serves, and we earnestly ask that representations be made to the Congress setting forth our needs and asking for their reasonable satisfaction.

An estimate has been submitted to the Secretary of the Treasury for a preliminary appropriation for the preparation of plans for a suitable building and the selection of a site. This estimate has met with the earnest approval of the Secretary of the Interior, who has been charged with the duty of "quartering and subsisting" the Commission.

The Commission desires to express to you its earnest appreciation of your sympathy and support in its labors.

We have the honor to be, very respectfully,

JOHN C. BLACK,

JOHN A. McILHENNY,
WM. S. WASHBURN,
Commissioners.

The PRESIDENT,

The White House.

REPORT OF THE CHIEF EXAMINER.

To the COMMISSION:

JANUARY 24, 1910.

The following report is respectfully submitted of the work performed under the supervision of the chief examiner during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1909:

The following tabular statement shows the number of persons examined, passed, and appointed during the year:

a Of these, 116 were examined, 36 passed, and 139 appointed for educational positions in navy-yards and elsewhere under the Navy Department, the examinations being held under authority of section 3 of Civil Service Rule III.

b Of these, 30,984 were examined, 30,632 passed, and 15,086 appointed for noneducational (trades) positions in navy-yards, which positions were declared to be unclassified by the opinion of the AttorneyGeneral of July 6, 1909.

In addition to the foregoing, certain examinations were held for services not in the classified service of the United States, with the following results:

There were 407 different kinds of examinations held, according to title or kind of position, of which 305 were educational and 102 noneducational.

When report was made of work done under the supervision of the chief examiner for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1908, complete statistical information as to examinations held during that year was not available, because of the arrearage of examining work, due to the increased number of competitors. For comparative purposes, it seems desirable to include herein the following tabular statement showing the number of persons examined, passed, and appointed during the fiscal year 1908:

a Of these, 767 were examined, 336 passed, and 153 appointed for educational positions in navy-yards and elsewhere under the Navy Department, the examinations being held under authority of section 3 of Civil Service Rule III.

b Of these, 33,599 were examined, 33,430 passed, and 14,631 appointed for noneducational (trades) positions in navy-yards, which positions were declared to be unclassified by the opinion of the AttorneyGeneral of July 6, 1909.

In addition to the foregoing, certain examinations were held for services not in the classified service of the United States, with results as follows:

There were 437 different kinds of examinations held, according to title or kind of position, 301 of which were educational and 136 noneducational.

It will be observed that while there was a slight increase in the number of persons examined in the educational or mental examinations for entrance to the service in 1909 over the year 1908, there were slight decreases in the number examined in the noneducational or trades examinations for entrance to the service and in the number examined for promotion, transfer, or reinstatement, so that the total of persons examined for the classified service of the United States in the fiscal year of 1909 was a little more than 3,000 less than for the year 1908.

The work connected with the examination of more than 158,000 persons during the year 1909 consisted of the printing and publication of manuals and separate announcements of examinations, the issuance, inspection, and approval or disapproval of applications, the preparation and rating of suitable tests, and the notification of competitors. During the year 407 different kinds of examinations were held; that is, examinations for that number of different kinds of positions, or different kinds of qualifications.

Tabular statements have been prepared and submitted for publication in the appendix to the Commission's report, giving detailed information as to the various examinations held and appointments made during the

year.

At the beginning of the fiscal year 1909 the papers of more than 17,000 competitors awaited rating, and most of these were from examinations of a technical character. At the close of the year about 13,000 sets of papers were on hand, in which ratings had not been completed, but much of the work in connection with such rating had been done, and more than half of these papers were of examinations of an ordinary clerical character, held during the preceding month.

During the year covered by this report the railway mail clerk examination was held on the same day throughout the country by the various local boards of examiners, instead of on a number of different dates by traveling examiners, with the resultant saving of work in the preparation of a large number of series of questions.

POSITIONS OF UNUSUAL REQUIREMENTS.

While, as usual, a large majority of the persons examined during the year applied for the ordinary clerical, subclerical, and trades positions, yet the list of examinations for the year includes, as a result of requests for eligibles, a number which are of special interest because of the requirements and compensation of the positions to be filled. Among these are the following: Civil and hydraulic engineer, Reclamation Service, compensation, $4,200; coal-mining engineer, Geological Survey, $3,600; special examiner and special agent, Department of Commerce and Labor, $3,500; electrical engineer, Geological Survey, electrical expert in wireless telegraphy and telephony, Navy Department, examiner of accounts, Interstate Commerce Commission, and pharmacologist, Department of Agriculture, $3,000 each; chief, cattle and grain investigation laboratory, Department of Agriculture, chief veterinarian, Philippine service, highway or railway engineer, Philippine service, and superintendent of construction, $2,500 each; chemist, War Department, and electrical engineer and

mechanical draftsman, Reclamation Service, $2,400 each; and chemical biologist, Department of Agriculture, $2,250.

RURAL CARRIERS.

