by presidential appointees is subject to the civil service rules, and the commission also investigates such cases. It is very necessary that we should have an adequate travel fund. We have asked for several years for $20,000. You gentlemen have never seen fit to grant it to us and each year we come back. We exercise, as we must, the utmost economy in endeavoring to make the $12,000 which is granted to us serve the needs of the Government. We never are able to do it. We must perforce postpone examinations, we must perforce postpone some of the important political investigations. Everything that takes a civilservice employee away from where he is at this minute must be stopped. We have had to postpone a this time very important investigations that should be at once continued. We are going to postpone every imaginable form of travel outside the District of Columbia because there is only about $2,800 left of our appropriation to carry us until the 30th of next June. We have asked Congress for an additional amount as an emergency, but until it is shown definitely that it is going to grant it, I am going to save the $2,800 for the absolute needs of the service. For instance, the holding of an examination where there is a change from third to second-class postmasters and the Postmaster General needs clerks at once and an examination of that kind must be held, this balance will be saved to be used to meet such and similar needs of the service. Mr. STAFFORD. To what extent, Mr. Chairman, has the service been nations or the examination papers because of a lack of funds? think that this commission should, if properly administered, be 85 Mr. Mcl LHENNY. I can only tell you what my opinion is. I should per cent efficient in its work. I should not say that the commission was more than 65 per cent efficient at the present time. Mr. McILHENNY. Because of the lack of appropriations of all kinds. Mr. STAFFORD. The chairman of the commission has made a very important statement that the commission is only 65 per cent efficient on account of the lack of appropriations. In what particular appropriation does the commission feel that this lack of efficiency is caused? travel money, and a lack of printing money; printing, travel, and Mr. McILHENNY. It is no one; but it is a lack of clerks and a lack of fiscal year 1913 and 1914 the committee allowed 18 additional emMr. BYRNS. Right on that point, as I stated a while ago, for the ployees for the Civil Service Commission, which, as I recall, was all that the Civil Service Commission asked for. clerks. did I remember Mr. Johnson told me at Mr. McILHENNY. It was not. the time that he was going to give us just what we asked for, but he the fiscal year 1913 we asked for 7 additional clerks and were granted not, and the service has increased tremendously since then. For 1; for 191 4 we asked for 17 additional clerks and were granted 12; for 1915 we asked for 28 additional clerks and received 10; for 1916 we allow me, I will read it to the committee. It is not very long. I will then ask to have it placed in the record. Mr. Chairman, will Mr. McILHENNY. I have a prepared memorandum, and if you will Mr. BYRNS. Yes, sir; or you can hand it to the stenographer. you allow me to read it? Mr. McILHENNY. It may answer some of the questions you have in mind. Mr. BYRNS. Very well. Mr. McILHENNY (reading): Estimate is submitted for 24 additional examiners and clerks in the commission's office at Washington. If appropriation is made for this number of additional positions, it is proposed to place 13 of them in the examining division, where the work is badly congested, and where, according to all indications, it will be congested at the beginning of the fiscal year 1917 much more than it is at the present time. Of the remaining 11 clerks estimated for, it is proposed to assign 4 to the application division and 7 to the division of appointments. It is important, in the interest of the service, that the time between the announce ment of an examination and the establishment of a register of eligibles be cut to the minimum. Examinations are held only as aften as the needs of the service require, and no oftener. The present annual capacity of the examining division is about 145,000 sets of examination papers. This includes the preparation of the questions, the shipment of papers to examination places, the rating of the papers, the computing of averages, the notification of applicants of their ratings, and the recording of results of examinations. There are now 63 employees in the examining division, and the average annual output per employee is 2,316 sets of papers. A careful, conservative estimate of the number of examination papers required to be handled in the examining division under the present plan of holding examinations only when the needs of the service so require will average 175,000 a year. The estimate is shown in detail as follows: Fourth-class postmaster...... 6,000 36,000 Receipts are approximately 500 sets a month. Rural carrier. During the last fiscal year 29,349 persons were examined. The number of applicants for this position is steadily growing, and 36,000 is a very conservative estimate for next year. This estimate is based on 3,000 applications a month. Clerk and carrier, Post Office Service.... Railway mail clerk.. This estimate is believed to be very conservative, for the reason that at New York City alone in a recent examination for clerks only 11,500 blanks were given out in four days, and on the fifth day more than 5,000 persons were turned away at the desks. 50,000 Stenographer and typewriter..... The last examination for this position brought out 27,464 competitors. If the examination is held but once in two years, with an average of 30,000 competitors, it would make 15,000 examined each year. 15,000 There were 9,723 persons examined last year. 10,000 Clerk, first grade.. Subclerical... This includes clerks for the departmental service at Washington and for all services in the field, and the estimate is very conservative. 