 14,500 Rio de Janeiro 12, 166 8,000 Poland, Warsaw 6,447 6,000 Chile, Valparaiso Denmark, Copenhagen 11,679 6 569 5,500 5 500 Portugal: Lisbon 6,325 4,500 6 812 5 500 8 515 3 500 France: Bordeaux Havre . 6,447 6 569 4,500 5 500 Roumania, Bucharest Russia: Moscow 6^7 9 246 5,000 25,500 Lille 6 325 4 000 Petrograd 7 664 2 3 500 Lyon 6,569 5,000 Spain: Marseille Paris . 9,246 9 246 5,000 12 000 Barcelona Madrid 9,246 6 447 5,500 2,500 Germany: Berlin 9,002 6,000 Sweden: Goteborg 9,246 3,000 Cologne 9,002 8 759 4,500 4 000 Stockholm Switzerland: 6,447 8,000 Munich 6,325 2,' 500 Geneva 6,326 3,500 Great Britain, London Greece, Athens Italy: Genoa ""<5,"325' 9,246 12,000 5 ;ooo 5,500 Zurich Turkey: Constantinople Beyrout 9, 246 8,759 8,759 8,000 8,000 4,000 Milan.... 9 246 5 000 Smyrna 8,759 5,500 Naples. 9 246 5 000 United States, New York . 26,035 Palermo 6 447 4 000 Mexico- Mexico City 8 273 i 5 000 1 Consul temporarily in charge. 2 Office now closed. 22 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. Comparative xtatcmcnt. liritixh and I'nitcrl States diplomatic service. British. United States. British. United States. 9 13 Second and third secretaries Ministers 34 in His Majesty's diplomatic Counsellors. _ 15 10 service or foreign office: Grade I 13 Class I 27 22 Grade II... 22 Class II 26 31 Grade III 5 Class III Class IV 25 35 Officers holding local rank in the diplomatic service, minister 1 1 Total 176 171 xtatement, Britixh (Hid United States Consular Service. - British. United States. 39 48 2 7 Consuls 154 328 Vice consuls 568 41 116 88 Probationer consuls (consular assistants) ft Proconsuls 152 Total 1 018 597 British foreign service. Salary. Representation allowance. House rent allowance. Ambassador Envoy extraordinary and minister plenipoten- tiary $12, 166 9.733 (243)S5, 839-7, 299 (121)3,893-2,433 | (97) 1,459-2, 919 8,273 (243)5,839-7,299 (121)3,893-1,866 (121)2,919-3,893 1 243)5,839-7, 299 (243)5,839-7,299 (12m! 893 LS66 (97)1,459-2,919 (') $1,459-85,353 1, 216- 3, 406 729- 2,676 1,459 1,459 486- 1,216 486 1,946 1.459- 1,946 1,216 485- 729 (!) 81,459-13,406 9,733- 3,406 729- 1,946 1,216 1, 210 1, 216 486- 973 1,216 1,216 973 4S6- 973 Counselor First secretary Third secretary Commercial counsellor Commercial secretaries: Grade I Grade II Grade III Inspectors general Consuls general Consuls, -. . 1 Varies according to the requirements of the post. .Mr. TKMi'i.K. Are those figures based on par of the British money, or tire they based on the actual payments in money of the country to which the representa- tives are sent? Mr. CARK. They are based on par of British exchange, because it would be hardly feasible to calculate them in any other way, in view of the fluctuations in foreign currencies. Mr. TEMPLE. May I ask why this extra allowance is called representation allowance? Mr. CARB. Because it is the cost of representation. Mr. TEMPLE. Representing the Government? Mr. (.'ABB. Representing the Government ; exactly. In the consular service it is comparatively modest. In their diplomatic service it is relatively large. For instance, take the British Embassy in Washington. The total amount which the British ambassador receives by way of compensation and representa- tion allowance is. I think, close to $100,000 ; it is over $90,000. FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 23 Mr. TEMPLE. That would cover expenses which he would not incur as a private person but which he must incur as an official person. Mr. CARE. Quite so. He must do various things. He must do a liberal amount of entertaining, otherwise his usefulness as an ambassador is restricted. He must come in contact with our people ; he must travel about the country in order to gain a correct understanding of our people and of opinion and condi- tions. He should not have to pay that expense personally. The travel is for the benefit of the people and the Government he serves, and can be made an important factor in promoting good relations between our people and his own people. Mr. ROGERS. May I ask again, to get the comparison straight for the record, Is it a fair comparison to -make between the $90.000 to $100,000 that the British ambassador at Washington gets and the $17,500 that the American ambassador at Paris gets? Mr. CARE. In a general way it is. Washington may be a slightly more ex- pensive place to live in. Mr. ROGERS. Is it the total compensation in each case? Mr. TEMPLE. Please make it clear in comparing the British ambassador In Paris with the American ambassador in Paris, where living conditions are just the same. Mr. CARR. Answering Mr. Rogers's question first, the salary of the American ambassador in London is $17,500. The salary of the British ambassador In Washington, I think, is something like $12,000 to $15,000, or thereabouts. The British ambassador in Washington has a home completely furnished for occu- pancy as ambassador. The Am^jican ambassador in London at the present mo- ment has no home furnished, but will have very shortly, when the repairs are done on the house which Mr. Morgan gave to the Government for the residence of the ambassador. The American ambassador in London pays his own house rent, and if he gives a dinner, if he gives a Fourth of July reception, if he does anything else that costs money in representing his Government, he must pay for it out of his own pocket or out of his $17,500 salary. The British am- bassador in Washington, on the other hand, has his $12,500 salary, and in addition to that he has the difference between that and approximately $97,350 provided by his Government as a lump sum for the expenses in representing his Government and doing the things necessary to make him an efficient repre- sentative. The American ambassador in Paris gets $17,500. He has no house furnished by the Government. He has no other allowance for representation expenses of- any character whatsoever. He is given merely the allowance usually made for the office expenses. Mr. COLE. How about traveling expenses anything at all? Mr. CARR. Nothing whatsoever. Mr. COLE. $17,500 is all that he gets? Mr. CABR. All that he gets. The British ambassador in Paris has a mag- nificent residence, purchased by the British Government many years ago, which, before the World War was supposedly worth $1,500.000. He gets in addition to that $80,000 salary and representation allowances. Mr. TEMPLE. Do you happen to know how much the American ambassador in Paris pays out of his own pocket for rental? Mr. CABR. I do not happen to know that. Mr. TEMPLE. It has been at times us high as $20,000, out of a salary of $17,500. Mr. CARR. Yes. That, of course, depends on the ambassador, his private means, his tastes, etc. That brings us to another point which I might mention, and that is, the evil of that sort of thing. By not paying sufficient salary, by not having Government-owned residences, by not allowing an amount for ex- penses of representation we have had the spectacle of diplomatic appointments being given to men of great wealth who have lived magnificently and made lavish expenditures for entertainment, being followed by very eminent men with modest means, who were commented upon most unfavorably because they were not able to live in a manner comparable with that in which their prede- cessor had been living. That is not democratic ; that is not right. There ought to be such a scale of living established as would enable an ambassador to represent this country properly but not overdo it and be unduly lavish in expenditure. Mr. ROGERS. I think it may not be altogether clear in our minds what the technical distinction is between representation allowance, which is a new 2447022 3 24 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. phrase in our legislation, as far. as I know, and post allowance, which is a fairly familiar phrase to this committee, and is also embodied in legislation. Mr. CARB. I would explain that somewhat in this manner. A representation allowance is an allowance which has its origin in the practice of foreign gov- ernments. It may cover furniture and furnishings for the official residence, and the rent of the officer's residence. It may cover entertainment. .It may cover an allowance for receptions on the annual Fourth of July celebration. It may cover an allowance for expenses of official entertainment given to the officers and commanders of our fleets when they visit foreign ports. It may cover various outlays which the head of a mission or a consulate makes in properly representing his government. Moreover, it is to be accounted for in precisely the manner in which expenditures are usually accounted for, so that it is known what has been done with the money and usually the exact benefit derived from the outlay. The post allowance, on the other hand, was used by the British, by the French, by others, and by us during the war, and immedi- ately after the war to cover that increase in expenditure arising out of the fluctuations in exchange, the sudden rise in cost of living, and that sort of thing. It was a sort of war bonus such as we had here for the classified civil- service employees and was given as additional compensation and hence was a personal bonus for the officer. Mr. ROGERS. Do representation allowances take into consideration the cost of living at a particular capital, depreciation in exchange, and such matters? Mr. CARE. It depends altogether on the attitude of Congress toward that. It is perfectly possible to cover the two purposes in one authorization, or one appropriation, or keeping the two purposes sfparate, whichever happens to be the will of Congress to do. Mr. ROGERS. Representation allowance is a term that is broad enough if we desire to include all that post allowance includes and more things besides? Mr. GARB. It might include more things besides. I personally think that it is of the utmost importance in proper conduct of the Diplomatic and Consular Service that there should be such an allowance. Mr. MOORE. There, does not seem to be any representation allowance provided for by this bill. Mr. CABR. There is an authorization on page 7, section 13, line 12. There is no appropriation requested at this time, but there is in that section an authorization for appropriations for representation allowances in case Con- gress at some future time should desire to make appropriations for that pur- pose. We have now post allowances of some $200,000. It was thought that if for the time being the new scale of salaries should be adopted in the form contained in this bill Congress might well drop the post allowance for the time being, at least, to see if we can go on without it, and at some future time when conditions require it and when Congress is in a position to be more generous to the foreign service, feels it can afford to spend the money, it may be well to make some better provision for both diplomatic and consular of- ficers, or, certainly for ambassadors and ministers, by appropriating under this authorization a representation allowance to help them bear the cost of properly representing the Government. Furthermore, it is thought also that Congress might, rather than appropriate large salaries or salaries that would seem, perhaps, to us and to Congress unduly large, be willing to find in the representation allowance the medium of providing adequate expenses to defray the cost of our foreign representation. That is the general thought back of proposing representation allowances. Now, the question whether you should combine post allowances with representation allowances and consider repre- sentation allowance to cover both post and representation allowances, as I have sought to define them, or whether you should provide an authorization for post allowances separately from representation allowances, I submit to the com- mittee for its own determination. One or both should be included in any measure for the permanent improvement of the foreign service. Mr. MOORE. Is post allowance carried in the existing bill? Mr. CARR. The appropriation is carried in the existing appropriation bill, but there is no statutory authorization* for it. I would submit that there is a need for statutory authorization for representation allowances and post allow- ances. In 1918, I think it was, there was a very sudden advance in exchange in the Far East, which automatically cut in half the purchasing power of the sala- ries which we pay our men out there. We had the entire Consular Service and some of the legation staff on the point of resigning from the service, because the FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 25 purchasing power of their salaries had become too low to cover their living expenses. The Standard Oil, the British-American Tobacco Co., and other big companies in China immediately supplemented the salaries of their employees by additional allowances. We were unable to relieve our consuls and secretaries without an appropriation by Congress. There was a great deal of suffering and we underwent a great deal of anxiety through that period of almost a year before Congress was convinced that an additional allowance ought to be ap- propriated. Under the present adjustment for the handling of legislation in Congress, unless there is statutory authorization, you might have difficulty in acting quickly in a case of that kind in the future. Mr. RQ%GERS. This particular item was before the House yesterday afternoon, and although subject to a point of order, the point of order was not made, and $150,000 was authorized. I am glad to know that Director Carr, who, I assume, is the present witness, was quoted as the basis for the propriety of that action, The CHAIRMAN. These post allowances are under your supervision so far as the Consular Service is concerned? Mr. CARR. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. Who has charge of these so far as the legations and em- bassies are concerned? Mr. CARR. The Third Assistant Secretary. The CHAIRMAN. Discretionary power in the case of the Consular Service is vested in you? Mr. CARR. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. And in the case of embassies, in the Third Assistant Sec- retary? Mr. CARE. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. It is your duty and the duty of the Third Assistant Secre- tary to meet these conditions and adjust the amount in an equitable way? Mr. CARR. Yes. We seek as a basis for the expenditure of the appropriation to get reports annually from the officers abroad, following a certain definite form, bring out their informaton on the cost of living, the actual facts as to prices of articles entering into the cost of living of the average individual. Then we check them by price index numbers, such as those published by the Federal Reserve Board, or practically the entire world. We take into consideration the effect, upon results thus obtained, of depreciated currency of the foreign country, the amount of allowance that ought to be made for gain, by exchange, and accordingly the actual net purchasing value of the salaries. Then we try to allow an amount, which in the light of needs elsewhere and the amount of the available appropriation, would seem to be equitable and be just to the men. Mr. MOORES. What maximum have you already reached in making those al- lowances? Mr. CARR. At one time when we had some $600,000 or $700,000 there were cases where the salaries were cut to such an extent that we allowed almost the full amount of the salary in addition, but the post allowances never went to the high-salaried men. They practically always went to the medium and low salaried men. The CHAIRMAN. That large appropriation of $600,000 was during the war? Mr. CARR. Yes; toward the end of the war, when there was the greatest rise in the cost of living and the most marked fluctuation in exchange. Mr. Lay has just called my attention to the fact that we had telegraphic resigna- tions of consuls in Chile at that time when we were trying to get from Con- gress an appropriation to relieve the condition which arose out of the fluctua- tion in exchange. Mr. MOORES. You can not tell the propriety or necessity of post allowances everywhere. But is there not an especial need for them in positions where we have no diplomatic representation, such as South Africa. India. Australia, and Ireland, where certain social duties are forced on consular officers? Mr. CARR. I am glad you asked that question. That is true. Let us take, for example, a post like Ottawa. Mr. MOORES. And Canada, of course. Mr. CARR. Ottawa. Calcutta, Melbourne. Capetown. Singapore, Batavia. Java, and places of that kind. You might conceivably double the value of your repre- sentation if you could supplement the compensation of your representative in such a way as to enable him to advance his scale of living, to do more enter- taining, to come into more intimate contact with public men and the principal commercial people of that particular section. If you were engaged in a large business in this country and you were to send a representative or agent to 26 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. reside and do business in any one of the places mentioned, you would certainly do several things. In the first place, you would require him to take quarters in a very dignified place that was worthy of your business. You would give him adequate compensation, but you would also give him a certain amount, a certain allowance, a certain amount of money which he was to expend in representing you. Well, representing you how? By getting in touch with the people to whom he was going to sell goods, having them to lunch occasionally, perhaps to dinner occasionally, going to their houses on occasions, belonging to the clubs that would bring him into contact with those people. This is the course which every well-established business house doing business on a large scale takes as a matter of every day practice. The Gov- ernment would gain in a similar way from adopting exactly the same method under proper administrative control, avoiding lavishness or waste of public money. That, I think, practically finishes what I have to say on the subject of the ' need of better compensation for our diplomatic and consular officers. Mr. MOORE. Will you let ine ask a question that may be put in the House? With the present basis of compensation, have you been, having any difficulty in securing suitable people for this service? Mr. CARR. I think I can best answer that question in this way : At our last examination there were some 100 candidates. We passed, I think, 12, for the Consular Service. Some of the best men that we have had, a number of them, have left the service to take up better positions in private concerns. For instance, a year and a half ago a man who was a credit to the service, one of the highest grade consuls general we had, receiving a salary of $8,000, went TO New York at $25,000. A short time ago a man in charge of the commercial department of my own office in the department, a consul of the $5,000 class, took a business position paying $20,000 to $25,000 a year. He was actually driven out of the service because family reasons, compelled him to make more money. He went out of the service into a place paying between $20.000 and 25,000. I could go on and give you name after name of men who have done that sort of thing. Mr. Lay calls my attention to one of our inspectors who has only recently refused $28,000. I did not know that the commercial enter- prises who wish his services had raised their offer to $28,000; they have been trying to persuade him for four years to go with them. They began at $15,000 and have been going up ever since. Mr. MOORE. Does that condition mean less stability in our service than in the British service? Mr. CARR. Yes. The opportunities, I think, for our men to go out into higher- paid positions is greater here than, perhaps, it is over there. Our attitude in this country toward governmental positions, of course, is different from the attitude in either Great Britain or France. There the honor of representing the Government counts for much more than it does over here, and men are Avilling to keep on at salaries which the Government pays them. It is that very thing which we should seek to develop in this country in all branches of the Government service, particularly in our foi-eign service. Man for man the British or French secretary or consul will be willing to serve for less compen- sation than an American, and yet I have shown you that the British salaries are much greater than ours. I believe I am safe in saying that there are a large number of men among the best of our men in the service who are staying on. holding on in the hope that some such measure as this will be enacted that will bring some relief to them, giving them something more to look forward to. making them feel that the increased compensation and prospects will enable them to stay on in the service. 'They want to do this particular work, to serve the country' in the foreign service. They will do that as long as they can do it without too great a sacrifice. I could give you at once, I think, safely, the names of 25 men in the Consular Service alone who could step out at anywhere from twice to three or four times the amount the Government pays them. There are many in the Diplomatic Service who could do likewise. It is that kind of men we ought to keep in the service. The Government needs them now as never before. The CHAIRMAN. What is your salary? Mr. CARR. I get the very exorbitant salary of $4.500. Mr. ROGERS. What is the total salary increase attributable to the Consular Service that Secretary Hughes mentioned yesterday as likely to result from the enactment of this bill? FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 27 Mr. CARE. The total amount was .$378,000 for both services, and the retii-e- nient. Mr. TEMPLE. The total increase? Mr. CARR. The total increase. Mr. TEMPLE. The total yearly increase resulting from this proposed bill? Mr. CARR. The total yearly increase is only $328,000. The amount for the first year would be $378.000, because there is included $50,000 to start the re- tirement system. The increase for the Consular Service would be, minus the retirement fund, $261,000. Take off half the post allowances and you would have $161,000, really. Mr. ROGERS. That is divided among some 400 men? Mr. CARR. That is divided among 520 men. Mr. ROGERS. The average increase would be extremely small in the Con- sular Service? Mr. CARR. Yes. Mr. Lay says 14 per cent, in the aggregate. But you are leaving out of consideration, of course, the effect upon these men of the adop- tion of the retirement system. That is the thing that gives the men a sense of security. These men are not interested in making money, or they would not be in this service. They are interested in serving the Government and doing a class of work which they would rather do than anything else, provid- ing tliey can do it without too much sacrifice to their families. Most of them will continue at less than outside employment would offer if they can have assurance that at some time in the future they will not be thrown out on the world because they are too old and too inethVient to justify being carried on the active salary roll. If we can enable them to look forward to eventual retire- ment upon reasonable condensation we will rind that it will go a long way toward doing away with the necessity of having any marked increase of salaries. Mr. TEMIM.E. I talked this summer with some of the men in Berlin, Prague, Vienna, and Paris, and know that all of them are more interested in the retirement feature of this bill than any other part of it. Mr. CARR. Exactly. Mr. TEMPLE. That is, I mean from the personal point of view. They are all convinced, also, that it will very much increase the efficiency of the service. Mr. CARR. I do not know of any more effective way to do that than through the retirement provision. The CHAIRMAN. My experience is identical with that of Doctor Temple. Mr. CARR. That is the general sentiment in the service. Mr. ROGERS. In order to give us figures as to the added expense which will result from the enactment of a bill like this you must, I assume, have placed the consular force and the diplomatic force into classes in a more or less arbitrary way. Mr. CARR. Yes. Mr. ROGERS. In other words, in a way which might not be followed in prac- tice if the law should be enacted. I think it might be useful, if you can do this, to put in the record the tabulation which shows how you work this thins: out. Schedule of proposed recJassification. Present salaries. Proposed salaries. Increase. Diplomatic Service .... $379. 000 $646,000 $267 eoo 1,935 000 2 196 500 261 500 Total 2,314,000 2, 842, 500 o2S, 500 50 000 578 500 Post allowance abolished 200,000 Net cost .... 378 500 28 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. Diplomatic and Consular Service. Number. Salary. Total. PROPOSED DIPLOMATIC SERVICE. Class l 12 $9 000 $108 000 10 8000 80 000 Class 3 . . 23 7,000 161,000 Class 4 17 6,000 102,000 Class 6 20 4 500 90 000 Class 8 30 3 500 105 000 646,000 PRESENT DIPLOMATIC SERVICE. Class 1 22 4 000 88 000 Class 2 28 3,625 101 \ 500 Class 3 29 3,000 87,000 Class 4 41 2 500 102 500 379,000 Increase 267,000 PRESENT CONSULAR SERVICE. Consuls general : 2 12 000 4 000 Class 2. . 14 8,000 112,000 Class 3 9 6,000 54 000 Class 4 20 5 500 110 000 Class 5 1 4,500 4,500 Consuls general at large Consuls: Classl 1 5,000 8,000 304,500 35,000 8,000 Class 2. 1 6 000 6 000 Class 3 39 5 000 195 000 Class4 41 4,500 184,500 ClassS Class 6 56 88 4,000 3 500 224,000 308 000 Class? 88 3 000 264 000 ClassS 9 2,500 22,500 Class 9 1 2 000 2 000 Vice consuls de carriere: Classl 28 3 000 1,214,000 84 000 Class 2 30 2,750 82' 500 . Class 3. 60 2500 150 000 Reserve 316,500 1,870,000 65,000 Total . \ 935 000 PROPOSED CONSULAR SERVICE. Class 1 ... 1 12 000 12 000 Do.. . . ... 14 9 000 126 000 Class 2 16 8 000 120 000 Class 3 23 7 000 161* 000 Class 4 Do Class 5 1 41 51 S,000 6,000 5 000 8,000 246,000 255 000 Class 6 4 500 270'000 Class 8 90 80 4,000 3 500 360,000 280 000 Class 9 12 3 000 36 000 Unclassified 120 3,000 2 750 1 322 500 2,500 Total 2 196 500 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 29 Tentative rcclassification under H. R. 125J t 3 (diplomatic and consular combined). Number. Salary. Total. Foreign service officers: Class 1 / 26 $9,000 $234,000 Class 2.... 25 8.000 200,000 Class 3 Class! 46 f 58 7,000 6,000 322,000 348,000 Class 5 51 5,000 255,000 Class 6 Class 7 80 90 4,500 4 000 360,000 360,000 Class 8 110 3 500 385 000 Class 9 12 3,000 36,000 120 f 3,000 \ 2 750 I 322,500 1 2500 1 Grand total 2,842,500 1 Salary of present incumbent. Mr. CARK. I am very glad to do that. We have, of course, assumed that if this bill were put into operation the adjustment would throw a certain number of men into each class, that number depending upon length of service and rela- tive efficiency and present classification. We have assumed that certain men would, on account of their age, retire from the service when this bill is put ( into operation. Their salaries now being known, and their length of service' being a matter of record, it is not difficult to calculate when they reach the age of 65 and retire what amount they would draw from the retirement fund. Basing our calculations upon the men whom we think would unquestionably be retired, the salaries which they now enjoy, the length of service which they have had, we get a figure which brings the cost of the retirement for the first year within $50,000. Then calculating the contributions from the service at 5 per cent of 'the salaries to be paid, plus 4 per cent interest, and deducting the annual retirement pay from that we find that the first appropriation from! the Government after the $50,000 required for the year 1924 would be due between 1935 and 1938. The maximum appropriation would be reached in 1958 or 1960. The appropriation required would be progressive from 1935 to 1938, and reach in 1958 or 1960 the maximum, $378,000, the highest annual amount that this system will cost the Government with the number of men we have now, and based on the retirement of approximately 18 men a year. Mr. ROGERS. That $378,000 includes the element of expense in this bill and not really the retirement element? Mr. CARR. The $378.000 I have just mentioned is the maximum Government share of the retirement cost in 1958 or 1960. The $378,000 of which you are now speaking is the total immediate cost for 1924, of which only $50.000 is for retirement pay. In order to ascertain just what the last-mentioned $378,000 means, let us deduct $50,000 required for 1924 for starting the retirement system. Then we have left $328,000, made up of a small increase of 14 per cent in salaries in the Consular Service and a much greater increase in the salaries of diplomatic officers in order to bring the personnel of both services into this unified single-salary scale. We figure that we will have a certain number of men in each one of these classes of foreign-service officers under this new classification, a certain number to be assigned to the consular branch and a certain number to the diplomatic branch. We do not contemplate having any more men. but do contemplate bringing about a single-salary scale ; bring- ing about Intel-changeability between the two services ; breaking down the wall between the two services which now seems to separate them into water-tight compartments, and have men in one branch unavailable for the other branch ; produce better morale; afford opportunity for greater experience, for broader training, and give a greater incentive to men to come into the service and s( greater incentive to men to stay in the service once they are in. The CHAIRMAN. Assume this bill would become a law. Who would actually Classify these men? Mr. CARR. I could not positively tell you that, but I should say that probably the Secretary of State would appoint a board of officers, in whom he had confi- 30 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. deuce, to recommend a classification of officers on as just and as equitable a basis as possible. The CHAIRMAX. And the action of that board would be submitted to the President for approval? Mr. CABR. Yes, sir. This bill provides that before it shall take effect the Secretary of State shall report to the President the names of those men who, because of their efficient service, should be classified and recommissioned as stated in this bill, and to report the names of those other men, who because they have not measured up to the required standard of efficiency should be either reclassified in lower classes than those specified, or some other disposition be made of them. In other words, it would put into law the principle of classi- fication and of promotion for efficiency, which is not now in the law and which is required only by Executive order, and which, I assume, all of you agree is the proi>er thing to do. It would place upon the Secretary of State in his rec- ommendation to the President the responsibility for the determination of the just and proper classification of each officer and then leave the President in a position to act in whatever way he might deem proper. Do I make myself clear? Mr. COLE. What proportion of the retirement fund comes out of the employees? Mr. CARR. The proportion at the maximum in 1958 or 1960 would be 58 per cent from the Government and 42 per cent from the employees. Mr. ROGERS. How does that compare with the proportion under the Lehlbach Act? Mr. CARE. There would be $50,000 contributed by the Government for the first year. After that the contributions from the men would carry it until 1942 or 1943. Then there would become necessary a small annual contribution from the Government, which would reach the maximum I spoke of in 1958 or 1960. Mr. MOOKE. Could you not put into the record a statement showing the fore- cast in detail of the net amounts that the Government would have to pay out from year to year after the plan gets into operation, assuming that it will become operative? Mr. CABR, I am glad to be able to submit this statement. FOREIGN SERVICE RETIREMENT SYSTEM. Statement showing estimated annuities payable to forei-ffii -service officers under the proposed retirement system prior to the year 1944, -which will be paid solely from the contributions, with interest thereon, of such officers. Fiscal year, ending June 30 Annuities payable during year. Available retirement fund from contributions with interest compounded at 4 per cent. Balance after payment of annuities. Necessary appropria- tions. 1924 $61, 176. 41 $143,719.85 $82,543.44 $50,000.00 1925 71 791 67 229 405 80 157 614. 13 1926 80 866 60 307 343 20 226 476 60 1927 . . . 86,633.43 378, 873. 36 292 219.93 1928 93 260 35 446 654.93 353 394. 58 1929 97 131 26 510 257 20 413 125 94 1930 101, 759. 00 572, 762. 10 471.003.10 1931 111 163.40 632 812.27 521 648.87 1932 116 355 09 685 406 97 569 051 S8 1933 129 925 29 734 502 58 604 577 28 1934 14l'951.55 77l'26S.OO 629 316. 95 1935 149 410 66 796 9^9 63 64" 57$ 97 1936 164 715 13 815 902. 13 651 267 00 1937 179, 978. 65 819. 817. 68 639. 839. 13 1938 199 987. 14 807 932.70 607 945.56 1939 212 814.00 774 763 38 561 949 38 1940 232 009 55 726 927 36 494 827 81 1941 . 24s! 431. 01 657' 120. 92 408, 689. 91 4942 265 266 43 567 537.51 302 271. 08 1943 yos 2iio nn 456 861 92 148 652. 32 1944 346, 050. 10 297,098.00 48,951.69 FOREIGN SEE VICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 31 NOTE. At present there are 120 diplomatic secretaries and 520 consular officers of career in the service, making a total of 640 officers who would be recom- missioned as foreign-service officers under the proposed act. The average age of entry into the service of these officers, who have entered after examination since the reorganization act of April 5, 1906, is 30 years; and it is assumed that this average will change very little in the future, if at all. The estimated average annual salary at the age of retirement of those foreign- service officers who will retire during the next 20 years, assuming that the salary schedule of the proposed act becomes effective, will be about $5,300, and it is believed that this figure will not vary much in the future. Its maximum certainly will not rise above $5,500. Assuming that 97 per cent of the 640 foreign-service officers who enter the service at the average age of 30 years will complete 35 years of service before retirement and be entitled to the maximum pension of the salary class under the proposed act, the result will be that an average of 621 officers will serve 35 years each and receive the maximum pension of their respective salary class. Dividing 621 officers by 35 years gives 17.7, the average number of officers retir- ing annually, and 17.7 multiplied by 11.1 years, or the average years of ex- pectancy of life at 65 years of age, gives 196 as the number of officers who will be on the pension list when the maximum is reached in 1959, the tlate on which the officers now entering the service become pensionable. Assuming that when the service reaches its highest point of efficiency under the proposed act, the average maximum salary per officer will reach $5,500. the average annuity under the proposed act of each officer will then be 60 per cent of $5,500, or $3,300. This multiplied by 196 officers, the highest number which will ever be receiving a pension at one time, gives $646,800 as the maximum amount payable in any one year for pensions. The salary schedule in the proposed act aggregates $2,850,000 annually for foreign-service officers. A 5 per cent contribution for this will amount to $142,500 annually. Therefore when the contributions, plus interest thereon from 1923 to 1943, inclusive, are absorbed, as shown in the above table, the Government will have to appropriate annually for pensions the difference between the annual contribution of $142,500 and the total due. As already stated, this total in 1958 will reach approximately $646,800. In that year and for all following years the appropriation by the Government will have to be $646,800 less $142,500, or $504,300. If the service were at its beginning in 1923 and all officers should enter at the age of 30 years and pay their contributions of 5 per cent per annum of their salaries until retirement, the Government would, of course, pay out nothing until 1959, but would have the use of the contributions plus 4 per- cent compound interest thereon until that date, at which time the contributions plus interest would amount to 42 per cent of the total to be paid out as annui- ties. Therefore the actual proportion of the annuities payable to foreign- service officers under the proposed act by such officers and by the Government, respectively, after taking care of those officers now in the service who will make no contributions to the retirement fund or will contribute for a part only of their term of service, will be about 42 and 58 per cent. This is to some extent conjectural, because obviously one can not know what will be the exact condition in years to come. What I have said to you has been said with the idea that it is a conservative statement and well within the probable facts. Mr. TEMPLE. You speak of it as conjectural. The uncertainty arises out of such changes of personnel as might come which can not be foreseen? Mr. CABR. Certainly. Mr. MOORES. As well as length of life longevity? Mr. TEMPLE. And expansion. Mr. CARR. Yes. Mr. MOORES. The length of life after they are retired. Mr. CARR. It does not take into consideration expansion of the service. We are dealing now with a given number of men and apply this classification to these men, adding the number of men who would come into the service from year to year. The average age of new appointees Mr. Stewart figures as 30, 32 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. who would presumably stay in the service 35 years. The conjectural part of this estimate is how many would drop out on account of illness and death and resignation. Mr. MOORKS. The expansion of the service would be another factor that you can not add in your present calculations. Mr. GARB. We do not feel in position to make prediction about that. If we could get this service with the existing maximum number of men, developed up to the standard of excellence that we ought to attain, I doubt whether we should want many additional men. I can not look forward to the time when any particular increase would be necessary, unless changes in world conditions call into existence new nations, making necessary new embassies, legations, and consulates, in which case Congress would naturally provide for increased per- sonnel. Mr. MOOBES. I should venture the opinion that the lapses would be just about the same as in life insurance. Mr. ROGEBS. Mr. Skinner suggests that there is heavier mortality in any for- eign serivce. Mr. MOOBES. I did not mean just that. Mr. ROGERS. The longevity ought to be the same as in general walks of life, except ifc the Tropics, where men are exposed to the many tropical diseases not encountered elsewhere. Mr. CABB. I might say that Mr. Stewart tells me that in computations made already they have used the tables of mortality employed by well-recognized life insurance companies. Mr. MOOBES. Including the tables of lapses? Mr. NATHANIEL B. STEWART (consul general detailed to the State Depart- ment). I presume you mean separations. They have not been taken into con- sideration, because they lead to estimates consisting of small fractions. We went into it and they are about 1 per cent, perhaps less than that. Mr. ROGERS. Can you tell the committee what the relative percentage in the Lehlbach civil retirement bill is which would correspond to this 42 and 58? Mr. CAKR. I am not able to. Are you, Mr. Stewart? Mr. STEWABT. I can not say. Mr. ROGEBS. I think it would be an interesting comparison. I should suppose that the contribution which you exact from the consuls and secretaries is a greater relative contribution than that exacted from the civil-service employees? Mr. STEWABT. It probably is. Mr. CABB. Unquestionably so, because the contribution exacted from civil- service employees is based largely on the compensation below the $2,000 class, whereas the amount that we require is twice the percentage that is required by the Lehlbach bill, and is applied to salaries ranging all the way from $2,500 up to $9,000. Mr. ROGERS. I think we ought to have in the record at some stage I do not know whether you are ready to deal with it now a statement showing the practices of other nations with reference to retiring their foreign-service officers ; also a table showing what will be the retiring allowances given our foreign- service officers; and third, a table showing the retirement allowances given our Army and Navy officers of various ranks. Mr. CARR. I can very easily put in a table in my testimony, if you prefer to have it there, giving the best information that we have as to precisely what those allowances are. FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 33 Table showing retirement pay of British consular service compared toiJ/i pro- posed retirement pay of United States. Grade of officer. Salary in British service. Repre- sentation allow- ance in British service. House and rent allow- ance in British service. Total salary and emolu- ments. Proposed salary in United States service. Maxi- mum pension in British service. Proposed maxi- mum pension in United States. Consuls general Consuls Vice consuls $7,299 to $5,839 4,866 to 3,893 2, 919 to $1,459 1,216 729 to $1,216 973 973 to $9,974 to $8,514 7,055 to 6,082 4,621 to $9,000 to $7,000 6,000 to 3,000 3,000 to $4,987 to $4,257 3,527 to 3,041 2,310 to $5,400 to $4,200 3,600 to 1,800 [ ( J ) Interpreters, student interpre- ters, and consular assistants. . 