Of the total number of persons examined during the year, 23,861 were examined for the position of rural carrier, of whom 4,295 were appointed, an increase of 4,402 examined and of 326 appointed, over the previous year. The number of rural routes in 1908 was 39,329, and in 1909, 40,759, an increase of 1,430. There were 3,268 rural carriers separated from the service, of whom 198 were removed for cause.

FOURTH-CLASS POSTMASTERS.

Postmasters of the fourth class in the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan were classified by executive order of November 30, 1908. Regulations were approved jointly by the Postmaster-General and the Commission on January 20, 1909, governing the manner of appointment to these positions.

The regulations divided the positions into two groups, one group comprising positions whose annual compensation is $500 or more and the other group comprising positions whose annual compensation is less than $500. Appointments to positions in the first group are required to be made as a result of a mental test combined with a consideration of the facilities proposed to be furnished by the applicant for transacting postal business. Appointments to positions in the second group, in the States of Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Illinois are required by the regulations to be made as the result of an investigation in each case by a post-office inspector, who visits the locality and selects a person for recommendation among those filing applications, having regard to the suitability of the applicant and his ability to provide proper facilities to transact the postal business. Appointments at offices where the compensation is less than $500 a year in the ten remaining States to which the classification applies are made as a result of an examination of a more simple character than that given for the offices paying a greater compensation.

The regulations became effective from their date as to offices paying less than $500 a year in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Illinois, while at all other offices they became effective on February 15, 1909. Between February 15 and June 30, 1909, 582 examinations were held by the Commission, in which 632 persons competed and 607 passed. Of those who passed, 451 were males and 156 females. On June 30, 1909, there had been appointed as fourth-class postmasters 397 persons through examinations held by the Commission, besides 204 who had been appointed in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Illinois through investigation and recommendation by post-office inspectors.

COLLUSION IN EXAMINATIONS.

A competitor who resorts to collusion or cheating in his examination is regarded by the Commission as unfit for the government service. During the year examiners detected 42 competitors in the use of helps brought by them to the examination rooms, while the examinations of 30 other competitors were canceled because of copying or collusion.

NEED OF TEMPORARY EXPERTS.

The widely varying activities of the departments and bureaus of the Government require specialists in many branches of scientific, professional, and technical knowledge, thus necessitating the preparation by the Commission of tests of greatly diversified qualifications. It would not be practicable or economical to combine in a single corps of examiners specialists competent to prepare and rate tests in such a variety of examinations. The law does not permit the Commission to obtain the services of

public-spirited men of high attainments who might be willing to perform at least part of this work without charge. Therefore it is necessary under present conditions to seek the assistance of experts already employed in the government service. Sometimes such experts are to be found only in the department for which the examination is to be held. Care must be taken in the selection of the experts, and notwithstanding implicit reliance in their ability and good faith, it goes without saying that their work should be checked so as to protect more perfectly the integrity and fairness of the examinations. It is recognized that the present system of employing experts already in the service to do examining work, though necessarily adopted, is not ideal.

In view of these facts the Commission has asked in its estimates for an appropriation of $5,000, to be used in the temporary employment of experts to act as examiners from time to time as needed. An appropriation of this kind would be of great help to the Commission as well as to the departments. The Commission would be able to avail itself of experts in their respective lines who would bring to the selection of scientific, professional, and technical men for the government service the highest type of mind in the country, and the service would thus be benefited.

EXAMINATION OF DEAF-MUTES.

On April 7, 1909, the President issued the following executive order:

The Executive order of December 1, 1908, in regard to the admission of deaf-mutes to civil-service examinations is amended to read as follows:

Deaf-mutes may be admitted to examinations for all places in the classified civil service of the United States whose duties, in the opinion of the heads of the several executive departments, they may be considered capable of performing, and each department will furnish to the Civil Service Commission a list of such positions, which list shall not be changed without previous notice to the Commission and in accordance with which the Commission shall certify or withhold from certification deaf-mutes as they are reached in their order.

The Commission duly directed that deaf-mutes, when otherwise qualified, be admitted to certain examinations, in accordance with the reports made by the several departments and offices, such positions being enumerated in the Commission's publications, as follows:

Treasury Department.

War Department..

Department of Justice..
Post-Office Department..

(Department states that in making requests for certification it will indicate whether or not deaf-mutes can satisfactorily fill the position.)

Positions available.

.Accountant, bookkeeper, bookbinder, clerk, computer, compositor, chemist, draftsman, designer, expert money counter, law clerk, locksmith, money counter, paper counter, translator, engraver, clerk or copyist in Customs Service, clerk or copyist in Subtreasury Service, clerk or copyist in Mint Service. Copyist (typewriter), Judge-Advocate-General's Office; copyist in Engineer Department at Large; operator of certain automatic machines in the Ordnance Department at Large. Typewriter.

Office of First Assistant: Clerical_places_not requiring consultation with others. Postoffice Service-Mail clerks, distributers, and directory and forwarding clerks.

Office of Second Assistant: None.

Office of Third Assistant: Record or clerical positions not requiring frequent or constant consultation with others.

Office of Fourth Assistant: Positions other than stenographer and typewriter, telephone operator, rural carrier, or where the person would be required to maintain oral communication with others.