$15 or $20 or $25. It interferes with our commerce. I think we should as speedily as possible reestablish the use of code. I have written the Department of Commerce as well as your department a letter on the subject a few days ago. It came to my attention that the Western Union is still refusing to accept code messages. They finally said, as an excuse, that they can not help it, because it is under some order of the Government. Now, if such an order has been given—for good reason, there is no doubt that reason can not exist any longer, especially when we have well-recognized codes with which the State Department and the Department of Justice are familiar, and such a code is plain as it can be to anyone, so that nothing can be inserted that would be detrimental to the country or to the departinent. I think something should be done immediately to reestablish the code service. Secretary LANSING. I certainly can see no objection to it. If your letter had been sent in, I assume that our officials will give attention to it in connection with the War Department and the Navy Department, to see what their objections are, if any. Mr. SABATH. You think it ought to be reestablished? Secretary LANSING. I see no reason why it should not be. Mr. SABATH. There is no reason that you now see why it should not be reestablished? Secretary LANSING. None that I see now, unless it be to certain countries, and really there could not be any objection in that case when we have the codes. Now, in connection with the item for post allowances, I have already more or less discussed that in connection with the question of salaries. We requested $800,000 last year and we received $700,000. We allotted to the Diplomatic Service $175,000, to our officials in China $100,000, and to the Consular Service in general $425,000. For the current year the appropriation was reduced to $600,000, thus making it necessary to decrease the allowances to the Diplomatic Service from $175,000 to $150,000; to the Consular Service in general from $425,000 to $290,000; and in spite of this we find that the cost of living has increased abroad. Mr. ROGERS. That is $600,000. Where is the remainder of that sum? Secretary LANSING. To China? Mr. ROGERS. Yes; $110,000. Secretary LANSING. No. In the case of China the exchange nearly doubled from what it was, so that we have had to increase the allowance there from $100,000 to $160,000. In addition to this, our Consular Service has been enlarged by 74 salaried members and there will be further enlargement by over 100. It is evident that the loss of a number of efficient secretaries is imminent and the dissatisfaction is practically certain to extend to the Consular Service. In that connection, while a bill is being prepared for the reorganization of the foreign service, there ought to be some provision made for the interchange of our consular and diplomatic officers, so that where we find a consular officer is particularly equipped for diplomatic service and has proven himself so we should be able to transfer him into the Diplomatic Service. But until you adjust the salaries of diplomatic officers of subordinate rank you can not interchange, because the Consular Service is paying very much better than the Diplomatic Service. But we have frequently found that our consular officers have excellent qualifications for the Diplomatic Service and yet we have to continue them in the Consular Service on account of the pay that they receive and we are unable to avail ourselves of their diplomatic ability. Mr. ROGERS. And I suppose, conversely, that our diplomatic officers would be ultimately better off if they had some consular experience? Secretary LANSING. It would add very greatly to their efficiency if they had consular experience, but the personality is not of the sort that would make a good diplomatic officer in some cases, while in others they have proved themselves superior to many of our diplomatic officers. Now, gentlemen, I do not know that I can add anything to what I have said. Mr. ROGERS. Can you give me some idea of the general scheme which the department adopts in fixing the amount of the post allowances for a given man in a given city? Secretary LANSING. That has been done, I think, more or less in an arbitrary way from reports we have received as to the cost of living in these various capitals and what we know ourselves from reports of our officials that have visited those capitals. It is a very difficult thing to do accurately. I do not know that there is any rule you can lay down. It is more or less a rule of thumb. Mr. ROGERS. It is a question of fact in each case? Secretary LANSING. Yes, sir. Each case has to be determined separately and independently. Mr. ROGERS. Take the case of the most expensive capital in the world and, we will say, our lowest-paid diplomatic or consular officer in that post. Would he need as much as 100 per cent added to his salary? Secretary LANSING. He might need a certain addition. Mr. ROGERS. Would he get more than 100 per cent? Secretary LANSING. I do not think any of them have. That is all I can say. I remember in the case of Chile we had an increase in the cost of living of 250 per cent, was it not, Mr. Carr? Mr. CARR. I do not remember exactly. It was pretty high on account of the difference in exchange. Secretary LANSING. So in that case we had to increase very largely. Mr. ROGERS. Take the other extreme, a pretty well-paid consul in a relatively low-priced city. Would he get the same post allowance? Secretary LANSING. Probably not. He would probably get none. There are many of our consular officers who get none. Mr. ROGERS. Can you give us an idea of what proportion of our consular officers receive post allowances and what proportion do not? Secretary LANSING. Prior to this year our consuls in the countries that were belligerent and in some of the neutral countries received post allowances, but of course we were so reduced this year that we had to be very careful about the allotment, and I do not think it has been the same. Mr. ROGERS. Who actually does the fixing of the post allowances? Secretary LANSING. It has been done by Mr. Carr as to the Consular Service and Mr. Phillips handles it in reference to the Diplomatic Service. Mr. ROGERS. Does consul "A" in London know the post allowace that consul "B" is receiving in Paris, and vice versa? Secretary LANSING. I doubt it. Mr. CARR. Unless they happen to get copies of the hearings before the Foreign Affairs Committee. Mr. ROGERS. That was printed in the hearings two years ago. Would it be possible for you to put that into the hearings in connection with your testimony, Mr. Carr? Mr. CARR. The consular figures have not been finally worked out on account of the exchange in Europe in its relation to the increased cost of living, has made it extremely difficult to get any scheme that would be finally satisfactory. Mr. ROGERS. Under the present law, as I recall it, and certainly under this appropriation bill now before us, the China situation is separately adjusted. Secretary LANSING. Yes, it is quite a different problem. Mr. ROGERS. I should like to inquire whether in the future the China situation will have to be cared for out of your post-allowance fund? Secretary LANSING. For the time being until silver gets below 16 to 1. Mr. ROGERS. I thought that would take care of it. My inquiry was whether it would take care of the post-allowance fund, because it is taken care of in another part of the bill. Secretary LANSING. Oh, no. The CHAIRMAN. Does the committee desire to continue on or shall we adjourn? Mr CONNALLY. Let us finish with the Secretary. Mr. SABATH. The Secretary is a busy man. Secretary LANSING. So far as I am concerned personally, I am through. Mr. ROGERS. The provision to which I was referring relates only to the United States Court for China and does not cover the general situation. Mr. BEGG. Mr. Secretary, on page 10 of the bill there is a reference to $700,000 together with the unexpended balance of 1920 that is not used. How much unexpended balance will there be? Secretary LANSING. What will there be in June? Mr. BEGG. Yes; next June. Secretary LANSING. I am quite sure there will be a deficit rather than a balance. