Government authorized by law to render decisions or opinions on matters involving legal questions or to participate in a legal capacity in representing the interests of the Government in matters pending before such courts, officers, or establishments, or to perform legal work in the preparation of such cases for presentation to such courts, officers, or establishments, and which require admission to the bar. Therefore a person proposed for appointment as an attorney under Schedule A must have been admitted to the bar and must be assigned to the performance of duties of the character described above. Undoubtedly there are many attorney places requiring exacting and peculiar qualifications or involving the performance of highly specialized or confidential work for which a particular officer of the Government is personally responsible. It would seem desirable from an administrative standpoint to except such positions from the requirement of examination. But for a considerable portion of the attorney force which is now appointed without any test of fitness, open competitive examinations are practicable. The positions readily lend themselves to competitive tests either of the assembled or the nonassembled type. It should be borne in mind that professional and scientific positions of a high grade, such as those in the Bureau of Standards and the Department of Agriculture, are filled through competitive examination. The commission has unusual facilities for reaching persons throughout the country with the specific type of qualifications demanded, and whenever announced, examinations for legal positions have created widespread interest. A survey should be made with a view of determining the attorney positions which should be placed in the competitive service and where investigation shows that any such position can not be filled adequately through examination, it would be continued in the excepted class. APPROPRIATIONS AND EXPENDITURES The appropriations and expenditures for the fiscal year 1929 were as follows: Total regular appropriations‒‒‒‒‒ Salaries and expenses (presidential postmaster examinations) __ Total regular and special appropriations- 42,000 44, 000 24, 592 58,000 1,172, 232 27, 208 1, 199, 440 Deficiency appropriations for prohibition examining work, District of Columbia and field, and examination for Customs Service related to prohibition, 1929 and 1930: Salaries Traveling expenses_ Contingent expenses- Amount Apportioned to Total funds available during 1929_ EXPENDITURES Classification of objects of expenditure as set forth in General Accounting Office Bulletin No. 1, of May 11, 1922, as amended: 01 Personal services___ 02 Supplies and materials____ 04 Subsistence (care and storage of motor vehicles) –. 05 Communication service___. 06 Travel expenses- 07 Transportation of things__. 08 Printing and binding_. 11 Rents 1, 290, 190 1,073, 580 65, 614 1,012 7, 534 51, 428 954 12 Repairs and alterations__ 13 Special and miscellaneous current expenses. 30 Equipment-. Total expenditures--- Unexpended balance of appropriations__ The appropriations for the fiscal year 1930 are as follows: Salaries: Office, District of Columbia___ Field__. Expert examiner____ Traveling expenses---. Contingent and miscellaneous expenses. Rent of building-- Printing and binding--- Total regular appropriations_. Salaries and expenses (presidential postmaster examinations) __ Total regular and special appropriations- Deficiency appropriations for prohibition examining work, District of Columbia and field, and examinations for Customs Service related to prohibition, 1929 and 1930: Salaries Traveling expenses-. Contingent expenses 6, 098 24, 592 624 525 20, 999 1,252, 960 537, 230 1,290, 190 $672, 610 383, 000 2,000 50,000 39,000 24, 592 54, 000 1, 225, 202 27, 360 1, 252, 562 Total funds available during 1930__ "Of this amount $31,336 was carried forward to 1930 as unexpended balance from the deficiency appropriation apportionment for 1929. SUGGESTIONS For the more effectual accomplishment of the purposes of the civil service act, we renew the following suggestions made in previous reports that legislation be had: 1. To place field presidential positions which are nonpolicy determining, such as collectors of internal revenue and customs and postmasters, in the classified service, dispensing with confirmation by the Senate and the 4-year term of office, leaving to the President his discretionary power of making such rules and exceptions as he may deem necessary. 2. To extend the acts of Congress applying the competitive system of appointment to policemen and firemen in the District of Columbia so as to include all employees in the municipal departments of the District as is done in other large cities of the country. It is anomalous that Washington should be the only large city in the United States to which the merit system has not been applied throughout its municipal service. 3. To restore to the classified service the positions of deputy collector of internal revenue and deputy marshal. We have the honor to be, Very respectfully, WILLIAM C. DEMING, Commissioners. The PRESIDENT, The White House. ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CHIEF EXAMINER The COMMISSION: OCTOBER 7, 1929. The following table shows the number of persons examined and appointed during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1929: 1 Report showing the results of the examinations of persons for designation as cadet or midshipman made to the Member of Congress for whom such examinations are held. 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. Appointments in unclassified services are only partially reported to the commission. The number of different occupations or kinds of positions for which examinations were held is 1,002, in addition to those held for mechanical trades and similar occupations. This number is 28 more than for the fiscal year 1928. There was an increase of 7,150 in the total number of persons examined. For classified positions in the several branches of the Postal Service the following table gives the number examined during the fiscal years 1928 and 1929: |