APPOINTMENT DIVISION.

POSITIONS IN THE DEPARTMENT.

The accompanying table shows by bureaus the positions in the Department on August 24, 1912, and the increase or decrease in each bureau as compared with July 1, 1911. The figures do not include the following employments, appointment to which is not made by the Secretary: Crews on vessels in the Coast and Geodetic Survey, which consist of 367 employments, 156 of which were filled by persons paid by the insular government of the Philippine Islands; employments of persons in rodding, chaining, recording, heliotroping, etc., in field parties of the Survey, of which there were 1,308; temporary employments in the field operations of the Bureau of Fisheries, of which there were 3,868; emergency employments of guards, interpreters, stenographers, etc., in the field service of the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, of which there were 1,332; and mechanics, skilled tradesmen, laborers, etc., employed in field construction work in the Lighthouse Service, of which there were 2,765; nor do they include certain other employments, such as clerks of courts, collectors and surveyors of customs, etc., aggregating 2,956, connected with other services of the Government, and employed occasionally in connection with the work of this Department. The total miscellaneous employments not included is 12,596.

1 The status of positions is shown as of August 24, 1912, for the reason that the legislative, executive and judicial and the sundry civil appropriation acts were not approved until August 23 and 24, respectively. The status of positions in the Department on July 1, 1912, was substantially the same as shown in the table for July 1, 1911.

* Employees engaged in work in the field for a part of each year with headquarters in Washington are treated as within the District of Columbia.

3 Decrease is due to the discontinuance of mechanics, laborers, etc., who are now included in the employments under field construction work, and to the discontinuance of officers and crews of vessels now out of commission.

Does not include 5 members of the visiting committee.

5 Decrease in positions reported last year for the Bureaus of Manufactures and Statistics, consolidated by operation of law into the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce.

Decrease 526, increase 77, leaving a net decrease of 449, against a net increase of 155 in the fiscal year 1911.

PRESIDENTIAL APPOINTMENTS.

During the fiscal year and up to October 1, 1912, 21 appointments were made to presidential positions. In each instance selection was made on the basis of ascertained or demonstrated fitness rather than political considerations. It is interesting to note that of the 21 appointments made 16 appointees were taken from or had been in the classified service. Of the remaining 5, 3 appointments were made of persons from outside the service because competent ones could not be found within it who would accept service in Alaska and 2 were of persons who were highly recommended because of their well-known qualifications.

CHANGES IN THE PERSONNEL.

The following tables give a summary of the changes in the personnel of the Department during the fiscal year. The figures do not include changes in the Thirteenth Decennial Census force.

1 Includes appointments under Executive orders, reinstatements, transfers within the Department, and transfers to the Department from other departments or independent offices.

1 Includes separations by removals without prejudice or on charges, resignations, deaths, discontinuances of probationary appointees, by transfer within the Department, or from the Department to other departments or independent offices.

2 Includes promotions; reductions; changes of appropriation, designation, name, or station; and cancellations of appointment certificates, etc.

PERSONNEL OF THE BUREAU OF THE CENSUS.

The following table shows the number of appointments to and separations from the temporary Thirteenth Census roll during the fiscal year:

During the last session of Congress the Bureau felt obliged to ask for an urgent deficiency appropriation in order to carry on its work to the end of the fiscal year, but as Congress granted only one-half of the amount requested it became necessary to take immediate steps looking toward a heavy reduction in the temporary force and the curtailment of expenses in other ways. Between December 31, 1911, and February 29, 1912, practically all employees remaining on the temporary Thirteenth Census roll were separated from the service. Among the persons dismissed were many on whom a severe hardship was imposed, most of them having expected to remain considerably longer in the service. With a view to assisting those who had taken civil-service examinations for the departmental service at large, the Department suggested to the President, who promptly took action in accordance therewith, that in the consideration of eligibles certified by the Civil Service Commission the head of each executive department and independent establishment be asked to give such special consideration to the persons who obtained satisfactory efficiency ratings while engaged in census work, and whose services were dispensed with by reason of the failure of appropriation, as the law of apportionment and the law according preference to persons honorably discharged from the military or naval service would permit. It also requested the chiefs of its various bureaus and offices to give similar consideration to this class of employees if their names were certified by the Commission. At the close of the fiscal year 31 of the former clerks had been appointed in this Department, 9 had declined appointment, and a few failed to respond to the notices of selection. Quite a number have since been appointed to permanent positions in the Bureau of the Census, and others will be so appointed from time to time, under the provisions of the legislative, executive, and judicial act approved August 23, 1912, which requires that preference in appointment be given to such census employees as have passed the civil-service examinations and had at least one year's experience in census work. Also 175 have been temporarily appointed under the provisions of the same act.

It also became necessary to dispense promptly with the services of those persons who were transferred to the Bureau under the fifth proviso of section 7 of the Thirteenth Census Act to serve during the decennial census period. The Department accordingly called the attention of the departments and the Government Printing Office, from which these employees had been transferred, to the fact that it would be necessary to terminate their services in the Bureau, either by transfer or by furlough without pay, not later than February 29, 1912, and expressed the hope that the applications of those who desired retransfers would be looked upon favorably. It is gratifying to be able to state that of the 27 persons concerned 25 have been provided for.

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TEMPORARY APPOINTMENTS.

Temporary appointments are not favored by the civil-service rules, and in this Department are permitted only in cases where it is impracticable to make permanent appointments. The new system of certification of eligibles, known as the district system, has, however, caused an appreciable increase in the number of temporary appointments in the field service of the Department, as the district secretaries are frequently unable to certify eligibles for permanent appointment even after the lapse of considerable time. Before the inauguration of the district system it was a rare occurrence for the Commission to be without eligibles to fill a vacancy. The Department feels that the condition created by this system is regrettable, because the best interests of the service demand that vacancies be filled permanently as soon as possible. It is evident that where temporary appointments are made the Government must frequently utilize a great deal of energy, which could be better employed, in training and developing employees with no hope of receiving the benefit of their increasing efficiency.

EFFICIENCY OF THE PERSONNEL.

The 1911 inquiry into the efficiency of the officers and employees of the Department below the presidential class may be considered as closed. The primary object of these periodical inquiries is to obtain efficiency ratings to serve as a basis in determining the eligibility of employees for promotion, but there are other benefits to the service which it is impossible to bring about by any other means. The standard of efficiency required in the last inquiry was higher than in the inquiry of 1909, but notwithstanding this fact the number of cases requiring action was nearly 50 per cent less. By reason of experience and training the value of an employee is constantly changing, and, as shown by these reports, usually improving. The transfer from one kind of work to another often brings out new qualifications of which a superior officer is unaware. The result is that so far as it is possible to grade the employee fairly from any system of efficiency reports it has been done, and it is the belief of the officers who considered the reports that the changes brought about by the information contained therein are of permanent value.

PROMOTIONS.

In the periodical investigations into the efficiency of the personnel an attempt has been made to obtain absolutely reliable ratings for every employee, based (1) on his worth in the particular position and (2) on his value as compared with others in the same class and grade. In promotions that have been approved these ratings have been the