however, persons who have not rendered such service would scarcely find it worth while to compete in the examinations, and the civil service would lose its representative character and be confined to a military office-holding class. Such a provision would result in the creation of a privileged class and the appointment of those not qualified to compete on equal terms with all applicants.

Public office should not be regarded as a gratuity, but as an opportunity for public service by those best fitted. The soldier is not admitted to the Army unless he meets certain physical tests. He should not be admitted to the civil service without a corresponding test of his ability to develop along the lines of activity which will be required in the civil branches of the Government. Under the merit system the examinations are designed to test relative fitness, and are open and competitive for all American citizens who meet certain preliminary requirements, and appointing officers are required to fill vacancies from among those graded highest. To the extent that public office is an honor and a means of livelihood, all should enjoy equal opportunity to compete for appointment. The civil service increasingly demands educated, experienced employees, and to use it as a reward for military service is an expensive method of pensioning. It is essential that the merit system of appointments, based on the principle of open competition, should not be impaired.

FINANCES.

The commission was granted an allotment on September 21, 1917, of $250,000 by the President from the appropriation given him for the national security and defense. This was a lump sum for salaries and other expenses, and was in addition to the appropriations by Congress available for 1918, amounting to $472,088, which included $452,535 appropriated for the use of the commission during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1918, and an unexpended balance of $19,553 from a special appropriation of $20,000 for salaries and expenses made on June 15, 1917, for 1917-18. Thus the total amount available for the year 1918 was $722,088. Of the regular appropriations of $452,535 the sum of $338,910 was for statutory salaries, and the remainder was divided as follows:

Of the grand total of $722,088 available for the year, there was expended:

The regular appropriation of the commission for the fiscal year 1919 is $668,275. A supplemental appropriation was allowed October 28, 1918, of $165,000.

The following table shows the number of officers and employees on the force of the commission on November 10, 1918, with their salaries:

1 This number does not include 36 employees with compensation ranging from $10 a month to $1 a year, nor 126 persons employed for part time work with compensation at the rates of $2.50 a day, $1.75 a night, or 50 cents an hour.

There are also 2,941 local boards of civil-service examiners, consisting of employees designated from other branches of the service, who may be detailed to the work of the commission when necessary. The following table shows the distribution of such boards by services:

There are 443 cities in which the commission has rooms assigned for examination purposes.

SUGGESTIONS.

1. The commission urges the enactment of legislation to regulate appointments and promotions in the municipal government of the District of Columbia.

2. A wider application of the principle of filling the higher administrative positions now unclassified by the promotion of classified employees or upon open competition would be distinctly in the interests of efficiency, stability, and a higher standard in the personnel of the service, and it is urged that there be enacted legislation to include in the classified service all field positions in the Treasury Department, Department of Justice, Post Office Department, Interior Department, and the Department of Commerce, appointments to which now require the confirmation of the Senate.

As long as these higher administrative positions remain unclassified, to be filled upon a patronage basis, the classified service will not offer a career in competition with such outside fields of employment as are organized and conducted upon a merit basis and which have systems of retirement upon disability or superannuation. In this respect the civil service remains inferior to many business establishments which assure promotion for merit to higher-salaried positions and which give retiring allowances; and the Government can not hope to secure and retain the services of an equally intelligent and ambitious class of persons while these conditions continue. There is an increased tendency on the part of most persons who enter the Government service to resign to accept employment in fields in which there is better organization and greater opportunity for advanceThis means a serious loss of training and ability and adds to the expense of administration. As long as the officers in charge are

ment.

appointed for political reasons, and are liable to change with every change of administration, the Government service will fail to compare with outside employment in economy and efficiency of administration.

We have the honor to be,

Very respectfully,

The PRESIDENT,

The White House.

JOHN A. McILHENNY,
CHARLES M. GALLOWAY,
HERMON W. CRAVEN,

Commissioners.

THE COMMISSION:

REPORT OF THE CHIEF EXAMINER.

OCTOBER 9, 1918.

The following report of the work done under the supervision of the chief examiner during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1918, is respectfully submittea. The following table shows the number of persons examined and appointed during the year:

The second table which has appeared in my report for several years past, showing division between departmental and field examinations, is omitted, because of lack of definite statistics.

In addition to the foregoing, certain examinations were held for scrvices 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 of examinations, 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 656 different kinds of educational examinations held, according to the title or kind of positions, as compared with 460 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.