at the end of a quarter, at the end of six months, or at the end of a year, which when received could not possibly be examined, and which after they had remained in the Bureau for a certain number of months were destroyed. The reports of this Service have in most instances been reduced to cards 3 by 5 inches in size, that are received daily, and by this manner the central office is in immediate touch with conditions throughout the field service. BOARD OF SUPERVISING INSPECTORS. The usefulness of the Board of Supervising Inspectors becomes more apparent each year. The supervising inspector not only works for uniform administration of law, but by reason of the existence of the Board of Supervising Inspectors prompt and effective action can be obtained to relieve conditions that are oppressive to licensed officers and to the general interests of the merchant marine. The provision of law that permits the calling of an executive committee has proved most beneficial and valuable, for by this instrument immediate results can be obtained without waiting for the annual meeting of the Board of Supervising Inspectors. Since the last meeting of the Board of Supervising Inspectors in January, 1912, there have been three meetings of the executive committee of the board, for the purpose of considering the number of lifeboats and life rafts required on vessels subject to inspection. APPENDIX. There is attached hereto, for your information and for the information of Congress, an appendix containing general statistics of the Service, compiled from the reports of supervising inspectors of the various districts for the year ended December 31, 1911, and for the six months ended June 30, 1912, indicating the nature and extent of the work of the Service.1 RECOMMENDATIONS. The recommendations I made in my annual report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911, I now repeat. I do not believe that it is necessary to have the large number of copies of certificates of inspection furnished steamers as at present is the practice, but the same purpose will be served if the local inspectors furnish the original certificate direct to the vessel, supplying the collector or chief officer of customs with a copy thereof. The result would be that there would be a saving in the number of copies of certificates of inspection used, and the original copy could be furnished the master or owner of the vessel, which should always have been the practice. I believe further that the inspectors should be placed upon actual expenses in traveling, and not upon mileage, and if the law was so amended as to require this, there would undoubtedly be a saving in traveling expenses. Respectfully, To Hon. CHARLES NAGEL, GEO. UHLER, Supervising Inspector General. Secretary of Commerce and Labor. 1Appendix omitted from this volume. REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF APPOINTMENT DIVISION. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR, APPOINTMENT DIVISION, Washington, October 31, 1912. SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith my annual report as Chief of the Appointment Division for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1912. This Division was organized in February, 1904, with a force consisting of a Chief, who was transferred from the Civil Service Commission, and five clerks who had previously been employed on appointment work in the office of the Disbursing Clerk. This small force, whose duties and authority with respect to work were restricted, formed the nucleus from which the Division has grown until in points of strength of personnel and extent of jurisdiction it stands at least second among the divisions of its kind in the executive departments in Washington. This is due to the fact that this Division (like the division in the other department with which it takes a ranking position) is organized under a centralized form of administration; that is, all of the functions of administration relating to the personnel of the Department, throughout its 12 bureaus (including the field services) with their widely diversified duties and functions, are centered in the head of the Department, and by a devolution of his powers all matters relating to appointments and other changes in the personnel become the subject of review and action by the Appointment Division. Of course, there are many matters involving much administrative discretion and close decision and these must be referred to the head of the Department, but the great majority of decisions are reached and practically all matters of detail are performed in the Division without reference to the head of the Department. Nevertheless, in all cases in which discretionary powers are exercised the theory is preserved that all action proceeds from the highest executive officer. During the last fiscal year there were several changes in the personnel of the Division and in the general procedure of transacting the routine work. Certain reforms advocated by the President's Commission on Economy and Efficiency were introduced. The latter subjects will be treated somewhat in detail in other parts of this report. The regular, or normal, working force of the Division, including the Chief, is 13 employees. This force has not been increased during the past three years, and the stress of work during certain seasons has had a noticeable effect on the health of the employees, especially during the past year, in which there have been several prolonged cases of illness, due, it is believed, to the amount of work necessarily exacted of them. Four employees left the Division during the year to accept positions with higher salaries or less arduous duties. It is a matter of record that the Division has always been a training school for positions of higher pay and responsibilities. Of the present force, only the Chief and one employee were in the Division on the date of its organization. Thirty-two employees have been in the Division since that date, many of whom are now serving the Government in positions of considerable trust and importance. One is Chief Clerk of this Department, two are private secretaries to heads of departments, and others are engaged in professional and technical duties, both in and outside the service, for which duties they were trained or became qualified while serving in the Appointment Division. is questionable whether, in the administration of the affairs of the Division, these numerous changes have been conducive to the best results, but it must be admitted that the Division has had the benefit, at least temporarily, of the services of ambitious young men whose desire to fit themselves for higher lines of work inspired them to put forth their very best efforts in advancing the work. One reason for the rather unusual development of the employees of the Division lies in the fact that nearly all of them have devoted their spare time after office hours to professional and other study, and this has tended to broaden their minds and extend the scope of their resourcefulness. Of the present force of 13 employees, 8 are either graduates in learned professions or students in some one or more of them and 2 are engaged on special lines of study which will increase the value of their services to the Government. It The inquiries made for and the data required by the President's Commission on Economy and Efficiency have caused a considerable increase in the work of the Division. If these are to be continued and if all the recommendations that have been submitted are to be put into effect, the force will have to be increased to just the extent of this additional work. However, it must be admitted that the rigorous questioning has induced a self-investigation into certain conditions and methods susceptible of improvement and correction which might not have been so quickly brought to light and corrected by proper remedial measures if the investigations had not taken place. A system in card form embracing the substantial features of the plan suggested by the Commission for showing currently the organization of divisions in the Government service has been in operation in this Department for over seven years, and though it does not deal so extensively in the outline of organization units, it unquestionably gives more complete information-much more of the kind that is requested and usually desired promptly by the President, the head of the Department, both branches of Congress, and others interested. The fine divisions of the organization of the force of the Department and its bureaus, and the exposition of their relations to each other, as adopted by the Commission, do not appear to be particularly valuable, as in many of the bureaus the necessary shift of employees from one division, section. or line of work to another division, sec |