NINETEENTH ANNUAL REPORT

OF THE

UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION.

WASHINGTON, D. C., October 24, 1902.

SIR: The Civil Service Commission, in presenting its annual report of the business transacted during the year ended June 30, 1902, desires to express its gratification at the substantial progress made in the competitive system during that year and at the excellent manner in which the civil-service law and rules have been generally observed throughout the various branches of the Government.

Since June 30, 1901, there have been included in the competitive system, in addition to the natural growth of the service

1. By Executive order:

(A) The rural free-delivery service;

(B) A considerable portion of the field services of the War Department.

2. By act of Congress:

(C) The employees rendered necessary because of increased work incident to the war with Spain;

(D) The clerks and employees of the permanent Census Office.

(A) RURAL FREE DELIVERY SERVICE.

This branch of the service, which was at first regarded as experimental in character, has become so useful and popular that its permanency is assured. It gives promise of being perhaps the most extensive branch of the entire civil service, superseding in a considerable degree the necessity for fourth-class post-offices. It was at first considered that this service was not embraced in the general classification for the reason that it was experimental, and was so described in the act establishing it. While the Commission did not concur in this construction of the law, it was found impracticable to make the classification until November 27, 1901, when a rule for that purpose was promulgated by the President. It must be remembered that the free-delivery routes are originally laid out by special agents of the Post-Office Department,

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and all changes in the routes and subsequent appointments of carriers are made on the reports of certain route inspectors of that Department. It became important for the successful establishment of the competitive system in this service that these special agents and route inspectors should themselves be included in the classified service, and this was done. As these positions require experience, it was provided that they should be filled by promotion or by transfer from other branches of the post-office service, and that four years' experience in other parts of that service, or one year's experience in the rural free-delivery service itself, should be a prerequisite to such transfers or promotions. The remainder of the problem was to classify the clerks and carriers, and while there was no difficulty in classifying the clerks, it was believed that it would not be easy to classify the carriers, since the qualifications were such as could not be adequately tested by ordinary scholastic examinations. Very little education was required, but on the other hand it was extremely desirable that the persons selected should possess a proper equipment for doing the work, should have average intelligence, should be familiar with the neighborhood, and acquainted with the persons residing therein, and, most of all, that they should have the confidence and good will of the patrons of the route. An effort was therefore made to submit these qualifications, so far as possible, to a practical competitive test different from any other in the classified service.

The insufficiency of the force of the Commission made it impossible to conduct the examinations or to rate the papers by its own employees, so five persons were appointed by the Commission, after consultation with the Postmaster-General, from the force of the Post-Office Department, as a central board of examiners at Washington to rate the papers of the competitors, and the special agents and route inspectors were appointed by the Commission as auxiliary members of this board to conduct the examinations.

Whenever a postmaster receives notice from a special agent that he will visit his post-office to investigate the feasibility of establishing a new route for which petitions have been filed, the postmaster makes public announcement that he will receive the names of persons who desire to enter the examination, and he notifies all applicants of the date thereof. The special agent, after determining the feasibility of the route, then conducts the examination of applicants. Those who petition for the route have the right to nominate persons who are acceptable to them for carriers; but political or religious affiliations are not to be considered, nor are political indorsements to be received, and it is provided that the merit and qualifications of the applicant and the good of the service alone shall be considered. The examination requires only such scholastic ability as enables the applicant to read and write, and consists in answering a series of personal ques

tions, in the applicant's handwriting, relating to his physical condition, his previous experience, training, and occupation, the length of his residence in the community, and his ability to furnish the necessary equipment and provide a suitable substitute in cases of emergency. He is tested on his ability to read addressed envelopes and to make out registry receipts and receipts for the money with which to purchase postal money orders. The examination further consists of a very careful inquiry and report by the special agent of the competitor's acquaintance with the patrons and the extent to which he has their confidence; his general characteristics, suitability and fitness for the position, and his character and reputation. After completing the examination the papers are forwarded to the central board of examiners, which proceeds to rate them and prepare a list of eligibles, arranged in the order of their ratings.

There is no choice here as in other branches of the service between the three graded highest, but that person is selected whose name is at the head of the list. The regulation requiring this is made by the Post-Office Department, as well as by the Commission. A person nominated by the petitioners will be selected if his qualifications are equal to those of the other eligibles. Applicants who do not live within the territory supplied by the route or by the post-office from which the route starts are not accepted.

Similar examinations are held whenever there is a vacancy in a route already established if the vacancy can not be supplied by the existing list of eligibles. The examinations in this case are conducted by the route inspectors.

