Temporary appointments are of two general classes, those pending the filling of positions permanently and those for particular jobs of work, at the completion of which the services of the employees are no longer required. The procedure in making these appointments conforms as far as practicable to that followed in filling permanent positions. The requirement of apportionment is not applied in certification for temporary appointment. Less than a fourth of the temporary appointments in Washington were made outside the registers of eligibles, and these only for relatively brief periods while examinations were being held.

The average length of appointments made pending the filling of positions permanently is less than two months; of those made for job work, about four months in Washington and about one month outside of Washington. The shorter average period of job appointments outside of Washington is due to the thousands of appointments made in the various field services for periods of only a few days. Very few appointments have extended beyond six months. The circumstances in such cases have been unusual and the extension was necessary for the completion of the job of work for which the person was originally appointed.

REMOVALS.

In an act of August 24, 1912, the provisions of the civil service rules bearing upon removal were in part made statutory. The act provides:

That no person in the classified civil service of the United States shall be removed therefrom except for such cause as will promote the efficiency of said service and for reasons given in writing, and the person whose removal is sought shall have notice of the same and of any charges preferred against him, and be furnished with a copy thereof, and also be allowed a reasonable time for personally answering the same in writing; and affidavits in support thereof; but no examination of witnesses nor any trial or hearing shall be required except in the discretion of the officer making the removal; and copies of charges, notice of hearing, answer, reasons for removal, and of the order of removal shall be made a part of the records of the proper department or office, as shall also the reasons for reduction in rank or compensation; and copies of the same shall be furnished to the person affected upon request, and the Civil Service Commission also shall, upon request, be furnished copies of the same. * * *

Upon the request of several of the departments the commission set forth its views concerning the effect of this statutory provision. upon existing rules, expressing the opinion that section 2 of Rule XII was superseded by the statute, and that therefore cases arising subsequently to the statute were to be considered thereunder and not under the rule.

Regarding the removal of probationers, the commission expressed the view that the practice which existed under section 1 of Rule VII of requiring a full and fair trial in the position during probation, and

of terminating upon notice in writing the services of probationers when their conduct and capacity are not satisfactory, does not appear to be changed by the act; and the probationer may be separated from the service at any time during or at the end of the probationary period without further formality than written notice with statement of reasons.

The commission holds that the law does not contemplate its application to temporary employment.

The act is not regarded as applying to cases of suspension. Where a suspended person is later dropped from the classified service, it is necessary to comply with the requirements of the act.

Under an opinion of the Attorney General of June 23, 1913, the term classified service" as used in the statute does not include positions excepted from examination under Schedule A of the rules unless such positions have been filled as competitive positions are filled, in which event under Rule II, paragraph 3, the person appointed is entitled to all the rights of a competitive employee.

FOURTH-CLASS POSTMASTERS.

The orders of Presidents Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson applying the civil-service rules to positions of fourth-class postmaster were a culmination of efforts extending over many years to bring these positions into the competitive service. The order of President Roosevelt in 1908 applied only to the post offices in the States lying north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi, numbering 13,986. On October 15, 1912, President Taft in an Executive order transferred to the competitive service all other fourth-class postmasters to the number of 36,236, excepting only those in our territorial possessions.

On May 7, 1913, President Wilson issued an Executive order amending the order of October 15, 1912, and the regulations promulgated in accordance therewith. As amended, the regulations provide:

Appointment to offices having an annual compensation of as much as $180 shall be made in the same manner as provided by the civil-service law and rules for other positions in the competitive classified service: Provided, That in the event that for the examination for any such office less than three persons apply, the Civil Service Commission may, in its discretion, authorize selection in accordance with section 2 of these regulations.

For positions paying less than $180 a year the amendment provides that appointments shall be made by the Postmaster General upon the report of a post-office inspector as the result of an examination, conducted on the ground, of the qualifications of all persons applying for such position after due public notice of the vacancy. The report of the post-office inspector shall be based solely upon the suitability

of the applicant and his ability to provide proper facilities for transacting the business of the office.

The commission is given authority to review the case and recommend the removal of any fourth-class postmaster where it appears that political or religious considerations have entered into his appointment. The commission is also authorized to investigate the case of an applicant, eligible, or appointee at a post office paying less than $180 a year where sworn statements are filed by property taxpayers or patrons of the office to the effect that he is unsuitable for the position.

By an Executive order of the same date as the amended regulations the commission is required to hold open competitive examinations for all fourth-class post offices paying $180 a year or more, the incumbents of which have not been appointed upon certificate of the commission or on the recommendation of a post-office inspector under the former regulations. These examinations are to be held by the commission in groups of States as designated by the Postmaster General. Approximately 21,000 offices are affected by this order, and examinations will be held at the rate of about 2,000 offices a month.

