OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY.

APPOINTMENT DIVISION.

The Appointment Division was organized in February, 1904. On July 1, 1906, it became recognized by statute. The Division recently completed the fourth year of its existence, and at the present time is organized and equipped for the performance of any kind of work that may properly be assigned to it.

STATISTICS OF THE PERSONNEL.

The accompanying table shows the number of regular positions in the service of the Department on July 1, 1908. Items of actual decrease in the personnel during the past year are the discontinuance of some 750 special agents in the Bureau of the Census and 127 laborers and mechanics in the Light-House Service. The principal items of increase are in the Bureau of Labor (91) and in the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (170). The increase in the Bureau first named is occasioned entirely by the investigation now being conducted into the condition of woman and child workers.

POSITIONS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR, JULY 1, 1908.

Of 69 removals made for cause during the year, there were 15 cases in which the Department did not require that reasons be submitted to the employees in writing, and a reasonable time allowed for reply,

before final action was taken. In 2 of these 15 cases it was not possible to communicate with the employees, but the violations of duty were so flagrant that such action was not necessary; in 1 oral notice was given, in 1 the dereliction was investigated before action was taken, and in 1 the employee admitted to his chief that he deserved dismissal. So that there were actually but 10 cases of removal for cause where opportunity to make written answer was not given the employee when possible to do so, and in these 10 cases the culpability was well established and well understood by the employees and by the Department. For instance, one was removed because he had been found with stolen property in his possession, and another (now serving a term of imprisonment) was removed for aiding and assisting the escape of an alien under order of deportation. In no case did the Department exercise the power of removal without furnishing a copy of charges, etc., except where the benefit to the service by such action was unquestioned. Of the 69 removals, at least 15 were made upon charges of intoxication.

EFFICIENCY RATINGS.

On July 1, 1907, the chiefs of bureaus and divisions were directed to report the efficiency ratings of all persons who were shown by the ratings of 1906 to be below the required standard of ability either as to the quantity or quality of work performed. These reports showed that the effect of the warning given in January, 1907, that an immediate improvement was expected in their work, was most salutary. A number of instances were reported in which there had been material improvement either as to quality or quantity, or both. There were some cases, however, in which there was apparently no improvement. Several of these cases have been adjusted by discontinuance without prejudice, reduction in salary, or by resignation. As a rule, the persons rated below the required standard are employees of advanced age who have given many years of service to the Government. The obstacles in the way of the separation of such employees are real and not fancied. The head of the Department, while not forgetful of his responsibility, finds it a difficult task to direct removal, although it is conceded that the persons are no longer rendering efficient service. This is not so much due to the sympathy of the appointing officer-although it is possible that this may have some weight-as to the great pressure immediately brought to bear by public and prominent men and women to prevent dismissal. This is a condition and not a theory, and is perhaps the strongest reason for the enactment of a law for the retirement of superannuated employees.

EXECUTIVE ORDERS AFFECTING THE PERSONNEL.

During the past year there were promulgated a number of executive orders applying, both generally and individually, to the personnel of the Department. Among the former class may be mentioned the order amending the transfer rule so as to permit the reinstatement and immediate transfer of a person separated from the service without inefficiency and because of necessary reduction of force; the order authorizing the Civil Service Commission, in its discretion, to waive examination in transfers and promotions and to substitute other tests therefor; the order transferring to the excepted class shipping commissioners whose compensation for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1907, was $2,500 or over (this applied to the shipping commissioners at the ports of New York, San Francisco, Port Townsend, and Boston); the order in regard to the procedure to be followed in recommendations for a particular method of appointment; the order directing the departments to put into effect, as far as possible, the schedule of salaries recommended by the Committee on Grades and Salaries appointed under the executive order of June 11, 1907, and the orders amending Civil-Service Rules VII and VIII, relating to temporary appointments. While it has always been the policy of the Department to confine temporary appointments to cases of actual necessity, the effect of the executive order last mentioned has been beneficial in still further reducing the number of temporary appointments, and also in reducing the work of the Appointment Division to quite an appreciable extent. At first the new rule threatened to work hardship on the service in certain cases, but the interpretations given by the Civil Service Commission resulted in a working construction which is in the main satisfactory.

THE SERVICE-RECORD SYSTEM.

The service-record system in use in the Appointment Division consists of a complete card record of employees and positions in the Department, arranged by bureaus and subdivided by grades and classes. Changes in status are posted daily upon this record. The system provides the means for prompt reply to almost every conceivable question relative to the status of employees or positions and for the compilation of statistical reports and tables required by the Department for its own use and in connection with replies to inquiries frequently received from Congress, committees appointed by the President, and many other sources. The system of keeping records of the personnel, as now established and maintained, is believed to be superior to any in use elsewhere in the government service, except, possibly, in the departments and offices in which the card originally introduced by this Department has been adopted.

DISBURSING OFFICE.

APPROPRIATIONS AND DISBURSEMENTS.

The itemized statement of the disbursements from the contingent fund of the Department of Commerce and Labor for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1908, will be transmitted to Congress in the usual form. The following table shows the total amounts of all annual appropriations for the various bureaus and services of the Department of Commerce and Labor for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1908, of all appropriations made for public works in the various services of the Department, which, under the law, may be disbursed without regard to any particular fiscal year, and of all permanent indefinite appropriations.

a of this amount $25,000 can be expended without regard to fiscal year.

The disbursements by the disbursing clerk of the Department of Commerce and Labor during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1908, are set forth in the following table, which shows the disbursements for each quarter and the total amount disbursed during the fiscal year for each appropriation from which disbursements were made.