Chapter IX

United States information for traders--Improved Consular
services--Mr. W. E. Coldwell--United States and Salvador
Government--Bureau of Pan-American Republics--Mr. Mark J.
Kelly--Exceptional services--The American Minister, Major
W. Heimké--Salvadorean Minister to U.S.A., Señor Federico
Mejía--Central American Peace Conference and the United States.

How beneficial is the attitude of the United States of America in collecting and disseminating every particle of information which can prove of the slightest service to American traders! Month by month, through the medium of the _Pan-American Bureau Bulletin_, a Government-endowed institution journal of the utmost utility, not only to American traders, but to those of every country of the world, every item of commercial, industrial, and financial information culled from Latin-American countries is published in tabular form, and supplied at a merely nominal figure to all who care to avail themselves of it. Such information is primarily the result of the researches and the reports made by United States Consuls in the countries mentioned, and it is perfectly certain that none are permitted to enjoy "allowances" of £200 a year, as is our Consul at San Salvador, without showing something in return for such payment in the shape of a report of some kind or other.

Here I may record that of Mr. Walter Edmund Coldwell, our unsalaried Consul at San Salvador, I have nothing whatever to say but what is complimentary, since he is personally a very amiable and courteous gentleman, ready and willing at any time to aid any Britisher seeking his advice, and which, in view of his experience and complete knowledge of Spanish, is certainly of great value. I feel certain that, had any request come from the Foreign Office addressed to Mr. Coldwell for a report upon trade conditions and prospects in Salvador, he would have been perfectly prepared to supply, as he is undoubtedly capable of supplying, it in view of his long residence, extending over twelve years. I go further, and suggest that had Mr. Coldwell not waited for any such request, but had acted upon his own initiative and sent in a report to the Foreign Office, such would either have been pigeonholed or the Consul have been snubbed for his pains. It cannot be too often observed, nor too emphatically pointed out, that it is _not_ the officials of our Consular Service who are wholly to blame; it is the "System" perpetuated by successive Governments--it matters not one pin's head whether they be Liberals or Conservatives or a hybrid mixture of many political parties--which is all wrong, and the ignorant and indifferent Permanent Officials at Downing Street who are responsible for the appalling condition of incompetency which our Consular Service to-day displays.

The following incident will show with what care and attention the Government of the United States follow every little incident and occurrence that can in any way affect trade relations between themselves and the smaller Latin-American States. In the month of February, 1909, the United States Minister sent to his Government a complaint to the effect that the Salvadorean Government allowed favoured-nation treatment to certain articles of French origin imported into the Republic, which treatment was not accorded to similar articles from the United States. The United States Government at once instructed the Minister at San Salvador to ask for an explanation, and he as promptly got it; not, perhaps, in the precise terms which he could have wished, but--he got it! The answer came from the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the following terms:

"The Treaty of Peace and Amity, Commerce and Consular Rights
celebrated between Salvador and the United States on December 6,
1870, having become inoperative by reason of the denunciation
of the same on the part of the Government of Salvador, in
accordance with the prearranged conditions from May 30, 1893,
merchandise proceeding from the United States can only be
accorded such treatment in the Customs Houses of Salvador as is
provided for in the general tariff law of the Republic, without
special concessions or privileges."

The answer was so convincing and so conclusive that the United States Government forthwith proceeded to celebrate a fresh Treaty with the Republic, and has since then enjoyed all the privileges which such can procure.

Upon a previous occasion--namely, in 1907--the United States Vice-Consul in San Salvador having requested from the Government of the Republic a general statement of economic conditions prevailing throughout the country, the reply was published very soon afterwards in the form of an elaborate and complete account of the commercial, industrial, and financial conditions of the Republic, the whole taking up the greater portion of a special number of the _Diario Oficial_. One cannot imagine a British Consul having the enterprise to make any such request from a foreign Government to which he is accredited, although the information, if sought, would be as readily forthcoming as it was for an American Vice-Consul. But when we witness the sorry spectacle of British officials allowing--or being allowed--twenty years to pass by without having issued any kind of report for the information of his countrymen, what can be expected?