10,000 This includes the examination for the field service as well as that for Washington, D. C. 5,000 Miscellaneous examinations, field service.... Female skilled laborer... Noneducational.. Last year these examinations were attended by 2,227 competitors. 3,000 2,000 Last year the number examined was 3,135. 3,500 Miscellaneous educational, which includes technical, professional, and scientific examinations.. Last year 24,239 persons were examined for this class of positions. 25,000 4,500 Interstate Commerce Commission examinations.. All examinations for the valuation division must be reheld to establish new registers. Two years ago approximately 15,000 persons were examined. It is believed that these examinations will bring out at least 5,000 competitors annually. 5,000 Total... 175,000 There is, therefore, bound to be an annual arrearage of 30,000 sets of papers. At the beginning of the current fiscal year, July 1, 1915, there were on hand unrated approximately 30,000 sets of papers of various examinations, most of them for the field services. Owing to the condition of the work it was necessary to postpone to the current fiscal year a large number of examinations for first-class post offices. Moreover, the railway mail clerk examination was not held during the last fiscal year, but will have to be held next spring. The result inevitably will be that the number of competitors to be examined during the current fiscal year will be much greater than the number who were examined during the year ended June 30, 1915. A conservative estimate places the number of competitors to be examined this fiscal year, whose papers will have to be rated in the examining division at Washington, at 199,000. Add to this the 30,000 sets of papers which were on hand July 1, 1915, entirely unrated, carried over from the preceding fiscal year, and we have the total number of sets of examination papers to be rated during the current year, 229,000. Since the present force can at best examine but 145,000 competitors annually, there will be an arrearage of about 84,000 sets of papers on hand at the beginning of the fiscal year for which estimates are now submitted. The commission is not now estimating for employees to take care of this arrearage of 84,000 which is anticipated, but only for enough clerks and examiners to handle the business of examining 175,000 competitors annually, which, as before stated, a careful, conservative estimate shows to be the number of competitors who will have to be examined annually. The commission will later present an estimate to Congress for an emergency appropriation to take care of accumulated arrearage of work, unless of course, Congress should prefer to consider the giving of such an appropriation at this time. Among the examinations postponed from the fiscal year 1915 to the current fiscal year were those for clerk and carrier in practically all of the large post offices throughout the country, including New York, Brooklyn, Buffalo, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Louisville, Nashville, Atlanta, and many others. These post office examinations will have to be held this fiscal year in order to meet the actual needs of the service in filling vacancies. A conservative estimate, based upon reports from the commission's district secretaries in the field, indicates that the number of competitors in the postponed post office examinations will be about 60,000. The railway mail clerk examination was held in February, 1914, and will have to be held again in the spring of 1916. In the 1914 examination there were 27,464 competitors, and the next examination will undoubtedly bring at least 30,000 competitors. For rural carrier it is estimated that during the present fiscal year there will be not less than 36,000 competitors whose papers must be rated, and the establishment of motor routes will, in all probability, cause the number to be even greater than that. It is highly important that the papers of examinations for rural carrier should be rated without delay. The commission has used every endeavor to expedite the rating of these papers, in order that there might be as little delay as possible in filling vacancies. It is the desire of the Post Office Department to have a certification of eligibles within a period of 60 days from the date of notification to the commission of the vacancy. The commission would like to be able to fulfill the department's desire in this matter, but with the present force it has been absolutely unable to do so. Notwithstanding every effort to hurry forward these papers, including the holding back of work on papers of other examinations, the average time required between receipt of notification of a vacancy from the department and the certification of eligibles for rural carrier during the past year has been about 5 months, instead of 60 days. With the increase in the congestion which is bound to come during the remainder of this and the first of the next fiscal year, unless the commission has a substantial increase in the number of examiners and clerks, there will be even greater delay in filling requisitions from the Post Office Department. For at least two years the commission has held examinations only when the needs of the service required that they should be held, thereby reducing the number of papers to be rated to the minimum. Eligible registers have even been extended for a second year in order to avoid the holding of examinations, thereby keeping out of opportunity for appointment thousands of persons who would have competed if an examination had been held. The commission is clearly of the view that it would not be in the interest of the service and would scarcely comply with the law requiring open competition, to extend