Presidential addresses and state papers, Volume 4 (of 7)

Gentlemen:

I need hardly say that our one chance for getting the consular service put upon a really effective basis lies with just such organizations as this.

We in Washington must rely upon you to make our people, who are pre-eminently a business people—I do not think that is by any means all they either are or ought to be, but I think they must have and ought to have a very strong business side to them—appreciate that the consular service should be in its essence a part of the general scheme of business development of the country. Of course my own view is that that applies to all the affairs of the State Department, and under both Mr. Hay and Mr. Root that Department has been managed and is being managed with an eye single to the good of the country as a whole. I have not, I am sorry to say, been able to persuade people thus to look upon even such a question as the Santo Domingo Treaty, which is a purely non-partisan measure; for if it was treated as it should be, purely on its merits, there would not be one shadow of opposition to or criticism of it. But while we have not yet been successful in getting the work of the Department looked upon quite in the non-partisan spirit that should be our national attitude in foreign affairs, and have not been successful in getting the consular service made by law what we strive to have it made—an absolutely non-partisan service—still we have made a certain amount of progress, and with the help of you and those like you, we shall be able to make a great deal more progress. One point let me dwell upon. You can not expect to get permanently good service when that service is unattractive and ill-paid. We have had a great deal of difficulty with our consular service in China. It came partly because men were appointed for political reasons, with scant regard to their qualifications, partly because men found themselves in remote Eastern ports where there was not much that made life attractive, where there was very little supervision over them, and yet great temptation. Gentlemen, we all know that under such conditions it is necessarily difficult to secure honest and efficient service. We made a pretty thorough clean-up there. But we can not keep the service as high as it should be kept unless we have adequate salaries. There must be a better monetary provision for our consuls. I think that some such scheme as that so admirably advocated by Mr. Loomis, whose experience peculiarly fits him to speak on the subject, of charging a graded fee for invoices would furnish a solution. But in any event, in some way or other, we should provide for better salaries for the consuls, for better facilities for doing their work. Remember that the dearest kind of public servant is a servant who is paid so cheaply that he must render cheap service. Also, I feel most strongly that in the consular service, which stands entirely apart from the diplomatic service proper, entrance should be made by law into the lower grades and that the higher grades should be filled by a gradual process of weeding out and promotion; remembering, gentlemen, that the weeding-out process must not be interfered with. It is not any too easy, at best, to get rid of a kindly-natured elderly incompetent, and if you add to the difficulty by law, he then stays permanently. Make the entrance to the service as far as possible non-partisan and make it at the lower grades, so that desirable positions shall come to those who have rendered good and faithful service in the lower grades, so that those entering the lower grades shall feel that if they do well they have a long and worthy career ahead of them.