EXTENSION OF CIVIL-SERVICE LAW BY CONGRESS.

In legislation during the past year Congress extended the provisions of the civil-service act and rules to cover positions in three distinct branches of the municipal government of the District of Columbia; namely, the Metropolitan police force, the fire department, and the rent commission.

EXCEPTIONS FROM COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION.

During the year appointments of 16 persons were permitted by Executive order waiving some provision of the civil-service rules, a reduction of 1 from the preceding year. Exceptions from competition authorized by the commission itself have been limited the past year, because it was felt that the Executive order of March 26, 1917, under which exceptions could be permitted, was essentially a war authority and therefore lapsed with the armistice. This order provides that when a public exigency exists necessitating immediate filling of a vacancy for which there is no suitable eligible, the commission may authorize the filling of the position by the noncompetitive appointment of a person shown to be qualified. The commission held that such a public exigency existed last spring in connection with the settlement of the railroad wage dispute, and permitted a limited number of noncompetitive appointments under this order in the initial organization of the United States Railroad Labor Board, established at that time by Congress to decide wage matters involving interstate railroads.

PRESIDENTIAL POSTMASTERS.

A subject of perennial interest is the method established by the President in March, 1917, for the selection by him of candidates to be nominated to the Senate for positions of postmaster at first, second, and third class offices. In the chief examiner's report this year is a detailed description of the examination and of the personal inquiry made by representatives of the commission at all cities where the postmaster receives an annual salary above $2,200.

On October 9, 1920, the President amended the announced requirements for admission to the postmaster examinations for first and second class offices to read as follows:

For offices paying more than $6,000 a year the applicants must show that for at least seven years they have held responsible positions in which the principal duties involved the management of business affairs, such positions as those of president, general manager, general superintendent, or assistant general superintendent, requiring active charge of firms, corporations, businesses, or offices, and such positions in different branches of the Postal Service; applicants must also show that they have demonstrated their ability to meet and deal with the public satisfactorily.

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For offices paying over $4,000, up to and including $6,000 a year, the applicants must show that for at least five years they have held responsible positions, in which the principal duties involved the management of business affairs, such positions as those of president, general manager, general superintendent, or assistant general superintendent, requiring the active charge of firms, corporations, or offices, and such positions in the different branches of the Postal Service; applicants must also show that they have demonstrated their ability to meet and deal with the public satisfactorily.

For offices paying over $2,200, up to and including $4,000 a year, applicants must show that for at least three years they have held responsible positions in which the principal duties involved the management of business affairs, or such positions in different branches of the Postal Service; applicants must also show that they have demonstrated their ability to meet and deal with the public satisfactorily.

The principal change from the former announcement is to emphasize that demonstrated ability to meet and deal with the public satisfactorily is essential.

Undoubtedly great economy is to be effected by proper selection of the heads of these branch offices of the Postal Establishment. Particularly is this true at the larger offices, where they must supervise a considerable force of employees. That knowledge of efficient business management and those qualities of leadership that have won success in commercial enterprises and have enabled postal employees to forge ahead of their fellows to the more responsible positions in the service also insure success in the management of the postal business.

It is only through leadership based on demonstrated ability which will gain the loyalty and spontaneous cooperation of employees, coupled with knowledge of proper business methods to apply in handling the problems which are presented, that the service may develop to the highest state of efficiency.

That the present method appeals strongly to the public is evidenced by the cordial cooperation business men and representative citizens give the commission's agents who conduct the investigations, by the unanimity in favorable expressions of opinion, and by the press comment following many of the appointments made as a result of these investigations. The public is coming to realize that any citizen with influence or without it may aspire to these positions and stand or fall on his merits.

The Executive order of March 31, 1917, did not place presidential postmasterships in the classified service, as Congress alone has power to do this; but the commission is strongly of the belief that further great good would result were Congress to extend the classified service to cover these positions so closely affecting the individual and business interests of every citizen. Such action would be in line with repeated recommendations of the President, different Postmasters General, and of former Civil Service Commissioners. In the first

report issued by this commission in 1884 appeared the following suggestion:

It would seem plain that since the subordinates at the post offices and customs offices, to which the rules extend, are no longer appointed on the basis of a party test, consistency not less than the efficiency of the service forbids the application of that test for the selection of collectors or postmasters at such offices. Only on that condition can these offices be taken out of party politics and become, in fact, as they are in legal purpose, mere business agencies of the Government.

President Taft made six definite recommendations to that effect in his messages to Congress. The following is quoted from his message of December 6, 1910:

I think it would be wise to put in the classified service the first, second, and third class postmasters. * * * To classify first, second, and third class postmasters would require the passage of an act changing the method of their appointment so as to take away the necessity for the advice and consent of the Senate. I am aware that this is inviting from the Senate a concession in respect to its quasi executive power that is considerable, but I believe it to be in the interest of good administration and the efficiency of service. To make this change would take the postmasters out of politics; would relieve Congressmen who now are burdened with the necessity of making recommendations for these places of a responsibility that must be irksome and can create nothing but trouble; and it would result in securing from postmasters greater attention to business, greater fidelity, and consequently greater economy and efficiency in the post offices which they conduct.