1,459 486 486 2,431 2,500 {3,000 to 1,215 (i) 1,500 1 None accruing in this grade. NOTES. There is no contribution required from officers under British pension system. In the British service the pension is based upon salary and emoluments at time of retirement or on average for last three years if there nas been a change within that period. It begins upon completion of 10 years' service, and increases by an annual increment of one-eightieth until the completion of 40 years' service, or until retirement. This applies to all officers who have entered service since September 20, 1909. All officers appointed before that date receive ten-sixtieths of their retirement pay for the first 10 years' service and one- sixtieth for each year thereafter until completion of 40 years or until retirement. In the British service retirement is voluntary at 60 and compulsory at 65 unless Government wishes to continue an officer in service longer, in which case it may continue him by intervals until he is 70 years of age. At present, because of conditions resulting from the war, an additional allowance to those mentioned in the above table, which are fixed, is granted officers at a number of posts. This additional allowance is not pensionable as are those which are fixed. As an illustration, the consul general at New York, whose salary is 1,350 or $6,569.77, has a total allowance of 4,000 or $19,466, making his total compensation $26,035.77. Of the allowance only the fixed sum of 550 or $2,676.57 is included in the officer's total pensionable salary and emoluments amounting to $9,246.34. Included in the posts to which special allowances of considerable importance are now made are Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, Petrograd, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Galveston, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Portland, and San Francisco. Smaller additional allowances than those at the posts men- tioned are also granted at many others. Pay and retirement pay of United States Army and United States Navy officer's. Annual Retire- Annual Retire- pay over 30 years' ment Rank. 30 years' ment service. pay. service. Army: General $13 500 00 $10 125.00 Navy: Rear admiral Major general Brigadier general 8,000.00 6,000.00 6.000.00 4,500.00 Upper half Lower half $8,000.00 6,000.00 $6,000.00 4, 500. 00 Colonel 6,000.00 4,500.00 Captain 6,000.00 4,500.00 Lieutenant colonel 5, 750. 00 4, 312. 50 Commander 5, 750. 00 4,312.50 Major 5, 250. 00 3, 937. 50 Lieutenant commander. . 5, 250. 00 3,937.50 Captain 4,500.00 3,375.00 Lieutenant 4, 500. 00 3, 375. 00 3 600. 00 2 700.00 3,600.00 2, 700. 00 2 700 00 2 025 00 3 000.00 2 250. 00 Mr. TEMPLE. Showing a comparison with the 58 and 42 basis. Mr. COLE. It is 50-50 as a general proposition, the Government half and the employees half. Mr. GARB. That is about what it works out at. For a number of years the employees will pay practically the entire expense. Mr. COLE. At the present time you will have a lot of men in the service a long time who contribute nothing. Mr. CARE. Exactly. We would have to retire about 35 men at once. Mr. Stewart tells me the actual number is 30, who would be retired because of having readier the age of retirement, and that would make the first year of operation the most expensive year that we would have. That arises from 34 FOEEIGX SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. the fact that many years ago there were a large number of men taken into the service at a rather advanced age. The CHAIKMAN. Your retirement age is 65, under the bill? Mr. CARR. 65. The CHAIRMAN. One of the surprising things is the small cost of these re- tirements. Mr. COLE. Will there be any discretion for the foreign sen-ice to retain men beyond the age of 65, or is it compulsory? Mr. CARR. There is a provision in the Lehlbach bill, which is made applica- ble to this bill, giving discretion to the head of the department to extend for two years at a time the date of retirement. Mr. MOORES. For not to exceed 10 years. Mr. CARR. Yes. Mr. MOORES. Does the language of this bill make that provision applicable to this measure? Mr. CARR. We have sought to apply the provisions of that bill to the foreign service, changing the retiring age from 70 to 65, and also changing the percentage of contribution from 2% to 5 per cent, and, of course, the resulting rate of retirement pay. In other respects, we have sought to place the retirement of the foreign service entirely under the provisions of the Lehlbach bill, sub- ject to the modifications in respect to retiring age. rate of contribution and rate of retirement pay. Mr. ROGERS. I should like to ask, with reference to Mr. Cole's suggestion that the Government practice in retirement measures is a basis of equal con- tribution, if the analogy of the retirement contemplated in this foreign service bill is not that of the Army and Navy officer retirement, rather than of the civil-service retirement? Is it not also the fact that there is no contribution exacted of Army and Navy officers in order that they may enjoy their retire- ment privileges? Mr. MOORES. That is also true of judicial officers retired. Mr. ROGERS. In other words, I think the foreign service officer is really a national defense officer who is serving in a far country where his conditions, away from home and business and often even from his family, are very. much akin fundamentally, in the heroism that he must at times display, to those under which Army and Navy officers serve Mr. COCKKAX. Heroism which he often mis displayed. Mr. CARR. I am very glad you made that remark, because it gives me an op- portunity to express my own personal opinion upon a point in regard to which I entertain strong views. I have never been able to convince myself that there was any material difference in the right of a foreign-sen-ice officer to retire- ment pay, irrespective of contributions from him, and the right of an Army or Navy officer to retirement pay in like circumstances. Perhaps we could not trace so clear an analogy between the Army officer and the foreign-service officer, but we can trace a very clear analogy between the foreign-service officer and the Navy officer. Leaving out of the question actual war, which for- tunately occurs very seldom and we hope will occur with less frequency in the future, a Navy officer during most of his career really undergoes perhaps fewer hardships and is subjected to fewer dangers that .the foreign-service officer. That is particularly true in respect to the large class of foreign-service offi- cers, consular officers and diplomatic officers, who serve in tropical i>osts. A Navy officer cruising about the world has at all times the benefit of the best physicians and the best preventive measures that Government funds can give him, but a foreign-service officer enjoys no such advantages. He takes up his duties at some place on the west coast of Africa or in Central or South America or the West Indies or the Dutch East Indies or elsewhere in tropical and unhealthy regions and has to live there and do the best he can, depend upon native physicians, often upon native modes of living, and take his chances with life. The Navy officer will not even put his vessel into such a port without the assur- ance from the resident consul that the port is sufficiently healthy to involve no danger to the health of the officers and crew. The consuls are regularly supply- ing information in regard to the healthfulness of ports which vessels of the Navy may be called upon to visit. Yet the Navy retires its officers at three- fourths pay. and the foreign-service officer, if he reaches the age of retirement or if ability to do his work ceases, is thrown out with no provision made for him. I do not think it is fair. We ought to be at least as generous to that body of men upon whom \ve depend from year to year to keep open the chan- FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 35 nels of peaceful and friendly relations as we are to the body of men who once in a. long while are called upon to fight our battles. Mr. COCKRAN. Do you not think it possible to incorporate in the bill a pro- vision that the consular officer who lost his life or became incapacitated by reason of his service as an incident to the service should enjoy a pension? Do you not think that Congress would grant that? Mr. CARR. I do not know. You gentlemen know more about that than I do. The CHAIRMAN. It has been the policy to make contributions to the family where a man lost his life in the service, amounting to a year's salary. Mr. COCKEAN. That is very small. Mr. ROGERS. That has only recently been the practice within the last four ?r five years. Mr. COCKRAN. I do not see why a provision should not be added here. The CHAIRMAN. Referring to section 17, pages 8 and 9 of the bill, where you fix the maximum and minimum annuities, what is the purpose of having maximum and minimum annuities? Mr. CARR. The lowest period of service after which retirement is possible is 15 years. That, applied to the lowest rate of salary, gives the minimum re- tirement pay in a class. The maximum period of service, applied to the maxi- mum salary, gives the maximum retirement pay. This bill adopts the several classes contained in the Lehlbach bill. The CHAIRMAN. Who will determine the amount the employee shall receive? Mr. CARR. It will be determined by the Secretary of the Interior or the Com- missioner of Pensions on the basis of the man's length of service, age, and salary for 10 years next preceding retirement. When he gets to the retirement age the amount of his retired pay is based on the aVerage amount of compen- sation he has been receiving for the past 10 years and the length of time he had served. Mr. COCKUAN. That is a question I was about to ask, whether when a man gets $4,800 or $1,800 a year, the amount of retirement pay depends on the length of service? Mr. CABR. Yes. Mr. COCKRAN. Does the bill provide for a man getting any pension before the age of 65 years? Mr. CARR. No ; except in case of disability. Mr. COCKRAN. It does in case of disability? Mr. CARR. Yes. In case of disability he can retire after 15 years' service at an age earlier than 65, and he may then get such a proportion of the amount which he would be entitled to at the age of 65 as his average salary for the past 10 years and the length of service would entitle him to. Mr. ROGERS. I think it would clarify this point if I read a section from the so-called Lehlbach Act of 'May 22, 1920. That explains what this classification means and on what it is based. My understanding is that there is absolutely nt discretion with anybody. It is a pure mathematical matter with two factors, one the man's average salary for 10 years, and the other his length of service, to determine, first, in what class he is, and, second, where within the maximum or minimum of that class he comes in the matter of retirement allowances. Section 2 of the Lehlbach bill reads as follows : " That for the purpose of determining the ,'imouut of annuity which retired employees shall receive the following classifications and rates shall be estab- lished : " Class A shall include all empoyees to whom this act apples who shall have served the United States for a total period of 30 years or more. The annuity to a retired employee in this class shall equal 60 per centum of such employee's average annual basic salary, pay, or compensation from the United States for the 10 years next preceding the date on which he or she shall retire : Provided, That in no case shall an annuity in this class exceed $720 per annum or be less than $360 per annum." Then it gives the maximum and minimum. Mr. COCKRAN. What section. Mr. ROGERS. , Section 2. It further provides, in section 2, that class B shall apply to employees who have served the United States for from 27 to 30 years, and that such class B employees shall receive 54 per cent of their annual salary. Class C applies to all .men who have served 24 to 27 years, .and the corresponding percentage is 48. Class D applies to men who have 36 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. served 21 to 24 years, and the percentage is 42. Class E applies to men who have served the United States from 18 to 21 years, and the percentage is 36. Class F, the last class, includes employees who have served 15 to 18 years. and the percentage is 30. That summary is from the act of May 22. 1920. chapter 19.~, section 2. It applies precisely to the situation that we find in section 17 of this bill, except that the maximum and minimum rates vary. Mr. GARB. That is exactly so. May I also read part of section 6 of the same act, answering a question asked about the circumstances under which extension of a man's service might be made : " * * * Provided, That if within 60 days after the passage of this act or not less than 30 days before the arrival of an employee at the age of retirement, the head of the department, branch, or independent office of the Government in which he or she is employed certifies to the Civil Service Com- mission that by reason of his or her efficiency and willingness to remain in the civil service of the United States, the continuance of such employee therein would be advantageous to the public service, such employee may be retained for a term not exceeding two years upon approval and certification by the Civil Service Commission, and at the end of two years he or she may, by similar approval and certification, be continued for an additional term no't exceeding two years, and so on: Provided further, That at the end of 10 years after this act becomes effective no employee shall be continued in the civil service of the United States beyond the age of retirement defined in section 1 hereof for more than four years." Mr. COCKKAN. One question about* a matter that was discussal yesterday. How many consulates of the United States are there doing business to an extent approaching that of London? Mr. CABB. I should think there were some five or six or seven. Mr. COCKBAN. That do business on anything like that scale? Mr. CABB. Yes; not the same kind of business, perhaps, but substantially equal in magnitude. The CHAIBMAN. Would you benefit by this reclassification? Mr. CARB. Would I? The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Mr. CABR. Personally? The CHAIBMAN. Yes. Mr. CARB. No ; I am not in the Consular Service. The CHAIRMAN. I think your salary is a disgrace to the Government. I wonder if there is not some way we could fix it up. Mr. CARB. There is an interest and joy that comes from this work, and from endeavoring to render a service without regard to the amount of money that one may derive from it, that is in itself a rich compensation. We can not all of us think about how much we are being paid, but rather of what the task is before us and what we can put into it The CHAIRMAN. You should run for Congress. Mr. GARB. Have I said now* enough about the retirement feature for the moment? If so, I should like to go on and point out that in addition to the change which the new classification would produce break down the existing wall between the Diplomatic and Consular Services ; bring the two services together, make them into one; apply precisely the same principles of adminis- tration to both branches ; make the men feel that they are not superior because they are in the diplomatic service and have the advantage of diplomatic im- munities, and make the consular men feel that they are not inferior because they are in the Consular Service and they have not the advantage of diplomatic immunities and can not go to court or do many other things which some people think desirable, but that they may some day aspire not only to transfer to the diplomatic service in a secretarial position, but also may aspire to the grade of minister, which we hope this bill will facilitate in addition to these advantages the entrance to this service, to the corps of foreign service officers, will be made by legislation, by act of Congress, subject to examination to test the fitness of the candidate. You have seen the examinations tried out since 1906 in reference to the Consular Service, and since 1909 in reference to the diplomatic secretaries. I think everyone will admit that it has brought about a great improvement in the service. It has brought into the service a superior class of men. It has eliminated, as Secretary Hughes said yesterday, political considerations from the selection of the personnel, and it has improved the entire morale and the efficiency of both branches of the service. This proposes FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 37 that the examination shall be stipulated in the law itself as a condition of entrance into foreign service officer corps. Mr. COCKRAN. As applied by this bill? Mr. CABR. Yes. Mr. COCKRAN. The bill prescribes the scope of the examinations? Mr. CARE. No ; not the scope ; only the fact that admission shall be by exami- nation. The scope would be prescribed by the President, which is, I believe, the sound way to deal with that subject. Mr. COCKRAN. You speak of this improvement. In what way is that evi- denced by what net result to the general public? Mr. CABR. The improvement has been this : Before the system of examinations for entry into the service was in existence men were selected without exami- nation, sent to particular posts to continue to serve there until the political party then in power should change. Then, as a rule, the gentlemen were brought home and others were sent out in their places, selected in the same way, to continue at particular posts to which they were sent until again a change of administration occurred, when there was still another sweeping change. There was no service spirit, continuity of service, or accumulated experience. That has all disappeared. A man now goes into the service pre- cisely as into the Army and Navy except that he does not go to West Point or Annapolis after an examination to test his personal, mental, and physical fit- ness, with the implied agreement that he shall go wherever ordered. He may serve one year in France ; the next year duty may take him to Germany ; and after three years there duty may take him to South America, and so on. He becomes a foreign service soldier, if you please. He is not restricted to any particular country or to any particular locality. He obtains a broad grasp of international affairs, economic conditions, and develops gradually into a much superior officer than would have been possible under the old system. Mr. COCKRAN. I want to see where the superiority consists. The fact that he is sent through in this method does not establish superiority. It shows a difference in the method of appointment. Can you tell us just in what way the superiority of these officers is established, their superiority in actual service? Mr. CARR. Their actual work is better performed. Mr. COCKRAN. In what respect? Mr. CARR. By a more accurate and more intelligent performance of their work. Mr. COCKRAN. That is very important. I would like to get that somewhat in detail, because I myself have the general idea that no men should be allowed in the civil service of any kind for more than a few years. You spoil him and do not improve the service. But that is a matter to be tested by actual expe- rience. What I would like to get from you, if you have any means of furnish- ing the information, is just to what extent and in what specific ways the service shows an improvement from this method of appointment by examina- tion. Mr. CARR. It shows an improvement, in the first place, in that the officers possess better knowledge of foreign languages. There are many more men to-day who are able to speak the language of the country to which they go than there were in the old days. Then there is the question of personality. The men now average a higher personality. Mr. COCKRAN. What do you mean by that, exactly? That is just one of those phrases which always puzzled me. Mr. CARR. I mean personality as indicated by culture, education, refinement, high moral character, if you please, a combination which may roughly be called personality, and with it there is a greater professional efficiency, a greater, a more intimate knowledge of the diplomatic and consular functions, and therefore the diplomatic and consular business can be carried with more efficiency than in the old days. There are to-day fewer lapses in personal conduct than in the old days. There is no more of the old difficulty we used to have of men pursuing private business, private law practice in foreign countries, instead of giving their entire time to furthering the interests of the Government itself. There are all of these things and many others I do not think of just at the moment which make the existing service vastly better than the former one. Mr. TEMPLE. Wide experience. Mr. CARR. The same sort of condition that you have in the practice of law. A man starts in the practice of law, and if he is a student, a cultured man, applies himself industriously, he becomes a trained and able member of his 38 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. profession as the years go on. The Government to-day is getting the benefit of better professional service from both the diplomatic and consular officers by reason of their broader, more varied experience, and their constant, indus- trious application to the work involved in protecting and advancing the interests of the Government. Mr. COCKBAN. Would you exclude them from professional work of any kind? Mr. CAKB. Yes. sir. Mr. COCKBAN. What would you consider professional work on the part of a secretary or consul? Their work is practically clerical work: Mr. CABB. No. If it were clerical work I would not be before you to-day advocating this bill or these salaries. What I want to see is what, I take it, we all want to see in the foreign service Mr. COCKBAN. That is efficiency. Mr. CABB. The highest intelligence and the highest character that we can bring into our consular and diplomatic offices, because it is through high intelli- gence, through acute intellect, clear insight into the motives of men, forecasting of movements in foreign politics, and of changes in economic conditions abroad that we shall be able to protect our own interests and be of real service to the rest of the world. Mr. COCKBAN. It goes without saying that we want higher intelligence. Mr. CABB. We want to obtain for this work the highest intelligence this country possesses, and even with that there will be too many times when we shall lack proper guidance and adequate information. Mr. COCKBAN. It goes without saying that we want the highest intelligence in any occupation or employment, whatever it may be. My question was, If you had any statistics or any information which shows that this method of appoint- ment, which has now been in vogue for some 10 years Mr. CABB (interposing). Since 1906. Mr. COCKBAN. Whether it shows a higher order of service than before. Mr. CABB. Exactly. Mr. COCKBAN. If you have anything that will show that, I will be glad to have it. We will not have any discussiou of the fact that we want in any occupaiton, whatever it may be, the very highest form of intelligence and the highest efficiency. My inquiry is directed to the point of whether this change in the system of appointment has worked a change in the improvement of the service and, if so, in what particular? Mr. CABB. I do not know whether I can tell you in more definite form. Mr. COOPEB. Can you do this? The method was adopted on a certain date? Mr. CABB. Yes, sir. Mr. COOPEB. Prior to that, there was a certain amount of business done by consuls and various ministers, and done with a certain amount of intelligence. Immediately after this new method was adopted, the question was whether from that time there was a decided improvement that might be fairly attributed to it? Mr. CABB. I can not produce proof of that by laying any papers or any data before you at the present time. Mr. COOPEB. We will take your statement. Mr. CABB. I can give you my view, and I have been in the service 30 years. 25 of which have been devoted more particularly to this branch of the work. I know of my own knowledge what the change has been. I know of my own knowledge how the reports of consuls have been improved over what they were. I know of my own knowledge, for instance, how greatly the profes- sional or technical proficiency of the men has improved over that of the old days. I know how much the average of excellence has increased over that of the old days. I know how much the spirit of service has changed from that of the old days. I know a great many men, for example, who are devoting themselves day and night to the service of the Government and placing that duty above every other consideration, when in the old days there were dozens of them pursuing their private interests rather than the Government interests, who used the office of secretary or of consul merely as a convenience enabling them to draw a salary and live abroad for their own pleasure. Those are some of the improvements. Mr. COCKBAN. Those are very important. If you know those of your own knowledge, that is very important and a valuable contribution to the inquiry, just what I was trying to get. Mr. CABB. I might say, if you were to summon here representatives of chambers of commerce, representatives of large business houses who have had FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 39 contact with consuls, I think you would get unmistakable evidence of their opinions of the very great improvement that has taken place. Mr. COCKRAX. Do you think the reports are better from the consular officers and more complete under this system than before? Mr. CARR. There is not a shadow of a doubt of it. I am sending every month to the Department of Commerce approximately 2,000 reports from our con- suls in regard to trade conditions abroad which are being made use of, and most of them receive a great deal of commendation. That is just one phase of our work. During the war, without the more highly trained and experienced men we should have made a sad spectacle of carrying our foreign relations. Without the so-called professional consul and the professional diplomatic secre- taries, we should have made a sad spectacle of ourselves in the complicated business which the war cast upon us, business which a man, however able, who is lacking experience and technical knowledge can not take up and carry on with anything like the efficiency of a man who has had long training in the work. It is precisely the same sort of thing as a lawyer attempting to go into court and argue a complicated case, who has not had the requisite experience to qualify him for that task. Mr. COCKBAX. It all turns on whether special training is necessary in that case, the same as with any professional man, and you have now indicated some evidence that it is. I arn very glad to hear it. Mr. CARR. Every government which is a competitor of this Government for a share of the commerce of the world, or who has vital interests involved in the political adjustments of the world, has preceded us in the organization and professionalization of its foreign service. The other great governments have gone further even than we have. Mr. COCKRAX. They have maintained it almost ever since they had a foreign service, but we have done extraordinary things in this country and do extraor- dinary things by methods distinctively our own. and I am prejudiced against any effort to change a system which has been the envy of the world. We have had our particular experience. We are not discussing the method. We have had it in actual operation, and my question was to find "out whether you, in charge of this machinery, had any tangible evidence of benefits arising from a change in the method of appointment? Mr. CARR. I do not think there is any comparison at all between the service under the kind of organization now existing and that proposed by this bill and the service under the kind of organization in existence prior to 1906. The superiority of the so-called professional service is very great. Mr. MOORES. Do not the nations which pursue our present plan carry the trade of the world? Mr. CARR. Certainly. Mr. MOORES. And we have no commerce worthy of the name. Mr. CARR. Our organization is similar to that of France, Great Britain, Italy Mr. COCKRAX. Not the system now in existence. It is modeled on it. Mr. CARR. It is modeled on it, but more democratic. Mr. COCKRAX. How more democratic than the English system? Mr. CARR. The English system, although they have changed it recently, has had money qualifications. Mr. COOKRAX. Did they have that? Mr. CARR. Yes. Mr. COCKRAN. Do you mean for consuls? Mr. CARR. They had for diplomatic officers and I think, for the consuls, too. Mr. SKIXNER. I know they had in the far eastern service. Mr. CARR. In all the diplomatic service they had a money qualification for entry- A candidate must have a certain income. That they have tried recently to get rid of, and I believe a private income is no longer required. If that is so their service in that respect is more democratic than ours. Mr. Skinner suggests that another requirement in England is that of belonging to the right families. Mr. COCKKAX. That was recognized. That was a system that was enforced without being prescribed. Mr. CARR. Of course, we do not want that sort of system. We should insist upon having, I think, a system which would permit well educated, highly intel- ligent young men. with industry, whether they have private means or not, to enter either the diplomatic or consular branch on precisely the same basis and 2447022 4 40 FOEEIGX SERVICE OF THE UXITED STATES. advance on their merit even to the grade of ambassador if they show the requi- site qualifications for that high office. Mr. COCKBAN. Is this a competitive system? Mr. CABE. It is not a competitive system, in that anyone applying may enter the examination. The candidates are all designated for admission to the ex- amination. Mr. COCKBAN. Who designates them? Mr. CABR. The President. Mr. COCKBAN. Then it is practically a system of appointments except that there is a test of efficiency, which each one must go through. 1 Mr. C^RR. Not that. The designation seeks to weed out those manifestly unfit for this service. Mr. COCKBAN. That is the theory of every method of appointment. Mr. GARB. This system might be termed selective admission to the examina- tion. Even then but a small proportion of those who are actually admitted to the examinations succeed in becoming eligible for appointment. Last summer for the Consular Service some one hundred candidates appeared of whom only about 12 succeeded in making the eligible mark. Mr. COCKRAN. Did those 12 get places, receive appointments? Mr. GARB. I think all of them have received appointments, if I remember correctly. Their names go on the eligible list in the order of their rating and they are drawn in that order. Mr. ROGERS. There is no political test? Mr. GARB. No. Mr. ROGERS. Whatever the administration the selection is made in that way. Mr. GARB. A gentleman asked me this morning what proportion of the men in the service were Republicans and what proportion Democrats. I could not say ; I do not know. Mr. COLE. What are the ages for examination? Mr. CABB. For examination for the Consular Service the age limit is 21 to 50 ; for the diplomatic service 21 to 35. Mr. MOOBES. What, if any, of the larger universities have special courses of preparation for the Diplomatic and Consular Service? Are there any? Mr. CABR. Yes. George Washington University and Georgetown University have very elaborate courses ; also, the American university has excellent courses. New York University has a course ; Columbia gives a number of special courses leading to preparation for the foreign service ; Harvard offers excellent courses; Yale formerly did I do not know how extensive their course now is; the University of California offers an elaborate course; and I think the University of Illinois and, perhaps, Northwestern University and Michigan do some work along that line. The University of Pennsylvania has offered work for foreign-service training for years, as has also Princeton. I think there are others. I do not happen to remember them at the moment, but the principal universities of the country give courses of study fitting men for the foreign service. Mr. ROGERS. There was some discussion yesterday by Secretary Hughes as to the practical means of providing incomes for ambassadors, ministers, and secretaries. As to the Consular Service, is it possible for a man to represent his country with dignity, especially if he is married and has a child or two, on the salary scale which is now prevailing unless he has private means? Mr. COCKRAN. Do you mean the scale now prevailing or the one proposed? Mr. ROGERS. The one now prevailing. Mr. CABB. It is being done in most places. It could be done better if the men had either private means or higher salaries. Mr. ROGERS. You do not consider in appointing consuls, as perhaps you do in appointing a secretary, whether he has private means? Mr. CABB. No ; I do not. There is no money qualification whatever for ad- mission to the Consular Service or in appointing men to the Consular Service. There ought not to be for either service. Siich a qualification at once narrows the range of selection and inevitably results in the United States being repre- sented abroad by men representative of the wealthy and exclusive social circles. The Government will gain enormously by paying sufficient compensation to make intellectual and personal fitness the primary qualification for admission to the foreign service. Mr. COCKBAN. The President designates them for examination. How does he designate them, draw them out of a bag? They are recommended, are they not? FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 41 Mr. CABB. The designation in the name of the President is actually made by one of the assistant secretaries of State, upon personal examination of the application, and the papers attached to the application. Mr. COCKBAN. Suppose "AB," a young man of 20 or 21 years of age, wishes to enter the service. He knows nobody, has no particular political friends, but has a very high order of intelligence. How would he set about getting into the service? Mr. CABB. He would put in his application. The application requires that he shall present along with it, I think, five letters from people who know him, telling what sort of a person he is, what he has done, etc. The application would be examined. Suppose it should appear from the application that he has had, let us say, only public-school education; the form of expression and the handwriting show quite clearly that he is not such a man as could pass such an examination as we give. It is a hardship to that man to let him come up for examination. Therefore he is not designated. Let us take another man that \ve know nothing about, but it shows that he has got a good education, ex- presses himself well in his application, appears to be well fitted mentally. We designate him without any question regardless of whether he appears to be a Democrat, Republican, or Populist. Mr. COCKRAN. Would it hurt him any if he had a letter from the chairman of this committee? Mr. CABB. It would not hurt him. Mr. COCKBAN. Or from somebody else prominent in public affairs. It really gets back very much to the old situation, except that you have the test of examination. That is a very good thing. Mr. ROGERS. There is the fact that 88 out of 100 were rejected at the last examination. Mr. COCKRAN. That should benefit the efficiency of the service. Mr. ROGERS. The committee will meet again to-morrow morning at 10 o'clock. (Thereupon, at 12 o'clock noon, the committee adjourned to meet again at 10 o'clock a. m., Wednesday, December 12, 1922.) COMMITTEE ox I^OREIGN AFFAIRS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, Wednesday. December 13, 1922. The committee this day met, Hon. Stephen G. Porter, chairman, presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be in order. STATEMENT OF MB. WILBUR J. CABB, DIBECTOB OF THE CON- SULAR SEBVICE, DEPABTMENT OF STATE Besumed. Mr. GARB. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, yesterday I stopped with section 5 of the bill, which deals with the question of examinations for appointment as foreign-service officers. I would like now to take up section 6. Mr. ROGERS. Before you begin with section 6, your discussion yesterday was confined in the main to an analysis of the practice in consular examinations. As I understand it, the practices of the department are substantially identical in the case of examinations for secretary. Mr. CARR. Yes; it is identical with one exception, and that is that the char- acter of the examination for the Diplomatic Service is slightly different from that of the Consular, owing to differences in duties required of diplomatic officers. Mr. ROGERS. Have you any impression as to how numerous the applicants for positions have been on the secretarial side of the department? Mr. GARB. They have not been very numerous. That is to say. there is no great demand to get into the Diplomatic Service. I have not the statistics before me. I shall be glad to insert in the record the number of candidates who were admitted to the examinations and the number who were successful in the examinations. But there is quite a difference in the number who ap- plied for the Diplomatic Service and the number who applied for the Consular Service. FOREIGX SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. Diplomatic Service entrance examination statistics. Date of examination. Number desig- nated. Number actually taking. Number passed. INumbe i ap- i pointed. May 19-21, 1919 17 12 9 9 May 26-31 1919 at Paris France 181 181 24 13 Jan. 26-28,' 1920.' '. 19 11 7 7 Oct. 18-21, 1920 26 17 13 13 July 11-15, 1921 . . . 48 42 17 17 July 10-13, 1922 41 34 12 10 Aug . 16-18, 1922 5 2 1 1 Total . . 337 299 83 70 Mr. ROGERS. How do you account for that difference? Hi*. CARR. I should say in the first place the men who apply for the Consular Service have a better career ahead of them, for one thing. They enter at substantially the same rate of compensation, as a man would enter the diplo- matic service. They may go on through the various grades of the service and aspire to an $8,000, or, possibly, even a $12.000 consul generalship. On the other hand, the diplomatic officers may certainly aspire only to the $4,000 grade, a secretaryship, with the added designation of counsellor. He can not count certainly upon rising to the position of head of a mission a minister. for instance, of class 2, $10,000. So that the group of men interested in the diplomatic service is very restricted, restricted both by the compensation offered and the opportunity for advancement which is afforded. Mr. KOGEBS. You would expect that the result of legislation like this would be to broaden very much the range of selection and increase the number of those who would apply? Mr. CARR. I would expect that this legislation would accomplish this pur- pose in respect to the Consular Service, that it would retain all the advantages we, have now and give the added advantage of retirement pay, and the further advantage of the possibility of being advanced to the grade of minister in the case of consular officers who should possess outstanding qualifications for diplomatic work. Then in the diplomatic service we would retain all that we have now by way of test of fitness for admission and promotion on merit, and we would add the advantages of higher salaries, which would widen the range of selection by interesting men who can not now, because of lack of sufficient private means aspire to careers in the diplomatic service, although they may have all the other qualities that are desired in that service; that by opening the services to keener competition for admission to it and promotion in it there would be afforded greater opportunity to become head of mission ; that is, minister; there would be the certainty of retirement on modest com- pensation when the retirement age should be reached after 35 years of service. So that we should, under the proposed plan, have the advantages that we have now, plus those offered by better salaries, better opportunity for advancement, and a retirement system for both branches of the service. Mr. TEMPLE. In order that there might be a record of the fact! I want to ask you about this one provision. Section 5 provides that appointments to the for- eign service should be made after examination or by transfer from the Depart- ment of State. How are men appointed in the Department of State, in the first place; by examination, or otherwise? Mr. CARR. They are now appointed through the ordinary civil-service pro- cedure. Mr. TEMPLE. By examination? Mr. CARR. By examination up to the grade of drafting officer, I think, at $2.500. Beyond that grade they are not appointed by examination ; they are appointed subject to civil-service rules, but without examination. Now, I would suggest that this paragraph be amended so as to require a certain amount of service in the State Department. For instance, 10 years' service in the State Department would be equivalent to a certain amount of experience and could be accepted in lieu of examination. I do not care what it is made, so long as this paragraph is amended to place adequate restriction upon making State Department service of a few months, or even a year or so, the means of evading the examination. Mr. TEMPLE. Something that might make a side-door entrance? FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 43 Mr. CAER. Yes; into the Diplomatic and Consular Services. That should be prevented, because it would destroy the very object we are all seeking to attain, that of getting qualified men into service and putting every man on a plane of equality in regard to admission and advancement in the service. So in that respect I would suggest an amendment, whether you say 10 or 5 years' service, or through some other provision, I do not care what it is, so long as it accomplishes the results that I have just mentioned. On the other hand, it is now the rule to accept service in the State Department as the equivalent of the examination, and I think it is very desirable that no change in principle should be made, but that the application of the principle be safeguarded. Mr. BROWNE. Does the Civil Service Commission correct papers in these examinations for consuls, or does the State Department? Mr. CARR. The Civil Service Commission examines and reads all of the writ- ten papers in these diplomatic and consular examinations. The examining board appointed by the President for the Diplomatic and Consular Service makes the rating in the oral examination. The average of the two examina- tions must equal 80 per cent in order that the candidate should attain eligibility. So to that extent the Civil Service Commission examines papers. Mr. BROWNE. Would the Civil Service Commission really have the knowledge to correct papers and give markings such as desired? Mr. CARR. They have ample facilities for handling the written examination papers. They are doing that sort of thing all the time and they have an excel- lent machinery for that purpose. But, on the other hand, where the special knowledge which they do not possess is required is in the oral examination to determine the question of general personal fitness for the foreign service. The CHAIRMAN. All questions for the written examination are prepared by the Civil Service Commission? Mr. CARR. Prepared by the Civil Service Commission, revised by the board appointed by the President, and then printed by the Civil Service Commission, and the written examination actually conducted by the officers of the commis- sion, the chief examiner, or a member of the commissino, being also a member of the board appointed by the President to conduct examinations for entrance into the foreign service, so it gives us the use of the commission's machinery instead of requiring the setting up of independent machinery with increased expense for this purpose. It gives the board appointed by the President com- plete control of the examination for the foreign service and entire control of the personal part of the examination where the special knowledge is required. Mr. LINTHICUII. How does it affect men already in the service? Mr. CARR. The bill leaves men already in the service exactly where they are, except that where they deserve reclassification at the higher rates of compensa- tion as provided by this bill, of course they will be so classified, provided their service records for efficiency warrant it; if their service records do not war- rant classification as high as provided by this bill, the bill authorizes the President to make such other reclassification as he may see fit. That is in section 6. That section says that before the date on which this act goes into effect the Secretary of State shall recommend to the President the names of those secretaries in the Diplomatic Service, consuls general, consuls, and vice con- suls, who for reasons of demonstrated efficiency are entitled to be reconimis- sioned as foreign service officers of the respective classes specified in this act, and the names of those officers who, through failure to demonstrate or maintain the requisite degree of efficiency, should be recommissioned to classes lower than those specified or otherwise treated as exceptions within the discretion of the President. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Rogers, will you take the chair? I have a hearing before the Flood Control Committee which I must attend. Mr. LINTHICUM. In reference to these examinations, how are the appoint- ments to be made, in the same way that the Civil Service Commission recom mends the appointment of the three highest, and selections from that, or how are they made? Mr. CARR. I should say that that would depend upon the regulations issued by the President. This bill, as I see it, does not purport to lay down specific directions as to exactly the order in which appointments should be made. I can tell you what is done now, and that may be fairly taken to indicate the probable practice under this bill. After the examination, after the ratings are agreed upon, the names are put on the eligible list in the order of the ratings. That is, the names of the men with the highest ratings head the list. In draw- ing men for appointment we draw the highest man first, and so on down, 44 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. making the choice dependent entirely upon the standing of the men on the. list, the standing which they have attained in the examination. If, for example, there should be two men with the same standing, the same rating, we would take first the man from the State that had the least representation. Mr. LINTHICUM. Are you not required to give the States pro rata repre- sentation ? Mr. GARB. We are required to give the States pro rata representation as between men of equal merit. Equal merit means men who have passed the examination with the same rating. If they have, then the State that has the least representation gets the first appointment as between those two men. Mr. LINTHICUM. There is no requirement under this bill to follow the lines that you have followed in selecting men with the highest average, is there? Mr. CARR. Not in this bill, but it is directly implied by section 6, which lays down the principle there that the classification and promotions shall be for efficiency. When you lay down that principle, then you at once have to con- sider the question of relative efficiency, of which of two men is the more efficient. Then you are bound to take the men with the highest ratings. You can not logically apply the act in any other way. Mr. LINTHICUM. I do not see how you are bound, if you remember that the administration laid down a principle that first-class? postmas ers should be examined and that they were going to appoint them on merit or efficiency. The postmaster in Baltimore got the highest average in efficiency and every- thing else and yet the lowest man, though a very good man, was appointed, for political reasons. Would not that same thing apply under this bill? Mr. CARR. AH I can say as to that is that we have the accumulated practice now of something like 16 years in the consular service and 13 years in the diplomatic service. The course of our procedure under the rules laid down first by a Republican President, carried on by another Republican President. and carried on through two administrations without change by a Democratic President, and now again carried on by another Republican President, has been consistently upward, more perfect each year, more nearly toward an absolute rule of taking first the highest man without exception, and so going down the list as they do with the ordinary clerical force in the civil service. In respect to the consular service, our policy reached its highest degree of consistency in the second half of the last administration, when it became an invariable rule that the men should be taken off the eligible list in the order of their standing. Mr. LINTHICUM. I recognize that you have been following that out; but it looked to me as if this section 6 might reorganize and uproot the whole pro- cedure, because any man can be classed there as not efficient and thrown out entirely ; and my point is whether you can not under that section 6 upset the whole present system. Mr. CARR. No. You can not upset the whole present system. You gentlemen in the House and Senate would not permit the whole present system to be upset. Mr. LINTHICUM. We do not always have the say after the laws go through Congress. Mr. CARR. There is this to be said, that every appointment under this bill would be subject to the advice and consent of the Senate. That is provided for in the bill. Therefore, at least one branch of Congress would pass upon every one of the appointments to be made under this bill. Mr. LINTHICUM. I know that Chief Justice Taft suggests that a great many minor appointments in the Government should be made by the Civil Service Commission. Mr. CARR. Of course, I have not anything to do with that. Mr. LINTHICUM. This might follow in the same line after a while. Mr. CARR. I am interested only in the improvement of the foreign service: and, so far as the domestic service is concerned, that is somebody else's re- sponsibility. Mr. LINTHICUM. I recognize that you are deeply interested in this, and that is one reason I do not want you to do anything which might upset that. Mr. CARR. I would not come here and appear before this committee advo- cating any measure that I thought would be reactionary and would give us something less satisfactory than that which we already have. What I want is improvement, and not to destroy that which we already have. Mr. TEMPLE. I understand that the questions referred to the discretion given to the President in the phrase in section 5. " under such rules and regulations FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 45 as the President may prescribe," authorized in section 5 under the rearrange- ment and reclassification made by the President. Does that give the President any more discretion than he has under exist- ing law? Mr. GARB. No. The President has discretion under existing law to make any appointment he pleases and to make any exception to the regulations he has laid down to limit his own appointments that he chooses to make. Mr. TEMPLE. So there would be no more danger of upsetting the present system if this should pass than if nothing should pass? Mr. CARE. No. It was thought possible that Congress itself might think it was desirable that it express itself in favor of the President exercising some discretion in case there should be men in the service, for example, who should not be put permanently in the service. Mr. LINTHICUM. Under the present system you have been advancing and things have been going on satisfactorily, but when you come to reorganization of the whole thing, the question is whether that does not open the doors to the elimination of certain men and placing other men in. Mr. TEMPLE. The door is open now. Mr. CARR. Yes. Mr. LINTHICUM. Reorganization would open the doors wide to making changes, whatever changes you might think it proper to make. Mr. CARR. There is no one who has any thought of a reorganization which shall permit to enter into it any political or personal or social or other kind of preferential treatment of the men. Mr. COCKRAN. How can you answer for that, for the thoughts and notions that will come into the heads of people on a measure like this? Mr. CARR. I can only answer in response that I have conferred with people who would have to do with putting this bill into operation, including the Secretary of State, and I know there has never come up a thought or a sus- picion that they should want to do anything except make the best possible use under this bill of the human material they have, and offer opportunity for better material to come forward hereafter to enter this foreign service. Mr. COLE. You spoke about apportionment among the States. How do you do that? Mr. CARR. The rules under which men are now admitted to examination and appointed after examination to both branches of the service provide that where the merits of the men are equal the appointment, as between two men. should go to the State that has the least representation. Mr. COLE. Representation according to population, or what? Mr. CARR. According to population. Where, for instance, you have two men who receive a rating of 82, the man who comes from the State that has the least representation in the Consular or Diplomatic Service, according to population, would get the first appointment. Mr. CONN ALLY. The objection that Mr. Liuthicum pointed out is one of the most striking merits the bill has, in my view. I want to ask about one clause here in section 6, to certify the officer " who through failure to dem- onstrate or maintain the requisite degree of efficiency, should be recommis- sioned to classes lower than those specified or otherwise treated as exceptions within the discretion of the President." Do you mean by that to eliminate them, if necessary? Mr. CARR. I should imagine that that would be the sort of thing which congress would want done. If there should be any men in the service who" were inefficient and had not maintained the proper standard, I think that probably Congress would not want automatically to legislate those men into permanent positions to be retired on pay at the end of their 35 years' service. Mr. LINTHICUM. The President has power to eliminate anybody he wants to at the present time. That is the law already. Mr. CARR. The President has complete power over the diplomatic and con- sular officers. Mr. LINTHICUM. Neither this law nor any law of Congress can bind him. Mr. COCKRAN. Mr. Linthicum says that no law can bind him. Is that your understanding? Mr. CARR. It is my understanding that the Constitution gives the President the sole right by and with the advice and consent of the Senate to appoint all ambassadors, public ministers and consuls, and that no law passed by the two houses of Congress can limit the power of the President in that respect. 46 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. Mr. LINTHICUM. Then he has the power to eliminate any man he thinks inefficient and may do it. Mr. CABB. He has the power to do it and he does do it. Mr. LINTHICUM. Certainly. Mr. CAKB. The difference between the power under this provision and the power which he already possesses is that this bill relates to a new class of officers which is sought to be established, the foreign service officer, so-called, who shall have a commission and whose appointment and entry into the ser- sive, and promotion, can be regulated by an act of Congress, so that a pro- vision like this is desirable. Congress would have the discretion, and the power to legislate in regard to such officers of the Government. The Consti- tution provides for that. There their right is supreme. But with reference to consuls, diplomatic secretaries, or ministers you have not the right under the Constitution to tie the President's hands. This bill is devoted, first of all, to foreign service officers, a grade of officers duly classified with grad- uated salaries who can be also commissioned consular officers or diplomatic officers. Why? Because by creating that body of officers and appropriating salaries for them rather than for diplomatic and consular officers you obtain a unified and flexible foreign service. You can regulate the promotions, regu- late the entry into the service, regulate the salary scale. Now, if the President should select men from that group of foreign service officers for appointment as consul, or for appointment as secretary, as he unquestionably will do, if you give him the power to do it, then you will have men who can pursue their profession of foreign service officers in either branch of the service or both branches of the service. If in one branch, the Consular Service, a man should develop special political discernment or other ability peculiarly useful in the Diplomatic Service, he could be changed over into that service without diffi- culty, because the same salary scale would apply to each service. The men in both branches would be foreign service officers. They would be the same some sort of officers basically and classified alike. By-and-by when the officer who has been transferred into the Diplomatic Service and there develops such qualities as might make it in the interest of the Government to send him to some semidiplomatic post like Ottawa, Calcutta, Capetown or elsewhere where there are consular and diplomatic duties to be performed, the President might retransfer him to the consular branch of the service again to serve there for a time. Suppose we take another man of outstanding ability, who would enter the service under this new arrangement. He would come in as a foreign service officer. He would select, let us say, the Consular Service as his regular career. I have such a man as that in mind at the moment, who selected the consular service and developed later on diplomatic qualities of a very high character. You can not always tell what a man in the service is going to develop into. Let us say this man should develop diplomatic ability of a high order while in the Consular Service. There exists a place in the Diplomatic Service where he can be utilized with great advantage to the Government. Under this bill he can be put into that place. Suppose later a need for that particular kind of a man should develop in a post like Calcutta, Ottawa, Capetown, or Melbourne, where you have consular and diplomatic duties to be performed and there are a con- siderable number of such posts. It is perfectly easy under this bill to transfer the man over to the consular side of the service again. It would not destroy the morale of the consular branch of the service any more than it did not destroy the morale of the diplomatic branch when the man was originally taken over from the Consular Service, because from the point of view of salary and classification and promotion he has been a foreign service officer all the time. There is no room for jealousy in a service so adjusted. Mr. CONNALLY. Suppose he is transferred over to the Diplomatic Service, there may be a new President who wants some one else. Would he automatically revert to the consular branch? Mr. CARS. The President would transfer him over by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, unless he already had a commission in the Consular Service, when he could do it without the advice and consent of the Senate. Mr. COXNALT.Y. How is that? Mr. TARE. The President would make such disposition of this man as he saw fit always. If the man had come from the Consular Service in the first place, had a consular commission given him with the consent of the Senate, he would be appointed in the Diplomatic Service in the same manner, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, of course. In respect to officers of both branches of the foreign service, which this bill would provide for, a President FOREIGN SEBVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 47 who should cease to require a particular man's services in the Diplomatic Service could reassign him back. Mr. O'ONNALLY. He could do it. If he did not do anything, would he auto- matically go back into that corps? Mr. CAER. Only by express direction of the President. Mr. COCKRAN. How does that change the existing situation? The President can do that now. Mr. CARR. It changes the existing system in this way. We have two separate and distinct corps of officers, the Consular Service with its own salary classifica- tion, and we have the diplomatic service with an entirely different salary clas- sification. You can not take a man from the Consular Service and use him in the Diplomatic Service without demoting him unduly, and you can not take a man from the Diplomatic Service and use him in the Consular Service without unduly promoting him. Mr. COCKRAN. You could actually change him from one branch to the other if you wished to. Mr. CARR. We could do so now, but suppose you should take a counselor of embassy and want to use him at Calcutta. He gets $4,000. The consul general at Calcutta gets 8,000. Mr. COCKRAN. As far as the salaries are concerned. That is the purpose of the bill to equalize salaries. So far as transfer is concerned, the President can do everything now which the bill authorizes him to do. Mr. CARR. He can do everything can appoint a man in either branch of the service. Mr. COCKRAN. And remove him at his discretion? Mr. CARR. Yes. Mr. COCKRAN. In what way does this make a change, except so far as the equalization of salaries, in the existing system? Mr. CARR. Equalization of salaries and by providing the corps of foreign- service officers, which would carry salaries for men assigned to either the dip- lomatic or consular branch of the service; it would break down the wall now existing between the two separate services. You would bring about a com- munity of interest in the two branches of the foreign service. You would im- prove the morale of the entire service of both branches, I think, enormously by establishing this corps of officers. That Congress has the right to do ; it is entirely within its power to do so, and it would improve this whole service more than I can describe to you. Mr. COCKRAN. It in no way invades the limits or undertakes to limit the power of the President to dispose of these officers as he thinks best? Mr. CAHR. In no sense whatever. Mr. COCKRAN. Does it give the President the power to circumscribe or exer- cise the discretion of his successors? Mr. CARR. No. I will put it this way : Congress has always reserved to itself the right to provide the money for carrying on foreign relations. It has re- served to itself the right to refuse to appropriate the salary of a minister or secretary or consul throughout the history of the country. This bill does not attempt to cause any relinquishment of that right but to exercise that right in creating the foreign-service officer class and attaching salaries to that class instead of using its power to attach the salary to the individual consul or consul general or diplomatic secretary. If you should pass this bill this after- noon, the President to-morrow morning, with the advice and consent of the Senate, could appoint as many ambassadors and ministers and consuls and secretaries as he pleased outside of this class of foreign-service officers, and you would or would not provide for their compensation as you might think best. In other words, you have not taken from the President any power that he has now. You have not taken from Congress any power that it has now. You have not adopted any new principle, except that you have provided that the compensation of men in both Diplomatic and Consular Services shall be ob- tained from the salaries you provide for foreign-service officers instead of providing two entirely separate salary scales. Mr. COCKRAN. There would not be anything under this law. as I understand it, where a man who was to-day counselor at Paris might be transferred to consul general at London under this bill. That is the purpose of the bill. Mr. CARR. At the present time it could be done. Mr. COCKRAN. That could occur at the present time? Mr. CARR. That could be done at the present time. 48 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. Mr. COCKRAN. Then this bill does not in any way change the power of the President? Mr. CABB. It does not change that. Mr. COCKRAN. He would have to be confirmed? Mr. CARR. Yes. Mr. COCKRAN. Under this bill would a confirmation also be required? Mr. CARR. The consul general, you say, at Paris or London? Mr. COCKRAN. The counselor at Paris. Mr. CABB, To be transferred as consul general at London. No; he would not have to he confirmed bv the Sonate. because the law. as it stands now on the statute books, gives the President the right to transfer any consular officer or any secretary In the Diplomatic Service from post to post in the cln- t" "'h f-h '-P s nnn 'intP'l. Mr. TEMPLE. Mr. Cockran's question was as to the counselor of embassy at Paris to be transferred. Mr. CABR. I beg your pardon. At the present time the counselor of embassy in Paris could be transferred as consul general at London, or the reverse, only by a new appointment and confirmation by the Senate. The practical difficulty there lies in this: The counselor of embassy receives $4,000; the consul general receives $12,000. What we are anxious to have is a system devised by which the consul general at London might conceivably be sent over to Paris as counselor of embassy there, or the counselor of embassy in Paris niisrht conceivably be sent over to London as consul general there. That could only be done by standardizing the salaries here as provided by this bill. Mi*. COCKRAN. There is one other question I would like some light on. That is about the discharge of men employed under this system. The President under your regulations now has the absohite right to discharge? Mr. CABR. Absolute. Mr. COCKRAN. Under the regulations, would he have the right here under this bill? Mr. CABB. I beg your pardon? Mr. COCKRAN. Does the President have the right to remove a man after hear- ing him, or can he be removed by the stroke of a pen? Mr. CARR. As a matter of fact, there is no specific regulation as to how a man should be removed. In practice every man practically receives a hearing that Is, has opportunity to present any facts that he might want to present in advance, unless, indeed, there should be a plain case, such as a case of drunkenness, where the knowledge is so complete on the part of the adnrnistrative officer as to admit of no defense whatever. Generally speak : ng, you might say. the principles of good business management and of the Federal civil service law are quite carefully observed. No one has any right to complain, in my experi- ence, of the manner in which he has been removed from the service, and per- haps there has been even more len'ency than should be. Mr. LINTHICTJM. In the event of the passage of this bill, you would no longer consider the Diplomatic or Consular Service, but consider it as the foreign service. Mr. CARR. Consider it as a foreign service so far as the salaries are concerned. Consider it as the foreign service so far as the morale is concerned. Consider it as foreign service from the domestic point of view, with respect to compensa- tion and management. Now, when you step outside of the United States the condition is entirely different. There, in order to be of any value, a man must take on the status of either diplomatic officer or of constilar officer, because they are the types of officers recosrnized in international law and by the usage of nations. You can not change that condition by anything you may enact here in Congress. For example, let us say. a man goes as a diplomatic secretary to London. His name goes on the diplomatic list : he gets his immunities and his powers and his functions because he is a diplomatic secretary, not because he is a foreign service officer. Mr. LTNTHICUM. And his invitations. Mr. GARB. And his invitations. The consul general in London takes his status there as a consular officer, not as a foreign service officer, because a foreign service officer is not known in international law or to international intercourse. Mr. CONNALLY. Is not that true, also, that all of our other laws and customs and usages here in this respect are that way? Mr. CARR. Certainly. Mr. CONNALLY. In view of that, would it be wise to change the designation? Could you not frame up some kind of name for this corps that would continue FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 49 this idea of consular and diplomatic services so as not to come in conflict with all our laws and usages? Mr. CAEK. This does not come into conflict with any law or usage. This sim- ply states, in section 4, that any foreign service officer appointed as such and drawing his salary under this unified salary scale shall, when he exercises functions, exercise them under his commission as a diplomatic secretary or diplomatic officer or under his commission as a consular officer. So there is no change there whatsoever, and further on in the bill is a provision also which adapts this bill to the existing statutory law that you have in regard to diplo- matic and consular officers. Mr. LINTHICUM. I think Mr. Cockran brought up the question last time under a similar bill, that a man might be a consular officer in a certain place and be transferred to another place, and he raised the question whether the Senate ought to have something to say whether a man should be designated to any particular place or not. Mr. COCKRAN. That is as to those ministers who represent us at certain places, ministers and ambassadors. Mr. LiNTHictiM. But this would provide that a consul could be transferred to a diplomatic post. M. f'ocKiiAN. But not to be a minister. He could not be transferred to be a minister under this law. Mr. CARR. This bill does not relate to the office of minister. Mr. COCKRAN. That is what I understand. Mr. LiNTHict'M. This bill would not affect the situation that he mentioned then. Mr. CAKI;. No. There is only one place in this bill that relates to the office of minister, and that is where it authorizes the President to take a foreign service officer and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate make him a diplomatic agent, charges d'affaires, or minister resident without affect- ing his salary status as a foreign service officer. Mr. COCKRAN. Take him out for a special service? Mr. GARB. Yes, sir. Mr. COCKRAN. But that would require the consent of the Senate, of course. Mr. ROGERS. In an effort to sum up what you have been saying in response to questions is this true, that this bill does not and can not limit the appointive powers of the President, or the scope of his powers, with respect to assigning consuls and secretaries? Mr. CARR. No. Mr. ROGERS. All that may be done under the Constitution and under exist- ing laws, and all that this bill purports to do, as I understand it, is to modify the practice in that regard rather than the right in that regard. In other words, whatever the Executive power has been, there has not in fact and in practice been in the past such an interchangeability between the two sides of the foreign service as students of the subject believe would be beneficial to the service and to the country. And the expectation is that this bill, if enacted, would give that interchangeability in practice which is theoretically possible already. Mr. CABR. It would give that interchangeability in practice which is actually possible already but is difficult to exercise because of the lack of any uniform salary applicable to both services and the authority of Congress to change a man back and forth with facility. The Executive can actually take a man, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate, out of the consular or diplo- matic service and put him into either service, if the Senate consents. The CHAIRMAN. In what position would this bill place Japanese and Chinese interpreters? Mr. COCKRAN. Ours to them or theirs to us? The CHAIRMAN. Ours to them. Mr. CABB. This bill does not cover any special employment of that sort. If those men are members of the regular Consular Service or Diplomatic Service, of course, they would retain that status. If they were outside appointees, they would not retain that exact status. What I mean is this: Take a specific instance, we have now in China, as Chinese secretary, Mr. Peck, who is a member of the Consular Service. He is a member of a certain class of the Consular Service. He would be automatically incorporated into this, of course. He would be detailed to Peking for that purpose. But any man who was not a member of the regular Consular Service would take such a position as Congress would give him by way of appropriation. 