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ship upon his minor children, provided that this citizenship shall not begin until the child begins its residence in this country. Properly speaking, these children do not belong to the immigrant class. This conclusion, it is true, is in conflict with the decisions of several courts, relying upon a decision of the United States Supreme Court. Since that decision was rendered, the naturalization law has, however, been so amended that, in my judgment, the conclusion reached. by me can not be avoided. Furthermore, the importance of the question is greatly overestimated with respect to the number of persons who are affected by the ruling.

Generally speaking, it has seemed to me that where aliens come to join a family established in this country a liberal policy is properly applied. The physical condition of incoming aliens is of course of great importance, but so is the confidence and good will of those who have already been accepted. The increased cost is inconsiderable, especially when it is remembered that the head tax collected from immigrants during the last fiscal year exceeded the entire appropriation for the Immigration Service for the same year by $280,264.

A more detailed discussion of the work of the several Bureaus follows.

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY.

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF CLERK.

NEW BUILDING.

Congress at its last session approved the Department's recommendation for the enactment of a law giving the head of the Department authority to enter into a five-year lease for a building sufficiently large to take care of all of those branches of the Department in the District of Columbia now in rented quarters, except the Bureau of the Census. The Department has accepted an offer to erect a building which it is expected will be delivered not later than September 1 of next year and which it is believed may be occupied until the new Government building is erected. The loss of efficiency in administration due to the fact that the bureaus which will go into this building are now occupying three entire buildings and parts of three other buildings, all at different locations, is very much. greater than might appear. This situation will now be corrected, as will also other equally important conditions, such as lack of proper light and ventilation and unsatisfactory protection of employees and property against the danger of fire. In fact, the effort to obtain a modern sanitary building was undertaken primarily because it was desired to remedy as soon as possible the unsatisfactory conditions under which many of the employees are required to labor.

LABOR-SAVING MACHINERY.

The introduction of labor-saving devices of many kinds throughout the Department has been uniformly encouraged. Machines for making photographic reproductions of letters and documents have been installed for the purpose of saving the time of typewriters. Dictating machines have been provided in a number of offices for the purpose of saving the time of correspondence clerks and stenographers, and computing machines of various kinds have been purchased whenever it has been found that they could be used to advantage. A mechanical section has been installed in the Division of Publications for duplicating circular letters, notices, etc. The large number of adding machines in the possession of the Bureau of the Census has afforded an opportunity for considerable saving in other

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branches of the Department, as many of these machines have been distributed where they could be used to advantage, instead of buying new machines. It is thought that the actual deterioration in these machines through moderate use will not be appreciably greater than the deterioration that would result from mere idleness.

PURCHASE OF SUPPLIES.

Much delay and confusion in the purchase of supplies has been occasioned during the past few months by the more strict enforcement of the law relating to such purchase (sec. 4 of the act of June 17, 1910), under recent decisions of the accounting officers. No criticism of these decisions is intended, but the sudden change from a rather loose to a strict construction of the law resulted in an appreciable increase in the details attendant upon the purchase and distribution of supplies. It is quite apparent that the law referred to ought to be amended. While it is undoubtedly true that the General Supply Committee, established by this law, has justified its creation, it may be suggested that the jurisdiction of this committee now includes purchases that were not contemplated. It has been urged that the annual schedule of supplies, which contains all those articles for which contracts are made by the Secretary of the Treasury upon the recommendation of the General Supply Committee, now includes articles which apparently are not common to the needs of two or more departments as required by the law. Great advantage undoubtedly results from a central contracting agency for all articles that are in fact common to the needs of the departments, but on the other hand there would be a disadvantage in the inclusion in the general supply schedule of articles which are needed for special purposes only.

The decisions of the accounting officers referred to above have raised the doubt in the mind of purchasing officers whether they have the authority to purchase a particular article not actually named in the schedule except through the Secretary of the Treasury. Resolving the doubt in such manner as to be on the safe side and to avoid the possible suspension of accounts, the Secretary of the Treasury has been asked to include in the supply schedule articles that are not strictly common to the needs of the several departments. The result is that the supply schedule has a tendency to grow to proportions which were probably not anticipated by the framers of this legislation.

