Mr. WOODRUM. What has been your experience in connection with the examinations you have held during the past year; have they been necessary?

Mr. MITCHELL. Yes; they have all been necessary. I do not believe we have held one that has not been necessary.

Mr. VIPOND. During the year before last only 12,000 appointments were made to the classified service, and during the last year that had increased to 21,000.

Mr. WOODRUM. Most of those were clerical and stenographic positions?

Mr. VIPOND. Yes; they were largely positions of that sort, but, of course, there were some positions on the technical staffs of the departments.

The Bureau of Public Roads will take a considerable number of highway engineers, and the old Supervising Architect's Office took persons qualified in architectural drafting, and engineering, and as superintendents of construction, and persons of that sort.

In the field there were employments in the Forest Service and the National Park Service, and appointments in the post offices for clerks and carriers, although the number in the latter positions was very limited. There were quite a considerable number for the custodial positions.

STENOGRAPHER AND TYPIST EXAMINATIONS

Mr. WOODRUM. What are some of the positions for which you have held examinations in which there were a large number of applicants?

Mr. VIPOND. The examination for stenographer and typist.
Mr. WOODRUM. How many were they?

Mr. VIPOND. There were 66,000 applications for those positions A few months before that we held an examination for various grades of engineering positions with 22,000 applications, and during thi last spring we held an examination for storekeeper-gager, for which there were 49,200 applications.

Mr. WOODRUM. How many appointments have been made from the stenographer and typist examination?

Mr. VIPOND. That has not been rated yet. We did not get the printing money for the questions until toward the end of the spring, and when we were starting to hold the examination we found it necessary to stop that work very largely and hold examinations for the alcohol-tax unit.

Mr. WOODRUM. When will you have that register ready?

Mr. VIPOND. Next month.

Mr. WOODRUM. In the meantime where are the appointments made from?

Mr. VIPOND. From the existing register established 2 years ago. We held the examination more than 2 years ago, but it was not rated until about 2 years ago.

Mr. WOODRUM. What was the cost of the stenographer and typist examination?

Mr. CUSTER. We estimated that this one would cost about $59,430. That is the estimated cost of the last examination. The cost of the 1931 examination was $37,963.

STOREKEEPER-GAUGER EXAMINATIONS

Mr. WOODRUM. As a result of the storekeeper-gauger examination, how many appointments were made from that register?

Mr. YADEN. There were quite a number.

Mr. WOODRUM. Approximately how many, five hundred or a thousand?

Mr. VIPOND. We had figured on six or seven hundred.

Mr. YADEN. We have certified to fill 655 vacancies.

Mr. WOODRUM. Out of the 49,200, how many vere put on the eligible list?

Mr. VIPOND. A total of 8,921 competitors passed the examination for storekeeper-gauger and their names have been entered on the eligible register.

Mr. WOODRUM. Could you also give us something about the type of that examination?

Mr. VIPOND. Yes, sir.

Mr. WOODRUM. And also give us a statement in reference to the type of the stenographer and typist examination?

Mr. VIPOND. We can give you a set of the questions.

Mr. WOODRUM. The committee would like to have that, not necessarily to be inserted in the record, but for our information. Mr. YADEN. We will furnish you with a set of the questions in Fach of those examinations.

Mr. WOODRUM. Who prepares those questions? If you are going have an examination for storekeeper-gauger, who sets up that ex_mination?

Mr. VIPOND. It comes under Mr. Yaden's division, the examining division.

Mr. WOODRUM. Does the Civil Service Commission do it, or the agency that makes the appointments?

Mr. VIPOND. No; the Commission does it. We first confer with the Department as to the duties of the positions to be filled in the Department, and the qualifications necessary to get into the exami

nation at all. After that, we draft the type of examination, based on our experience with similar positions, and make up the examination. That comes under Mr. Yaden's division.

Mr. WOODRUM. What is your division now, Mr. Yaden?

The

Mr. YADEN. The examining division. I think I ought to say by way of explanation that we merely advise with the Department. final responsibility rests with the Commission as to the requirements that go into the examination. We pretty largely take the Department's statement as to the duties to be performed by the employees. But that is merely advisory. The Commission is responsible for it. Mr. MITCHELL. But the qualifications for the position are agreed upon by the Department and the Commission.

Mr. YADEN. Yes.

Mr. WOODRUM. That is, the question as to the fixing of the age and other qualifications of that sort.

Mr. MITCHELL. Yes; the Commission has the last word. We do not have to agree with the Department if we do not want to, but as a general proposition we do.

NECESSITY FOR ESTABLISHING NEW STENOGRAPHIC AND TYPIST

REGISTER

Mr. WOODRUM. What is the justification for having one examination for stenographer and typist in 1931, which cost thirty or forty thousand dollars, and then another similar examination 2 years later? Mr. VIPOND. Because we are running out of eligibles from States in arrears who would accept that class of appointment, as junior typists and junior stenographers.

Mr. WOODRUM. That is a very hard thing for a Member of Congress to understand, when he has to go through the private door of his office because he is so beset by people wanting positions.

Mr. MITCHELL. I think we can say that the best people have all gone, and the theory of holding an examination is to get a better class of people to put at the top of the list. That matter was gone into at considerable length, and we found there was a necessity for a new register in order to get a better class of people, who were not available when the former examination was held.

In conference with the President the opinion was expressed that the Commission not keep a register more than 3 years old. Of course, it is impossible to renew all registers more than that age with our present fund, but we are doing the best we can.