50 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. The CHAIRMAN. Could Doctor Peck under this bill be transferred into the Diplomatic Service, or Balentine at Tokio? Mr. CABR. He could become a foreign service officer in this service, but he would be assigned either to the Consular or Diplomatic Service, wherever he might be needed. If one is needed at Peking or Tokio, that is presumably where he would go. The CHAIRMAN. Do you not think, in view of the importance of the duties to be performed, that they should be part of the Diplomatic Service? Mr. CARR. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. I will say to the committee that these two interpreters practically transact all of the business before those Governments. Mr. CARR. They are not citizens? The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Mr. CARR. They began many years ago as student interpreters and have risen by merit to their present positions. Mr. COOPER. They are white men? The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Peck was born in China, the son of a missionary. I have been very much impressed with the importance of the duties performed, and I would like to see them in the Diplomatic Service. I think it would give them more prestige, if there is any way of doing it. Mr. CARR. This bill would offer a better career than even now to men who would perfect themselves in the knowledge of those countries and the languages of those countries. It would give them a broader career than they have now in respect to compensation and opportunities. The CHAIRMAN. For the benefit of the committee, if any question arises with the Chinese or Japanese Governments, the matter has to be handled by the interpreter, acting, of course, for the ambassador or minister. Mr. CARR. That is perfectly true, and any man who goes to Peking or Tokyo as ambassador and who has not there trustworthy and very capable agents, such as the Chinese or Japanese secretary, would find his usefulness cut 50 per cent at least, if not more. They are the most necessary members of the missions. Mr. COOPER. I notice in section 14 that the bill provides that any minister could be sent here to the Department of State for three years. Mr. CARR. The law now is that any consular officer or any diplomatic officer below the grade of minister may be assigned in the Department of State. Mr. COOPER. Below the grade of minister? Mr. CARR. Below the grade of minister, for the simple reason that it was not thought at the time that law was put into operation that it would be necessary ever to have a minister in the State Department. We could not get along or run the State Department to-day without foreign service men assigned to it, consular and diplomatic officers. Now, the assignment of a minister may con- ceivably be a very advantageous thing to it on special occasion. I remember when, dur'ng the last administration, the Secretary of State sent for Mr. Fletcher, then at Mexico City, owing to the difficulty they were having down there, and had Mr. Fletcher come to the department. He spent some time in helping the Secretary with the Mexican situation A similar situation may conceivably arise again, and this language is merely changed in that regard to the extent of permitting the assignment of ministers in case of necessity. Mr. COOPER. When we would bring back from a foreign country a minister, would not that sever diplomatic relations with that country? Mr. GARB. No. Mr. COOPER. For instance, would we have a minister to one of the continental European countries in any proper sense of the word, and have him here in the State Department, 3,500 miles from the scene of his duties? Mr. CARR. In the same way, sir, that a minister may take a leave of absence and may still be minister to Switzerland, but may be back in this country temporarily. Mr. COOPER. That does not meet what seems to me to be the objection to sec- tion 14. He could be brought back here as minister and have that title, and, I suppose, the emoluments of a minister, 4.000 or 10,000 miles from the country to which he has been assigned for three years or longer, it might be four years. Mr. CARR. Under the section as drafted, I would say that would be possible. I do not mean to say there would be any probability of it. Mr. COOPER. I am not talking about probabilities. It would expressly provide that a man could be brought back from a country, no matter how remote, and kept in the State Department as minister and draw the salary of a minister FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 51 for four years, three years and an extension of one year. Now, is that the right thing to do? You virtually sever diplomatic relations. We have no minister in that country. We have nobody on the theater of operations. Back here in the State Department any one of the minor officials could do that and not be called minister and draw the salary of a minister. Mr. CARR. I have not any special interest in whether you authorize bringing back a minister on assignment to the State Department or not. I do not claim to be especially interested in that. My interest extended to the secretarial class, to the consular class. There I think that is highly desirable. Mr. COOPER. Undoubtedly. That is the law to-day. Mr. CARR. That is the law to-day. It is to be changed here to include for- eign service officers. Mr. TEMPLE. Strike out " minister or," in the first line of section 14, and say " any foreign service officer." Mr. CARR. Or if you would make it diplomatic or consular officer, which I would rather see, so much the better. If you prefer foreign service officers, I have nothing to say against it. Mr. COOPER. You make a distinction here between officers in the foreign serv- ice and foreign service officers? Officers in the foreign service would include ambassadors and ministers, but foreign service officer is a man who begins at class 1 or below. Mr. CARR. Below the grade of minister. Mr. COOPER. So when you put in any minister or foreign service officer you add something that has never been in the law before. Mr. COCKRAN. Strike out the words " minister or." Mr. ACKKRMAN. Would that section 14 permit bringing back to America any officer receiving in the foreign service a higher salary than some official in the State Department, to the confusion of the other officers attached to the depart- ment while he was there for. possibly, three years? Mr. CARR. Yes ; that is true. But we have not found that up to date an ob- jectionable thing. Mr. ROGERS. Suppose, Mr. Carr, that we, as a protest, withdraw our minister from a country without breaking relations. The legation staff will cont'nue in the foreign capital. Under the present law, has the Department of State the right to utilize that minister in the department for a period exceeding 60 days? Mr. CARR. No. It has not the r ; ght to assign him to the department on any general duty nor can it utilize his services at all if the minister should happen not to have reached his post. Now, we had the case of Mr. Fletcher, of which Mr. Rogers reminds me by his question. He had been transferred from Ch : le to Mexico. Developments occurred which prevented him from going to his post in Mexico because of a governmental upheaval there. Yet there were circumstances connected with our relations with Mexico which made it nec- essary to keep him at hand and conduct as much as possible of the work relating to Mexico here and handle as many as possible of the Mexican ques- tions here in Washington, until he could actually go to Irs post. That con- sumed a certain length of time. Under the present law the ambassador could not get any salary because under the present law he must have reached his post before he could be ordered back here on salary even for consultation. Do I make myself clear on that? Mr. COCKRAN. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. Take the case of Mr. Fletcher, recalled from Mexico, sta- tioned at the department, practically in charge of Mexican affairs. As a matter of fact, he was very valuable to the department on account of his intimate knowledge of Mexican conditions. Mr. CARR. He would not have been there for any other reason. He was there because it was absolutely necessary to the Secretary of State that he should be there. The CHAIRMAN. It was highly advisable to have him there. Mr. CARR. Absolutely necessary. The CHAIRMAN. Take the case of our ambassador to Japan during Mi*. Wil- son's administratoin. He was sent to Vladivostock on a special mission for six months. Mr. CARR. All the way to Omsk at a time when that was temporarily the seat of the Kolchak Government. He was sent by the President all the way across Siberia, to Omsk, to make a personal investigation upon which to deter- mine the policy of this Government. 52 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. The CHAIRMAN. In the average case where we would draw on an ambassador or minister, it is very important to retain him in the State Department to get the benefit of his experience and advice. Mr. CARR. There are occasions when it is highly important that that should be done. Of course, it is done by every other foreign Government. We are probably the only Government that does not do that on occasion. There is no provision now for bringing ambassadors and ministers back except for consul- tation in connection with the duties of his paritcular post or on leave of absence. Mr. COCKRAN. For how long can he get a leave of absence? Mr. CARR. Sixty days. Mr. COCKRAN. That is the limit? After that the man's salary ceases? Mr. CARR. Yes. Mr. CONNALLY. Have you any authority now to regulate this under section 14? Have you that power now? Mr. CARR. If a man has reached his post of duty he can be ordered back for consultation with reference to the duties of that post. It is rarely ever done. If he has not reached his post, if he is being transferred between one post and another and has not reached his new post, then, however badly he may be needed here, his salary stops if he should be ordered here. Mr. MOORE. Can you read into the record the provision of the existing law with reference to the matter covered by section 14? I wish to find out exactly what the existing law is, and how it is modified by section 14. Mr. CARR. Yes ; I shall be glad to put it in. The only difference in this section over existing law is that the words " foreign service officer " are included. That is because the foreign service officer, so far as salary and compensation is concerned, supersedes the secretaries and consuls. Mr. COCKRAN. Do you not think there ought to be a provision authorizing the department to recall either an ambassador or minister for consultation as long as they want to? Mr. CARR. Of course, there ought to be. It is within the judgment of Con- gress whether they want to do that. I think that the foreign service ought to be as elastic under the direction of the President and the Secretary of State as it is possible to make it. Mr. COCKRAN. As in the case of Mexico, and as with Russia, we had a minister there before the revolution broke out, I think it would be almost essential to the State Department to have the ri.^Ut to Vring back a minister or ambassador and keep him as long as necessary- Mr. COOPER. To keep him four years. Mr. COCKRAN. As long as the situation existed. Mr. COOPER. Could they not get the informaiton from men who had been there in less than four years? Mr. COCKRAN. But they could not get information on various phases in the light of his experience. Mr. COOPER. Could it not be gotten from our consular officers? If we have diplomatic relations we also have consuls there, and if you bring the consuls back and put them in the State Department could you not get the information in that way? Is there any necessity for bringing back ambassadors and min- isters and keeping them here three years and extending it one year, which would be the complete term of an administration? Mr. COCKRAN. That is what I am trying to ascertain. Let us assume the case of Russia. Suppose we had an ambassador in Russia, as we did before this revolution broke out there. If recalled from there he would know things about that country in the light of his experience there that could not be obtained otherwise. He could interpret the opposing views. It would be a very extreme case, but it would be in extreme times, and I think myself that such a power should be given to the State Department to acquaint itself with any agency in dealing with complications that have no parallel in human experience. The case that Mr. ('un puts there illustrates it very strikingly. Mr. Fletcher had an intimate knowledge of Mexico in dealing with Mexican affairs up to date. I am sure Mr. Carr will bear me out. He must in the nature of things be able to give information to the State Department. Mr. CARR. I will go further. I will assume that Mr. Fletcher was sont off as soon as conditions permitted. Mr. COCKRAN. Nobody would want to keep him unless the exceptional circum- stances existed that can not be anticipated, such as in the case of Russia or Poland. You might take the case of Russia. I think it would be very important to give the State Department that power, and I think it ought to be in this bill. That feature, in my judgment, is more important than the rest of it put together. FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 53 Mr. CARK. I would like to say there that I do not suppose anybody had the thought that there was a desire to get any minister or ambassador back here in the State Department on assignment for three or four years. The only reason it appears in that text is that that is the language in existing law as applied to secretaries and consuls and consuls general. I would like to read that now. Mr. ROGERS. This is the law that you were asking for, Mr. Moore. Mr. CARR. The act <>f February 5, 1915, section 2, reads as follows : " That any such officer ( secretary in the Diplomatic Service, consul general, or consul) may be designated for duty in the Department of State without loss of grade, class, or salary, such assignment to be for a period of not more than three years, unless the public interests demand further service, when such assignment may be extended for a period not to exceed one year, and no longer." That is the present law. Mr. COCKRAN. The effect of that is simply that if the department needs him there it could assign him to a particular duty without loss of salary to him. Mr. CARR. Exactly. Mr. MOORE. What would you think of the expediency of including ambassa- dors and ministers with the others? Mr. CAER. I think it desirable. I do not mean to say the Government would stop if it were not done, but I think it desirable to give the President and the Secretary of State as much discretion there as possible. We can not look ahead far enough to see the exigencies that are going to arise in the next few years. I have been dealing with these matters a great many years ; and yet my imagina- tion was not vivid enough to forecast, in 1914, for example, one hundredth of the things we have gone through in foreign relations since that time or the exigencies that have arisen. None of us can look forward even a few years and predict what demands may be upon those responsible for foreign rela- tions. So that if you feel inclined to do so and feel that you can reasonably do so, I should say that it would be a power very desirable to place in the hands of the President, and I am certain that it would not be abused. Mr. COCKRAN. In the case that Mr. Cooper put, of failure to appoint a min- ister and keep him at his post, it never suspends diplomatic relations. Italy did not appoint an ambassador to us from 1892 to 1896. after the riots in New Orleans, after Baron Fava left. When Keiley was rejected as minister to Austria and the Austrian Government refused to have him, a new minister was appointed. We did not break diplomatic relations, however. It is a method of indicating diplomatic coolness. Mr. CARR. I am indebted to you for reminding me that in interonirse between governments the temporary withdrawal of a head of mission is one of the expedients resorted to to indicate displeasure or coolness when anything may arise on which agreement can not be reached. Mr. COCKRAN. Of course the Government would not keep a minister away from his post indefinitely, but in such a case, not before paralleled in human experience, suppose a revolution broke out in Germany result. ng in the same condition as in Russia, I should think that it would be the wise course to bring our ambassador, Mr. Houghton, back home to interpret the events in the light of what he had already seen. I think a provision of that kind is worth more than the rest of the bill put together. Mr. ROGERS. Are we ready to proceed with the next topic? Mr. CARR. These other sections are for the most part merely for the purpose of adapting the present system, the present legislation, to the corps of foreign- service officers. For example, take section 10, there we have an adaptation to the present requirements of law that consular officers should be bonded, and ap- plying that to the foreign-service officers, and also covering under that diplo- matic secretaries, who are now not bonded but in nay judgment should be, inas- much as they handle money and render accounts to the Government and collect fees. Mr. COOPER. W T hat is the particular difference between this as proposed and the existing law? Mr. CARR. There is no difference at all, except that it applies the existing law to the foreign-service officers, whereas the existing law is applied to consuls and consuls general only. Mr. COOPER. It says hereby amended. Mr. CARE. Hereby amended to that extent. Mr. COOPER. In substance, the same thing. 54 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. Mr. CARR. In section 11 the provision of the present inspection law that re- quires the inspection of consular officers is applied to the foreign-service officers herein provided for who shall be assigned to the duty of inspection. That, by the way, coupled with section 2 of the bill as I should like to see it amended, would authorize the President to take as many foreign-service officers as Con- gress may appropriate for above class 4 of foreign-service officers. Mr. COCKRAN. What section? Mr. CARR. I am referring now to section 1, on page 2 of the bill, and also to section 11. Section 2 of the bill, I would suggest an amendment by striking out the words in parentheses, lines 1 to 4, which authorizes the assignment of officers of the foreign service, officers of class 3, to the duties of inspection, and attach a proviso that would read something like this, " that as many foreign- service officers above class 5, or class 4, let us say, as may be required for the purpose, and provided annually by Congress upon recommendation of the Sec- retary of State, may be designated as foreign-service inspectors." Mr. COCKRAN. Let me get that again. At the top of page 2, after striking out the parentheses. Mr. ROGERS. After striking out the parentheses in lines 1 to 4. Mr. COCKRAIS--. Now, I get you ; yes. What is the amendment? Mr. CARR. I would add a proviso to the effect " that as many foreign-service officers above class 4 as may be required for the purpose of inspecting and provided for annually for the duties of inspection by Congress upon recom- mendation of the Secretary of State may be designated as foreign-service inspectors." We have at present seven inspectors of consulates provided for by Congress. There is no inspection of the diplomatic branch of the service. There should be an inspection of that as well as of the consular branch of the service. By the adoption of this provision in this bill you would put the Secretary of State in a position to assign such a number of officers as you would annually appro- priate for under this section to the work of inspection, the work similar to that now done in inspecting consulates, and also extend it to inspection of diplomatic offices. I think you will agree with me that they ought to have inspection as well as consular offices. I think that is sound administration. Mr. ROGERS. Is there any inspection now? Mr. CARR. No ; there is no provision for their inspection. Mr. TEMPLE. As it reads after striking out the parentheses the Secretary would be limited to foreign-service officers, class 3. Mr. CARR. Exactly. Mr. ROGERS. You propose to allow him to make appointments to the foreign service of inspectors of class 1, 2, 3, and 4, Mr. CARR. An inspecting officer requires a very special kind of personality and experience, and it is my observation that there ought to be a very wide range of selection in the service. The officers, of course, are all taken from the service, but you can not always find enough men in one class who are espe- cially qualified for that particular duty, which after all is a very difficult duty and requires a certain special kind of personality and a certain kind of expe- rience. So it would be in the interest of better dniinistration. I am sure, if yon should broaden the range of selection in that respect. Turning again to section 11 on page 7, you will find that that provides " that the provisions of section 4, act of April 5, 1906, relative to consuls general at large " they are the inspecting officers of the consular service " are hereby made applicable to foreign-service inspectors." I would suggest there an amendment in line 4, after the word " relative," insert so as to read " relative to the powers, duties, and prerogatives of the consuls general at large," because I take it that this , bill does not mean to continue that title but merely to transfer the powers to the men designated as inspectors under this act. Section 12, page 7, of the bill applies to the men performing the diplomatic duties the same provisions of law that now exist and are applicable to consular officers in respect to the fees collected by them for services. In other words, it puts the diplomatic secretaries on a straight salary basis, as was long ago done in the case of consular officers. There are small fees for notarial work that are now collected and retained by diplomatic secretaries, which amount to very little, but this change would lead to better administration. The present law, which has been the law for many years, confers notarial powers on FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 55 diplomatic secretaries, and they perform a certain number, though not many, services of that kind, and they may retain the fees. Mr. ROGERS. Is there any accounting to Washington? Mr. CARR. As far as I know, there is no accounting. Mr. ROGERS. A man could build up a flourishing business if he were so inclined. Mr. CARR. He might if he was so inclined, but I have never seen any evi- dence of an inclination in that direction. Mr. LINTHHTM. Have you considered the effect this would have upon appro- priations for the Diplomatic and Consular Services? Mr. CARR. Yes, sir; the first year it would increase the appropriation about $378.000 and the second year about $325,000. Mr. ROGERS. That includes both salary readjustments and retirements. Mr. LiNTiiicuM. I am not complaining about the increase, because I have always thought that the appropriation for the department is smaller than what you ought to have. We have been too parsimonious with the State Department. Mr. CARR. I think so. I think the country has suffered from it. Mr. TEMPLE. Sections 8 and 10 of the act of April 5, 1906, relate to the official fees of consular officers and the methods of accounting therefor. That will make it clearer in explaining it on the floor of the House. Mr. COLE. Under this bill there will be no fees at all in any form whatsoever. Mr. CARR. There are no perquisites in the way of fees in the Consular Service. Mr. COCKRAN. Does he not get fees for taking acknowledgments? Mr. CARR. Yes ; but they are not his ; they belong to the Government of the United States. Mr. COCKRAN. If you go in and verify a power of attorney before a consul, does the fee go to the Government? Mr. CARR. He has to account for it under his bond. Mr. COCKHAN. I thought that was a perquisite. Mr. CARR. There are no perquisites in the Consular Sen-ice. It is a straight salary proposition, and the men are held strictly accountable under their bonds for every cent collected. Mr. ROGERS. There are a few consular agents who do. Mr. CARR. There are less than 100 of them. Mr. COCKRAN. Consular agents are not really officers of the United States, not really citizens, generally foreigners. Mr. CARR. Oftentimes not citizens, because it is not always possible to get a citizen to take such a position. Their compensation is derived from one-half of the fees they collect, not to exceed $1,000 in one year. There are only a few and we hope to replace them as time goes on by vice consuls of career. Mr. COOKRAN. Just one moment on that section 14, which I think the most vital of the bill. I* there any reason for specifying the time during which a man can be assigned? Why would it not be better to state that he shall be assigned so long as the public interest required? Mr. CARR. I would prefer that that time be limited. Mr. COCKRAN. Why? Mr. CARR. The reason why is that while there has not been any disposition, so far as I know, to abuse the privilege, my experience in the Government service is that in the interest of proper and efficient administration it is always wise tn put a reasonable limitation upon a discretion given an executive de- partment. I would not advocate for a moment unlimited discretion. Mr. COCKRAN. Not an extended discretion, and I think three years is too lon.tr to keep a man under such a designation. I think it ought to be only for the emergency, by declaring that only an emergent public interest should re- quire it. You would get a narroAver discretion than this. The fact that three years is made the maximum in this bill would mean a designation for that time. Mr. CARR. It has not proved so up to date. Mr. COCKRAN. Your experience is better than iny suggestion. Mr. CARR. The fact is that the men who are brought here, except in very tVw cases, are men possessed of special qualifications, which can not be well duplicated, men who have served much less than three years. Mr. COOPER. If you need men to be assigned here, why not assign a man under a commission, or whatever you m'ght call it. for a definite period, not to exceed so lonir. Would you take an ambassador aud assign him to the State Depart- 2447022 5 56 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. ineut? Would you not simply \\ ithdraw him from his post of duty to meet an emergency ? Mr. CARR. Yes. Mr. COOPER. Would that amount to an assignment? Mr. GARB. That is what it does amount to. The word " assigned " was used because that was the technical word used in the law of 1915. wherein it was stated that the President might assign, without the confirmation of the Senate, within the class, from one post to another. It is simply the adoption in this para- graph of that language because that happens to be the phraseology used at that time. Mr. COOPER. What effect would that have upon an ambassador to assign him to the State Department? Would you not withdraw and keep him there for your convenience? You could probably assign him as ambassador to the State Department in this city? Mr. CARR. That is exactly what it would mean ; that he could be brought back just as any consul is brought back, brought back to the State Department so long as needed, assigned there in the sense that he is brought into the place for consultation, and sent back to his post when the need expires. Mr. COOPER. Would the assignment consist of a period in the discretion of the department, extending as long as the public necessity required it? Mr. C.VRR. I would rather not see that done. As I said. I do not care, so far as the ambassador or minister is concerned, I am perfectly agreeable to see them limited to a few months. So far as the consuls general, consuls, and secretaries are concerned, I think that the Secretary of State and our foreign relations would suffer tremendously by the inability of the Secretary to detail a reasonable number of foreign service men in the State Department for con- siderable periods of time. Mr. TEMPLE. One limit for ministers and another limit for foreign service officers? Mr. CARR. I have no objection to that. (Thereupon, at 12 o'clock noon the committee adjourned, to meet again at 10 o'clock a. m.. Thursday, December 14. 1922.) COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Washington, Thursday, December 14, 1922. The committee this day met, Hon. John Jacob Rogers presiding. Mr. ROGERS. I want to print with the permission of the committee, first a 'etter which the Secretary of State wrote the President concerning this general reorganization plan, dated August 22. 1922, with certain papers accompanying the letter, which, I think, will be helpful to the committee; second, a letter which President Harding wrote the chairman of this committee and to the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate, concerning the plan ; third, a letter which the President wrote to me on September 1 ; fourth, a letter which the Secretary of State wrote me concerning the bill now before the committee, dated October 13; and, finally, a letter which he wrote to the president of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States in response to a letter from the president of that chamber of commerce on October 27, 1922. There is very little duplication in these letters, and I think it will be of some value to the committee to have the information available in the hearings. (The letters referred to are as follows:) AUGUST 22, 1922. MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: I desire to place before you the accompanying draft of a bill for the reorganization and improvement of the foreign service, which, with your concurrence and support, I am disposed to advocate as a means of strengthening this department and adapting its machinery to the exigencies of post-war conditions in international affairs. The proposals contained in this draft are similar in purport to the provisions of a measure (H. R. 17) already landing before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, but on which no action has as yet been taken. The main purpose is to lay the foundation of a broader service of trained men by removing certain embarrassing limitations in the present organization and giving impetus to the idea of diplomacy as a career. This is thought to be FOEK1GX SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 57 necessary as a means of attracting ami holding the type of men capable of measuring up to the new demands. There are only four important provisions to be considered : 1. The adoption of a new and uniform salary scale with a view to broadening the field of selection by eliminating; the necessity for private incomes and per- mitting the relative merits of candidates to be adjudged on the basis of ability alone. 2. The amalgamation of the diplomatic and consular branches into a single foreign service on an interchangeable basis. This would relieve the limitations of the present consular cai'eer and effectually coordinate the political and the economic branches of the service. 3. The granting of representation allowances, which would lessen the de- mands on the private fortunes of ambassadors and ministers and render it practicable to promote a greater number of trained officers to those positions. 4. The extension of the civil service retirement act. with appropriate modifi- cations, to the foreign service. This has become necessary for maintaining the desired standard of efficiency under the merit system. Taking up these four points in the order mentioned, it may be further ex- plained that the salaries in both branches of the service, and especially those of diplomatic secretaries, are quite inadequate. The present range of consular salaries is from $2,000 to $8,000, with two posi- tions at $12.000; that of diplomatic secretaries from $2,500 to $4,000, whereas the proposed new scale would be subdivided into nine classes, ranging from $3,000 to $9,000. Readjustment on this basis would involve a substantial in- crease in the salaries of diplomatic secretaries and a smaller increase in con- sular salaries, requiring additional appropriations as compared with those of the current year of $328,500. By assimilating the positions in the Diplomatic Service with the correspond- ing positions in the Consular Service on the basis of a common salary scale it would become possible through the use of the title " foreign service officer " as employed in the bill to establish the two branches on an interchangeable basis and secure the highly desirable advantage, from the standpoint of economy and efficiency, of combined administration. The principle of providing representation allowances is one which is well established in the practice of other nations and among the important business interests of this country. In relation to the foreign service it is a corollary to the (Jovernment ownership of embassy and legation buildings abroad as a means of lightening the burden of personal expense on our ambassadors and ministers. While it is not deemed advisable to request appropriations for this purpose at the present time. I believe it important that statutory provision should be made therefor in order that suitable funds may be provided at a later date and in such proportion as the special exigencies may require. Owing to the length of time that the Diplomatic and Consular Services have been on a civil-service basis, there are a number of positions, especially in the Consular Service, being held by officers advanced in years whose retention impairs the efficiency of the service as a whole. It has become urgently neces- sary to provide for the retirement of these officers, and in view of the fact that both branches of the service are well established on a civil-service basis it appears feasible to bring them under the provisions of the civil service retire- ment act of May 22. 