In addition to the work involved in providing eligible registers for these 21,000 offices, registers must also be provided to fill vacancies numbering approximately 500 a month occurring in fourth-class offices.

ASSISTANT POSTMASTERS.

The Executive order of September 30, 1910, brought into the competitive class the positions of assistant postmaster at first and second class offices, and provided that no assistant postmaster should receive a competitive status who failed to satisfy the Post Office Department of his capacity for efficient service in the position. There are 2,464 post offices of the first and second classes, and all save about 100 incumbents have been given a competitive status. These exceptions are due to the fact that the persons filling the positions have failed to satisfy the department as to their capacity for efficient service.

When the Executive order was issued there were 2,329 assistant postmasters in offices of the first and second classes. It has been ascertained that at these offices the number of assistant postmasters who had been appointed as such by promotion of competitive employees was 562, or more than 24 per cent. It was a matter of business necessity in the large offices to fill the position of assistant postmaster by promotion, even when the power existed to fill the position without examination. At the 50 largest offices the position in 26 instances had been filled by promotion prior to the Executive order; and of the 24 remaining, 12 appointees had served as assistant postmaster for more than 16 years.

POLITICAL ACTIVITY AND ASSESSMENTS.

POLITICAL ACTIVITY.

While the commission has had the power since 1907 to investigate alleged political activity of competitive employees in any department or office and to make recommendations as to the punishment deemed appropriate to the offense committed, appointing officers have not always carried out the recommendations of the commission. In such cases the Government has been placed in the position of having conducted an investigation and established a violation of its requirements, which has been followed by no punishment or one wholly inadequate to the offense committed. It has been and is the opinion of the commission that its rulings in such cases should be final, subject only to review by the President. A step in the direction of eliminating this defect in the regulations has been taken in recent Executive orders which provide that any rural carrier or fourth-class postmaster taking an active part in politics "shall be removed from the service or otherwise disciplined, recommendation as to the penalty to be imposed in each case to be made by the Civil Service Commission." These orders have resulted in great good and it is believed that still better results would follow if the commission's recommendations were made mandatory throughout the service.

Administrative punishment has been imposed during the year upon violators of the law or rules as follows: Removal or other involuntary separation, 16; reduction, 11; suspension without pay, 3; reprimand, admonition, or warning, 29. Reports of these cases are contained in the appendix.

The number of cases in which it appears that the violation is committed in ignorance of the requirements of the law and rules has decreased, and owing to the publicity given during the presidential campaign to these requirements, and the investigations by the commission, it is believed the restrictions are now well understood throughout the service. The kinds of political activity within the prohibitions of the rule applying to competitive employees are fully and definitely stated in one of the commission's circulars (No. 1236) which is given wide publicity.

The enforcement of restrictions on the political activity of unclassified officers has been left to heads of departments, the commission having no duty in the matter except in case of violations of provisions of the civil-service law and rules. These provisions prohibit the use of official authority, influence, or position to coerce the political action of any person or body; the interfering with or affecting the result of an election; the soliciting or receiving of political contributions; or the discriminating for political reasons in favor of

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or against subordinates. Except for these restrictions, unclassified officers have often been tacitly permitted if not encouraged tobecome active in support of political measures or candidates, and the regulations prohibiting them from engaging in political activity to such an extent as to result in neglect of their duties or to cause public scandal, have not been sufficiently regarded.

The commission recommends an amendment to the rules clearly defining the degree of activity permissible to such officers and giving the commission the same powers with respect to violations of these restrictions as with regard to the political activity of members of the competitive service.

There are certain positions, however, the duties of which are so intimately connected with the policies of the administration that distinction should be made between them and the great mass of local officers throughout the country whose duties are nonpolitical. These positions should be specifically exempted from the operation of such an amendment to the rules.

POLITICAL ASSESSMENTS.

An important judicial decision was rendered in connection with the prosecution of a postmaster of the first class who was indicted for receiving political contributions from employees in the post office. The fact of the receipt of contributions was not denied, the defendant relying on the statement that he acted merely as a messenger for the purpose of delivering such contributions to the persons who alone received them and were concerned in receiving them. The court held that his connection with the receipt of these contributions amounted to being "concerned in receiving," within the meaning of the statute. A conviction was had in this case and the postmaster was separated from the service. Full reports of this case and others are published in the appendix.

CLASSIFICATION OF THE NAVY YARDS.

The President in an order and regulations of December 7, 1912, placed all artisan and supervisory artisan positions at the navy yards and other establishments under the Navy Department in the competitive service and prescribed methods of appointment and promotion similar to those applying to like classes of positions elsewhere. The artisans themselves were to be classified only upon the establishment of capacity for efficient service or examination and recommendation by the commanding officer. The average number of mechanics and laborers employed at navy yards during recent years is about twenty thousand. About four-fifths of this number are skilled men who have been classified in accordance with the President's order.