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1 Includes separations by removals without prejudice or on charges, resignations, deaths, discontinuances of probationary appointees, by transfer within the Department, or from the Department to other departments or independent offices.

*Includes promotions; reductions; changes of appropriation, designation, name, or station; and cancellations of appointment certificates, etc.

PERSONNEL OF THE BUREAU OF THE CENSUS.

The following table shows the number of appointments to and separations from the temporary Thirteenth Census roll during the fiscal year:

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During the last session of Congress the Bureau felt obliged to ask for an urgent deficiency appropriation in order to carry on its work to the end of the fiscal year, but as Congress granted only one-half of the amount requested it became necessary to take immediate steps looking toward a heavy reduction in the temporary force and the curtailment of expenses in other ways. Between December 31, 1911, and February 29, 1912, practically all employees remaining on the temporary Thirteenth Census roll were separated from the service. Among the persons dismissed were many on whom a severe hardship was imposed, most of them having expected to remain considerably longer in the service. With a view to assisting those who had taken civil-service examinations for the departmental service at large, the Department suggested to the President, who promptly took action in accordance therewith, that in the consideration of eligibles certified by the Civil Service Commission the head of each executive department and independent establishment be asked to give such special consideration to the persons who obtained satisfactory efficiency ratings while engaged in census work, and whose services were dispensed with by reason of the failure of appropriation, as the law of apportionment and the law according preference to persons honorably discharged from the military or naval service would permit. It also requested the chiefs of its various bureaus and offices to give similar consideration to this class of employees if their names were certified by the Commission. At the close of the fiscal year 31 of the former clerks had been appointed in this Department, 9 had declined appointment, and a few failed to respond to the notices of selection. Quite a number have since been appointed to permanent positions in the Bureau of the Census, and others will be so appointed from time to time, under the provisions of the legislative, executive, and judicial act approved August 23, 1912, which requires that preference in appointment be given to such census employees as have passed the civil-service examinations and had at least one year's experience in census work. Also 175 have been temporarily appointed under the provisions of the same act.

It also became necessary to dispense promptly with the services of those persons who were transferred to the Bureau under the fifth proviso of section 7 of the Thirteenth Census Act to serve during the decennial census period. The Department accordingly called the attention of the departments and the Government Printing Office, from which these employees had been transferred, to the fact that it would be necessary to terminate their services in the Bureau, either by transfer or by furlough without pay, not later than February 29, 1912, and expressed the hope that the applications of those who desired retransfers would be looked upon favorably. It is gratifying to be able to state that of the 27 persons concerned 25 have been provided for.

TEMPORARY APPOINTMENTS.

Temporary appointments are not favored by the civil-service rules, and in this Department are permitted only in cases where it is impracticable to make permanent appointments. The new system of certification of eligibles, known as the district system, has, however, caused an appreciable increase in the number of temporary appointments in the field service of the Department, as the district secretaries are frequently unable to certify eligibles for permanent appointment even after the lapse of considerable time. Before the inauguration of the district system it was a rare occurrence for the Commission to be without eligibles to fill a vacancy. The Department feels that the condition created by this system is regrettable, because the best interests of the service demand that vacancies be filled permanently as soon as possible. It is evident that where temporary appointments are made the Government must frequently utilize a great deal of energy, which could be better employed, in training and developing employees with no hope of receiving the benefit of their increasing efficiency.

EFFICIENCY OF THE PERSONNEL.

The 1911 inquiry into the efficiency of the officers and employees of the Department below the presidential class may be considered as closed. The primary object of these periodical inquiries is to obtain efficiency ratings to serve as a basis in determining the eligibility of employees for promotion, but there are other benefits to the service which it is impossible to bring about by any other means. The standard of efficiency required in the last inquiry was higher than in the inquiry of 1909, but notwithstanding this fact the number of cases requiring action was nearly 50 per cent less. By reason of experience and training the value of an employee is constantly changing, and, as shown by these reports, usually improving. The transfer from one kind of work to another often brings out new qualifications of which a superior officer is unaware. The result is that so far as it is possible to grade the employee fairly from any system of efficiency reports it has been done, and it is the belief of the officers who considered the reports that the changes brought about by the information contained therein are of permanent value.

PROMOTIONS.