1920, modified only as to the age of retirement, the rate of contribution, and the rate of annuity. The immediate benefits of such an enactment would be appreciable. In fact, no proposal in connection with the improvement of the foreign service commends itself to my judgment with greater force. The inauguration of the system of retirement upon annuities would entail an initial appropriation of $50,000. but is estimated that no further appropriation would be required until 1936. All the principal nations have reorganized their foreign services since the war. With the comparatively slight but fundamental changes contained in these proposals, which, in fact, represent nothing more than keeping pace with the rapid growth of the present system. I feel sure that a foundation would be laid for a service which would compare favorably with that of any other nation. The total additional outlay required for this purpose would be $378.500. of which $328.500 would represent an annual expenditure. This seems to me a small sum when compared with the very substantial improvement in the foreign- service machinery which I am confident would follow the enactment of the 58 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. proposed measure. I am therefore disposed to advocate legislation aloiig these lines, provided you feel that such action would not be untimely with respect to other policies and plans. Sincerely yours. CHARLES E. HUGHES. s<- Confirmation by Senate required on original commission. NOTE. Confirmation of the Senate is required for appointments to each of the foregoing grades. Also when initial transfer takes place from consular to diplomatic branch and vice versa. THE WHITE Horsi:. iro.v/m/yfoN. August 2J t , 1928. I am sending you herewith a letter addressed to me by the Secretary of State just prior to his departure for Brazil. It covers a plan for reorganization and improvement of our foreign service which I think well deserving of the favorable consideration by the Congress. I will not attempt to write in detail over the ground which already is so thoroughly covered by the Secretary of State in his letter to me. You are aware, of course, that the policy pursued in making appointments to the foreign service is accredited with having effected .a very great improvement in itself. I cordially believe in the salary readjust- FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 59 ments and interchange of service and retirement provisions covered in the tentative redraft of the Rogers bill of April 11, 1921. When your committee has the time for deliberate consideration of this measure I shall be glad if it can be given proper attention. Very truly yours, WARREN G. HARDING. THE WHITE HOUSE, Washington, September 1, 1922. MY DEAR MR. ROGERS : I am inclosing to you herewith a copy of letter ad- dressed to me by the Secretary of State prior to his departure for Brazil. I have already transmitted a copy of the letter to the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate. I did this because the letter gives approval to the bill which you sponsored in the House. I address you now because I understand that the Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate invites the perfection of the bill along the lines indicated by the letter of the Secretary of State. It is not necessary for me to address you in detail in behalf of this measure. The administration has been very greatly interested in the con- tinued improvement of our foreign service, and I think there is none who will dispute that the proposed salary readjustments and the provision for an in- terchange of service and the retirement provisions all tend to the elevation of standards in the foreign service, which we so much desire to have effected. It will naturally accelerate the enactment of the bill if the House can adopt the bill you have sponsored with the detailed modifications which have been suggested by the State Department. You can be sure that the early enactment will be more than pleasing to the administration and make more certain the enhancement of the foreign service which we all so much desire. Very truly yours, WAKKEN G. HARDING. Hon. JOHN JACOB ROGERS, House of Representative*, Washington, D. C. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October IS, 1922. MY DEAR MR. ROGERS : I have received your letter of August 31, 1922, request- ing an expression of my views on H. R. 17, a bill for the reorganization and improvement of the foreign service, now pending before the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Subsequent to our discussions of last year, to which you refer, I have devoted considerable attention to the needs of the foreign service, and have given lib- eral expression to my views in several public utterances. It is, therefore, need- less for me to emphasize further the importance of an adequate foreign-Service machinery. Post-war conditions have rendered a general betterment of the present organi- zation so imperative that failure to provide for reorganization along construc- tive lines would be tantamount to retrogression. The bill (H. R. 12543) which was introduced by you on September 1, 1922, is a careful revision of your former bill (H. R. 17), and represents textually my views on foreign-service legislation. Fundamentally there is no important departure from your original proposals. The revision was made in the Depart- ment of State with my full concurrence and approval, and has been submitted to the President, by whom. I understand, it has been transmitted to you with appropriate observations. The principal features of your original bill (H. R. 17) are as follows : 1. The classification of ministers. 2. The amalgamation of the Diplomatic and Consular Services into ;i single foreign service on an interchangeable basis. 3. Representation allowances. 4. The substitution of a corps of foreign -service pupils for the present corps of consular assistants. 5. A retirement system. As the classification of ministers has already been considered and favorably reported to the House by the Committee on Foreign Affairs as section 1 of H. R. 10213. there would appear to be no necessity for its reconsideration in the present bill. 60 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. The proposal to create a corps of foreign-service pupils and to abolish the present corps of consular assistants has been 'eliminated in the revision for reasons which will be explained later. Tlie three remaining principles enumerated above are of fundamental impor- tance in any scheme of reorganization, and therefore it has been deemed ad- visable, in order to clarify the legislative aims, to confine attention to their development without the intrusion of those proposals of lesser importance which occur throughout the text of the original bill. It is desirable to examine first the inadequacies of the present system in order to have in mind the very definite objects to be achieved by the measures proposed. The Diplomatic Service is greatly underpaid. It is well known that a man without private means, whatever his ability, can not accept the more important posts of ambassador or minister, but of more immediate importance is the fact that the salaries of secretaries in the Diplomatic Service are so low that the choice of candidates is largely restricted to young men of wealthy families who are able and willing to a considerable extent to pay their own way. It follows that there must be an increase in the salaries of diplomatic secre- taries as a means of broadening the field of selection by eliminating the neces- sity for private incomes and permitting the relative merits of candidates to be adjudged on the basis of ability alone. Furthermore, if young men of the greatest ability and intellectual ambition are to be attracted to the service there must be the prospect of career, recogni- tion, and distinction ; in other words, they must feel that conspicuous ability and fidelity will be rewarded by promotion to the higher grades. The classifi- cation of ministers as proposed in H. R. 10213, to which reference has already been made, would be most helpful in this regard. The Consular .Service, on the other hand, while better paid, suffers from great limitations as a public career. There is no prospect of promotion beyond the Consular Service, and it is with difficulty that many of the best men are retained because of tempting offers constantly made to them by the business world. There would be two distinct advantages to be realized from an amalgama- tion of the two services on an interchangeable basis : First, those highly desir- able benefits of economy and efficiency which would accrue through a system of combined administration; second, a more effective coordination of the political and the economic branches of the service. The bill H. R. 17 proposes that Intel-changeability should be affected on the basis of the present scale of salaries in the Consular Service after eliminating the two existing positions a,t $12,000 each, known as consul general, class 1. In view of the proposed retirement system, which would deduct from the an- nual salary 5 per cent by way of contribution, this proposed scale would repre- sent in effect a substantial reduction in consular salaries. On the other hand, the present scale of consular salaries is already recognized as inadequate, and if applied to the Diplomatic Service it would not be sufficient to eliminate the necessity for private incomes, and therefore the interchangeability which it is desired to effect would remain impracticable in administration. In order to reach the problems more effectively I have deemed it of first im- portance that a new and adequate salary scale should be adopted. After a very careful examination into the actual requirements of these posi- tions it is thought that the scale of salaries proposed in the revision (H. R. 12543), which ranges by regular increments from $3,000 to 9,000, would suffice for the purposes which we have in mind. I am aware that the present appropriating policy is opposed to general increases in rates of compensation for personal service, but the constructive aims of reorganization and improve- ment in the foreign service can be achieved in no other way, and I therefore unhesitatingly indorse the relatively small additional outlay which wouid be required. The principle of providing representation allouances is one which is well established in ilie practice of other nations and among the 'mportant business Jntrrrsis of this country. In rein: ion to the foreign service it is a corollary to the Government ownership of embassy and legation buildings abroad as a means of lightening the burden of personal expense on our ambassadors and ministers. While no appropriations arc sought for this pun>ose at ihe present time, I believe it important thai statutory pnnision should be made therefor in order that suitable funds may be provided at a later date and in such pro- portion as the special exigencies may require. FOREIGN SERVICE 'OF THE UNITED STATES. 61 Essential as may be deemed the foi-egoing proposals, the plan would remain incomplete and inadequate without some acceptable system for the superannu- ation of officers beyond a certain age. There are at the present time a number of positions, especially in the Consular Service, being held by officers quite advanced in years who are incapable in this highly competitive and active career of maintaining the desired standard of efficiency. It is therefore nec- essary to provide for the retirement of these officers ; and in view of the fact that both branches of the service are well established on a civil-service basis, it appears feasible to bring them under the provisions of the civil service retirement act of May 22, 1920, modified as to the age of retirement, the rate of contribution, and the rate of annuity as proposed in the bill. In the revision (H. R. 12543) an effort has been made to arrive at a soroe- what simpler form of expression in effecting an adaptation of the existing law. No proposal in connection with the improvement of the foreign service com- mends itself to my judgment with greater force than that of a suitable retire- ment system so essential to efficiency as well as to the interests of the officers affected thereby. Adverting to the proposal that a corps of foreign-service pupils be created and the present corps of consular assistants abolished, I do not feel that we are ready at this time for such a change in practice. Under the present system young men who enter the service as consular assistants invigorate the lower ranks by the varied resources which they are able to contribute through the diversified training acquired in our schools and colleges. Their practical edu- cation begins by actual contact with the work in the field, and promotion is won after a thorough grounding has boon acquired. The substitution for this system of a selected corps of foreign-service pupils might have the effect of limiting the scope of selection to young men whose designation would be undertaken at too early an age for their capabilities to be correctly appraised. We can always make appropriate suggestions as to advisable courses of study for young men contemplating a diplomatic career, and further consideration of a plan for foreign-service pupils seems to be advisable. As you are aware. I am deeply interested in the developing of the foreign service as a prerequisite to the successful conduct of foreign affairs. It is with great pleasure, therefore, that I can assure you of my hearty cooperation and support in securing the early enactment of the legislation which you have proposed with those modifications indicated in the 1'evision that has been worked out. I am. my dear Mr. Rogers, Sincerely yours. CHARLES E. HUGHES. OCTOBEB 27, 1922. Mr. JULIUS H. BARNES, President Chamber of Commerce of the United States, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR MR. BARNES : I am pleased to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of October 17, 1922, in which you bespeak the interest of your organization in providing adequate support for the Diplomatic and Consular Service and re- quest an expression of my opinion as to the merits of the two bills, H. R. 10213. now awaiting consideration by the House, and H. R. 12543, now pending before the Committee on Foreign Affairs. As you are aware, I have devoted considerable attention to this subject, and on several occasions have expressed my views in no uncertain terms as to the desirability, if not. indeed, the necessity, of an adequate foreign service ma- chinery. I fully realize the keen interest of your organization in these proposals. Apart from considerations of a general character which touch the national welfare, the business man has the most direct interest in the successful con- duct of foreign relations. No one is so quick to feel the consequences of foreign condition and the results of international transactions, whether these be of a political or of an economic character. The two measures to which you refer are complementary, although differing widely as to purport. 62 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. The bill H. R. 10213 is a technical measure, designed to meet the convenience of Congress in handling appropriations under the committee adjustment which followed the inauguration of the Budget system. Through the accretion by which the present appropriating practice has been built up a number of im- portant items of expenditure have become established, although contrary to or unsupported by the provisions of statute. For instance, section 1682 of the Revised Statutes provides : " There shall be but one minister resident accredited to Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, Salvador, and Nicaragua; and the President may select the place of residence for the minister in any one of these States." Manifestly this statute is out of harmony with the practice of sending a minister to each of the above-named countries, and should be repealed. The primary object of the bill in question H. R. 10213 is to eliminate these incon- sistencies by adjusting the provisions of statute to the established legislative practice in making appropriations for the Department of State and the Diplo- matic and Consular Service. In that sense it is more corrective than constructive, as it does not purport to reorganize or to improve the foreign service. There is. however, one highly constructive provision in this bill, namely, section 1, which proposes an amend- ment to section 1675 of the Revised Statutes by classifying the grade of min- ister into two classes. The classification of ministers is, in my opinion, correct in principle, as it prepares the way for an extension of the career service to include the grade of minister, without encroaching upon the constitutional powers of the President in connection with appointments to that grade. One of the essential require- ments in any scheme of general improvement must be the incentive of promo- tion to the higher grades for officers in the career service who have demon- strated their ability and fitness for such positions. Apart from this provision, the bill, although containing many features that would be helpful in administration, can not be said to represent the character of legislation which is so urgently needed for the building of a broader and more efficient foreign service machinery. On the other hand, the bill H. R. 12543 is designed particularly to provide for a fundamental reorganization of the foreign service. In answer to a recent letter from Hon. John Jacob Rogers, in which ho requested an expression of my views on his former bill. H. R. 17, I discussed in detail the merits of the proposals, stating that H. R. 12543 represents textually my views on foreign service legislation. For your information I inclose herewith a copy of my letter to Representative Rogers, which you are at liberty to use as you think proper. It is indeed gratifying to feel that your organization is prepared to support these measures. I am very deeply interested in their early enactment, the immediate effect of which would be appreciable in bringing the service abreast of present-day requirements. We must maintain an adequate foreign service. The ultimate cost of an inadequate foreign service is so much greater than that of an adequate one that the slight additional expenditures which would be required to raise the standard of our present organization is insignificant in comparison with the benefits that would accrue. I will be greatly pleased to learn of any steps which the Chamber may t;ik<- toward furthering the educational work among its members as to the impor tance and the merits of these bills. Sincerely yours, CHARLES E. HUOHKS. STATEMENT OF HON. WILBUR J. CARE,, DIRECTOR OF THE CON- SULAR, SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF STATE Resumed. Mr. CARK. Mr. Chairman. I left off yesterday morning, I believe, at section 11. I would like to say further in respect to that section that, in studying it somewhat more fully. I believe that it might be improved if it were amended on line 5, page 7. after the words Foreign service inspectors." by inserting words somewhat like these: "who shall, under the direction of the Secretary of State, inspect the work of the foreign-service officers in both the diplomatic and consular branches of the foreign service." That is a little more definite than the section at present. I presume, it is the desire of the commmittee. as I think it would be wise to do. to place all FOREIGN SER\ 7 ICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 63 offices of the foreign service, all missions and consulates alike, under the necessity of being inspected periodically. Mr. COOPER. "Who shall." under the direction of whom? Mr. ('ARK. Under the direction of the Secretary of State inspect the work of officers in the foreign service in both the diplomatic and consular branches ; that is. all officers in the foreign service. Mr. COOPER. You say officers in the foreign service. There is a distinction made here. Ambassadors and ministers are officers in the foreign service, but are not foreign-service officers under this. Mr. CARR. That is true. But in the first section of this bill it states that hereafter the Diplomatic and Consular Service shall be known as the foreign service. Mr. COOPER. That includes the ambassadors and ministers. Mr. CARR. Yes. Mr. COOPKR. Do you want these inspectors to inspect ambasssidors and ministers? Mr. CARR. Their offices. Mr. COLE. At the discretion of the Secretary of State. Mr. MOORES. He made the point yesterday that all the legations and embassies ought to be inspected. Mr. CARR. I think the Secretary of State ought to have an opportunity to know how the affairs of all of the offices are managed. Mr. ROGERS. I think it is scandalous that we have not hitherto inspected diplomatic offices. Mr. COOPER. The office of ambassador is of such dignity that I think the fact that a subordinate officer like an inspector was inspecting the ambassador would not add very much to the dignity or the effectiveness of the work in that particular country. Mr. CARR. As a matter of fact, that is precisely what is done in the British service, through an office that was created within three or four years. They have fashioned their inspection system somewhat like our own consular in- spection system and have extended it. and now and then, as occasion requires, they send an inspector into diplomatic missions. Mr. ('OLE. We have no sacred white elephants in the Republic? Mr. COOPER. I am not talking about sacred white elephants. I am simply talking about the effect it would have upon the people of England,' or the Dip- lomatic Service there, to have a subordinate officer going into the embassies inspecting? Would you go into all of his work, or just the financial side of ft? Mr. CARR. You understand that the ordinary embassy nowadays has a lari^e staff, a large clerical staff, a large secretarial staff, and expends a lot of money. During the late war some of those officers spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, and there has therefore been no method, no machinery, by which their business operations, the correctness of their expenditures, etc.. would be exam- ined into on the spot. Mr. fooi-Ei!. These inspectors would be authorized to inspect nothing relating to the diplomatic work, nothing of that sort; just the financial side? Mr. CARR. I would inspect the management of the office, cost of upkeep, care of Government property, and whether men are working full time or not. In most of the items of the expenses of a mission you gentlemen are as much interested as the Secretary of State. As we become owners of embassy build- ings involving thousands of investment it will become imperative that inspec- tions be both frequent and thorough. I might say further that Mr. Lay calls my attention to the fact that several of our ambassadors have expressed their desire that their offices be periodically inspected, and that is not strange, for all consular officers who are doing well can hardly wait until the inspector gets around to them. Mr. COOPER. Shall agents under the direction of the Secretary of State in- spect the offices of the foreign service, both Diplomatic and Consular? Mr. CARR, Yes. sir. I should say further that when Mr. Stewart, who is here now and was our inspector for the Near East, when he visited Russia the ambassador himself requested him to make a complete inspection and investigation of the offices of the embassy, its accounts, and the methods of conducting business. On several occasions the Secretary of State, being with- out any machinery for inspecting diplomatic offices, has detailed a consular 64 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. inspector to inspect the operation of a particular mission. There is no reason why any head of a mission should object to inspection. It is not a public mat- ter: it does not humiliate or interfere with him. but it aids him. FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICERS* BONDS. Mr. ROGERS. Diplomatic officers are not bonded, are they'? Mr. CARR. They are not. and the purix>se of the provision in this bill is to bond all foreign-service officers. Mr. ROGERS. Below the rank of minister? Mr. CARR, Yes. Mr. ROGERS. Why should not an ambassador or minister be bonded? Mr. CARR. The department has not recommended it and has not brought itself yet to pass upon that question, but my own personal opinion is that every man who is responsible for the handling of money in the foreign service ought to be under bond to the Government for a correct accounting for the money, whether he is the head of a mission, an ambassador, minister, or consul general, counselor or vice consul. Mr. BROWNE. Has the Government ever lost anything by defalcation of an ambassador or minister? Mr. CARR. I do not recall any case in which the Government lias lost. Mr. MOORES. I think it has lost prestige in one case that I know of. Mr. CARR. But I do recall that there have been occasions when secretaries, for instance, have not accounted for money which they have drawn from the Treasury and there has been no reimbursement made. Mr. MOORES. We all understand that a minister and ambassador has mani- fold diplomatic and social duties ; that he has no voice in the selection of his subordinates, unless it be possibly a poorly paid not secretary but clerk, and a stenographer or two. Is it fair to put on a minister or an ambassador a pecun'ary liability to the Government for the defalcations of subordinates with whose selection he has nothing to do? I do not think it is. Mr. CARR. I should think it should be on precisely the same basis as a consul general or a consul, whose subordinates are chosen usually by the department and not by himself, and who are assigned to his office not upon his express request but because the department thinks they should be assigned. It is true that all vice consuls, consular assistants, all interpreters, and men of that kind are bonded. In the diplomatic missions the head of a mission is not bonded, neither are the secretaries bonded. It seems to me that sound business pr ; nciples should require that the should be bonded. Mr. MOORES. Let me say. if I give a bond in a State or county office, where I have the selection of my subordinates. I have a perfect right to take from every one of them an indemnity bond. Mr. CARR. Exactly. Mr. MOORES. The minister or ambassador could not so indemnify himself. because he has no voice in the selection of his subordinates: and I do not think that is fair. Mr. ROGERS. How does it differ from the practice that exists in every post office? The postmaster has no voice in the selection of carriers, clerks, or other employees, but is bonded for the : r acts and omissions. Mr. MOORES. I think everyone who handles money is under bond to the Gov- ernment. Mr. COLE. Yes. Mr. MOORES. The postmaster is required by law to spend eight hours a day in his place of business and be is supposed to supervise everything. He can not do that without the consent of the Postmaster General or his Assistant. He can not leave h-'s post office; he has got to be there to supervise the business of the Government. With the ambassador or minister, the duties are manifold. He does not have to and it would not be fair to require him to stay and super- vise the ordinary business of an embassy or legation. I think there is a very great distinction there. I think you are wrong there. You are not often wrong, but I believe you are wrong in asking bonds from them. Mr. COOPER. Let me make a suggestion. The title of ambassador : it seems to me rather strange, to require him to give bond an ambassador, a plenipo- tentiary have him give a bond not to steal money? Mr. CARR. As I say. that exact point is not involved in this bill. Mr. COOPER. It is not in the bill, but you suggest that they give bond. FORKIGX SERVICE OF THH UNITED STATES. 65 JK> I' 1 ' 1 '"' ! * ei ?. y tbat J ( ' Un llluke is that T think iT lias l practice of Congress to require some form of security for every man who handles Goveniment money. Mr COLE. Would it be possible to* bond them against making any foolish ' ' Mr CAISK. That \vould involve too much of a question of judgment. I am afraid, to be practicable. Mr. Cow;. I am more concerned about that than about the financial transac- tions. Mr. CARU. I would like to say in respect to this, that this bill as I understand it does not call for bonds for ministers and ambassadors, but in respect to those below the grade of minister I think they ought to be bonded Mr. COOPKK. That is right. Mr. CARR. It works out in this way. In practice the ambassador or the min- ister entrusts the actual operation of handling money, and the management of his office to one or more of his secretaries. In a large embassy the business of the office is divided up, one secretary having charge of passports, another secretary having charge of commercial matters, another of gathering informa- tion. and each with a force of men under him. They are responsible for the work of their sections. They ought to be bonded as much as any consul or vice consul ought to be bonded, in my judgment. Whether yon extend it to ambassa- dors and ministers is a matter for your judgment. But I personally do not see any difference between bonding the head of a mission and bonding the head of a large consulate general. Mr. Ro(,i:i;s. I think the committee would like to relieve Mr. Carr from tes- tifying. He 1ms been at it four days now. and I suggest that we allow Irm to proceed as rapidly as is consistent with bringing out the information. Mr. CAKU. Going on to section 13. I think I have already discussed that. Mr. COOPER. Did you discuss section 12? Mr. CARR. Yes, I discussed section 12 yesterday. I think it is unnecessary to discuss section 13 further, since I dis- cussed that the other day. I would suggest that after section 13 it would be in the interest of good legislative practice in the future if you should insert an authorization for the payment of post allowances in such sums as Congress may appropriate. Mr. MOOBKS. Have yon anything to add on that? I apprehend that will be the hardest section in the whole bill to save on the floor of the House, and if you have anything to say in favor of it, I would be glad to hear it. Mr. COOPER. I did not get your last suggestion. Mr. CARR. I said that I thought that, in addition to section 13, authorizing representation allowances, appropriations for representation allowances in such sums as you may decide to grant in the future none is asked for at the present time that you also include another section authorizing the present practice of appropriating post allowances, so that the authorization may exist in the event that some exigency should arise. Our understanding is that if this bill is passed the present post-allowance appropriation would be absorbed in the increase in salaries, and the present appropriation for post allowances would be discon- tinued. But there might an exigency arise again as it did in 1918 when imme- diate action would be required, and under the present rules of the House you would have to have a prior authorization, which would be general legislation coming before this committee. It would take considerable time to get that authorization through the House and considerable more time to get the appro- priation under such authorizing legislation. If such appropriations could be authorized in a bill like this, it might save much time in the future. You would have entire control as to whether you would appropriate or not. hut if you should desire to appropriate you could do it speedily. Mr. ROGERS. I think you have already fully discussed section 14. Mr. CARR. I would suggest the insertion of a section between section 14 and section 15, a section to modify that part of the act of July 1, 1916, which authorizes the President to designate and assign any secretary of class 1 as counselor of embassy or legation, and suggest that the act be amended to read : " Provided. That the President may. whenever he considers it advisable to do so. designate and assign any Foreign Service officer as counselor of embassy or legation." At present the law reads-: 'The President may assign any secretary <>f class 1 as counselor of embassy "! legation." 66 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. I would like to see that amended so as to be the assignment of any secretary that the President may deem proper to assign, and also any consular officer that the President may deem it proper to assign, by simply using the all- inclusive term, foreign service officer. That would give complete elasticity by permitting the President to draw on both branches of the service in the designation of men to occupy the position of counselor, which is recognized in all foreign services as a necessary position and which has been heretofore recognized in our own. Mr. COOPER. Put that at the end of line 23. Mr. CABB. Yes. Mr. COOPER. Just what is that language? Mr. GARB. " Provided, That the President may, whenever he considers it ad- visable so to do. designate and assign any foreign service officer as counselor of embassy or legation." Mr. ROGERS. That is a new section, is it not? Mr. CARR. It is really a proviso at the end of section 14. Mr. ROGERS. Is it a natural proviso to make to section 14, which deals, it seems to me. with quite another subject? Mr. GARB. Not entirely pertinent to that section, it is true. Mr. ROGERS. It is really an amendment to the existing law. I should think it would be better I am asking, not asserting to make it a section which would read something like this: Section so-and-so, of act so-and-so, is hereby ;i mended to read as follows. Mr. CARR. You could do it this way : " That part of the act of July 1. 1916, which authorizes the President to designate or assign any secretary of class 1 as counselor of embassy or legation is hereby amended to read as fotlov,- : That the President may," etc. It is immaterial to me how it is done so long as it is done. Mr. ROGERS. I suppose a proviso ought to have some relation to the subject matter which precedes the proviso. Mr. CARR. Technically ; yes. Mr. ROGERS. I was not quite clear that this did. Mr. CARR. I think your point is well taken. Mr. COOPER. Make the period a year, and then begin a new sentence, "That the President may." and include it all in section 14, not as a proviso what you have just suggested. Mr. CARR. That is all right. Mr. ROGERS. I think you have not discussed section 15 at all. Mr. CARR. Section in makes it possible for the President to appoint any for- eign-service officer to act as commissioner, charge d'affaires, minister resident, or diplomatic agent for such period as the public interests may require without loss of grade, class, or salary, subject to the usual constitutional requirements. What that means is that a foreign -service officer, who is a secretary or consul general, let us say. may he sent, by and with the advice and ninseiit of the Senate, as a minister resident. charg d'affaires, or diplomatic agent for such time as may be desirable, and when that duty ceases return to his regular func- tions, meanwhile receiving tlie salary which the law provides that he shall receive. In other words, it does not disturb his place in his grade, does not take him out of the grade lie regularly occupies, and yet makes him available for special service under another appointment. Mr. COOPIK. Will you please define a minister resident as distinct from minister? Mr. <'AI:K. A minister resident is merely a lower grade of diplomatic awnt under the rules defined by the congress of Vienna, a lower grade of diplomatic officer, a grade lower than envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary. Mr. COOPER. He has not the full powers of a minister plenipotentiary? Mr. CARR. In practice there is really no distinction made between the actual powers of a minister resident and the envoy extraordinary and plenipotentiary. The office of minister resident is employed where an officer of a higher grade than charg6 d'affaires or diplomatic agent is desii'ed and a lower grade than that of envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary. Whether a repre- sentative should be appointed as envoy extraordinary or minister resident would be determined largely by th'> practices of other governments in respect to their representation in a particular capital to which it was desired to send a representative; or it might be that for a special reason a government might desire to increase the importance of its mission by giving the higher designa- tion or the reverse by employing the lower one.. FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 67 Air. COOPEK. It seems to me the question of duties would be paramount there. If a minister resident has the power of a minister plenipotentiary, then we are trying to do something which will evade the restriction of the Constitution in the appointment of a minister. Mr. GARB. No, sir; because this appointment would be made as usual with the advice and consent of the Senate. Air. COOPER. Yes. Air. CABR. There is no intention of disregarding that requirement. Air. ROGERS. Is there more than one minister resident? Air. CARR. At the present time there is in our service one, and that is in Liberia. He carries on diplomatic relations in the manner that any minister would. Air. ROGERS. It is largely a matter of salary. What is the salary? Air. CARR. He gets $5.000. Air. COOPER. I would like to ask Air. Carr to take up the paragraph in sec- tion 15 : " That within the discretion of the President, foreign-service officers of class 1 may be appointed to act as commissioner, charge d'affaires," etc. Would that take the action of the United States Senate? Air. CARR. As to commissioners, no, sir. It has been the consistent practice of this Government for the President to appoint commissioners without the advice and consent of the Senate, and it is frequently done now by taking a diplomatic secretary or a consul general and making him commissioner. Air. COOPER. A commissioner may be appointed, in the discretion of the Presi- dent. Then you say charge d'affaires, minister resident, etc. Would a minister resident require confirmation? Air. CARR. My recollection is that it has always been the practice to appoint ministers resident only with the advice and consent of the Senate. Air. COOPER. Ought not that to be, then, as it is now, " within the discretion of the President, he may appoint a commissioner, who does not require confirma- tion, a charg^ d'affaires-, minister resident, not minister plenipotentiary, or diplomatic agent, for such period as he may wish"? Would not that imply that the President could appoint anyone, in his discretion, without regard to confirmation by the Senate? Air. CABB. I do not think that the President would presume to interpret that as meaning that he could ignore the well-established practice of submitting nominations of that sort to the Senate, as required by the Constitution. Air. ROGERS. I think the Constitution would stop it. Air. COOPER. That is true, if the nrnister res-'rtent is the same as a minister. Air. ROGERS. He has certainly to be a minister. Air. CARR. He has to be a minister under our practice; even a secretary of embassy is under our practice a public minister within the meaning of the Con- stitution, in so far as nomination and confirmation are concerned. Air. COOPER. What does the word "resident" there mean? Air. CARR. It means a minister