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Secretary, in June we had hearings on the pogroms in Poland. The hearings were postponed until the committee which was sent over there to investigate the matter had made a report. Mr. Phillips appeared before the committee and promised that we would have a report in the course of a month. Of course, it was no fault of his that the report did not reach the State Department until about 10 days ago, I understand. Secretary LANSING. A short time ago. The CHAIRMAN. I have been frequently asked about that report by people who were interested. Is there any reason why it should not be given to the committee? Secretary LANSING. It is a report to the President, you see, and the President as yet has not been disposed to give it up. Of course, I have not had an opportunity to see the President to talk it over with him. Personally, I can see no reason why the report should not be made public. The CHAIRMAN. I think it is rather embarrassing to the committee that that report is not available. Mr. SABATH. That is the committee of which Mr. Morgenthau is chairman? The CHAIRMAN. Yes. It was the committee on the pogroms in Poland. Now, it makes no difference which side it hurts, the American people should have the facts. Secretary LANSING. I would like to have them made public myself, but at the same time I can not make them public because you appreciate the fact that the President has the authority in the matter. The last time I wrote him on the subject was just after the report was completed and he indicated that he had practically not examined the report and did not want anything done with it until he had, but I would be perfectly willing to put the matter up to him again. The CHAIRMAN. Now, in view of the fact that there has been public demonstrations in all large cities and that considerable illfeeling has grown up between the Jews and the Poles, I think we should have the facts. Secretary LANSING. I will take the matter up. Now, is there any further information that you want that we can furnish you? Mr. CONNALLY. This is foreign to the immediate question, but I would like to ask it for information. What is your regulation now about the issuance of passports to Germany? Secretary LANSING. We do not issue any. Mr. CONNALLY. You do not issue any at all? Secretary LANSING. No, sir. We issue them to neighboring neutral countries and holders of them get into Germany from those countries. (Thereupon at 12.30 o'clock p. m. the committee adjourned until to-morrow, Thursday, January 8, 1920, at 10 o'clock a. m.) COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D. C., Thursday, January 8, 1920. The committee met at 10 o'clock a. m., Hon. Stephen G. Porter presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The committee this morning will hear Dr. L. S. Rowe, Department of State. STATEMENT OF DR. L. S. ROWE, CHIEF OF DIVISION OF LATINAMERICAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF STATE. Mr. RowE. Mr. Chairman, I have been requested to present to you four or five of the items in the bill covering the Third Pan American Scientific Congress, and the Fifth International Conference of American States, the International High Commission, and the appropriation for the building for the International Bureau of Trade-mark Registration at Habana, and the quota of the United States toward the maintenance of that bureau. The CHAIRMAN. What is the first? Mr. RowE. The first in order is the International High Commission, United States section, on page 20. May I recall to the members of the committee the fact that the International High Commission was the outcome of the first Pan American Financial Congress held in 1915? The conference of 1915 was called for the purpose of discussing the financial problems concerning the countries of the American continent, because of the outbreak of the European war. The purpose of the conference was to have the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States confer with the ministers of finance of the countries of Central and South America to exchange views and opinions with reference to the best method of solving the difficult problems that confronted the countries of the American continent by reason of the outbreak of the European war. In order to carry out the resolutions and conclusions of that conference an international high commission was formed, composed of national sections, each national section including nine prominent financiers and jurists of the respective countries, presided over by the minister of finance. The combination of all those national sections constituted the International High Commission. The great value of this commission has been that it has been able to secure the consideration in the respective national assemblies and legislatures of the draft conventions and resolutions adopted at the financial conference. One of the major difficulties of these international conferences, and particularly the Pan American conferences, has been that a number of resolutions and draft conventions have been adopted by the conference and no permanent organization has been established to secure their adoption and enforcement. An outgrowth of the first Pan American financial conference was the establishment of a kind of permanent standing committee whose main purpose was to secure in each country the adoption of the resolutions of the conference. The International High Commission met in the following year, 1916, at Buenos Aires, to ascertain how far each national section had gone in securing the effective carrying out of its program. I may say that one of the most important matters with which this commission has had to deal has been the adoption of the international trade-mark registration convention and the establishment of two registration bureaus provided for by the convention; one bureau at Havana and the other bureau at Rio de Janeiro. The first of these bureaus began business about six months ago. You have probably seen the somewhat sensational disclosures made in the New York Times with reference to the piracy of American trade-marks in Europe. That has been done, too, in Central and South America, and has been a very serious obstacle to the development of American trade with those countries. In some countries the local law gives to the person registering a trade 161477-20- -3 |