Postmasters General Wilson, Hitchcock, and Burleson all earnestly recommended legislation which would permit the classification of presidential postmasters; and in referring to the Executive order of March 31, 1917, the Postmaster General stated as follows in his report for 1919:

This order is the most progressive step toward increased efficiency and businesslike administration in the Postal Service, and, although it affords much relief, it does not meet the situation fully. It requires that the persons selected for appointment be chosen by open competitive examination and investigation by the Civil Service Commission, but does not affect in any way the tenure of office, and the reappointment of postmasters at the expiration of their terms is still necessary under the law. The provisions of the order have been followed strictly and the wisdom and procedure thereunder have been amply demonstrated in the cases which have been before the department. However, the department has gone as far as possible in placing these appointments on the merit basis, and it now remains for Congress to enact legislation extending the civil-service law to include the position of postmaster at offices of the presidential classes, and the previous recommendations of the Postmaster General to that effect are earnestly renewed.

The classification of these positions would make mobile the whole force of the postal system, make it possible fittingly to reward meritorious service through transfer of postmasters from the smaller to the larger offices, and open a road along which the efficient employee might move from the lowest rank to the postmastership

of the highest class. The Postal Service would then offer a career to the ambitious youth of the country, a career with responsible public service and reasonable monetary reward as its goal. The service would be placed more nearly on a parity with private business, with which it must compete for the most desirable type of employee, and hope of substantial advancement would keep quickened and alive throughout the entire personnel those impulses that develop to the fullest degree employees of superior capacity.

AGES OF APPOINTEES.

It has been many years since the commission prepared any statistics relating to the ages of appointees. In the appendix to this report is a table showing distribution by sex and age of 79,743 appointees, of whom 58,987 were men and 20,756 were women. Since the ages given represent ages at the time of application, each person was from a few weeks to more than a year older at the time of appointment, depending upon the period which elapsed between the filing of the application and the date of appointment. The average age of the entire number was 28.4; of men, 28.7; and women, 27.4. The largest number of men in any one group was 3,732, age 23, and the women 1,810, age 19; 60 per cent of the men and 66 per cent of the women were of ages from 18 to 30 years, inclusive.

SALARIES OF APPOINTEES.

In the appendix to this report will be found a table showing distribution by sex and salary of 84,976 appointments. It was not possible to tabulate salaries for all the appointments made during the year, as complete records were not available, the largest class not included in the tabulation consisting of navy-yard mechanics. The salary groups are not exact but are sufficiently accurate for practical purposes. Per annum salaries were tabulated on the basis of even hundreds of dollars. There are a few intermediate classes, such as $720, $960, $1,020, and $1,080, but practically all statutory salaries above $1,000 are in even hundreds of dollars, and most salaries from lump-sum appropriations are also on the same basis, except where salaries have been adjusted to equalize loss of bonus in parts of the service to which the bonus does not apply. Monthly, daily, and hourly salaries were computed to correspond with annual rates. The average salary of the 84,976 appointees was $1,176. By sex the average for 63,128 men was $1,220 and for 21,848 women $1,047.

The lower average salary for women is due to the larger proportion of men appointed to higher technical and professional positions. Women apply in larger numbers for the ordinary clerical positions, which carry lower salaries, although all examinations are open to them on the same basis with men.

The congressional bonus of $240 per annum, applicable to a large part of the service, was not included as salary. A bonus of $120 per annum applies to employees of the Bureau of War Risk Insurance, and employees of newly created bureaus do not receive the bonus. The bonus, therefore, amounts to but little more than 20 per cent of the average entrance salary, and since the bonus is not ordinarily given from the beginning of service it should not be added in full to the average salaries to determine the actual amount received by employees.

These figures clearly refute any claims that salaries for original entrance have been materially increased. Nearly one-fourth of the appointments were made at $1,000 or less, and if figures concerning the few who received very high salaries were excluded the average salary would be under $1,100.

EXAMINATIONS STILL NECESSARY.

The commission is in no way responsible for the number of appointments made outside of its own office, and it is not authorized to raise any question as to whether additional employees are needed. The law requires the commission to provide qualified eligibles to meet the calls of the departments.

Using the situation in the District of Columbia as exemplifying the entire civil service, it may be stated that on April 1, 1917, there were 38,277 Federal employees in the District of Columbia, and that on November 11, 1918, the height of the war expansion, this force had increased to 117,760. On July 31, 1920, the number had decreased to 90,559, a reduction of more than 27,000 since the signing of the armistice.

Notwithstanding the fact that the force is steadily diminishing, the commission must still advertise for applicants for some positions, because the natural "turnover" in a force so large requires some appointments to fill vacancies, even though the total force is being reduced. Two conditions necessitate some new appointments and announcement of new examinations. One of these is that there are a number of technical positions to be filled from time to time for which reemployment registers do not provide eligibles. The fact that some offices are dismissing clerks does not help the commission in its effort to fill a position of civil engineer, for example. The other reason is that the salaries now offered by the Government in the clerical grades are, in many cases, unattractive, and employees dropped from war bureaus declined to accept them and returned to their homes outside the District of Columbia. This latter condition left the reemployment registers unequal to the calls of the departments until toward the end of the fiscal year, although it should be stated that three-fourths