of efficiency, stability, and a higher standard in the personnel of the service.

The President in his annual message of 1910 stated that he entertained the profound conviction that it would greatly aid the cause of economical government and better politics if Congress would enact a law granting the Executive the power to include in the classified service all local officers under the Treasury Department, the Department of Justice, the Post Office Department, the Interior Department, and the Department of Commerce and Labor, appointments of whom now require the confirmation of the Senate, and that upon such classification the advice and consent of the Senate should cease to be required in such appointments. Following the President's recommendation, bills were introduced in Congress to give it effect. In an address at a convention of internal-revenue officers at Detroit on September 18, 1911, the President is quoted in the public press as saying:

They have charged me with using patronage to accomplish something. If I have I have not been conscious of it. But I challenge the men who make the charge to come forward and join with me in legislation which will enable me to put every local officer, be he postmaster, internal-revenue collector, customs collector, or anybody else filling an office of the United States in any of the States of the Union, under classified civil service.

If I had the making of the laws of this country the first thing I would do would be to include in the civil service every collector, deputy collector, and everybody connected with the internal-revenue system in local collections, and put the whole service on an effective, nonpartisan basis. I know that it would be a source of economy, I know that it would give the President a great deal more of time to devote to other duties; I know that it would save a good many Congressmen their seats; and I know that it would tend to the elevation of the public service.

ARTISANS AT NAVY YARDS.

The commission repeats its recommendation for the classification of artisans at navy yards. Their duties are similiar to those of employees classified in other parts of the service, and conditions in the navy yards are said to be such as to necessitate, in the interest of good administration, their assignment to duties which are unquestionably classified. All mechanics in the executive civil service of the United States, except those at navy yards, are under civil-service law, and consistency and justice to the employees no less than the efficiency of the public service require that they also should be brought under that law.

Mechanics at navy yards, not being in the classified service, are not eligible for transfer to classified positions. Thus it happens that upon a reduction of force at a navy yard none of the mechanics can be transferred to vacancies in classified positions, but must be dropped from the service. Several cases of this kind arose recently at the Washington Navy Yard, where the commission was unable

to authorize the transfer of some of the men to machinists positions in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

It is believed that every provision for the successful application of the merit system to the navy-yard service may be found in successful operation in other parts of the classified service, which seems to indicate beyond all reasonable doubt that the classification can be successfully and advantageously applied to that service.

EMPLOYEES OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

The employees of the government of the District of Columbia, about 4,000 in number, constitute the largest body of public workers in Washington who are outside the civil-service law. The pressure for patronage from which the executive departments have been freed is thus left to be exerted largely upon the District government. Employees of more than 200 of the largest cities of the country and of several county and village governments in New York State are appointed under civil-service laws, and the commission believes that the employees of the capital city of the Nation should be similarly appointed. Those employees are paid in part by funds derived from the General Government, their positions are subject to and dependent upon the action of Congress, they are largely employed on work of the same general class as that performed by classified employees of the Federal Government, and in justice it would seem that they should be placed on a similar stable footing. The Commissioners of the District of Columbia have for the past 10 years advocated a law for this purpose, and bills to that effect have been introduced in Congress. The commission again recommends legislation for that purpose.

THE LIFE-SAVING SERVICE.

The problem of supplying sufficient eligibles for the Life-Saving Service is a serious one. For several years the percentage of separations has been high, and during the past year amounted to over 41 per cent of the permanent force. This condition results in a large number of new and untrained employees at all times, while the commission is unable to supply eligibles sufficient to fill vacancies as they occur. In but 2 of the 13 life-saving districts has the supply of eligibles always equaled the demand. In other districts, notably those on the Pacific and Gulf coasts and the Great Lakes, the supply has never been sufficient, and the registers are exhausted almost as soon as established without perceptibly lessening the number of existing vacancies. A number of expedients have been tried in the effort to secure a greater number of applicants, but the result has been disappointing. The gravity of this situation is apparent, for lives and property depend on the skill of the employees.

These conditions result from the fact that the service is not made attractive to properly qualified persons. A man competent to act as surfman can secure much higher remuneration than $65 per month outside of the service, and when it is considered that his duties in the service involve continuous readiness to risk life and limb the dearth of applicants is not strange.

In view of the hazardous nature of the employment, the property and lives that depend on the service, and the crying need for a more efficient personnel, the commission concurs in the recommendations of the Treasury Department for legislation looking to the placing of the service on a more satisfactory basis, such legislation to include increase of compensation and a provision for pension in case of disability or death incurred in the line of duty.

THE OFFICIAL REGISTER AND THE SERVICE RECORDS OF THE COMMISSION.

Much duplication of work is involved in the preparation of the Official Register by the Census Bureau and the maintenance of service records by the commission. As far as the executive civil service is concerned sufficient information for the publication of the Official Register is contained at all times in the service records. Reports of appointments and changes of employees, both classified and unclassified, are received and audited currently by the commission. The entire number of persons in the service of the United States Government, including the legislative, executive, judicial, diplomatic, consular, military, and naval services, was estimated in 1910 at 515,854. Of this number the commission already maintains service-record cards for nearly one-half.

