Consular Service, United States, proposed reclassification. Diplomatic Service, United States, proposed reclassification.. FOREIGN SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES. COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, Monday, January 14, 1924. The committee this day met, Hon. Stephen G. Porter (chairman) presiding. The committee had before it for consideration H. R. 17 (and at a subsequent meeting, a reprint containing minor amendments, H. R. 6357, which was favorably reported). A BILL For the reorganization and improvement of the foreign service of the United States, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter the Diplomatic and Consular Service of the United States shall be known as the foreign service of the United States. SEC. 2. That the official designation "foreign service officer" as employed throughout this act shall be deemed to denote permanent officers in the foreign service below the grade of minister, all of whom 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. 3. That the officers in the foreign service shall hereafter be graded and classified as follows, with the salaries of each class herein affixed thereto, but not exceeding in number for each class a proportion to the total number of officers in the service represented in the following percentage limitations: Ambassadors and ministers as now or hereafter provided; foreign service officers as follows: Class 1, 6 per centum, $9,000; class 2, 7 per centum, $8,000; class 3, 8 per centum, $7,000; class 4, 9 per centum, $6,000; class 5, 10 per centum, $5,000; class 6, 14 per centum, $4,500; class 7, $4,000; class 8, $3,500; class 9, $3,000; unclassified, $3,000 to $1,500. 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 by and with the advice and consent of the Senate: Provided further, 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 and a suitable period of probation in an unclassified grade or, after five years of continuous service in the Department of State, by transfer therefrom 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: Provided further, That reinstatement of foreign service officers separated from the classified service by reason of appointment as ambassador or minister may be made by Executive order of the President under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe. All appointments of foreign service officers shall be by commission to a class and not by commission to any particular post, and such officers shall be assigned to posts and may be transferred from one post to another by order of the President as the interests of the service may require: Provided, That the classification of secretaries in the Diplomatic Service and of consular officers is hereby abolished, without, however, in any wise impairing the validity of the present commissions of secretaries and consular officers. 1 SEC. 6. That section 5 of the act of February 5, 1915 (Public 242), is hereby amended to read as follows: "SEC. 5. That the Secretary of State is directed to report from time to time to the President, along with his recommendations, the names of those foreign service officers who by reason of efficient service have demonstrated special capacity for promotion to the grade of minister, and the names of those foreign service officers and employees and officers and employees in the Department of State who by reason of efficient service, an accurate record of which shall be kept in the Department of State, have demonstrated special efficiency, and also the names of persons found upon taking the prescribed examination to have fitness for appointment to the lower grades of the service." SEC. 7. That on the date on which this act becomes effective the Secretary of State shall certify to the President, with his recommendation in each case, the record of efficiency of the several secretaries in the Diplomatic Service, consuls general, consuls, vice consuls of career, consular assistants, interpreters, and student interpreters then in office and shall, except in cases of persons found to merit reduction in rank or dismissal from the service, recommend to the President the recommissioning, without further examination, of those then in office as follows: Secretaries of class one designated as counselors of embassy, and consuls general of classes one and two as foreign service officers of class one. Secretaries of class one designated as counselors of legation and consuls general of class three as foreign service officers of class two. Secretaries of class one not designated as counselors, consuls general of class four, and consuls general at large as foreign service officers of class three. Secretaries of class two, consuls general of class five, consuls of classes one, two, and three, and Chinese, Japanese and Turkish secretaries as foreign service officers of class four. Consuls of class four as foreign service officers of class five. Secretaries of class three, consuls of class five, and Chinese, Japanese, and Turkish assistant secretaries as foreign service officers of class six. Consuls of class six as foreign service officers of class seven. Secretaries of class four and consuls of class seven as foreign service officers of class eight. Consuls of classes eight and nine as foreign service officers of class nine. Vice consuls of career, consular assistants, interpreters, and student interpreters as foreign service officers, unclassified. SEC. 8. That consuls general of class one, and consuls of class one, holding office at the time this act takes effect shall not, as a result of their recommissioning or reclassification, suffer a reduction in salary below that which they are then receiving: Provided, however, That this provision shall apply only to the incumbents of the offices mentioned at the time this act becomes effective. That the grade of consular assistant is hereby abolished, and that all consular assistants now in the service shall be recommissioned