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 1906, 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 two 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 country 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 he 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 this: 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 continuously, 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 reaching the age of retirement is reimbursed the actual amount that he has contributed, 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 minister 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

goes further than we propose to go in this bill in this respect, that she appoints 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 London the British ambassador 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 1906. 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 first 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, "He looks like an American." clerk said, "Yes; he is an American."

Mr. ROGERS. What year was that?

Mr. SKINNER. 1908.

The

I

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. You will find practically none but Americans at those posts now. have 23 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 instructive 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 getting 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 points 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 interesting department, the commercial department. We have here 10 different employees. We 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 correspondence and receive visitors. In the course of a year thousands of commercial 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 396 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

office every first-class trade journal in the United Kingdom dealing with important commodities, and we are in communication with the various trade exchanges 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 manufacturers.

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 necessity, 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 Commerce that the man went after the business. Do you know of any such distinction as that?

Mr. SKINNER. Went after business or went after information?

Mr. LINTHICUM. Went after 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 Amer.can 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 the 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. SKINNER. Yes. The representattives 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 consolidation of those two independent services, to avoid duplication?

Mr. SKINNER. 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 field.

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 general, 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 confronted 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

merce, 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 an exaggerated idea of this representation of other departments. In some respects the work is regular and very voluminous, especially for the Treasury Department 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. ROGERS. How many instances do you recall where a consul 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 following 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. SKINNER. 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. SKINNER. 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 defective system. The really serious men among the secretaries deplore the manifestations 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 secretaries is, on the whole, remarkably efficient.

Mr. LINTHICUM. Coming back to the question of commercial attachés, are they housed in the embassy building?

Mr. SKINNER. Yes.

Mr. LINTHICUM. When inquiries are made, what line of inquiries is designated to them for attention?

Mr. SKINNER. I am not familiar with the rules of the Department of Commerce. 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. LINTHICUM. How many employees are under the Department of Commerce in London in connection with commercial attachés?

Mr. SKINNER. My recollection is that there may be about a dozen. I could not say positively-something like that.

Mr. ROGERS. Now, you may go on with your statement.

Mr. SKINNER. I had 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 great interest taken in the mercantile marine. We have six employees in it, also a surgeon of the United States Public Health Service. In this department the clearance of vessels, shipment and discharge of seamen, execution of quarantine laws, checking of alien passports, correspondence relating to shipping matters, and consular reports on the same subject are handled. During

the year ending June 30, 1922, we issued 640 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 with those ships.

Mr. COLE. Those were American vessels?

Mr. SKINNER. No; vessels of all descriptions. In the same manner we cleared 232 American vessels, a very different matter. We received 228 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 viséd 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. COCKRAN. A sailing ship?

Mr. SKINNER. Yes.

Mr. MOORE. Tramp?

Mr. SKINNER. Yes.

Mr. COCKRAN. All sailing ships are tramps.

Mr. SKINNER. 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 $1001 and they are sailing full.

Mr. FISH. What kind-steamships?

Mr. SKINNER. They are vessels of the United States Lines.

Mr. COCKRAN. 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 popular 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 fares 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 departmental passports and consular certificates, register births, and handle the manifold 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 received 1,117 applications for new passports; reported 43 births and 160 registrations. This is a very dull statement but it represents a great deal of work. Then we come to the alien visé department. You hear a 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 upon the suitability of every immigrant proceeding to the United States, and that means. 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 the slightest doubt that the proper working of our immigration laws requires that the visé shall be granted at the place of departure. It seems to me very unfair to the individual to let him close 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, and be turned back, when you might just as well turn him back on the other side.

Mr. COLE. You fill out his papers?

Mr. SKINNER. Yes.