resident at the capital. Air. COOPER. The minister plenipotentiary is supposed to reside there. What does the word "resident" after the word "minister" mean? What does i' apply to? Air. CARR. In the rules adopted by the Congress of Vienna in Hi.", they graded the different diplomatic representatives, beginning with ambassador, coming down then to envoy extraordinary and minister plen'potent ary. Then again to charge d'affaires and then by smother rule they agreed that minister resident should rank between chorge d'affaires and minister plenipotentiary. Air. COCKRAN. That minister resident is not perhaps like iho rank of am- bassador in the court of Pumpernickel. Air. CARR. These different grades are employed according to the character of the representation that a government desires to have in a particular country. Mr. COOPER. I think it is not the size or the prosperity of the power to which he is sent, but it is the function of the officer himself. That is the point. Air. ('ex KRAX. That is very interesting. As a matter of fact, is it not more a question of dignity in the officer himself? .Mr. CARR. It is a question of dignity. Air. Skinner reminds me that in former times it was customary to employ the title of " resident " for the perma- nent representative resident in a country or in a capital, and that when it became desirable to appoint a special representative of greater dignity or for a special negotiation the title " envoy extraordinary " would be employed. At one time these titles were synonymous. Now that of "minister resident" has 68 FOREIGN SERVICE OF TfJ K UNITED STATES. come to mean the lowest grade of diplomatic representative accredited to a sovereign or head of a State. .Mr. COOPER. You provide that within the discretion of the President he may appoint charges d'affaires. That does not take confirmation by the Senate. The commissioner does not require continuation. Mr. CARE. I beg your pardon. A charge d'affaires does require confirmation. Mr. COOPER. A commissioner does not? Mr. (.'ARK. A commissioner does not. Mr. COOPER. A minister would? Mr. CARU. Yes. Mr. COOPER. That would, then, in the same paragraph provide for the appoint - n;fiit in the discretion of the President of an officer who does not require con- tinuation, like a commissioner, and a minister who does, because they are not in the discretion of the President. One is within the discretion of the Presi- dent exclusively because it does not require confirmation. The other one is in his discretion to nominate but not to appoint. The appointment requires continuation by the Senate in the case of a minister. That is what I was getting at. Mr. CARR. As I understand this section, it only has really to do with the preservation to officers so assigned of their regular classification and salary. It does not enter into or touch the question of manner of appointment, because obviously no law passed by Congress can alter the fact that the minister resi- dent and charge d'affaires are public ministers under the Constitution and must be appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. No law that you can pass would alter that fact and no President would seek to evade that provision. Mr. COOPER. Then the law is saying " that the President in his discretion " ..N not apt language. He can not do it in his discretion: it takes confirmation by the Senate. The President can nominate a minister, and he can take a commissioner in his discretion and assign him for any period. That is not in his discretion except by confirmation of the Senate. I wonder if it is apt language to put them all in the same paragraph. Mr. CAKR. His discretion would be exercised in the selection of a certain grade of officer and not in the appointment of that officer. Mr. ROGERS. Proceed to section 16. I think that has all been pointed out in substance to the committee in connection with another bill. Mr. CARR. Section 16 authorizes the special detail of foreign-service officers outside of the city of Washington and the payment of actual necessary ex- penses under certain circumstances. That is already the law. having been made so by the statute of February 5, 1915, with this exception : That law says, "Any secretary in the diplomatic service, consul . general or consul"; while this bill provides that " any foreign-service officer " may he so detailed. In other words, this section adapts the present law to this particular bill, that is all. It also changes the per diem from $5 per day to $8 per day when foreign-service officers are engaged upon this special temporary duty. I would suggest a further amendment also, after the word " Washington ' in line 6, page 8 of the bill (section 16), that it he specifically stated, " within the United States or abroad." In the first place, the purpose of the section as it now stands and the manner in which it is executed, is to give a diplomatic or consular officer on duty in the department, who is ordered, let us say. to Philadelphia or New York to attend a conference, a trade conference, for instance, a per diem of $8 a day while engaged on that work, because otherwise he would have to pay part of his expenses from his own pocket, which would be entirely unfair. It makes it clearer to add the words "within the United States." because that is what it applies to. Mr. COOPER. At what point? Mr. CARE. Line 6. after the word "Washington." Mr. COOPER. To say. "within the United States." Mr. CARR. Or abroad. Mr. CWKEAN. You could say ''within the United Stairs <>r :d>md." That includes Washington. Mr. CARR. I would like also, if the committee should agree with it, that the words "or abroad" l>o added. In going to and coming from a post the law permits a per diem of s.~> a day for subsistence in travel. P.ut in a special ;.ssiirnm>iit fr some special duty, away from the post abroad, an officer can not g*-t along on $5 a day jn these days. T inive in my mind an occasion when FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 69 a lot of our ships in tlie port of Bordeaux caused such an acute situation result- ing in complaint against the consulate, I telegraphed the consul general at Paris to send Mr. Lay down to. Bordeaux to look into that situation. Under our present regulations, Mr. Lay could only be paid $5 a day. What did it cost you, Mr. Lay? Mr. LAY. It cost about $35 above my expenses, above the expenses that wore allowed me by the Government. Mr. COCKRAN. Not $35 a day'.' Mr. LAY. For the trip. Mr. COCKUAX. For how many days? Mr. LAV. I was obliged to spend much more than I was able to collect from the Government in excess of the $>. Mr. COCKKAN. For how many days' service'.' Mr. LAY. I was there nearly two weeks. Mr. COCKRAN. About $2.50 a day. Mr. LAY. I may say that I was ordered while at home on leave to the National Foreign Trade Conference in Chicago in 1919. at which I delivered an address, on the instructions of the department, in respect to trade, and that trip cost me about $40 out of my own pocket above the limits of the amount that could be collected from the Government. The department was kind enough to reserve a hotel room for me in Chicago. The cost of the room alone was $4 a day, so I had left a dollar for subsistence above my room, which, of course, was not sufficient. Mr. CAKK. That occurs in every case where an officer of the department is ordered at the request of a foreign trade convention to confer with business men or to make an address before a business men's convention, and I submit the present allowance is not adequate. Mr. MOOUES. If you will allowe me a suggestion, I think you ought to modify your amendment a little bit. because, if you say outside of the city of Washington and within the United States or abroad, that language, within the United States may be taken as ascripsio loco, and I think it would be better to put the amendment after the word " duty." In the first place, duty any place outside of the city of Washington or abroad, and then insert the words " or abroad," for the reason that I do not want some comptroller to construe that language, " within the United .States," as simply a description of the location of the city of Wahington. That is what it amounts to. Mr. ROGERS. You could cure the difficulty by saying " outside the city of Washington, either in the United States or abroad." Mr. COCKKAX. " Whether in the United States or abroad." Mr. CAKK. I will be very grateful for anything that you can suggest that will protect us from unfortunate decisions of the comptroller. Mr. COCKRAX. We want to protect the bill from ambiguity. Mr. IlooEus. Section 17. the retirement section, is long and somewhat intri- cate. Mr. Carr and Mr. Skinner have explained that. Mr. CARR. Mr. Chairman, before we reach that I would like to suggest to the committee for its consideration this section, to be inserted after section 16. I do not know whether you would feel that it ought be to inserted or not: " That whenever he deems it to be in the public interest the Secretary of State is authorized to order to the United States for trade conference work any foreign service officers who have performed three years or more of continued service abroad: Provided, That in all such cases the expense of travel and subsistence shall be allowed, in the same manner and under the same conditions as those applying to foreign service officers going to and returning from their posts." That is to say. where a man who has been three years in a post, let us say. Johannesburg, has information which a trade conference in the United States might find very useful to have explained to them, the department would have the privilege of ordering him home, and pay his expenses and the expenses of his family in the same way that they are paid now in going to his post, keeping him here as long as it might be necessary for the trade conference work, con- suming his leave of absence for that purpose, or so much as might be necessary, and then send him back. I think such conferences would be in the interest of making the foreign service officers more useful than they now are, in connection with tiie promotion of our trade relations, and would also make better Americans of them. Mr. ROGERS. Do you not think it is a very wholesome thing to bring back these men from the field to their own country just as often as practicable? When a man gets older, more experienced, and level-headed, the danger of losing his hea-1 70 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THK VNITKD STATES. and his Americanism is not so extreme. But I have seen some of these young secretaries, who have had exceptional social opportunities and advantages in the capitals abroad, become the most abject followers of the social regime in the foreign capital. One of the things that I hope is going to follow from this bill is to send some of .these de-Americanized secretaries to Singapore as vice consul, or to force them out of the service. I hope also that The tendencies of the administration and the tendencies of our law will be to bring these younger men, and perhaps the older men, back to the United States as often as possible so that they may not lose their Americanism, which is the biggest asset they have and the biggest asset to the country. Mr. COCKKAN. I quite agree with you. but I think this bill will increase in- stead of diminish that; but that is what experience will demonstrate. I myself would not let thorn stay in the diplomatic posts more than four years. I would like to see such a system put into operation and see how it will work. In that way we could give all the talent of the country an opportunity. Mr. CARR. I am grateful to Mr. Rogers for expressing a sentiment that up to the present moment I had not had. perhaps, the courage to voice. His views coincide with my views exactly. If this bill has any purpose whatever, it should have the purpose of putting more Americanism into our foreign service, in both branches of it, and in making it more responsive to the practical needs of our ]>eople and Government rather than to encourage the members to devote their energies to acquiring social prestige and the manners and customs of foreign countries. I want to see every diplomatic and consular officer in the foreign service thoroughgoing Americans in touch with business affairs and responsive to the aspirations of the people of the United States, both small and great, able accurately to interpret the people of the United States to the people of foreign countries and to win their respect, confidence, and good will. I think this bill should do much in that direction if it has the effect which those of us who are in sympathy desire. Mr. COCKRAN. You siiggest an amendment to be added to section 16 or as an independent section? Mr. CARR. I would suggest it as a separate section after section 16, making it section 17, page 8. Mr. ROGERS. We are ready to proceed now. Have you any comments of your own with reference to the retirement section? Mr. CARR. I have one comment to make by way of a possible proviso. Mr. COCKKAN. At what point? Mr. CARR. To insert, after the word "excluded." line IS. page It. the words: "Provided, That the President is authorized to establish by Executive order a list of places in foreign countries which, by reason of the severe climatic or other extreme conditions, are to be classed as unhealthful posts, and each year of service at such post, inclusive of the regular leave of absence, shall be counted as two years in reckoning the length of service of foreign-service offi- cers for the purposes of retirement." By that I mean and submit to you the question of whether it is not fair to give that allowance of double time to a man who goes to Saigon or to Batavia or to Singapore or to Boma or to the West Coast of Africa. These places are very trying, from the standpoint of climate and wear and tear on men's health : and men who serve there should. I think, have credit for double the amount of service given to men in places like Berlin. Paris, and Marseilles. Mr. FISH. Do you know that that has been tried out in the Army and found very unsatisfactory: that they got double time for service in the Philippines and' outside of the continental limits of the United States? That was repealed. I think, in 1912. for purposes of retirement. Mr. CARR. I did not know of the Army experiment, but I do know that it is a practice that has for years been followed in foreign services in certain other Governments. Mr. FISH. Is it not a fact that no white man could live at Singapore 3." years, or any place of that character? There are parts of the world where you would send these officers where no white man could live ::.". years to be eligible for retirement: so that you can practically exclude that. Mr. CARR. That is perfectly true, but as a matter of fact, they would not be kept any such length of time in a post of that kind, even if they could he. But in the administration of the service, the readiness of men to go to undesirable posts which would follow a provision of this kind would change the whole morale. FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 71 Mr. COCKRAN. I entirely agree with you. and it is not only desirable, but necessary, but if you apply the matter in its rationality and send any man to those places, it would not be necessary to retire him ; he can not live' there. No white man can live there 35 years, at least, I have not heard of one. Mr. CARR. My desire is to see a provision of this kind in order that the service could be made to operate with as much fairness to all members of the service as possible. Mr. COCKRAN. Have you that amendment in writing that you suggest? Mr. CARR. Yes. Mr. COCKRAN. You might leave it with the clerk. Mr. ROGERS. Would not that be a difficult provision to administer? Would not there be a tremendous pressure to increase the classification of localities as unhealthful? Mr. CARR. No. As a matter of fact. I think the President could issue an executive order establishing the unhealthful posts on the basis ofthe absolute facts, that would convince every member of this committee of its wisdom and fairness, and I do not believe that we would have much difficulty in maintain- ing the list indefinitely. Mr. ROGERS. Can you insert in that provision some language to the effect that the number of such posts should not exceed 6 or 8 or 10? Mr. COCKRAN. I should hope not. Conditions might change. Mr. ROGERS. I think that would be a wide-open avenue and that we ought to have some limitation of it. Mr. COCKRAN. In connection with Naples, my recollection is that it was at one time most unhealthy, and also Yera Cruz was formerly intolerable. Mr. COOPER. And Habana. Mr. COCKRAN. You would give the President discretion and he would not be likely to abuse it. and if you could not trust him to fix the number of posts, that the sanitary condition would justify fixing, you ought not to trust him with anything. It is a provision which in the nature of things has to be elastic. As I say. I recollect myself places which were in the past deemed unhealthy. Mr. COOPER. Such as Panama. Mr. COCKRAN. Of course. When you came close to Naples, you were aware of its proximity long before your eyes discovered it; the smell extended for 30 or 40 miles. The CHAIRMAN. If you happened to have the right wind. Mr. ROGERS. In lines 16. 17. and 18 it is provided that in computing the longevity, " all periods of separation from the service and so much of any period of leave of absence as may exceed six months shall be excluded." Why do you give a man six months' credit when he has a leave of absence? Mr. COCKKAN. Where do you find that language? Mr. ROGKRS. I 'use 9, lines 10 to 18. Mr. MCXIRES. A man at Calcutta ought to be able to go to Simla, if he is sick in the summer time, and ought to have credit. Mr. ROGERS. Six months' leave of absence is credited to his actual service under this language. He only gets 60 days' leave a year, as I understand it. .Mr. CARR. Sixty days' leave a year with pay plus time going to and coining from his post. Now. there are cases, and they probably make up most of the cases of men who obtain leave of absence for as long as six months, where leave is extended beyond 60 days on account of illness. Mr. ROGERS. I know of cases where young men have wanted to go on a pro- tracted hunting trip and have gotten leave of absence for six months. It may be picayunish. but there does not seem to me to be any particular reason why a six months' hunting trip should be treated as service within the meaning of this law. Mr. COCKRAN. Why not put in that any man by reason of illness not exceed- ing six months shall have credit? I do not think he should be credited for time outside of the six months' leave of absence. Mr. CARR. I have no objection to that. Mr. COCKRAN. That meets your objection. Mr. Chairman? Mr. ROGERS. Entirely. Mr. CARR. I have no desire to give anybody credit for six months' leave to enable him to go on a hunting trip. Mr. COCKRAN. Ought any other reason except sickness to justify a man foi having that kind of allowance of service? 2447022 6 72 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. Mr. CAKR. It might well be considered whether a foreign service officer might not at some time be separated from this particular service to undertake other work for the Government, in which case his right to retirement pay should be protected. That situation would hardly arise frequently, however. Mr. ROGERS. Turning to page 10, line o, subdivision (d), Ambassador Fletcher wrote me, calling my attention to the fact that although ministers were in- cluded in this subdivision, he himself, who had worked up from the ranks to be ambassador, was for no apparent reason excluded. I understand from con- versation that you see no objection to including ambassador, so as to cover Mr. Fletcher's case? Mr. CARR. There is nothing I should like better than to see ambassadors and ministers included. Mr. COCKRAX. They would not be excluded if they had served the full term of 2.~> years. Mr. C'ARR^This would exclude ambassadors, because ambassadors are not mentioned in this section. On page 10 only ministers are mentioned. Mr. COCKRAN. There would not be more than one or two in the, service that would come under it. Mr. MOORES. If there is only one, he ought to be taken care of. Mr. COCKRAX. Continuous service of 25 years. Mr. CARR. At present there are two who would be entitled to retirement with pay if their positions were mentioned in this bill. Mr. COCKRAX. I do not see why they should not be. Mr. CARB. They should be. Mr. COCKRAX. That would be excluding men on account of the excellence of their service. If a man goes up from the lower ranks, with 35 years' con- tinuous service, and ends with the rank of ambassador, he ought to be emi- nently entitled to it. Mr* CAKR. Quite so. Mr. COOPER. Line 14 : " The rate of deduction in the case of foreign-service officers shall be a sum equal to 5 per cent of the basic salary." There ought to be a 5 per cent provision for ministers or ambassadors if you should include them. Mr. COCKRAX. That is subdivision (e). Mr. CARR. That is covered by the preceding subsection (d) : "Any minister or person holding any official position in the Department of State at the time this act becomes effective who subsequent to November 26, 1909, occupied the position of secretary in the Diplomatic Service, and any foreign-service officer who may hereafter be promoted to the grade of minister or appointed to any official position in the Department of State, shall be entitled to all the benefits of this act in the same manner and under the same condi- tions as a foreign-service officer." If you think that is not broad enough, of course it ought to be rectified, but it had been thought that this subsection would cover it. Mr. COCKRAX. Why not put in there the rate of deduction in the case of any persons coming under this act shall be equal to 5 per cent? % Mr. ROGERS. It strikes me, taking (d) and (e) together as they now are, that the minister gets the benefit of the retirement provision and lias no money exacted from his salary. Mr. COCKRAX. He does not pay the fiddler. Mr. CARR. You might say the rate of deduction in the case of all officers t<> which this bill applies Mr. COCKRAX. That it shall be 5 per cent. Mr. MOORES. Who shall be eligible to retirement. Mr. ROGERS. In a case like that of Mr. Fletcher, who gets a salary of $17,500, why should he chip in 5 per cent of his salary, in view of the fact that his maximum annuity is no larger than if he received a salary of about half of what in fact he receives? Mr. CARR. The best way I can answer that is to cite the case of the gentle- men in the civil service here in Washington, who are entitled to retirement under the civil-service retirement fund. Mr. FISH. Practice. Mr. CARR. Yes. If they are receiving $3,000 a year they have to pay 2A per cent of that into the retirement fund, which is the same rate applied to the man who gets $800 a year, but when they come up for retirement at age of 70. the most they can expert is S720 a year. Outside of the extreme case which the chairman has mentioned, the application of the principle of retirement to FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 73 the foreign service, as made by this bill, is much more equitable than that made by the present civil-service retirement law in its application to people employed in the classified civil service, because this bill takes into consideration the amount of salary and gives a man retirement pay pro rated according the salary that he has received. Mr. FISH. I think I can point out what the system is. I am introducing at the request of the enlisted personnel of the Army a 25-year retirement bill. They are paid from $21 up to the first sergeant, $157. The sergeants are the ones most interested in it and have been in communication with me most. The bill is one that will increase the pay of the different grades of private up to first sergeant. $30 each, and deduct 1 per cent from each of the grades. Of course, the sergeants' deduction of 1 per cent is vastly more than that of the private who only receives .$21, but they all get the same amount, $30 more, so there is no complaint even among the sergeants. You will find that is the general practice in retirement. According to that principle an ambassador would not have much complaint. Mr. COCKBAN. I think it would be a great blemish on this bill to leave an am- bassador who has worked his way up from the lower grades to the highest without some provision for his retirement. The most excellent would have the greatest hardship. Mr. FISH. I do not expect to be ambassador until GO. and then have five years before retiring. Mr. CAKK. It occurs to me you might adopt here a principle that is a slight modification of that employed by several foreign Governments in their systems of retirement of foreign-service officers. They compensate their officers by a double system of compensation basic salary plus local allowances similar to what is known in our legislation as post or representation allowances. Mr. COCKKAX. I know what it is. Mr. CARR. They base their rate of retirement pay upon the basic salary and not upon the local allowance. You could adopt in this bill, possibly, the prin- ciple of a contribution computed on the basic salary of foreign -service officers up to .$9,000 and not require contributions based on so much of the salary as might exceed $9.000. Mr. COCKRAX. Ministers get $10,000. Mr. FISH. Is not that a question for the executive session? Mr. COCKRAX. I* would like to have some suggestion from the department which has stated it. The department has paid attention to that question of working out an equitable system of determining it. Did you Consider at all the case of ambassadors in working out this bill? Mr. CAKK. Not any further than I have already indicated. Mr. COCKRAN. Mr. Rogers has brought an entirely new element in here. I think, practically, it would not amount to very much, but suppose only one or two ambassadors would come within the operation of this bill, nevertheless. I think it ought to be made to fit every case if we can. The retirement fund that an ambassador would get would be $4.800 under this bill? Mr. CARR. Yes. Mr. COCKRAX. He would be contributing about $850 a year. Mr. MOORES. That is a serious burden. Mr. COCKRAN. Five per cent of $17.500. Therefore, the contribution that he would be making to this fund would be out of all proportion to the amount in the case of any other officers. Mr. FISH. How many ambassadors have we at the present time? Mr. ('ARK. Thirteen. I believe. Only two of them would be eligible to retire- ment under this bill. Mr. COCKKAX. Anyone of them might be removed in a change of administra- tion to-morrow. Mr. CAKK. Certainly. Mr. COOPER. A great deal lias been said about Mr. Fletcher. Where is he now? Mr. CARR. Belgium. Mr. COOPKK. Was he here in tho State Department? Mr. CAKK. He was Undersecretary of State for over a year. Prior to that time h> was ambassador to Mexico. He was out of the service a short time between the time he was ambassador to Mexico and the time of his appoint- ment as Undersecretary of State. Ht- was ambassador to Chile and had been minister to Portugal, and before that was at various posts in the Diplomatic Service. 74 KORKKiX SKHVICE OF THK TXITHD STATES. Mr. COOPER. When we severed diplomatic relations with Mexico, did Mr. Fletcher cease to he anihassador? Mr. CAKR. Not immediately, sir; no. He was in this country a long time either on leave of absence or at the State Department. Mr. COOPER. Did he draw salary as an anihassador after we had severed dip- lomatic relations with Mexico? Mr. CARR. My recollection is that he did. Mr. COOPER. For how many yearsV Mr. CARR. T do not know : 'l think it was a matter only of months. The CHAIKMAX. To refresh your recollection, Mr. Carr. Mr. Fletcher was stationed in the State Department in dirext charge of Mexican affairs. I know. as I was in close touch with the Mexican situation at the time, and I saw him a numher of times in connection with Mexican matters. Mr. CARR. He was brought back by the Secretary of State for consultation. That finally developer] into his taking charge i.f Mexican affairs in the State Department. They were at a critical stupe at that particular time. He /-on Id not function in Mexico City, and yet there were many things that had to he done, and he was held in the department for that purpose: I do not remember exactly the length of time. That was done under the last administration. Mr. COOPKR. Mexico at that time had no representative here? Mr. CARR. None that we recognized. Mr. COOPER. That is to say, strictly speaking, there were no diplomatic rela- tions between the two countries? Mr. CARB. Not in the sense of Government dealing with Government, but there were a great many things that had to be done in connection with Mexico. Mr. COOPER. I have in mind that yesterday when I called attention to section 14 bringing back ministers, I only suggested bringing back an ambassador and having him receive the emoluments of the office, as indicating that we had severed diplomatic relations, and. strictly speaking, hv had no diplomatic func- tions to perform. Mr. < 'AKR. A situation arose during the last administration where the Presi- dent decided that as a manifestation of his displeasure over something that the Government of Costa Rica had done he would withdraw his minister. He expected that to have the effect of causing the Government to modify the action that he objected to. when possibly he could return the minister to his post. He held the minister here under orders, hoping that the condition in the other Government would be modified so as to make it feasible to send the minister back. It was not modified and the minister stayed here, perhaps in the opinion of some people too long. After a reasonable length of time the department refused to continue to pay his conn ten sat ion and told him he would have to go on leave without pay. Mr. COOPER. How long? Mr. CARR. In that case. ! think, the minister was here sonic six <>r nine months. Kut I hope you see what was involved there. It was not any dis- position to bring an officer back here on salary and squander Government money. but it was a gesture to create a certain effect on the other country and cause it to modify its course in connection with the protection of certain American interests in that country. Mr. Cooi'Ki:. 1 had also in mind the Keren sky government, which had here a minister or ambassador, so called. Mr. Hahkmeteff. The Kerensky government, as everybody knows, was a government on horseback, lasting but a few months. Nevertheless, ho stayed here and had the title of ambassador, and got a great amount of money, representing a government which did not exist at all and country with which we had no diplomatic relations whatever. I did not want anything to creep into this bill which might bring the possibility of a repetition of a case of that kind. Mr. CAIM:. I hope we will never reach the condition where any such thing as you suggest will be necessary for this Government. Mr. COOPKR. We had no diplomatic relations with Mexico whatever. The am- bassador is recalled. He has no diplomatic functions to i>erform whatever, and yet he draws the salary of ambassador. It is an analogous condition to the Russian situation. Mr. CARI:. I may say this, that in respect to the particular ambassador of our own country, of whom you arc speaking, he was industriously performing work relating to Mexico every moment of the time. Tie was doing as much tdr this Government as if he had been in Mexico City. FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATKS. 75 The CHAIRMAN. As a matter of justice to Mr. Fletcher. I desire to also say that (luring the entire time he was in the State Department he was devoting all of his energies to the Mexican situation and was extremely helpful, and according to my recollection now he remained there about nine months ami then resigned. Mr. CARB. That is true. The CHAIRMAN. Because he did not agree with the " watchful-waiting " policy of Mr. Wilson. Mr. CARR. I think it is a safe statement to make that the work that he did here while he was in consultation with the Secretary in connection with Mexican affairs was fully equal in importance to any work that he would have done had he been in the active occupation of his post in Mexico City. Mr. ROGERS. Are we ready to proceed with the two remaining sections'.? Mr. MOORES. Let me ask that Mr. Carr draft an amendment to cover that situation. Mr. CARR. I shall be glad to do so. Mr. MOORES. And submit it to us at our next session. Mr. COCKRAN. What is that? Mr. MOORES. Draft an amendment to cover the case of Mr. Fletcher and other similar cases and submit to us. It is your suggestion that they submit to us at the next meeting of the committee a draft of an amendment. Mr. COCKRAX. To cover section 14. Mr. ROGERS. Is there anything in sections IS or 19 that does not speak for itself, or have you anything that you want to add? Mr. CARR. I have nothing to say in regard to those sections. I think it is perfectly clear what they mean and they do not seem to me to require any explanation. I would like to add this word in concluding my testimony: As one who has been for years primarily interested in building up a foreign service for this Government that will be thoroughly American in character. that will be thoroughly businesslike in operation, that will give at least a return of dollar for dollar on the amount invested and as much more in the way of dividends on the investment as possible. I sincerely believe that you have before you a bill that will enormously improve both our diplomatic and our consular services. It is the best constructive measure to that end. I believe, that I have yet seen laid before this committee. I feel that if you can pass it in substantially the form in which it is. with such improvements as may suggest themselves to you. that you will provide a sound and adequate basis upon which to build a strong foreign service, with diplomatic and consular branches, that will begin at once to do for this Government abroad much of that which you ardently desire, and which as opportunity therefor is afforded you can further extend and 'broaden with the least possible delay, so as to give us in the near future a foreign service the equal of which no other government possesses. The CHAIRMAN. I understand you want to bring in some amendments cover- ing the matters we have been discussing. Let me suggest this to you, that you devote a little attention to how ambassadors could be included in the operation of this bill without seriously affecting this present structure. Mr. CAHI:. Do you mean in simply the retirement provision? The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Mr. CARB. Or do you mean in the provision of creating a situation which would encourage young men entering the service to feel that they may aspire to rise to that grade? Mr. COCKRAN. The whole scope of this bill has that in view. The only sug- gestion we make now is with reference to the retirement plan, that the am- bassadors there are probably few but of very great excellence should not be excluded from the beneficial operations of the bill. If that can be worked out, without seriously interferring with the structure of the measure, along the line of Mr. Kogers's suggestion. Mr. FISH. Do you think it would be proper to add a provision here covering the acquisition of embassies in this bill? Mr. CARR. I believe that that particular provision would hardly be germane to this measure. It is in a measure already before the House. Mr. FISH. It is in a modified form. Why could you not get the committee up or. get me up a bill covering that situation, creating a fund, so that that, fund could be expended regardless of the present law that we have been carry- ing nut. a fund of $5,000,000 to be administered by a commission, the Secretary of 76 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. State, or what not, to acquire those properties, either building them or acquir- ing them? Mr. CARR. I would be delighted to study that question and give you all the help I can. Mr. FISH. I will introduce it and I ani sure the committee will consider it. Mr. ROGERS. The committee feels very grateful to Mr. Carr for his helpful testimony upon rhe conditions surrounding the foreign service and its needs. On Monday Mr. Skinner spoke briefly and it was deemed wise to ask him to sus- pend so that Mr. Carr could lay down a foundation, as it was felt thar Mr. Skinner's testimony thereafter would be more valuable. If the chairman of the committee approve, may we go on to-morrow with Mr. Skinner testifying? The CHAIRMAN. At 10 o'clock sharp, as usual. (Thereupon the committee adjourned to meet again at 10 a. in. Thursday. December 14, 1922.) COMMITTKE ON FOREIGN AFKAIliS. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. ~\Va*hhifFttnt. Friday. December J.I, /.'<:>.'