service regulations. The commission is authorized to appoint a chief examiner and such other assistants as it may require. Many details respecting the work of the commission are here omitted, which may be ascertained by reference to the creating act. This act was passed in response to a steadily growing public sentiment that appointment to positions in the civil service of the state and of its political subdivisions, as well as in that of the nation, should be based upon merit rather than on political influence.

178. Conclusion. This long list of officers, boards, and commissions, interspersed with numerous statements of powers and duties, is doubtless somewhat bewildering. It may not give evidence of a well worked out, systematic plan of government, and one has some difficulty in seeing through it all the will of a great people striving to realize itself in action. But that is exactly what the student should endeavor to see. Back of every duty imposed upon, and every power granted to, any governmental agency, should be discerned some public want which the people are trying to satisfy, or some public interest which they are trying to advance.

These officers and boards have been established from time to time as need for them has developed. The greater number has been created by the legislature, and even those that are provided for in the constitution must look to the legislature for detailed assignments of their powers and duties. The personnel of the legislature changes every two years, our public wants and interests have been increasing rapidly in number and intensity, and it is therefore not surprising that our governmental machinery should be characterized by a lack of system. In some cases the

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functions of two or more departments overlap and a higher degree of centralization would seem to be both more economic and more efficient. For instance, it is difficult to see why the board of health and the board of pharmacy could not be consolidated with profit; also the board of agriculture, the dairy bureau, the office of state veterinarian, and the office of horticultural commissioner; and possibly the offices of bank commissioner, insurance commissioner, and building and loan commissioner. It furthermore seems as if the governmental machinery for the management of the state hospitals is more complicated than it should be.

Something has been accomplished along this line in recent years. The legislature of 1907, in creating the department of engineering, gave to it the work of five former departments and commissions. The legislature of 1911, in creating the state board of control to take the place of the state board of examiners, took a long step toward centralization by giving the new board greater power than the former board had exercised, in supervising the expenditure of state money by other boards and officers. The same legislature, at its extra session, by placing the duty of supervising all public utilities on the state railroad commission, gave additional proof of its belief in a higher degree of centralization in the state government. On the other hand the legislature of 1913, by creating a number of independent commissions, the duties of some of which slightly overlap those of former officers and boards, has rendered the state government less systematic and centralized than it has ever been.

In spite of any lack of system that may appear in the work of the legislature respecting the machinery of the state

government, there can be no doubt of its general purpose, in repudiation of the doctrine of laissez faire, to subject all private enterprises, in so far as they affect the health, happiness, and general welfare of the people, to the supervision and control of the agents of the people.

In the following list of officers appointed by the governor, a star (*) indicates that the appointment must be confirmed by the senate. This was once thought to be a valuable check on the governor, but such is no longer the prevailing opinion. Many appointments provided for by recent legislation are placed exclusively in the hands of the governor, which, if provided for fifteen or twenty years ago, would have required the sanction of the senate. For example, the appointment of the boards of trustees of the three most recently established normal schools, contrary to the rule followed in respect to the older of such schools, does not need to be confirmed by the senate. The same inconsistency is seen in the appointment of trustees for the two reform schools.

Accountancy, State Board of. Five members. § 161.

Adjutant General. § 127.

Adult Blind, Home for. Five trustees of. § 167.

Advisory Board, Bureau of Tuberculosis, Health Department. Four members. § 159.

Advisory Board, Engineering Department. Three members. § 145. Agriculture, State Board of. Twelve members. § 155.

Architecture, Board of. Ten members. § 161.

Attorney of State Board of Health. § 159.

Banks, Superintendent of. § 141.

Building and Loan Commissioner. § 143.

Burial Grounds, State. Three trustees of.* (Grounds located in Sacramento. Any person who dies a state officer may be buried there.)

Capitol and Grounds, Superintendent of. § 174.

Charities and Corrections, Board of. Six members.* § 168.

Civil Service Commission. Three members. § 177.

Consulting Board, Engineering Department. Five members. § 145.
Corporations, Commissioner of. § 144.

Dairy Board. Three members. § 156.
Deaf and Blind, Institution for.

Five trustees of.* § 166.
Dental Examiners, Board of. Seven members. § 161.
Dental Surgeon. Footnote, § 162.

Engineer, State. § 145.

Fish and Game Commission. Three members.* § 152.
Forester, State. § 148.

Harbor Commissioners. Three for each harbor.* § 146.

Health, State Board of.

Seven members.* § 159.

Highway Engineer, State. § 145.

Horticultural Commissioner, State. § 153.
Hospitals, Superintendent of. § 162.

Board of five managers for each. § 162.

Immigration and Housing, Commission of. Five members. § 169. Industrial Accident Commission. Three members.* § 158.

Industrial Welfare Commission. Five members, § 158.

Insurance Commissioner.* § 142.

Labor Commissioner. § 157.

Library, State. Five trustees of. § 172.

Marshall's Monument. Guardian of. § 176.

Medical Examiners, Board of. Eleven members. § 161.

Mineral Cabinet. Three trustees of. § 151.

Mineralogist, State. § 151.

National Guard. § 127.

General Officers of the Line.*

Governor's Staff.

Normal Schools. Five trustees of each. (The senate must approve

these appointments except for the trustees of the Santa Bar

bara, Fresno, and Humboldt schools.) § 191.

Optometry, State Board of.

Pharmacy, State Board of.

Three members, § 161.

Seven members. § 160.

Pilot Commissioners. Three for each port.* § 147.

Polytechnic School, State. Five trustees of. § 192.
Port Wardens. Six in number.* § 147.
Prison Directors. Five in number.* § 163.
Railroad Commission. Five members. § 140.
Reform Schools. § 165.

Five trustees of the Girls' School.

Three trustees of the Whittier School.*

Three trustees of the Preston School.
Superintendent of State Printing.* § 173.
Sutter's Fort. Five trustees of. § 176.
University of California. Sixteen regents of.* § 193.
Veterans' Home. Seven trustees of. § 170.

Veterinarian, State; and one Assistant. § 154.

Veterinary Medicine, State Board of. Five members. § 161.
Water Commission, State. Three members. § 150.
Weights and Measures, Superintendent of. § 149.

Women's Relief Corps Home. Eleven trustees of. § 171.

NOTE. In addition to the above the governor appoints all notaries public in the state, some six thousand in number. They are appointed for four years to administer oaths and take acknowledgments. The governor also appoints certain persons in other states, and in certain foreign nations, known as "commissioners of deeds," who have power to administer oaths and take acknowledgments which are as binding in California as if subscribed to before a notary public in this state. They are appointed for four years. In 1909 there were forty-four "commissioners of deeds," representing California in fourteen states and Hawaii; and twenty in foreign countries.

Practically every session of the legislature provides that the gov ernor shall appoint certain temporary commissions to do special assignments of work. For example, the legislature of 1913 authorized him to appoint a commission of five members to study the question of old age pensions and mothers' pensions, in other states and nations, and to report to the legislature at its next session; also to appoint two delegates to go with delegates from other states to Europe for the purpose of studying the different systems of coöperative agricultural societies and rural credits "for the purpose of establishing in this country a sound system of rural credits and agricultural finance.”