been brought within the competitive system, and there is not sufficient inducement for the most capable men and women to enter the examinations, either in the salary immediately offered or in the prospects of a career. The service, therefore, tends to be regarded as a mere makeshift, and the tendency is for the most capable of those entering it to seek outside employment. Thus a large part of the work of the commission goes for naught.

The turnover is illustrated in the following tables, which, however, do not cover the entire executive service at Washington. The principal omissions are the Post Office Department, the Tariff Commission, the Federal Board for Vocational Education, and Alien Property Custodian. These statistics are illustrative of the changes occurring at a time when governmental agencies were abnormally expanded and at a time when a reduction of force was being effected. Figures compiled from reports of former years show that the percentages of turnover in the service in the District of Columbia for the years ending June 30, 1905, 1910, 1912, and 1915 were 19, 15, 19, and 11, respectively.

In a consideration of the significance of the tables several facts should be noted. During the nine months preceding the armistice over 60,000 appointments were made and about 28,000 separations occurred. The appointments were, therefore, twice as many as the separations, or, in other words, for every two appointments made one person left the service. For a period of similar length following the armistice only 60 per cent as many appointments were made, but about 33 per cent more separations. In the second period considered almost as many positions were vacated as were filled. If no person had left the service, no new appointments would needs have been made.

How many of the 28,000 persons who left their positions while the Government was in urgent need of their services resigned because of the living conditions in Washington can not be determined. There is no question but that many were separated for military or naval service. The Interstate Commerce Commission, for example, reports that 206 of their men responded to the call of war, the Government Printing Office about 400, the Interior Department (both field and departmental) 2,784. Allowance should also be made for transfers within the service, each transfer being regarded as a separation from a particular department.

After the termination of hostilities there was naturally a decline in the number of appointments and an increase in separations. This decline was in part due to the return of many former employees upon discharge from the Army and Navy. From November 10, 1918, to July 26, 1919, 5,795 certificates for reinstatement were issued. The War Trade Board lost 3,430 employees following the armistice. The

Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Labor also made a large reduction of force. If these three organizations are omitted, the rate of turnover for this period is reduced from 35.8 to 31.2 per cent.

Additions to and separations from the personnel of 17 departments and independent establishments, District of Columbia.1

FROM MAR. 11, 1918, TO AND INCLUDING NOV. 4, 1918 (36 WEEKS).

FROM NOV. 10, 1918, TO AND INCLUDING JULY 26, 1919 (37 WEEKS).

1 Compiled from reports to the Housing and Health Divisions of the War Department, the Washington Branch of the Home Registration Service of the Department of Labor, and the Civil Service Commission.

2 Week of June 3, 1918, not included.

3 Weeks of Aug. 5, 1918, and Aug. 26, 1918, not included.

4 Monthly report only.

Number of positions in selected departments and independent establishments, District of

Columbia.

[A. For period beginning Mar. 11, 1918, and ending Nov. 4, 1918. B. For period beginning Nov. 10, 1918, and ending July 26, 1919.2 C. For period ending June 30, 1915.]

1 Turnover for A, B, and C, respectively, determined by dividing the total number of separations during each period by the total number of positions on July 1, 1918; by the arithmetical mean of the total number of positions on November 11, 1918, and July 1, 1919; and by the total number of positions on June 30, 1915. 2 Rate for Departments of Commerce and Labor.

ADAPTING THE EXAMINATIONS TO WAR NEEDS.

For many years the commission has had two general types of examinations, the first where the competitors are assembled at a stated time to answer in writing certain questions, and the second where the competitors are not so assembled. This latter type of examination has been termed the nonassembled or unassembled examination, and is applied to the higher administrative, executive, scientific, or technical positions. The unassembled examination as applied to this class of positions is formulated in each case after conference with officials of the department or office interested to secure exact information as to the duties of the position and the minimum qualifications in education, training, or experience apparently requisite for properly and fully performing such duties. This

minimum standard, which may sometimes be alternative between education and experience, is then specified in the announcement to the public as a requirement preliminary to any consideration for the examination; and the examination itself always includes a careful and painstaking inquiry into the accomplishments and career of each candidate.