In view of the similarity between this work of the commission and the preparation of the Official Register, a bill was introduced in the House of Representatives on February 16, 1911, printed as H. R. 32810, which provided that the commission should keep a record of all civil, military, and naval employees, and that, in lieu of the Official Register, the Director of the Census should compile and publish a list of those employees only whose compensation equals or exceeds $2,000 per annum, in connection with other information specified.

The Official Register shows the condition of the service on July 1 but is not ready for distribution until the following December. With changes in certain branches of the executive civil service amounting annually to from 25 to 75 per cent of the force it will readily be seen that the material for the Official Register is antiquated before it can be published. Under the plan proposed in the bill an official register in card form, based upon reports of changes received monthly from the departments, would be kept complete and up to date and its information would be immediately available by telephone or mail, and any compilation could be made when needed.

The commission concurs in the opinion of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor that the adoption of this plan would materially decrease expense and greatly increase the value of the results. The keeping of additional records would of course involve a necessary appropriation, for which the commission will submit estimates when required.

CIVIL SERVICE IN THE PHILIPPINES.

The rules require the commission to render all practicable assistance to the Philippine bureau of civil service and to conduct examinations, upon its request, under such regulations as may be jointly agreed upon, and the Philippine rules require that bureau to conduct examinations for positions in the Federal service in the Philippines. The commission accordingly holds examinations for positions in the insular and Federal services in the Philippines which can not be filled through examinations in the islands. These examinations are confined in the main to those for technical or higher grade executive positions, it being found practicable to fill the majority of ordinary positions through examinations held in the Philippines.

The number of persons examined by the Philippine bureau of civil service for the insular service during the year ended June 30, 1910, which is the last year for which statistics are available, was 6,596, an increase of 679 over the number examined during the preceding year, due almost entirely to the increased number of Filipinos examined in English. There was an increase of 861, or 24 per cent, in the number of Filipinos examined in English, and a decrease of 304, or 19 per cent, in the number of Filipinos examined in Spanish. Of the persons examined in the Philippines during the year, 79 per cent were examined in English. Prior to September 30, 1903, the maximum number of Filipinos examined in English in any year was 91, and since that date the number has increased until during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1910, it reached 4,516.

The 1910 report of the Philippine bureau of civil service shows that during the year 1909 there was a decrease of 26 in the number of Americans and an increase of 242 in the number of Filipinos having a permanent status in the insular civil service; and that of the permanently appointed Americans 508, or 19 per cent, resigned, an increase of 132, or 35 per cent, over the number of resignations during the preceding year. On January 1, 1910, there were 2,633 Americans and 4,639 Filipinos having a permanent status in the Philippine civil service,1 and of these 2,155 Americans and 3,946 Filipinos were classified, the Americans constituting 35 per cent of the total, while the percentage was 37 in 1909 and 49 in 1904. The decrease of Americans is most marked in the provincial service, the majority of

1 Not including temporary and emergency employees or semiskilled and unskilled laborers.

those now remaining in the 31 Provinces inhabited by civilized Filipinos being provincial treasurers. There are several Provinces whose government is administered exclusively by Filipinos. Positions in the municipal services outside of Manila are occupied almost exclusively by Filipinos.

The Governor General, in his report for 1910, states that it is the desire of the administration that the percentage of Filipinos in the service be increased with even greater rapidity, but he points out that there are some classes of work in which Americans are necessary. For example, it is not believed advisable to reduce the number of American school-teachers or constabulary officers or the number holding office in the judiciary, in offices of the attorney general and of the prosecuting attorney, in the force of engineers, or in the executive positions in the different bureaus.

CIVIL SERVICE IN PORTO RICO.

In the civil service of Porto Rico there is one group of positions connected with the insular government, created by an act of Congress and paid out of the island revenues, and another group attached to the Federal service and paid out of the United States Treasury.

Under the civil-service act of the Porto Rican Legislature, which became effective January 1, 1908, certain of the insular positions became subject to a merit system of appointments administered by a civil-service commission. The act does not apply to the insular police, school-teachers, or municipal services, and it does not contain any regulations governing promotions. It is not so efficient or so wide in its application as the Philippine act, and is so constructed that some serious differences of opinion have arisen in the Porto Rican service as to whether or not certain positions are in the classified service. The Attorney General of Porto Rico recently held that the civil-service act was unconstitutional because it conflicted with a provision of the Foraker Act, which is the organic law of Porto Rico, and which grants authority to the heads of departments to appoint such deputies or assistants as they may deem necessary. Under this latter clause heads of departments in Porto Rico have made certain appointments without regard to the Porto Rican civil-service act. One case was carried to the district court of Porto Rico, which granted a writ of mandamus directing the Civil Service Commission to hold a competitive examination for the position of Superintendent of Public Works under the Commissioner of the Interior, and to notify the auditor and the paymaster of the island that the incumbent of that position, having been appointed without regard to the civil service act or rules, was not legally appointed. The Porto Rican Commission complied with this order of court and announced an examination. At this time the matter is still pending.