The remedy for this condition would seem to be to so amend the law as to make it clear that the heads of departments retain the right to purchase independently of the general schedule such articles as are needed to meet special needs. In this way there is greater certainty that the Department will get an article of the exact quality

desired, and there is also appreciably less expense and delay involved in the steps leading up to the purchase.

The advantage of a central purchasing agency for supplies that are common to the needs of the departments in Washington, in addition to the contracting agency which is now authorized, is suggested. It is believed that such an agency would result both in a substantial saving in clerk hire and in the rental cost of space now occupied by numerous supply divisions and storage and distributing agencies, and in a reduction in the prices of articles purchased. On the other hand, any attempt to include in such a system the purchase of supplies of a special character would probably result in loss of time and money.

It has also been suggested that some central Government agency ought to make contracts for the delivery at the more important seaports of the United States of supplies that are used by the ships in the service of the Government. This is a subject of some importance, and it seems at least worthy of serious consideration.

PERSONNEL.

This subject is appropriately considered in detail in the annual report of the Chief of the Appointment Division, but the Chief Clerk of the Department is charged by law with general supervision over all clerks and other employees of the Department, and in that connection a few general observations may not be out of place here.

However carefully laws and regulations may be drafted, neither will ever secure the most essential qualification of a good employee. No order will create esprit de corps. The interest and good will of the force depend largely upon the confidence which it entertains for its Chief in the Bureau or the Department. It has been the policy therefore to refrain wherever possible from the issuance of detailed rules and regulations to cover matters of relatively small importance, and to inspire confidence by extending it. It is believed that this policy has been justified by experience, and that as a general rule the employees of this Department have shown more than the usual devotion to the performance of their duties.

Perhaps the chief defect in the present practice is to be found in the system of promotion. This defect is not inherent, but it must be admitted that employees lack complete confidence in the results; and of course no system can be said to be entirely satisfactory that does not command confidence. Many remedies may be suggested. Efficiency ratings have been tried in this Department with a fair degree of success, and are now required by law to be established by the Civil Service Commission. But no system can eliminate the personal equation altogether. The difficulties in the way of the establishment

of a system of promotion which will result in the promotion in each instance of the person who is the most efficient in the grade and at the same time command the confidence of the persons to whom it applies, has led to the suggestion that we should confine ourselves to weeding out the inefficient at the end of the probationary period and thereafter promote, within certain well-defined limits, as do some large business establishments, by seniority. Without committing the Department to the conclusion that this plan ought to be adopted, it seems at least worthy of consideration.

At present the probationary period provided by the civil-service rules amounts to very little. At the end of the probationary term it is virtually decided whether the employee is worth retaining at the salary he is receiving at that particular moment. This is manifestly wrong. The decision should not only determine whether he is worth keeping at the particular salary he is then receiving, but whether he is worth retaining and developing for more important purposes. If a more strict probationary term should be enforced, the inefficient would not receive absolute appointment, and the rule of seniority in promotion with proper limitations as to the maximum grade would not have the tendency to eventually fill the high grades with those of relatively low efficiency.

It has not been suggested that the seniority rule should apply to positions requiring special qualifications. In these positions appointment may be made from the register or promotion may be made from the clerical grades as a result of competitive examination or as at present. In the latter case the personal equation is of course again introduced; but a proper system of efficiency ratings based upon the record of work, actually performed would at least minimize this factor, and taking the service as a whole its possible effect upon the destiny of the employee would be substantially reduced.

On the other hand, there should be no restrictions upon the power to reduce an employee who falls below a certain standard; and this standard should be sufficiently high to insure against the indifference that might otherwise attend an arbitrary plan of promotion.

Finally, the need for some plan to relieve the service of superannuation, which is discussed elsewhere in this report, is real. The need for a system which will prevent or at least diminish the occurrence of superannuation is just as real. This difficulty may be at least partially met by a revision of the age limits at which persons may enter the classified service. Under the present civil-service rules an age limit applies to some positions but not to others. This seems unwise. It is obvious that if persons of advanced years are accepted. in the civil service, superannuation must soon result. On the other hand, if selection for the main body of clerks is limited to young persons, the proportion of superannuation is necessarily reduced.

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