. The committee this day met. lion John Jacob Rogers presiding. Mr. ROGERS. Mr. Skinner, you were asked to suspend by the committee in th<- midst of your testimony on Monday so that Mr. Carr could lay the foundation for the bill in detail, and the committee have had the privilege of hearing Mr. Carr for three or four days. What we would like from yon, if you please, is comment of a practical nature resulting from your long experience in the field, with an attempt at avoidance of mere cumulative material. STATEMENT OF BOBEBT P. SKINNEB, CONSUL GENEBAL TO LON- DON, ENGLAND. Mr. SKINNKR. Mr. Chairman, this bill is a business bill. Its outstanding pur- pose is to protect, encourage, and assist our commercial and other business rela- tions abroad, which are so intimately intertwined with our political relations as to be practically inseparable. It attempts to provide a better business organization of our foreign service. It is in line with your departmental reor- ganization scheme here at home. It gives you an organization with one head instead of two organizations with two heads occupying the same field. It gives the Executive power to cut out duplication and to coordinate various activities, and it lays the foundation for a trained personnel from whom the I 'resident can draw, if so disposed, those higher d'plomatic officers who. under the Constitution, can be named by him as he deems best. I frankly say. as one ot the men from the field, that we hope in time he will find it to his advantage and convenience to seek those higher officers from the trained sen-ice. However, the bill imposes no such requirement nor can any bill amend the well-established constitutional practice in this respect. You have been told that tlr's measure sets up no principle not already recognized to some extent in our existing legis- lation. It does introduce one novel administrative feature not novel in the practice of other countries but in our own. and it is the vital feature of thes,- proposals. That feature is the destruction of the wall now existing between the diplomatic and consular branches of the service, a perfectly useless wall, the only obvious effect of which is to tend to create a caste among officeholders, a wall which prevents your diplomatic secretaries from obtaining a working knowledge of business affairs, prevents your consuls from obtaining an insiir! ;' into the processes of centra! government, and deprives the Secretary of State from employing available talent where it may most usefully be applied. The men now in office can not be changed in their characters or habits of thought by this or any other bill. You are legislating only incidentally for them. But 1<> or !"> years from now. if th's bill passes, you will have created a new. a more efficient clnss of public servant true to type, like the splendid fellows who come out of the Military and Naval Academies: men who. while possessing a proper appreciation of the amenities of life will also have an equal apprecia- t on that ours is a business country, with whose varied concerns they will be familiar and capable by their habits, instincts, and desires of giving such HS s's'ai.ce as a well-conceived foreign service may render. .Vow. you are not roing to find men of this sort full grown, like Jove. Per- haps there was a time when our foreign representatives, being amiable and in- telligent, were adequate to every probable situation. I can recall the sign on FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 77 my own door 26 years ago. "Office hours 10 to 12 and 2 to 4," and not much .wing on at that. It is different now. I remember hearing Mr. Page in London, shortly after the outbreak of the war, exclaim, almost pathetically, that his predecessors had had a very good time. " Of course, they had a very good time." said he. " but they had no work to do." And there you have the key to the need of this bill. There is work to be done and somebody must do it or try to do it, and it is for you to decide whether it shall be well done or indifferently done, or poorly done. Mr. Cockran said something a day or two ago about the old embassy on Victoria Street. I recall the old embassy very well, four rooms, mostly occu- pied by British clerks. It was next door to a shirt maker's shop. The place we now occupy as our embassy in Grosvenor Gardens is a different affair, a large substantial building, and occupied by scores of busy people, doing business in a businesslike way. Edward Everett was a great minister to Great Britain, a most charming man. Looking into my records in London for December 16, 1841, you will find an entry for that day showing that Mr. Everett returned from Paris and received from the consul general. Mr. Aspinwall, the archives arid property of the legation; and of what did they consist? The property con- sisted of one French cabinet containing files, one iron box containing letter books, two bookcases containing books, one cupboard, one division cupboard, and one desk. Please note there was just one desk. That was the property of the United States Government in London in 1841. A year later we had our consul general in London having some trouble with Rothschilds, who refused to give credit to the United States Government for 450 pounds, about $3.000. The country has changed since then. We do not have to go hat in hand from Rothschilds to Baring Bros., as he did. for $3,000. But in the meantime our Diplomatic Service has undergone little change in the method of making appointments or the structure of the service itself. Ministers and ambassadors these days are functionaries, and their success or failure is less a matter of externals than it is capacity to perceive opportunities and perform useful work. Some one has suggested that we need the successful business man in these foreign positions, but the successful business man will not abandon his success, and the failures we do not want. The dreamers we do not want. The merely idle rich we do not want. The expatriates we do not want. What alternative is there? There is only one worth considering. Adopt the principles set out in this bill. Select your young material and form it to your purposes. How? fey sending it to school. Where? In the consular establishment. Give these young men to us. Where can the future ambassador better learn the meaning of treaties than in our consulates, where their practical application is a mat- ter of da ly experience? Where better can he keep his American spirit fresh than in our offices, where we see and touch from hour to hour the vastly com- plicated material and moral life of our own country? Where can he learn to com- prehend rise processes of business so well as where the actual papers relating to business come rushing through the windows, demanding to be dealt with? Where can he learn how to protect the citizen in his rights so well as where the citi- zen comes to claim them? Where can he learn to know so much of life in all its aspects as in our consulates, where we note the births, read the burial serv- ice over the dead, officiate as witnesses at marriages, open wills, file claims, hire and discharge maritime laborers, apply our navigation laws, carry on the tabu- lation of our export statistics from hour to hour, deal with the immigrant who leaves for our shores, be occasionally shot at as happened to our consul at Malta on Monday ofthis week learn to hold our tongues and control our tem- pers in tryins circumstances? \ remark was dropped by the acting chairman yesterday about our diplo- matic secretaries, or some of them. He was dissatisfied in particular cases. It seems to me that the conditions upon which he touched are an important demonstration of the need of this bill. We have said to these young men : " You can become secretaries, you can learn foreign languages, you can per- form the work assigned to yon. With good luck you can earn s4.o a year, but don't expect more. You are not going to be- advanced to the positions of honor and responsib:lit> they are reserved for gentlemen from outside wh<. possess influence." The wonder is thiit so many young men of ability have been found willing to take up such unpromising situations in life. Our consuls have slight immediate advantages held out to them in this 'ill \ has been pointed out by Mr. C'nrr. under its terms they may be shifted into diplomatic positions from time to Time, and it will be an excellent thing 78 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. for the service as a whole that they can weave back and forth, accumulating and applying the experience they have gained in the discharge of their duties. They, like the diplomatic secretaries, may hope that they will be called upon to serve at the top of the laddder on proving their ability to do so. The effect upon the morale of the service will be good. Our consuls now have practically no chance of getting beyond the $8.000 grades. There are only two $12,000 posts, and as four men have occupied these posts since 191X3. you have an average of one man every four years for these $12.000 positions. That is the best that an American consul can expect at the present time. If this bill should be enacted, you open the door of hope to them, at all events. Another excellent thing for the consuls resulting from this bill will be the adjustment of salaries, so that hereafter we shall have no such anomalies as consuls general receiving less compensation than the consuls, or. as in my own case, consuls general receiving more than most ministers. The relativity of all the salaries under this bill is correct. If you think the basic scale too low as time goes on, you need only to increase it by such percentage as may appear to be just and wise. The greatest thing that you propose to do for the consuls in the contemplated act is to guarantee their future. Few consuls possess private means, and the scale of compensation adopted prior to 1914 has been cut in twr as to purchasing power. Every consul in England has seen his compensation reduced by 20 per cent in the last 12 months, in line with the rising exchange. And to these well-known conditions you have provided by law that consuls may not engage in any gainful occupation. They may not invest their savings in the count ry of their official residence, should they have any to invest. Add to that that consuls necessarily reside in foreign lands and rarely, after all, are in places that are agreeable, and often in places that are well known to be unhealthy. Mr. BROWNE. Could not a consul send money over and loan it in this country? Mr. SKINNER. Undoubtedly a consul can invest as lie chooses in his own country. Mr. BROWNE. But could not over there? Mr. SKINNER. The point is" that the consul is like any other business man. most likely to have opportunities to invest in the place where he happens to reside. He is removed from his own country, and by the time he learns of an opportunity here the opportunity is gone. Mr. BROWNE. There is no law preventing it. but the opportunities do not present themselves there as much? Mr. SKINNER. No; there is a definite rule under which he is prohibited from investing his savings in the country of his residence. It would be a violation of the regulations of the Department of State for me to buy a British sterling bond. Clearly, men who have attained old age in these circumstances must be protected against want, and I have been deeply impressed by the generous dispositions of this committee in dealing with that particular phase of the matter. If I may point out one detail in the bill, it is th's: Your bill provides a retiring allowance on reaching 65 years of age or complete disability. I suggest that there may be men who. having served 25 or more years con- tinuously, may feel that they wish to retire somewhere, let us say. between the ages of 55 and 65. They may wish it seems to me a perfectly natural thing to spend some years in their own country among their own people, while still physically sound and capable of enjoyment, and I suggest that on a suitable showing to the President, and with his approval, such men might be authorized to retire before reaching 65 years of age, on an allowance appro priate to their length of service. As the bill stands, a man retiring at the age of 64 would receive nothing, while a colleague who, perhaps, had actually served fewer years would retire at the age of 65 on a substantial allowance. Mr. BROWNE. Does a man under this bill who has contributed and leaves the service before he is 65. receive what he has paid in? Mr. SKINNER. Yes. Every man who separates from the service before reach- ing the age of retirement is reimbursed the actual amount that he has con- tributed, but, of course, the reimbursement would be a very small affair. I do not press this point. I offer it for your consideration. The question has been raised whether other Governments have anticipated us in combining their diplomatic, and consular branches, and I answer yes. Every French. German, or Austrian colleague I ever had served later as min- ister' in some part of the world. I understand that France. China, Belgium, Japan. Norway. Denmark. Germany, and Great Britain entirely or to a degree have unified their services and made them interchangeable. Great Britain K011KIGX SKRVICE OF THE UXITKD STATKS. 79 goes further than we propose to go in this bill in this respect, that she ap- points the same individual at one and the same time to act as a diplomatic and consular representative. Thus, in Japan the British ambassador is also the consul general, and the same is true as to British ministers in the following countries: Bolivia, Bulgaria, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ethiopia, Haiti, Guatemala. Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Salvador, and Uruguay. The truth is. we live in times when business and diplomacy go hand in hand. You can not keep business out of the foreign service any more than Mr. Dick could keep the head of King Charles out of his conversation. The British have seen this, and only a day or two before I left Ixmdon the British am- bassador to Spain, in the course of his remarks on the occasion of the going into effect of a new commercial treaty with Spain, said: "Diplomatic servants are occasionally criticized by the commercial community. I think, however, that there is a great change taking place 'now among the younger members of the service. They realize that a greater part of their work in the future will be in connection with business matters and they take a serious interest in these questions." A member of the committee asked Mr. Carr the other day in what manner the Consular Service actually had been improved by the methods of selection which have been in effect, progressively, since 190G. I do not know whether you would call the Americanization of the service an improvement, if so, they have accomplished that. When I went to Marseilles I was the only American in the office. When I went to Hamburg it was the same. During my tirst day in the Hamburg office a German gentleman entered, one who evidently was in the habit of coming in frequently, and perceiving me occupying one of the chairs, he leaned over to one of our worthy German clerks and asked : " Who is that man sitting over there?" The clerk said. "He is the consul general." The German gentleman said in a surprised way, li He looks like an American." The clerk said, " Yes; he is an American." Mr. ROGKKS. What year was that? Mr. SKI.NNKK. 15)08. When I went to Berlin there were only two Americans there other than myself. When I came to London there were only three Americans other than myself. Yon will find practically none but Americans at those posts now. I have l>3 of them in London, all keen, clean, wholesome young fellows you would be glad to know them anywhere. Everyone, I think, is a college-bred man. I am sorry that no Member of Congress has ever inspected that office, because I think you would be a little surprised to see how varied, interesting, and in- structive our work is, and how close it comes to the real things in our American life. Just to illustrate how things happen. I may mention that last year we sent a report to Mr. Carr about a new method of block-letter handwriting being taught in London schools. Well, that report was printed and to-day we are gettintr letters from all over this country asking for particulars. I should not be surprised if that one little report should be the means of giving the people of this country something they much need, a handwriting that anybody can read. I hold in my hand a register of our office, which I shall not read, but it may interest you if I select ]>oiiits from it to show the working organization of an American consulate in one of the large commercial cities of the world. To start with, there is my own particular office. You can easily understand what that work is general supervision, including supervisory Jurisdiction over the other consulates in the United Kingdom. Now. we come to a very interest- ing department, the commercial department. We have here 10 different em- ployees y\> have one employee who sits at the telephone from 9 o'clock in the morning until 5 in the evening answering inquiries about the rates of duty on particular commodities, customs administration laws, all sorts of commercial questions of that kind. In this department we carry on commercial corre- spondence and receive visitors. In the course of a year thousands of commer- cial travelers drop in who want addresses and specific and general information of every nature. During the year ended June 30. 1922. in this particular department there were 3.328 written replies to trade inquiries sent out. Our office made 39(5 trade reports of rather a comprehensive character, and we sent to the Federal Reserve Board reports by cable every month showing the fluctuations in prices of all the staple commodities. That is a very large work. We receive in our 80 FORKKJX SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. office every first-class trade journal in the United Kingdom dealing with im- portant commodities, and we are in communication with the various trade ex- changes which deal in the same commodities, and in these various ways we get the prices from day to day. These prices are at the command of our manu- facturers. Mr. LINTHICUM. What are the working relations between the Department of Commerce and the Consular Service, as being described by you? Mr. SKINNER. They are extremely friendly. Mr. LINTHICUM. What lines of work do they take up different from the line of work that you take up? Mr. SKINNER. They do the same things we do; but. of course, we are in direct personal touch with the business community. The actual commercial papers, under our laws, are lodged with us ; business men come to us, of neces- sity, and we have many direct contacts. Mr. LINTHICUM. It has been said that in the consular service the people came to you for information about business, and in the Department of Com- merce that the man went after the business. Do you know of any such dis- tinction as that? Mr. SKINNER. Went after business or went after information? Mr. LINTHICUM. Went alter business for this country. It was mentioned that the landing of a contract for a telephone exchange was secured in central Nicaragua or one of the South American countries. Mr. SKINNER. It may be the case that in certain circumstances an American public officer has succeeded in selling goods, but it is most unusual, and it is certainly not the function of such officers to replace the business man. As practical professional and business men yourselves you know without my telling you that when a steel manufacturer wants to sell steel he looks for (he man who ordinarily buys steel, and he sells it himself. A public officer can assist in these transactions. Occasionally special knowledge may come to him whereby a purchase and sale takes place which otherwise would have passed to another country. But, in the last analys s. the business man himself carries on his own business for obvious reasons. What we aim to do is to inform business men of existing opportunities, to suggest the conditions under which business can be carried on, to support legitimate efforts of a commercial character, and to defend commercial interests when threatened by adverse influences; but I do not conceive it to be the function of the public officer actually to substitute himself for the business man. Mr. LINTHICUM. Do the Department of Commerce men maintain a separate establishment and offices in London just as your Consular Service does? Mr. SKIN NEB. Yes. The representatives of the Department of Commerce have an organization of their own. They receive visitors, answer letters, and prepare reports as we do. Mr. LINTHICUM. Why could not the Consular Service be sufficiently extended or given sufficient power to carry out all the work that the Department of Commerce is doing, dual work that they are attempting? Mr. SKINNER. That is for Congress to decide. We have been doing this work for many years, and we require no additional powers. Mr. MOORE. As I understand, Mr. Linthicum has in mind the possible con- solidation of those two independent services, to avoid duplication? Mr. SKINNEB. There is undoubtedly duplication. There is, of course, no reason why we should not do everything that is necessary to be done. As a matter of fact, we are two organizations occupying the same Held. Mr. COLE. Does the Department of Agriculture have representatives over there? Mr. SKINNER. Yes; the Department of Agriculture has a representative in London who reports on markets, a very capable young man. This work is also a duplication of work carried on in the Consular Service. The Federal Reserve Board at one time proposed having a separate office in London to report on market conditions, too. but. as that would have involved the employment of a very considerable staff and a substantial outlay of money, it was decided to intrust the work to the consul genera!, and we do it all with the assistance of one extra clerk. If you will examine the office register which I hold in my hand you will see that our organization is susceptible of being expanded in any direction to meet any requirement. All that we need to do if con- fronted by some new requirement is to increase the resources of an existing division or. perhaps, to set up an entirely new division. The work that we are now doing includes duties on behalf 'of the Departments of State. Com- FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 81 iherce. Labor, Navy, War. Agriculture. Justice, and Treasury, or the bureaus under those departments. We also act for the government of the Philippine Islands and the Panama Canal administration. I do not wish to give you nn exaggerated idea of this representation of other departments. In some respects the work is regular and very voluminous, especially for the Treasury Depart- ment and the Department of Commerce, but in other instances our duties are light and more or less intermittent. Mr. ROGERS. Before you resume your tabulation of your office force, in the first place, how many years does your recollection in the service cover? Mr. SKINNER. About 26 years. Mr. ROGERS. How many instances do you recall whefe a constd or consul general has been promoted to be ambassador or minister from his consular post ? Mr. SKINNER. The only case that I recall at this moment is that of Mr. Bowen, who was promoted to be minister in Persia from Barcelona, and fol- lowing that was transferred to Venezuela. Mr. Root at one time asked me to go to Persia as minister, but I did not go. I surmise there have been other cases. Mr. ROGERS. The only one that occurs to you in a quarter of a century is the case you have given. Mr. MOORES. Was Mr. Shuster in the Consular Service? Mr. SKINNEB. I think not. Mr. ROGERS. There is one other question, and we will see whether or not it is a matter that should remain in the record. One of the most intolerable things- that I have come across in connection with inquiries into the foreign service is the fact that some of the little secretaries who have the background of a social position and money have the effrontery to look down upon the Consular Service and on big men in the Consular Service who have grown distinguished and experienced in that work. Is it your experience. Mr. Skinner, and you can answer this off or on the record, that there is a considerable amount of that petty snobbery on the part of the Diplomatic Service as regards the Consular Service, and is it further your impression that in so far as it exists the present bill would assist in removing that condition? Mr. SKINNKK. Well. Mr. Chairman. I have numerous friends among those secretaries, and many of them are ambitious, efficient, able, and attractive young fellows. This snobbery that you describe undoubtedly does exist and has existed, but it is by means invariably so. The personal weaknesses to which you allude seem to me to be the almost inevitable consequence of a defec- liw system. The really serious men among the secretaries deplore the mani- festations you describe and avoid them themselves. Mr. ROGERS. I do not at all suggest that the condition of which I speak is universal or even general. But I fear it is at least occasionally found. My own belief is that, considering the defects in our system, our corps of secre- taries is. on the whole, remarkably efficient. Mr. LINTHICVM. Coming back to the question of commercial attaches, are they housed in the embassy building? Mr. SKINNER. Yes. Mr. LINTHKTM. When inquiries are made, what line of inquiries is desig- nated to them for attention? Mr. SKINNER. I am not familiar with the rules of the Department of Com- merce. We operate separately and distinctly. We know nothing of their operations in detail, except as we learn of them by means of social intercourse and such casual information as may drift in to us. Mr. Li.vmict "M. How many employees are under the Department of Com- merce in London in connection with commercial attaches? Mr. SKIN NEK. My recollection is that there may be about a do/en. I could not say positively something like that. Mr. ROGERS. Xo\v. you may go on with your statement. Mr. SKINNKK. 1 bad spoken of our general department and the commercial department. We have a shipping department. The shipping department is one of the most interesting branches of our work at the present time, in 'view of the irmit interest taken in the mercantile marine. We have six employees in it. also a surgeon of the United States Public Health Service. In this depart- ment the clearance of vessels, shipment and discharge of seamen, execution of quarantine laws, checking of alien passports. correspondence relating to ship- ping matters, and consular reports on the same subject are handled. During 82 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. the year ending June 30. 1922. we issued 040 bills of health in London. That means 640 different ships went to the United States ; the quarantine officer looked after the health of 640 vessels, and all sorts of operations in connection wiltli those ships. Mr. COLE. Those were American vessels? Mr. SKINNER. No; vessels of all descriptions. In the same manner we cleans 1 232 American vessels, a very different matter. We received 28 marine notes of protest, which, of course, related to an infinite variety of casualties, minor and important. We shipped 364 seamen, discharged 210. looked after 4 who- died, relieved 112, and vised 582 crew lists relating to several thousand men. That is a very cold statement about a branch of our work that is really wonderfully interesting. We receive Yankee skippers every day. and it is really inspiring to see them. Not very long ago a ship came in, owned by the captain and the watch officers. They had reverted to the old-fashioned" way when the captain owned the ship. Mr. COCKBAN. A sailing ship? Mr. SKINNER. Yes. Mr. MOORE. Tramp? Mr. SKIN NEB. Yes. Mr. COCKBAN. All sailing ships are tramps. Mr. SKINNEB. The most of our vessels that come into London are tramps. But we have also first-class American passenger ships that come into London, ships of over 10,000 tons, mostly one-cabin ships on which the fare is but si'*' and they are sailing full. Mr. FISH. What kind steamships? Mr. SKINNER. They are vessels of the United States Lines. Mr. COCKBAN. Is that a privately owned corporation. Mr. SKINNER. They are ships owned by the United States Government. Mr. COCKRAN. I suppose you can not tell us whether that $100 covers the- cost of the service, or whether there is something supplied by taxation. .Mr. SKINNER. I understand those particular liners much more than carry their own operating expenses. They appear to be doing well and are very jtopular with the public. Mr. COCKRAN. Passage at $100? Mr. SKINNER. Yes; about that. The whole mercantile fleet of the world was built up on the proposition that immigrants should be carried for from $25 to $40. The money in shipping is to be found in carrying numbers at comparatively low prices. I think our people are pursuing a wise policy in providing what are called "cabin ships'' on which lares can be obtained at quite moderate prices. Then we come to the American citizenship department. Here we have five- employees. Here we grant emergency passports, take applications for depart- mental passports and consular certificates, register births, and handle the mani- fold correspondence arising out of that. In connection with that we deal with the law of citizenship, and have a great many cases of expatriation, and all sorts of legal problems. As I was saying before some of the Members came in, it Is in working out those problems that the future diplomat should get a better practical knowledge of what he is to do in the higher regions of the service than anywhere else. In this department, in the last fiscal year, we either extended or amended 4,371 passports; we granted 999 passports and we re- ceived 1,117 applications for new passports; reported 43 births and 160 re_'i> trations. This is a very dull statement but it represents a great deal of work. Then we come to the alien vise department. You hear H great deal about that in the United States at present. Here we see all aliens proceeding to this country. We have eight employees in this department. We pass U|xm the suitability of every immigrant proceeding to the I'nited States, and that meau> a face-to-face inquiry into the various circumstances of his life. The CHAIRMAN. How effective do you think that inspection is? Mr. SKINNER. I think that the inspection is most useful. I have not t he- slightest doubt that the proper working of our immigration laws requires that the vise shall be granted at the place of departure. It seems to me very unfair to the individual to let him dose out his home, invest his money in steamship tickets, and go through all the heart-breaking process of getting off to New York, remain there two weeks, ami he turned hack, when you might just as well turn him hack on the other side. Mr. COI.E. You fill out his papers? Mr. SKINNER. Yes. FOREIGN SERVICE OF THK UNITED STATES. 83 'Hit- CHAIRMAN. The service in this respect has been developed during the lust three or four years, lias it not'.- Mr. SKINNER. Yes. The ('if AIRMAN. 1 will say for your information. Mr. Cole, that when we increased the vise fee Mr. Carr gave orders to all of our representatives abroad to make these investigations of alien's viseing papers in the interest of fairness, as Mr. Skinner suggests. Mr. TKMPI.E. Of course, these investigations do not take the place of the investigation by the immigration authorities after they arrive at an American port ? The CHAIRMAN. No. Mr. SKINNKR. The whole thing is defective. There is really something absurd about it. You would suppose that in the case of an immigrant going to an American consul for a vise he would ask whether he might go to the United States, and that the consul would say you may go or you may not go. It is in reality the other way around. When the immigrant comes to us we look him over and say. perhaps: "You are not a suitable person to have a vise, and you will be rejected when you get to New York. We warn you not to go." He says in effect: l- I know all that, but I care nothing about your warning: you have u'ot to give me my vise and I am going." And we do have to give him his papers. He anticipates being able to break down the legal objections to his admission through pressure exerted by his friends ami relatives after landing. Mr. Fisir. Why is it compulsorvV Can you not use discretion about granting a vise? Mr. SKINNER. Our powers are limited because the law, as it stands, requires that the eligibility of the alien to enter the United States shall be determined only upon the actual arrival of the alien in the territory of the United States. Mr. FISH. Is it not time we made some law suitable to change that? Mr. MOOUKS. The President in a message the other day said so. Mr. FISH. Only yesterday I was notified by one of my constituents whose relative had arrived and been declared insane. Had he received a vise 1 from the State Department on the other side? Mr. SKIXXET:. He undoubtedly received a vis. Mr. TEMPLE. You would not grant the vise" if you knew the man was insane? Mr. SKINNER. I might be compelled to do so. As a matter of fact, in certain extreme cases I have taken the liberty of actually refusing, but only very exceptional circumstances would warrant that. Mr. MOOKKS. Have you an alienist or psychological expert attached to the corps? Mr. SKINNKR. Yes; we have a Public Health Service surgeon. We could perfect our administration and undoubtedly would if we had proper legal powers. However, even as matters now stand we clear up a great many bad The flagrant cases come to us. and. of course, we advise them not to go, and if they are sensible they act upon our advice. But in many other ftstances they do go. Mr. TKMPI.K. I ran into a number of cases in which a diplomatic officer has absolutely refused to grant vise. Mr. SKINNER. We can refuse in the case of an anarchist, for example, but those cases are extremely rare. We also refuse to act when the quota of a country is exhausted. The numerous cases are what we call immigration cases. where a man may be unfit, liable to become a public charge, a contract laborer. and so on. Mr. TEMPLE. Are the regulations in Great Britain, controlling the action of American consuls in I'ritish territory, the same as are in force in Poland? Mr. SKIXNKR. Yes: the regulations Are identical. Mr. TEMPLE. Refusals sire much more common in Poland and some portions of Austria-Hungary. I have a large proportion of foreigners in my district. and then- is hardly a day goes by but their friends write to me. Mr. SKINMH. I'.cc.-nisc in those countries the quota law comes into effect. Mr. FISH. What authority have you got over the quota law? Mr. SKINNKR. We are directed in all cases where the quota is exhausted to ease u'rantina further vises. Mr. FISH. That is how they find out that the quota is exhausted? Mr. SKINNKU. That is usually the first information they get. Mr. FISH. I want to know whether an amendment could be put into the bill : that is. to include an amendment giving preference under the 8 per cent con- 84 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. dition to the immediate relatives of ex-service men? Do those relatives -jet preference ? Mr. SKINNER. They undoubtedly would. That matter does not arise prac- tically in Great Britain because the quota riever has been exhausted. Mr. FISH. You are not prepared to give the figures? Mr. SKINNER. I am prepared to say that 77.000 of British-born persons may go from Great Britain. Mr. COCKKAN. Does that include the Irish and the Scotch? Mr. SKINNER. Yes ; I should use the term United Kingdom. Only 40 000, ap- proximately, went last year. The old type of British immigrant does not go. It is the city men who are going now. Mr. FISH. Coming over now, due to the unemployment situation? Mr. SKINNER. Yes ; it is unemployment in Great Britain that is driving a great many to the United States, but the British farmer does not come. Mr. P'ISH. You are not prepared to say about the preference I mentioned? You do not know how it works. Mr. SKINNER. There is no reason why it should be difficult to grant the preferential consideration contemplated in the law. The matter does nor affect us in Great Britain, as the quota has never been exhausted in that country. Mr. CONNALLY. Is not the practical difficulty about setting up examining agen- cies in foreign countries, or most foreign countries, the objection of foreign Governments to our setting up immigration agencies on their own soil? Mr. SKINNER. I read a statement to that effect in the hearings of the House Committee on Immigration, emanating, if I recall correctly, from the Italian Embassy. They made certain objections. But I believe that if the matter were presented adequately to these foreign powers they would be quite agree- able to action being taken abroad, because it would be much better for their own people. It is their own people who suffer. I know that the British Gov- ernment rather objects to the fact that we now grant vises which carry with them no right of admission. They say that they are perfectly willing to have us pass on the admissibility of people in the United Kingdom and would prei'er us to do it rather than to have them come over and then be turned back. Mr. TEMPLE. Was it not in connection with medical examination that the Italian Government objected to the exercise of American jurisdiction within Italian territory? Mr. SKINNER. The letter as written indicated that they considered the sugges- tion as a proposal to exercise extra territorial sovereignty. Mr. TEMPLE. As a matter of fact, it arose in connection with medical examina- tions. Mr. SKINNER. It may be so. The CHAIRMAN. What advantage is there in having the vises if \.> u ha\v no discretionary power? For instance, an alien presents himself who is n victim of glaucoma, an excludable disease, and it is perfectly obvious he suffers from thjt? Mr. SKINNER. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. Have you not the power, without assigning any reason. 