as foreign service officers, unclassified. SEC. 9. That sections 1697 and 1698 of the Revised Statutes are hereby amended to read as follows: "Every secretary, consul general, consul, vice consul of career, or 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 permanent 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 delivering 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 person 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 the operation of no existing bond shall in any wise be impaired by the provisions of this act: Provided further, That such bond shall cover by its stipulations all official acts of such officer, whether as foreign service officer or as secretary in the Diplomatic Service, consul general, consul, or vice consul of career. The bonds herein mentioned shall be deposited with the Secretary of the Treasury. SEC. 10. That the provisions of section 4 of the act of April 5, 1906, relative to the powers, duties, and prerogatives of consuls general at large are hereby made applicable to foreign service officers detailed for the purpose of inspection, who shall, under the direction of the Secretary of State, inspect the work of officers in the foreign service, both in the diplomatic and the consular branches. SEC. 11. That the provisions of sections 8 and 10 of the act of April 5, 1906, relative to official fees and the method of accounting therefor shall include both branches of the foreign service. SEC. 12. That the President is hereby authorized to grant to diplomatic missions and to consular offices at capitals of countries where there is no diplomatic mission of the United States representation allowances out of any money which may be appropriated for such purpose from time to time by Congress, the expenditure of such representation allowance to be accounted for in detail to the Department of State quarterly under such rules and regulations as the President may prescribe. SEC. 13. Appropriations are authorized for the salary of a private secretary to each ambassador who shall be appointed by the ambassador and hold office at his pleasure. SEC. 14. That any foreign service officer may be assigned for duty in the Department of State without loss of 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. Any foreign service officer of whatever class detailed for special duty not at his post or in the Department of State shall be paid his actual and necessary expenses for travel and not exceeding an average of $8 per day for subsistence during such special detail: Provided, That such special duty shall not continue for more than sixty days, unless in the case of trade conferences or international gatherings, congresses, or conferences, when such subsistence expenses shall run only during the period thereof and the necessary period of transit to and from the place of gathering. SEC. 15. That the Secretary of State in authorized, whenever he deems it to be in the public interest, to order to the United States on his statutory leave of absence any foreign service officer who has performed three years or more of continuous service abroad: Provided, That the expenses of transportation and subsistence of such officers and their immediate families, in traveling from thier posts to their homes in the United States and return, shall be paid under the same rules and regulations applicable in the case of officers going to and returning from their posts under orders of the Secretary of State when not on leave: Provided further, That while in the United States the services of such officers shall be available for trade conference work or for such duties in the Department of State as the Secretary of State may prescribe. SEC. 16. That the part of the act of July 1, 1916 (Public, Numbered 131), which authorizes the President to designate and assign any secretary of class one as counselor of embassy or legation, is hereby amended to read as follows: "Provided, That the President may, whenever he considers it advisable so to do, designate and assign any foreign service officer as counselor of embassy or legation.' SEC. 17. That within the discretion of the President, any foreign service officer may be appointed to act as commissioner, chargé d'affaires, minister resident, or diplomatic agent for such period as the public interests may require without loss of grade, class, or salary: Provided, however, That no such officer shall receive more than one salary. That section 1685 of the Revised Statutes as amended by the act entitled "An act for the improvement of the foreign service, approved February 5, 1915," is hereby amended to read as follows: "SEC. 1685. That for such time as any foreign service officer shall be lawfully authorized to act as chargé d'affaires ad interim or to assume charge of a consulate general or consulate during the absence of the principal officer at the post to which he shall have been assigned, he shall, if his salary is less than one-half that of such principal officer, receive in addition to his salary as foreign service officer compensation equal to the difference between such salary and one-half of the salary provided by law for the ambassador, minister, or principal consular officer, as the case may be." SEC. 18. The President is authorized to prescribe rules and regulations for the establishment of a foreign service retirement and disability system to be administered under the direction of the Secretary of State and in accordance with the following principles, to wit: (a) The Secretary of State shall submit annually a comparative report showing all receipts and disbursements on account of refunds, allowances, and annuities, together with the total number of persons receiving annuities and the amounts paid them, and shall submit annually estimates of appropriations necessary to continue this section in full force and such appropriations are hereby authorized: Provided, That in no event shall the aggregate total appropriations exceed the |