This system of classification went fully into effect on February 1, 1902. On June 30, 1902, the number of persons employed in the rural free-delivery service, and thus included in the classified service, was as follows:

A representative of the Commission's personal force visits the central board of examiners weekly and confers with it respecting the operation of the rules, and it can be said, after a number of months' experience, that the system on the whole appears to be working admirably. It is recognized by the Commission, however, that there are dangers of abuse in this service which do not exist where the examinations are purely scholastic. The weight which is necessarily given to the personal preferences of the patrons and to the reports of the special agents and route inspectors would be liable, if not carefully watched, to personal or political manipulation. It is not seen at the present time how the system itself can be greatly improved, and the

Commission believes that with supervision upon its part and that of the Department it may be made the means of eliminating at least the greater part of the political influences which have heretofore prevailed in this service and of greatly improving the character of the service itself.

(B) FIELD SERVICES, WAR DEPARTMENT.

Prior to May 29, 1899, there was in the classified service a considerable number of places in the Quartermaster's, Medical, Ordnance, and Engineer departments at large of the War Department, admission to which was subject to competitive but noneducational tests prescribed by the Civil Service Commission. On that day, by Executive order, these positions were taken out from the operation of the existing regulations, and it was provided that appointments thereto should be made upon registration tests of fitness prescribed in regulations to be issued by the Secretary of War and approved by the President. Besides these places, however, there was a large number of similar positions which were not excluded by the Presidential order of that date, and which had apparently been overlooked when the order was made. No regulations were ever issued by the Secretary of War in regard to the positions then excepted. The result was that the legal status of all appointees to these positions was somewhat in doubt, and if regulations had been formulated by the Secretary of War it would have resulted in two systems running side by side in the same Department. Such a dual method of appointment would be open to serious objection. Accordingly, in April, 1901, a memorandum was prepared by the Assistant Secretary of War recommending that the provisions in the Executive order of May 29, 1899, in respect to these places be rescinded and the places restored to the classified service. This memorandum was approved by the Chief of Ordnance, the Chief of Engineers, the Surgeon-General, and the Quartermaster-General, and was forwarded to the Commission on October 17, 1901; and on November 18 the order excepting these places was accordingly rescinded and the places restored to the classified service. The total number of positions added to the classified service by this reinclusion was 1888.

(C) THE EMPLOYEES RENDERED NECESSARY BECAUSE OF INCREASED

WORK INCIDENT TO THE WAR WITH SPAIN.

By an act passed June 13, 1898, provision was made for clerks and other employees rendered necessary because of increased work incident to the war with Spain, and under an act of July 7, 1898, and subsequent acts extending the appropriations therefor, it was provided that these additional employees should be appointed without compliance with the requirements of the civil-service act. In accordance with the provisions of these laws, clerks and other employees were

appointed in the different Departments without examination, and on April 28, 1902, the following number of such clerks and employees were employed in the various Departments:

On that day an act was passed providing that such additional clerks and other employees should be transferred to the classified service as of their grade or rate of compensation at that time, and should be continued in the several Departments without further examination, subject to transfer, promotion, or removal the same as other clerks and employees in the classified service. Inasmuch as the work upon which such clerks and employees were employed had become permanent in character and their services would be permanently required, it is believed that their transfer to the classified service was in the interest of good administration.

(D) CENSUS BUREAU.

The employees of the Bureau for taking the Twelfth Census had been selected under act of Congress without compliance with the civil-service act, the great bulk of the places being apportioned as patronage among the members of Congress, and although the persons recommended by these members were, in general, required to submit to an examination before appointment, such examinations were not open to public competition. When a bill was introduced for the creation of a permanent Census Bureau, a provision was added in the House of Representatives that the persons then employed in the temporary Bureau should be eligible to appointment in the classified service without examination or certification by the Civil Service Commission on the approval of the head of any Department. After this amendment had been agreed to, the measure was recommitted to the Census Committee of the House with instructions to prepare a detailed bill providing for the organization of the permanent office. The Commission considered that the classification of such persons as were to be permanently employed in the Census Bureau, with a provision that new appointments should be made in accordance with the civil-service law, would be highly desirable. But the number of employees then in the temporary Bureau was 2,298, and nearly two-thirds of these were soon to be discharged.

To make these all eligible to transfer or appointment in the classified service without competitive examination seemed highly undesirable. A much smaller number of persons are annually appointed to similar positions in the departments at Washington as the result