A great and greatly needed reformation of the consular service of the United States was begun in 1906, by the passage of an Act of Congress, approved April 5, which provided for the reorganization of the service, primarily by the classifying and grading of the consuls-general and the consuls, and the fixing of salaries in each class. Consuls-general were placed by the Act in seven classes, with salaries as follows: Class one, twelve thousand dollars. London, Paris. Class two, eight thousand dollars. Berlin, Habana, Hongkong, Hamburg, Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai. Class three, six thousand dollars. Calcutta, Cape Town, Constantinople, Mexico City, Montreal, Ottawa, Vienna, Yokohama. Class four, five thousand five hundred dollars. Antwerp, Barcelona, Brussels, Canton, Frankfort, Marseilles, Melbourne, Panama, Saint Petersburg, Seoul, Tientsin. Class five, four thousand five hundred dollars. Auckland, Beirut, Buenos Ayres, Callao, Chefoo, Coburg, Dresden, Guayaquil, Halifax, Hankau, Mukden, Munich, Niuchwang, Rome, Rotterdam, Saint Gall, Singapore. Class six, three thousand five hundred dollars. Adis Ababa, Bogota, Budapest, Guatemala, Lisbon, Monterey, San Salvador, Stockholm, Tangier. Class seven, three thousand dollars. Athens, Christiania, Copenhagen. Consuls were divided among nine classes, receiving salaries that range from $8000 in the first class and $6000 in the second, down to $2000 in the ninth. The first and second classes hold but one incumbent each, at Liverpool and Manchester, respectively. There are eight places in the third class, twelve in the fourth, and then the numbers mount rapidly, up to the sixty-nine included in the ninth class. All fees allowed to be collected for services rendered in connection with the duties of the consular office (which the President may prescribe) are directed by the Act to be accounted for thereafter and paid into the Treasury of the United States. All consular officers whose salaries exceed $1000 are forbidden to be interested in or to transact any business as a merchant, factor, broker, or other trader, or a clerk or other agent of one, or to practice as a lawyer for compensation, or to be interested in the fees or compensation of any lawyer. The whole service is placed under inspection by five inspectors, to be appointed from the members of the consular service; and each consular office must be inspected at least once in every two years.