10 refuse to vise his passports? Mr. SKINNER. We have not the power. Under the regulations we advise hiai not to go; if he. nevertheless, insists upon going, we inform the immigration people on the other side. We endeavor to get a report to Xew York or else- where prior to the arrival of that individual, and then he may be excluded. The trouble is that once the unfit alien has landed in America all sorts of pressure is applied to overcome the reasons for his rejection. We had rather a notorious case a few days ago of a young girl who was. invited to proceed to the United States by a British actor in Xew York, who \vas a married man. This girl went. We cabled over and reported the facts. She was met as the steamer came in. was not allowed to land, was turned hack, and her parents were overjoyed that she was saved from the fate which awaited her. Such cases are arising all the time. It can not be doubted that the vise system. even though imperfect, yields very valuable results. That summarizes the subject of the alien vise. Next is the accounting de- partment of our organization, where we take in the money. Here \ve have eight employees. During the year ended June 30, 1022. we dealt with :">7..~54 consular invoices. That represented, you might say. about half of all the British goods that entered the United States. Of course, there is a great deal of work con- nected with that. Mr. COCKRAN. What is that figure again? Mr. SKINNER, There were 37,554 separate shipments. FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 85 Mr. COCKRAN. Separate shipments or separate invoices? Have you got the amounts? Mr. SKINNER. I have that separately. Mr. MOOKES. This statement will be in the record. Mr. LINTHICUM. How many employees are in your office? Mr. SKINNER. We have 55. Then we come to our notarial department. Here we have only two em- ployees. We take depositions and perform notarial services of a varied kind and carry on the correspondence arising therefrom. During the year ended June 30. 1922. this department performed 8.270 separate services. That cov- ered every activity that a man might conceivably think of. Then we come to our war claims department. I suppose that in no other consulate in the world is there such a department as a war claims department. That is a product of the war. We have here three employees. From the beginning of the war, we have made up the record of every claim of com- mercial character for seized goods, seized ships, etc. We have followed the cases through, representing many of these claimants in the courts, and have collected hundreds of thousands of dollars for different people. W T e have collected, incidentally, the whole prize court history of the war, having classi- fied every prize court judgment that has been handed down. I do not know whether that will serve anybody in the future, but we thought that something might arise when the concrete commercial history of the war as distinguished from the broader aspects of it might be of utility. Then we come to the filing, mailing, and statistical department. Mr. MOORES. Is your prize court material in such shape that it could be published ; and, if so, how much of a report would it make? Mr. SKINNER. There is an enormous volume of material, but it is all concrete and deals with particular claims, the history of each particular claim. Of course, the prize court jurisprudence is interwoven through this material. Mr. MOORES. I imagine it would be of immense value. Mr. SKINNER. I hope there will never be a war that might cause it to be referred to. W T e dealt with thousands of cases during the war. The British Government took the position that they would not decide certain matters until the claimant had exhausted his legal remedies. There were thousands of cases in which the claimant was absent from the scene or too poor or something of that sort. He could not go to the expense of hiring lawyers and pushing it through in the usual way. So we got an arrangement with the president of the prize court by which we, as consular officers, might enter appearance on behalf of the claimant and so get a decision without any expense on his part. We dealt with a great many cases of that kind. Mr. BROWNE. Who presides over these prize courts? Mr. SKINNER. He is called the president of the prize court. Mr. BROWNE. Is he under the consular department? Mr. SKINNER. I thought you meant the British officer. Vice Consul De Vault happens to be the present head of our war claims department. Mr. TEMPLE. The cases are tried in the regular court? Mr. SKINNER. Yes. But, as you can well understand, there is more done outside of court than inside by private representation, negotiation, etc. In our statistical department we follow the movement of exports from the United Kingdom to the United States. At any moment of the day we can tell you the value of wool or any other commodity that has been exported as represented in our invoices. In this department is also handled the outgoing correspondence. During the year ended June 30. 1922. we sent out 43.208 letters from our office. In .the same time 903 instructions were received from the Department of State and we sent out 1.732 dispatches or formal reports. Mr. COCKRAN. Can you give us the amount of these 37.000 invoices? What do they aggregate in the year? Mr. SKINNER. For the 11 months of 1922 the aggregate exports from London to the United States reached 29,663.287 pounds plus $8.924.681. Some of our invoices are expressed in pounds, some in dollars, and on account of the vary- ing rates of exchange we are embarrassed because you can not reduce those pounds to dollars and get a fair statement of the facts, so we follow the practice of expressing our statistics in the currency in the invoices as stated. Mr. ('(>< KI:AN. So that your actual invoices for the 11 months of 1922 covered $160,000,000. Mr. SKINNER. Yes; about that figure. That is a considerable increase over previous year. 1921. the total for 11 months of which was 13,761.806. 86 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. In 1920 the total was ."U.o55.536. Tin- reason tin- figures are low now is because values have come clown greatly. You may be interested to know that thus far this year the value of precious stones exported from London amounts to 2,975,646. Mr. MOORES. Imported to this country? Mr. SKINNER. From London alone. Mr. COCKBAN. To what extent do you in that office exercise scrutiny of each of those 397,000 invoices that covered a value of $160.000.000? How much actual intervention by the consul, how much supervision or scrutiny does the consul exercise? Mr. COLE. In other words, do you know that every invoice is honestly made? Mr. COCKRAN. Just what you have to do with it? Mr. SKINNER. We act as auditors, to see that the invoice is technically correct. We do not often go into the material facts, because we have another organiza- tion that assists us in determining values. If we suspect that a certain line of invoices requires inquiry, the Treasury attache, who comes in every day, is consulted. We say to him: "You would better u have never known, and as the people of the L T nited States have possessed only a rudi- mentary and unbalanced foreign service they can not very well anticipate the many advantages which, from my point of view, will ensue upon the passage of this bill. I can only assure you of my own knowledge that all over the world young men full of promise are at their tasks to-day buoyed up by the confident expectation that this bill so necessary for the protection of our trade and com- merce, so indispensable for the furtherance of our political relations, will pass. I earnestly hope for the sake of our country's business interests that you will not allow the measure to fail. That is really all that I have to say. I should like to answer any questions. Mr. CONNALLY. Your statement in conclusion was to the effect that the coun- try did not know much about the foreign service : that it was unbalanced, etc. What is the matter with our foreign service? Is it so serious? Mr. COLE. What is the matter with it? Mr. SKINNER. It lacks stability ; it lacks unification : it lacks special training among the higher diplomatic officers where such training and experience are most necessary. It is not properly housed, and in the higher diplomatic offices the rate of pay is such that only rich men can accept the positions. Mr. CONNALLY. As compared with other foreisrn services, is ours at the foot of the list? Mr. SKINNER. The material in our service I believe to be as pood as any. but the organization is defective, and unless we ameliorate conditions of employ- ment I do not believe that we can hold together the best of our present per- sonnel. Our men are waiting now for the enactment of the proposals you have before you. Let us look at the Consular Service: As I said a moment ago. be- fore a number of members had come in. there are only two positions that pay $12,000. Since 1906 four men have occupied these two posts. ;m per cent of the members of the Consular Service to-dav could enter the business world and command FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 87 salaries or compensation miming into very large figures. Mr. Carr has told you that we are losing some of our best material young men who do not feel that they can wait for remedial legislation. We lost one such man about two months ago. I understand that he is making $20,000 a year to-day and has brilliant financial prospects. We shall lose another young man in about two weeks, one who does not want to go but whose circumstances are such that he really has no choice in the matter. Mr. CONNALLY. If we have that quality of young men, then they are not get- ting the salaries to which they are entitled. Mr. SKINNER. Men are giving up their lives to this service because they are attracted to it for various reasons, and they do not expect the financial rewards offered in private business: but on the other hand, the most of them have families to consider and there conies a point where the bread and butter problem is the controlling factor. Mr. CONNALLY. To be sure. Mr. SKINNER. But if you can assure them a livelihood, the oppor.un'ty to carry on their duties in suitable comfort, if you can hold out advancement t that they may be relieved of the anxieties which now beset so many of them, you will have provided such incentives to good work as to hold them in the service and to develop their most useful qualities. Mr. CONN ALLY. You speak of stability. Is the Consular Service not now under civil service rules? Are they not all permanent positions? Mr. SKINNER. Yes. Mr. CONNALLY. How are you going to make it more stable and permanent? Mr. SKINNER. We have stability in the Consular Service, as you suggest. We are now working for something more. We hope that by unifying the two services, by promoting interchangeability in the manner and for the purposes already explained to you we shall have, in the course of time, such a body of trained men that Presidents in future years, for their own convenience and in their own interest, will prefer, in making the appointments to the higher diplomatic offices, to turn to this experienced personnel for the simple reason that it will be to their advantage to do so. Mr. CONNALLY. You say that we have the finest personnel in the world, and that they could earn more money in the business world. Is it the chief com- plaint that the salaries are inadequate? If it is, I am for big salaries. I want to know what this bill is about. Mr. SKINNER. Our material is good. Of course, you might have the finest generals in the world, but if their machinery were organized improperly you could not get effective service from them. This bill provides a basic reorgani- zation. Mr. ROGERS. Might it not be said in comment on Mr. Connally's question, and having in mind the testimony of Mr. Hughes and Mr. Carr, as well as yourself, that you are speaking solely of the Consular Service, which is your own field? Mr* SKINNER. That is my service. Mr. ROGERS. And that the personnel of the diplomatic side is not, and under present conditions can not, be sufficiently desirable to obtain for America the best results? Mr. CONNALLY. How are you to change it under the Constitution? The President may appoint and remove. Xo law can change that. Mr. ROGERS. You can do something to make the personnel of the Diplomatic Service very much better. Mr. SKINNER. It is equally true of the Consular Service that the President can appoint anybody he pleases to be consul or consul general. Mr. TEMPLE. 'But it is not true with regard to the force under the ambassador or consul. Mr. SKINNER. No. But the President for his own purposes can limit his own power of appointment. It lies within his discretion to say to himself. " I do not propose to select men for these offices unless they measure up to certain stand- ards and possess certain experience." That is in effect what he says in the Consular Service. Mr. TEMPLE. The point I wish to make is that the President doo-: not have constitutional power to appoint secretaries irrespective of the regulation: fixed by Congress. 2447022 7 88 FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. Mr. MOOBES. Do you mean to have it understood that our foreign service is more efficient or in any other way superior to the British service? Mr. SKINNER. If you spe'ak of the foreign service as a whole, no; I do not say it is superior. I will say I think it has as good raw material as other services, but it is not utilized as it should be and as it could be under this bill. Mr. COCKRAN. There are one or two things I would like to be enlightened upon. You have given us a very good resuin6 of the business of the consular office in London, consisting of 55 employees, besides various side services, scrutinizing the invoices covering $160,000,000 of goods, which requires a high order of ability in weighing evidence and unquestionable honesty free from any source of corruption. What other consular offices are there that do business on anything like that volume? Can you give us the volume of busi- ness of the French consular office in Paris? Mr. SKINNER. Of course the American consulate general in Paris has no shipping business or claims business. In the matter of invoices and value of the exports I should imagine that Paris and London were much the same, and that is probably true also of notarial services. Mr. Lay, who has been sta- tioned at Paris, could tell you more about that than I. Mr. COCKRAN. There are not any two consulates general abroad doing busi- ness in anything 1 ke that volume? Mr. SKINNER. No ; London is very exceptional. Mr. COCKRAN. How about Liverpool? I never knew that Liverpool did such an enormous business with the United States. Mr. SKINNER. Not as great as London, but Liverpool is a busy office. It is true of all the provincial offices. Mr. COCKRAN. How and on what basis of justification is it sought to reduce the pay of the consul general at London and Paris, at the head of such an enormous business, from $12,000 to $9,000? On what basis is that justified? What is the reason? Mr. SKINNER. The scale of salaries in existing legislation is uneven. For ex- ample, we have certain consuls general at the present moment who receive more than some consuls. I myself receive a higher salary than almost all of the ministers. This bill starts with the lowest salary and works up to the top, and there is an appropriateness as between these different salaries. There is nothing to prevent you gentlemen taking that scale, which is relatively correct, and increasing it to any level you like. Mr. Co( KUAN. Would not that be damaging to the general service? Are you not sacrificing to a phrase, such as regularity in scales and other expressions of that nature, the independence of these two corps? In one the work is differ- ent and vastly more important, and there ought to be a difference in pay, if you are going to compensate them for their labor to anything like the extent of its value. Mr. SKINNER. It may be hoped that under the head of post and representa- tion allowances this thing can be equalized. It is true, certainly, that in great cities like London and Paris, demands are made upon the consul general which are much more numerous and onerous than in other cities outside the United States. It is a matter 1 of common knowledge that London and Paris are cities in a class by themselves. The consul general in these two cities will always have varied and heavy administrative duties to perform, while at the same time they will be compelled to meet requirements of a representative kind which will make inroads on their physical and financial resources. Mr. COCKKAN. He must be of a high order of ability, the man who serves at one of these places. He should have vigilance and ability as elaborate as that of an ambassador. Mr. ROGERS. We can take up the matter in executive session. Mr. COCKBAN. What I do not understand is the reason why this change is desired. Is there any reason that the framers of this bill have? Is there any explanation other than that I have suggested, that there might be a scale? Mr. SKINNER. Yes. Mr. MOORES. Would that scale justify a horizontal increase o 25 per cent, in your opinion? Mr. SKINNER. Personally, I think such an increase would be entirely justified. Mr. MOORES. That is all. Mr. SKINNER. I think I should say that the consuls have not come here for increased compensation. Naturally, we should rejoice if Congress deemed it FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 89 desirable in the general interest that the level of compensation be lifted up and established on relatively satisfactory lines. The immediate wish of the mem- bers of the Consular Service is, and I imagine that I am acquainted with as many of them as any man in the field, that the service shall be fully developed, that the wall I have spoken of which separates them from the diplomatic offices in which work of the same nature is carried on as that which they perform shall be broken down, that they may be relieved of the heavy anxiety which they feel that upon separation from the service, either as a result of 'old age or broken health, they will be without resources other than such as they may be so fortunate as to possess privately. They deem themselves in equity to be entitled to retirement allowances, as much so as members of the Army. Navy, the judiciary, and the civil service. They are entirely willing to leave the matter of their compensation to your best judgment. Mr. COCKKAN. I am thinking of the interests of the service, and I doubt whether you can have for $9,000 the class of men that ought to be appointed to such consulates as at London and Paris. I may be all wrong about it. (Thereupon the committee adjourned to meet again at the call of the chair- man.) COMMITTEE ox FOREIGN AFFAIRS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, Tuesday, December 19, 1922. The committee this day met, Hon. Stephen G. Porter (chairman) presiding. STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN W. DAVIS, FORMERLY AMBASSADOR TO GREAT BRITAIN, 15 BROAD STREET, NEW YORK CITY. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be in order. Gentlemen, you will find the hearings on the American Battle Monuments Commission bill on the table. I hope to take that up as soon as we get through with this foreign service bill. Mr. Davis, the committee would like very much to have your views on this bill, H. R. 12543. Mr. DAVIS. I have some embarrassment in appearing in the attitude of an expert witness here to instruct this committee, which knows a great deal more about the subject than I can pretend to, but with the background of some personal experience I do have a very deep and lively interest in this bill. That is my reason for appearing to-day. I really do not think that, so far as I know the Govemment service, there is any one place in it that needs this sort of reform so badly as the Diplomatic and Consular Service, the foreign service, speaking as a whole. Speaking generally, of course, the diplomatic branch of that service is the first line in the country's defense, and the Consular Service is the spearhead of the country's trade. I am quite aware of the fact, and I assume we are all aware, that the man on the street really does not appreciate the importance of either of these services. Speaking from my experience in Congress and subsequent service in the execu- tive department and in the displomatic corps itself, you constantly run into the most astonishing ignorance of what the service is, its importance, or what it really means. There is a prevailing impression, I know, that the diplomat's chief duty is to attend pink teas and escort dowager duchesses around at cere- monial occasions. Most people think that the consul does not come into action until somebody gets arrested in the port in which he happens to be residing. I am sure that is a quite prevalent point of view. I have read this bill, and it seems to me it presents four features which, if I may use the phrase, are cardinal points of reform in this question. Man- ifestly, 'if we are to get good men in the service and hold them, after they get there, we must set them to work under conditions which are agreeable, that will stimulate their personal ambition, and that will induce them to remain in the service after they have had the experience which makes them valuable. Over and over again, while I was in London, young men and good men in the diplomatic service would conre to me in great personal concern and ask me frankly whether I thought they ought to stay in the service. I always asked them what their financial condition was. If I found that they had no or at best meager resources beyond their offi- cial salary, I told them with great regret that I thought they were doing an injustice to themselves, and that at the earliest opportunity they ought to 90 FOREIGX SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. leave the service and get into something that was not a blind alley. I did that because I felt sure that the time would come when they would want to marry, in the normal course of affairs, and would have children to take care of. and I knew they could not hope to raise a family on the salary they were receiving, and that the time would come, as it comes to all men who stay too long on salaries, when they would find it difficult to get away and would drag out the rest of their lives in discomfort to themselves and dis- comfort to their families. It seemed to me then and it seems to me now that if we are to avoid the tremendous " labor turnover " there is in the Diplomatic Service, we must do three things, first, give them an adequate living salary, a salary which will keep them in respectable comfort as long as they are in the service; second, give them a fair chance of promotion. Every man in the service ought to be like Napoleon's foot soldiers, marching with a marshal's baton in his knap- sack. They can not all become heads of missions. A great many of them will not become qualified to become heads of missions. That is always true in the nature of things, and I personally believe it would be a great misfortune to the service if the heads of missions should all be taken from the so-called diplomats of career. I think it would be quite contrary to the genius of our institutions and would deprive the President of a field of selection he ought to have, that he should be unable to reach out into the general body of the citizens to m;ike a man ambassador or minister. But there ought to be the incentive, the possibility that an ambassadorship or ministerial position is open to every man who enters the diplomatic career, if he has the necessary qualities. There ought also to be a fair chance of promotion in the lower grades, and there ought to.be a sufficient number of the lower grades t> give him from time to time the stimulus of an advance from one grade to another, whenever he has done some creditable piece of work or has shown a fair amount of faculty. We must do something if men are to be kept working, to stimulate their ambition. In the third place, it is not possible, it seems to me. that the Government will ever be able to pay a salary on which a man can hope to accumulate any reserve fortune. So far as I know there is no post in the whole Government that gives a man much chance to save, and probably never will be. The Government will never be able to compete with private enter- prise in that respect, and that being true, if the Government expects a man to give his life to the service, to take up a presumably fixed career, you must take away from him the fear of a dependent and penniless old age. You must give to these men the same prospect of retirement that you give to the Army and Navy and to the permanent civil service of the executive departments. Granted adequate pay or reasonable pay. granted a reasonable chance for promotion, as a recognition of merit, and then granted a retirement allowance which will enable a man when he is no longer useful to be assured against want, you will not only get good men but you will be able to retain them be- cause the foreign service does offer, of course, a great many things that are attractive. It is highly intellectual labor. A man who really enjoys intellectual labor can find in the Diplomatic and Consular Service all the field that he needs. It is interesting because it is constantly taking him into new phases of work and there is a certain element of pride about it because it is a dignified position to stand among foreigners as representing a dignified and powerful nation. This consideration will draw men to the service and will hold them there if they are given a fair chance to live the sort of life that they should live and at the same time make a provision for their old age. I read all these three things in this bill and read them with great satisfaction. There is one other thing in the bill on which I have a pretty deep personal feeling, and that is the provision for representation allowances to the diplo- matic officers of the Government. Of course, that is an old subject. To those who have had any experience with it. it is rather a sore subject. It is noto- rious that we never have paid to our ministers, and especially to our ambassa- dors in the larger capitals a salary on which it was possible for them to live, let alone to carry on the ceremonial activities M. ;' man can be quire comfortable on a salary that would starve him if sterling was at par. There are post-- where the salary of $5,000 is ease and comfort. There are other posts where the salary of *r>f serving in an important post. FOREIGN SERVICE Ob THE UNITED STATES. 97" Mr. ROGERS. While you were in the Department of State, did you see evi- dences of an attempt to draw something ak.n to a social line between the diplomatic service and the consular service? Mr. POLK. You mean by the department? Mr. ROGERS. Primarily. I have heard it said, by certain of the less capable and useful members of the diplomatic service. Mr. POLK. I would not go so far as to say they try to draw a line, but I think some of the less intelligent members of the diplomatic service may fancy they occupy positions of some advantage. I will put it that way. Mr. ROGERS. Do you not think the result of this interchangeable provision, may be useful in eliminating any snobbishness in the foreign service? Mr. POLK. I was not looking at that particular feature of the bill as a form of punishment. I was looking at it as a form of education. You take a very promising young man who has never had contact with anything but the rather pleasant side of life, if you send him out to some of these consular posts, he will come back a very much better man, with a very much broader view of life, and will be a very much better public servant. Mr. ROGERS. And will realize he is entirely mistaken in trying to look down on his foreign-service associates. Mr. POLK. In trying to draw any distinction whatever between the two services. I think one of The strong features of this bill is that it makes the service interchangeable. Mr. ROGERS. Do you think well of the retirement system? Mr. POLK. I think that is an essential part of the system. You see men long in the service with salaries seven or eight thousand dollars living abroad and having to move their families frequently at a great expense, and they can not possibly lay by a penny. If they are faced by the fact that in their old age they will have nothing to look forward to, if a man is a bright man he is not going to stay, and the other man who is going to stay will be in constant terror with the thought of an old age with no support for himself or children and family. Mr. ROGERS. Speaking generally, you think that the enactment of some such legislation as this would give us a better and more efficient and more business- like foreign service? Mr. POLK. I do. I feel very strongly that neither the Diplomatic nor Consular Services are appreciated as necessary services. We have these tremendous world problems, and it is impossible for any Government official to handle these problems without proper information. Mr. Davis has referred to the Diplomatic Service as the eyes and the ears of the Government. It is. Unless we have trained men in the field to study and report on these conditions, we are at a hopeless disadvantage. One of the impressive things I witnessed in Paris was the knowledge shown by the men from the British foreign office. They were men. for the most part, about 30 years old ; had been in every part of the world ; studied their problems and knew them. I am not saying that critically of our men. because such of our men who had the same opportunities held their own. I think both the British and French foreign offices were tremendously impressed with the grasp shown by our men who had had the opportunity to study the questions, but where we had one or two they would have a dozen, and many of our experts had to be drawn from our universities and paid good salaries higher than our service men. Mr. ROGERS. The question will be asked, will it not, why, if we can hold our own with the present system, we should change it? Mr. POLK. I say we had one or two to their many. Mr. ROGERS. This bill would not give us more men. Mr. POLK. No : but you would hold your men. Many of the service men who were in Paris have resigned to go into business. We are constantly filling in. We have vacancies now. I remember the time when we had 35 vacancies and 13 applications. The men do not stay. We are constantly educating men and turning them out to go into other businesses. Mr. MOORE. At the particular time you spoke of in Paris, I suppose you had picked men selected from various localities? Mr. POLK. Picked men. We had men from universities and colleges and men we had trained ourselves. We had to bring men back into the service. tx> get them to come back and sacrifice their business to help us. This country will not be properly represented in a diplomatic or business way until we build up this service in such a way that we get the right men, train them, and hold them. Those three things are absolutely essential. Remember you can not separate 98 FOREIGN* SERVICE OF THE UXITED STATES. business and diplomacy. They go hand in hand. Economic problems are at the bottom of all wars. Mr. MOORE. Do you recall what your post or representation allowances totaled while you were in the State Department? Mr. POLK. During the war, of course, it was very high : $700.000 in 1918. Mr. MOORE. Have you that figure, how much it would take to take care of this thing in the way of representation allowances? Mr. POLK. Not in time of peace. Mr. MOOKE. Would you care to conjecture what it would cost under present conditions? Mr. POLK. I really do not know. My guess would be of no value. I do feel from the commercial and political standpoint that we can not adequately meet the situation until we have a service properly educated and properly paid st> we can hold them after we educate them. No man in private business would educate men just to let them go out in some other line of work. Mr. ROGERS. I want to repeat for the members of the committee who were not present what I have said informally, that a very large number of organiza- tions and of individuals have indicated a desire to be recorded in favor of this measure, the organizations and individuals in question being both people who would interest the committee and. I think, would inform the committee. I do not want to multiply these hearings, and unless it is the pleasure of the committee otherwise, it occurred to me that perhaps we had about all the information that we needed to go ahead. I should very much like to have the committee's viewpoint on that, however. Mr. MOORE. I do not think we need information on that subject. I do think that the House needs information on this subject, and there are some members who read the hearings. We have quite full hearings, nearly 100 pages, plus what there has been to-day. Mr. COCKRAN. I think, Mr. Chairman, we might conclude the hearings now, as we have been informed as far as information from the outside can benefit us. I move that the hearings be closed. The CHAIRMAN. If there is no objection the hearings will be closed. (Thereupon, at 11.30 o'clock a. m., the committee adjourned to meet again at the call of the chairman.) CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Washington, D. C.. December .',?. /.''.>.?. Hon. JOHN J. ROGERS, Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives. MY DEAR MR. ROGERS: With regard to your bill ( H. R. 12. r >43) for the re- organization and improvement of the Diplomatic and Consular Services. I de- sire to express to you the attitude of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States. Our tenth annual meeting, held in May of this year, made the fol- lowing declaration on the part of the 1,300 and more chambers of commerce and trade associations which constitute this chamber: "The business men of our country are most appreciative of the valuable services rendered to them day by day both in the diplomatic and consular branches of the Department of State. For these services adequate support should at all times be given." Our organization is, therefore, solidly committed in favor of adequate sup- port for the Consular and Diplomatic Services. "Adequate support" means recognition of the present defects in organization, in compensation, and in personnel. We feel that the increased importance of our international rela- tionships, particularly in view of the unsettled conditions abroad, makes it necessary for the United States Government to follow foreign affairs more closely in all sections of the world. While our membership, as broadly repre- sentative of business, takes especial interest in the development of the expert commercial service under the Department of Commerce, we are, nevertheless, appreciative of the fact that our consular and diplomatic officers under the Department of State are a great force through which our public and private in- terests abroad generally, including our commercial interests, are protected and furthered. We have noted the improvement of the foreign services of other Governments, and we have felt that our own Consular and Diplomatic Services should not be allowed to remain largely on a pre-war basis, no longer FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. 99' adequate to meet the pressing needs 'of representation of the United States. With the chamber committed by resolution in annual meeting in favor of such a program of adequate support for the Consular and Diplomatic Services, we have taken a special interest in H. R. 12543. That bill has been examined by our staff and by our board of directors, and our board decided that the cham- ber should support the main principles in that bill as tangibly carrying out the chamber's announced policy. We have, accordingly, not hesitated to call this measure to the attention of the chambers of commerce and trade associations in our membership and to invite their approval. For your information I may say that we have had indication, not only from organizations here at home, but likewise from Ameri- can chambers of commerce established in foreign countries, that the improve- ment of the Consular and Diplomatic Services promised by congressional action along the lines now proposed will mean much for American business. We believe that the things that need doing at this time include the following : 1. Reclassification of the Consular Service on a better organization basis. 2. Keclassification of the service of diplomatic secretaries on a basis of salaries comparable to those paid in the consular branch. 3. Breaking down the water-tight compartments of the Consular and Diplo- matic Services, enabling the Secretary of State to use good men in either branch of the foreign service as events may make advisable, and opening up broader careers to the men in the service. 4. Opening up the career of diplomatic secretary to men other than those of independent means. 5. Enactment of retirement legislation for the career men both in the Diplo- matic and Consular Services, thus providing for the retirement of men grown old in the service, retaining good men. and attracting men who can not afford to enter the services under the present system. 6. Giving recognition in basic law to needed post expense allowances, includ- ing necessary representation allowances for officers in the foreign service of the United States in direct connection with their official duties. If you and your colleagues will put through legislation bringing about im- provement on these lines, I believe it will be of direct and undoubted benefit to American business : will give us a more competent foreign service all round ;, and will place our foreign service on a basis more in harmony with the demo- cratic ideals of the United States than at present. Very truly yours, .TUJYUIS H. BARNES, President. REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY A 000013783 6