CIVIL-SERVICE RETIREMENT FUND ESTIMATE

23

Mr. LAMBERTSON. Do your estimates contemplate providing a sufficient amount of money this year for the retirement fund, or te make up for the lack of appropriation in other years for that fund: Mr. VIPOND. The Board of Actuaries in their last report recommended that the annual appropriation be 52 million some-hundredthousand dollars. That was submitted to the Bureau of the Budget and they decided to submit an estimate here of $40,000,000 for the retirement fund, as compared with $20,850,000 that has been appropriated by Congress each year for a number of years past.

Mr. LAMBERTSON. That will allow them to practically catch up Mr. VIPOND. Yes.

Mr. LAMBERTSON. So it will be practically even, with this year's appropriation?

Mr. VIPOND. I do not think so; it will be $19,150,000 in excess of this year's appropriation.

Mr. LAMBERTSON. As I understand, the Government is behind now in its appropriations for the retirement fund.

Mr. MITCHELL. The Board of Actuaries has recommended Government contributions in increasing amounts, due to changes in the law, and ranging from $37,616,827 as stated in its tenth annual report for the fiscal year 1930 to the $52,053,664 recommended in its thirteenth annual report for the fiscal year 1933. Up until this time Congress has only appropriated $21,000,000 each year. The estimate submitted for 1936 will not make up for the lack of appropriations in the past, but it will be a decided advance over what we had a year ago, or in any previous year. It will not put this fund in the condition in which the actuaries think it should be, if it were a private company.

However, the Commission is not particularly alarmed about that situation but believes that the amount estimated for should be appropriated. The fund is in perfectly good shape. In the last analysis, Congress has to provide the money to take care of those claims at some time or other. It is a matter for you gentlemen to decide what is advisable to do at this time.

Mr. LAMBERTSON. I wondered how far it went to make up the deficit.

ACTUARIAL SERVICES IN CONNECTION WITH CIVIL SERVICE AND CANAL ZONE RETIREMENT AND DISABILITY FUNDS

Mr. WOODRUM. I notice you have some new language in this item: Provided, That notwithstanding any provisions of law to the contrary, the Civil Service Commission is authorized to expend during the fiscal year 1936 not to exceed $2,100 of this amount for actuarial services pertaining to the Civil Service and Canal Zone retirement and disability funds, to be obtained by contract, without obtaining competition, at such rates of compensation as the Commission may determine to be reasonable.

Will you give us an explanation of that language?

Mr. VIPOND. That is authority that was given to the Veterans' Administration when it had charge of the administration of the retirement act. It is simply transferring to our Commission the Authorization that the Veterans' Administration had.

AMOUNT OF INCREASED APPROPRIATION REQUESTED FOR 1936

Mr. WOODRUM. How much is the gross amount of increase in your imate for 1936 over the appropriation for 1935?

Mr. CUSTER. The funds actually appropriated to the Commission and available for obligation in the current year amounted to $1,572,7 as compared with our estimate for 1936 of $2,020,000. I am speaking now of the appropriation for salaries and expenses only, and not for printing and binding. That, of course, does not include the money that came with the transfer of the retirement functions of the Veterans' Administration to the Commission.

Mr. WOODRUM. How much was that?

Mr. CUSTER. That was $121,091, and makes the figure $1,693,807, as compared with the $2,020,000 for the fiscal year 1936.

Mr. WOODRUM. What was the deficiency of $300,000?

Mr. CUSTER. We were given a deficiency appropriation in the deficiency bill that passed the Congress June 19 last.

Mr. WOODRUM. You mean 1934?

Mr. CUSTER. Yes, sir.

Mr. WOODRUM. That was for what year?

Mr. CUSTER. That was for the current fiscal year, 1935.

Mr. WOODRUM. That is added to this, is it not?

Mr. CUSTER. That is included in this.

Mr. WOODRUM. That is included in the $1,600,000?

Mr. CUSTER. Yes, but in that amount of $1,693,807 salary items are figured at 90 percent of the base rates, whereas the estimate for the fiscal years 1936 states the salary items at 100 percent of the base

rates.

Mr. WOODRUM. What difference does the salary restoration make? Mr. CUSTER. The total funds available to the Commission, including the retirement subdivision cost for a full year, amount to $1,903,429. That states the salary items at 100 percent of the base rates.

Mr. WOODRUM. I am trying to get at the 1935 item?
Mr. CUSTER. That is the 1935 item, Mr. Chairman.

COST OF SALARY RESTORATION

Mr. WOODRUM. How much does it take to restore your salaries? Mr. CUSTER. That is $176,876, and provides for the restoration of 10 percent.

Mr. WOODRUM. That is the full salary restoration?

Mr. CUSTER. Yes, sir.

Mr. WOODRUM. The difference between $1,877,083 and $2,020,000 is the net increase in the appropriation for salaries and administrative expenses?

Mr. CUSTER. No, sir. The amount is $1,903,429 as compared with the $2,020,000.

Mr. VIPOND. The $2,020,000 includes salaries and administrative expenses.

Mr. WOODRUM. I want to find out how much your appropriation is increased over the salary restoration.

Mr. VIPOND. It is increased $116,571, and $15,000 of that is for replacement of worn-out office machines, and $4,700 for expenses of the retirement evaluation; so it comes out practically a $96,800 increase in salaries. That money is for use in work connected with the designation of beneficiaries, retirement-fund evaluation, and to continue our present staff of employees through the next fiscal year. Mr. WOODRUM. Does that provide for new personnel?

Mr. VIPOND. Very few new personnel; and thirty-six or thirtyseven thousand dollars is for the retirement evaluation that must be completed in the next fiscal year. That is what it covers, principally Mr. CUSTER. On page 2 of our justification it states that increase in detail.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Is that $116,000 over and above the salary increase, or does it include the salary increase?

Mr. VIPOND. Over and above the salary increase.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Over and above the complete restoration?