The United States Secretary of State officials, who are so ably assisted by the co-operation of the Pan-American Bureau and its admirable monthly publication, _The Bulletin_, deserve every credit for the unflagging interest which they manifest in promoting and assisting their country's trade abroad. In this matter, at least, we might advantageously follow the example of our Transatlantic competitors. As it is, we should feel deeply grateful to the American Government for periodically issuing information which is as accessible to Britishers, or to any other nationalities, as to the Americans themselves. And it costs us nothing; which should be gratifying to that large class of individuals who enjoy getting something without putting their hands into their own pockets.

It seems a very remarkable fact that Salvador, like a great number of other Latin-American States, has been enabled to find in Great Britain a thoroughly capable and influential Consular representative, while Great Britain has so signally failed, except in some few instances, in securing similar representatives abroad. Nor is this circumstance the less noteworthy when it is observed that the Salvadorean Consul-General in London is not a native of that Republic, but an Irishman, and is probably one of the first--if not the only--Irishman who has filled a similar position. Mr. Mark Jamestown Kelly, F.R.G.S., F.S.A., etc., has been the Consular representative of both the Republics of Salvador and Honduras for over fifteen years, and it is only within the past few months that he has been compelled, owing to continued pressure of work in connection with the chairmanship of the Salvador Railway Company, to abandon his consular position in regard to Salvador. How greatly the Government of that State regretted Mr. Kelly's retirement, and how strong was the pressure brought to bear to induce him to withdraw his resignation, was fully evidenced in a remarkable letter of thanks which the Government addressed to Mr. Kelly lately, and from which the following is a brief extract. After referring in eloquent terms to the deep disappointment which the Government felt at Mr. Kelly's inability to reconsider the question of resignation, and having announced that the Executive had therefore most reluctantly accepted the inevitable, and had arranged to send over at an early date a representative to relieve Mr. Kelly of his official duties, Dr. Manuel E. Araujo, the President of the Republic (who has long been personally acquainted with Mr. Kelly), addressed him as follows:

"I deplore profoundly your resignation of the business of the
Consulate-General, which with so much tact and industry you
have been discharging during so long a lapse of time; and
your resignation of your post, being based upon reasons which
I cannot set aside, has this day at last been accepted by my
Government, but with the hope that you will always contribute
in one way or another with the very valuable contingent of your
wisdom and experience in all matters relating to the good name
and honour of Salvador. I tender to you in consequence, in my
own name and in that of my country, the most whole-souled thanks
for the very important services which you have afforded to
us in the past, and which we do not doubt we shall continue to
receive from your well-known magnanimity."

FOR 15 YEARS CONSUL-GENERAL IN GREAT BRITAIN FOR SALVADOR (RETIRED JUNE, 1911), AND CHAIRMAN OF THE SALVADOR RAILWAY COMPANY, LD.]

Mr. Kelly has undoubtedly rendered lasting and exceptional services to the State of Salvador during the long period over which he has represented its commercial and financial interests in this country. As its Financial Agent in Europe, he carried out the long and difficult negotiations which ended in successfully settling and discharging the foreign debt of the Republic, and permitted of that great undertaking, the construction of a through line of railway from the port of Acajutla to the Capital of San Salvador, being financed and completed. Last year Mr. Kelly also negotiated, with much tact and conspicuous ability, a new Salvador Foreign Loan, which to-day ranks as a gilt-edge security on the London Stock Exchange, and stands at a substantial premium.

Besides his Consular appointments, Mr. Mark J. Kelly holds the positions of Chairman of the Salvador Railway Company, Limited, and President of the Salvador Chamber of Commerce in London; while he is generally regarded as one of the greatest living authorities upon the questions of foreign exchange and Latin-American commerce.

For many years Mr. Kelly was identified with railway construction in Ecuador and later on with Salvador, and his great charm of manner, coupled with his extraordinary grasp of detail and intimate knowledge of finance in all its aspects, have combined to make his co-operation in financial and commercial matters a question of the greatest value to the latter country mentioned, as well as to all who have invested money therein. Mr. Kelly is a perfect Spanish scholar; and when I was travelling with him in Salvador, many of the natives with whom we conversed frankly informed me that, but for his distinctive European name, Mr. Kelly might very well pass for a pure-bred Spaniard or Spanish-American, so admirably did he converse in and write their language. Of the newly appointed Salvadorean Consul-General. Señor Don Artúro Ramón Ávila, I have spoken in