In the periodical investigations into the efficiency of the personnel an attempt has been made to obtain absolutely reliable ratings for every employee, based (1) on his worth in the particular position and (2) on his value as compared with others in the same class and grade. In promotions that have been approved these ratings have been the

governing factors unless subsequent reports have so altered the situation as to show that such action would be inconsistent with the general scheme. This plan, which is practically that enacted into law in the last legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act, has been in operation throughout my incumbency of office. But just as there are defects in other features of administration, there are weaknesses in the system at present employed, and to overcome these there should be, first of all, a reclassification of the entire service so that the designation of the grade and class held by a particular employee will indi cate the importance and the quality of the work in which he is engaged as well as the compensation that should be regarded as commensurate therewith.

SUPERANNUATION AND RETIREMENT.

Executive officers of the Government fully realize that the highest efficiency in the administration of the public business can not be attained until suitable legislation is provided for the retirement of superannuated employees. It is probable that action has not been taken because practically every scheme proposed involves a considerable preliminary outlay by the Government.

The President's Commission on Economy and Efficiency recently ascertained that the loss annually from superannuation in the classified service in the District of Columbia amounts to $220,954. Probably this amount does not represent the actual loss sustained, for despite the wholly impersonal nature of the inquiry allowance must be made for the natural reluctance on the part of executive officers to rate an employee as notably inefficient. It emphasizes, however, especially when coupled with the deplorable effects of superannuation upon the future efficiency of the service, the need for some form of retirement, whether on an annuity basis or otherwise. Most convincing is the following statement of a bureau officer of this Department, whose views upon the subject are entitled to much consideration:

A considerable proportion of our positions, both in the lower and middle grades, is filled by superannuated employees who are becoming more and more unsuitable for the increasingly difficult work of the Bureau and whose possibility of advancing any higher than their present grade of work is already absolutely closed. In consequence, as we lose experienced and valuable employees and go over the list of those in the grades below to find men to fill their places, we find in many instances that there is not only no one to take the places of the employees whom we have lost, but that there are very few who have even the possibility of ever being trained to take the places. In other words, positions that should be filled by young men who each year would become more valuable and better prepared to fill the more important places in the Bureau are filled by old men who can scarcely do their present werk satisfactorily and whose usefulness is lessening and whom we can never expect to be available for the more important positions as they become vacant. The effect of this is to

absolutely paralyze the development of the Bureau to a degree out of all comparison with the actual number of superannuated employees. This condition has already existed in the Bureau so long that there is a tremendous and disastrous gap between the men holding the most responsible positions in the Bureau and those who in the event of vacancies would be called upon to take their places. In this way the effect of superannuation on our development is a much more serious matter than on our immediate efficiency, serious as this latter already is.

Until this problem is met the Government must continue to bear the great expense of allowing its superannuated employees to remain on the rolls and as they grow older to accept from them a smaller quantity and lower quality of work.

LAW OF APPORTIONMENT.

Section 2 of the civil-service act of January 16, 1883, provides that appointments to the public service in the departments at Washington shall be apportioned among the several States and Territories and the District of Columbia on the basis of population as ascertained at the last preceding census. However desirable it may be to have the employees of the executive civil service at Washington represent every section of the country, there can be no denial of the fact that compulsory geographical distribution of appointments necessarily restricts that freedom of choice which the appointing officer might otherwise exercise in the selection of employees. It is believed to be generally conceded by those actually concerned with its operation that the law of apportionment is not in the interest of good administration. As is well known, it frequently happens that choice is limited to poorly qualified eligibles who, although they made low averages in the examination, were certified because they resided in States that were behind in the apportionment; and this under the law must necessarily be so, regardless of the fact that there are plenty of thoroughly equipped eligibles from other States. Thus the service manifestly suffers. The inconvenience and diminished economy and efficiency in the service consequent on the operation of the law do not appear to be justified, especially when the fruitlessness of the attempts that have thus far been made to maintain even an approximate equilibrium between the number of appointments to which the States are entitled and those which they actually receive is considered.

This law of apportionment applies to every transfer from the nonapportioned to the apportioned service, intradepartmental as well as interdepartmental, and on the occurrence of vacancies in positions requiring special qualifications the work of the Department has suffered because the Civil Service Commission has not always felt at liberty to authorize the transfer of persons whom the Department knew to possess just the qualifications desired.

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