During the war several new bureaus were created and others greatly expanded, making it necessary to supply at once a large number of eligibles with demonstrated capacity for higher work. Qualified persons in the lower grades were far too few to fill these positions by promotion, and it was not possible to rely upon training employees after they had entered the service. As an emergency measure to meet this need the commission extended the unassembled examinations to positions which formerly had been filled through the assembled examinations. For example, the departments found it necessary to have a considerable proportion of eligibles with some office experience for newly created positions. To meet this need clerk eligibles obtained through written examination were divided into those who had had office experience and those who had not and were certified for appointment accordingly. The number of experienced clerks obtained in this way was not sufficient to meet the demand, and as a measure of relief an unassembled examination was provided for clerks qualified in business administration. It is realized that the unassembled method is not so well adapted to this type of position, and it was intended to discontinue the examination as soon as employment conditions warranted, and in fact the receipt of applications closed on January 21, 1919, for the departmental service, and also for nearly all of the field service. By this unassembled method it was possible to provide eligibles without the delay attending assembled examinations.

The exigencies of the war required an expansion of the clerical forces at Washington and this was accompanied by a labor turnover several times larger than normal. The percentage of declinations of appointment among eligibles on the register increased in many instances from 30 to more than 50 per cent. This made it necessary to examine a much larger number of applicants than the number of appointments to be made ordinarily requires. Many new examinations had to be held to secure appointees with the required qualifications and new methods had to be devised to meet the expanded requirements with the utmost expedition.

THE WAR PERIOD.

From the time this country entered the war until the cessation of hostilities the commission faced the heaviest administrative burden in its history. A function of the commission is to secure.

qualified employees for employment in the Government service. It was vital at all times during the war that the Government should appoint the best qualified persons to its service, and this could best be done through the medium of the commission. Even before the entrance of this country into the war steps were being taken by the commission to meet the increased demand for eligibles. The commission believes that it has demonstrated the efficiency of the competitive system in providing the Government with qualified workers and in safeguarding the departments against the importunities of unqualified persons who might have been forced into the service if the commission had not been ready to meet the emergency.

In recent years there has been a marked extension of the merit system of appointments, but the working force of the commission has not been correspondingly increased to enable it satisfactorily to meet the increased demands of the service. At the time this country entered the war the commission was laboring under a heavy burden and with the beginning of extensive military preparations, which made necessary the appointment of thousands of additional employees, the commission was not only called upon to meet a large demand for eligibles in peace-time positions, but it had to supply under extreme pressure thousands of additional employees to carry on unprecedented military undertakings. It was necessary to hold more frequent examinations to provide the various classes of eligibles ordinarily required to make changes to expedite the rating of examination papers, to amend examinations to meet the varying exigencies of the service, and also to devise new examinations on a variety of subjects to test the qualifications of applicants not theretofore required in the Government service.

For many technical positions and for trades positions there was scarcity of applicants, and it was necessary actively to canvass the country. In addition to the 3,000 local boards of examiners distributed in all parts of the country, the commission had the cooperation of 8,000 postmasters at third-class offices where the announcements of examinations were kept before the public. More than 5,000,000 posters of various kinds were distributed and displayed; lantern slides, frequently changed, were thrown upon the screens of 16,000 motion-picture theaters; cards were displayed in 28,000 trolley cars; notices were printed in 6,000 newspapers and more than 200 magazines and trade periodicals; posters were displayed upon the bulletin boards of 3,000 libraries, 1,200 chambers of commerce and boards of trade, and in many other prominent places in every city in the country.

A campaign was inaugurated for the training of persons in various activities for which there was a shortage of trained workers. For example, the commission secured the cooperation of a number of