In a recent letter to the commission from Hon. Franklin K. Lane, former Secretary of the Interior, he said:

Some day I want to have leisure enough to see if I can help on the civil-service problem. There must be more promotions and they must go to those of more definitely proven merit.. And "pull" must be killed.

NEEDS OF THE COMMISSION.

The total appropriation for the commission for the year ended June 30, 1920, amounted to $638,642.40. Under salaries, $344,200 was appropriated for statutory positions and $116,317.40 for additional employees, as against $300,000 for additional employees during the fiscal year 1919, a reduction in that item of $183,682.60. The commission began the fiscal year 1920 with only $30,000 for additional employees, together with $16,317.40 from the 1919 appropriation made available during 1920. These two sums were found to be inadequate, and a deficiency appropriation of $50,000 was granted, making a total of $116,317.40 available for additional employees during 1920. This deficiency appropriation of $50,000 proved insufficient, and it became necessary for the commission to decentralize a part of its field work and place it under the supervision of the fourth civil service district, where the work was handled largely by details from other offices.

The appropriation for printing was reduced from $90,000 in 1919 to $70,000 in 1920. This sum was insufficient, and two deficiency ap-propriations were granted of $7,500 each, making in all $85,000. available for printing and binding for the fiscal year 1920..

The employees' retirement act placed additional work on the commission, and an appropriation of $50,000 was granted, $4,000 being made available during 1920.

The appropriations and expenditures for 1920 are:

EXPENDITURES.

Of the grand total of $638,642.40 available for the year, there was expended:

For the fiscal year 1921 there is available $669,857.98, as against $638,642.40 for 1920. The difference is due chiefly to the additional retirement appropriation, $4,000 of which was available during 1920 and $46,000 in 1921. There is available during 1921, $358,600 for statutory positions and $100,000 for additional employees. For printing and binding $75,000 has been appropriated, which is a decrease of $10,000 from the previous fiscal year.

Since July 1, 1920, the commission has been expending its own appropriations for printing and binding, contingent and miscellaneous expenses, and rent of quarters, and all accounts in connection with these appropriations now come under the direct supervision of the commission instead of the Secretary of the Interior, as formerly.

The commission needs a change in quarters. It has quarters in three buildings remote from each other, and it would greatly aid its work if all of its employees and records could be housed in one building.

In the estimates of appropriations for the next fiscal year the commission has submitted to Congress a well-considered plan of organization. Its main provisions are to take over on the commission's roll the force of details from other Federal offices to its 12 district offices, to pay slightly higher salaries for the supervisory positions, and to establish a field-service division.

The first two of these provisions indicate an apparent increase of $317,000 in the commission's salary appropriation. This increase is not an additional charge on the Treasury, but principally a transfer to the commission of expenses from other branches of the Government. On this basis the apparent increase is $16,887; but as 50 less employees are estimated for, thereby saving that number of bonuses, and as a number of employees are estimated for at salaries somewhat higher than $2,740, thereby excluding them from the bonus, there is actualy a net saving to the Government of several hundred dollars.

Under the law, the commission's field force in its 12 district offices is composed almost wholly of details from other Federal establishments. These details come from 13 different branches of the service, each having its own office rules and regulations as to leave, hours of service, salaries, etc. A natural result of this anomalous condition is that it not infrequently happens that a detailed clerk from one office performs high-grade work at a low salary, whereas another detailed clerk in the same district office, but from a different Federal establishment, performs comparatively simple work at a much higher salary.

The difficulty in securing details, the difficulty in securing promotions for them, the fact that by their assignment to a district office they lose contact with their official superiors through whom promotions must come, inequality of salaries between details in the same district office on the same grade of work, all combine to promote loss of interest, lowered morale, and a constant desire for change. Such a condition makes for utmost difficulty in administration and leads all the district secretaries to report that the number of employees in their offices could be reduced were all carried on the commission's own roll. The estimates already submitted provide for 78 less employees for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1921, than were employed in the commission's offices on July 1, 1919, and for 50 less than were so employed on July 1, 1920.

It can not be too strongly emphasized that a very necessary part of this reduction in personnel is provision for somewhat higher salaries in all grades, to stay the almost paralyzing loss of trained employees from the commission's offices. Of 240 employees regularly on the commission's roll three years ago 139 are now gone. Again, during the year ended July 31, 1920, the commission lost 253 employees out of an average force of 375, the principal reason for leaving being to secure higher pay elsewhere.

The very nature of the functions devolving upon the commission, making it, in effect, the servant of all the other Federal establishments, requires that it be manned by well-trained employees, familiar

with the personnel needs and problems of the Government generally and ready at all times promptly and efficiently to meet those needs. and solve such problems. Reasonable stability of force is absolutely essential if delays, errors, and misunderstandings between offices are to be avoided; and such stability can be most surely secured by providing adequate pay and by transferring to the commission's roll all the employees engaged on its work..

The third principal item, recommending the establishment of a field service division, will not increase the commission's appropriation, but requires only a rearrangement of the lump sum of $100,000 again requested for the next fiscal year. The chief examiner in his report this year discusses this recommendation to coordinate all the activities in the commission's office relating to the Federal establishments outside the District of Columbia, whose employees constitute five-sixths of the total number of civilians on the Federal pay roll.

PERSONNEL OF THE COMMISSION..

Mrs. Helen H. Gardener was appointed a member of the Civil Service Commission on April 13, 1920, to fill the position made vacant by the resignation on September 7, 1919, of Mr. Charles M. Galloway. Mr. Herbert A. Filer, formerly examiner in charge of the preparation of examinations for scientific and technical positions, was appointed chief examiner, and took the oath of office on May 25, 1920.

We have the honor to be,

Very respectfully,

MARTIN A. MORRISON,

G. R. WALES,

HELEN H. GARDENER,
Commissioners.

The PRESIDENT,

The White House.

REPORT OF THE CHIEF EXAMINER.

OCTOBER 9, 1920.

THE COMMISSION:

The following report of the work done under the supervision of the chief examiner during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1920, is respectfully submitted. The following table shows the number of persons examined and appointed during the year:

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

1 Report showing the results of the examinations of all persons for designation as cadet or midshipman is made to the Member of Congress for whom such examination is held.

2 The work of the commission in connection with examinations for entrance to the Naval Academy is confined to the conduct of examinations, the papers for the examinations being furnished by the Navy Department and returned to that department as soon as received by the commission from the various examination places.

3 The work of the commission in connection with examinations for these positions was confined to the conduct ofexaminations, the papers for the examinations being furnished by the Department of Commerce and returned to that department as soon as received by the commission from the various examination places.

There were 917 different kinds of educational examinations held, according to the title or kind of position, as compared with 706 during the preceding year. The noneducational type of examination was given for a large number of different kinds of mechanical trades positions, but the form of examination being the same for each kind of position, the number of different titles is omitted from this report.

There was a general reduction in the number of persons examined during the year for service in Washington, as shown especially by the fact that only 5,220 persons were examined for departmental clerk as compared with 38,207 the