an eligible register for a longer period than a second year, except under rare and extraordinary circumstances. Thus, examinations are held only as frequently as the needs of the service absolutely require. Of the remaining 11 additional clerical employees estimated for, it is proposed to assign four to the application division. One more clerk is needed in that division in connection with the announcement of examinations. In order to reach prospectivə applicants for examinations of a technical and scientific character (which examinations have greatly increased in number during the past few years) it is necessary to prepare mailing lists of different schools, merchantile establishments, or publications to which announcements should be sent. It is often necessary to make a special study of the means of reaching qualified persons and placing in their hands announcements of examinations to be held. An additional employee is needed in connection with this work of securing better competition in the sceintific and technical examinations. An additional employee is needed in the application division on account of the many investigations which have to be made into the fitness of applicants for examination. Where an applicant has at some time been arrested, indicted, or convicted for crime or misdemeanor, it is necessary that the full facts appear in the commission's records in order to ascertain whether the applicant is a fit person to be made eligible for appointment. Again, many questions arise as to the suitability of applicants for examination, especially for rural carrier and fourth-class postmaster, which have to be investigated either personally or by correspondence. More than 2,000 such cases arose during the last fiscal year, and the number is constantly increasing. It is necessary, on account of the volume of work to be done in connection with such cases, that an additional clerical employee be obtained, so that a clerk may be assigned entirely to this work. It is hoped by this means also to make more thorough and systematic investigation of all such cases. Two additional employees are needed in the application division to send out confidential inquiries and to receive and properly file the replies thereto in connection with the applications received for examinations in which the subject of training and experience is an element. During the past year 26,718 applications were received at the commission's Washington office for examinations in which training and experience was either a prerequisite requirement or a ratable element. It is very desirable, and even necessary, that the statements of applicants for these examinations as to their training and experience should be verified by confidential inquiries made of references given by them or of persons by whom or with whom they have been employed or under whom they have pursued courses of study. During the past fiscal year, owing to inadequate clerical help, it was found impossible to make such inquiries in more than about 7,000 cases. Two clerks are now assigned a part of their time to this work, but two additional clerks are needed, to be assigned exclusively to the sending out and receiving and filing of replies to confidential inquiries as to the training and experience of applicants. The remaining seven additional clerical positions estimated for are desired for the division of appointments. At the present time the work of auditing reports of changes in the departments is greatly in arrears. Two additional clerks are needed to keep this work current. There is more than a year's work for one clerk on hand at the present time, and it is constantly coming in faster than the clerks assigned to this section can do it. Two additional clerks are needed in the part of the division having to do with the establishment of eligible registers and the certification of eligibles for appointments in the departments. This work includes the writing of eligible registers, filing of examination papers of eligibles, replying to inquiries as to relative standing, changing addresses, and other recorded facts regarding eligibles, sending circulars to and recording replies from eligibles as to their availability for various kinds of employment from time to time, as well as certifying to the departments for filling vacancies and recording the action of the departments. One additional clerk is needed in connection with the work of establishing eligible registers and certifying to the Post Office Department for filling positions of rural carrier and fourth-class postmaster. There has been a considerable increase in this work owing to the establishment of motor routes. Besides, the average number of eligibles for each route is growing, which also increases the work. One additional stenographer is required in this division, a reduction of two in the number of employees engaged in stenographic work having been made within two years, owing to the urgent need of clerks for other work. One additional clerical employee is required in the section of mails and files. This section handles the correspondence files for the entire office. The correspondence has increased materially during the past two years, necessitating additional help. It is highly important that the filing work be kept up to date, and an additional employee is urgently needed on that work. Mr. BYRNS. In view of your statement as to the action of Congress in making appropriations, I call your attention to the fact that from the year 1912 to 1915, inclusive, the appropriation for the Civil Service Commission for clerical services here in Washington was increased $35,100. In addition to that, in 1915 an appropriation for the first time was made amounting to $5,700 for five field examiners, making a total of $40,800 during the four years, whereas the records show that prior to that time, from 1906 to 1912, six years, the increase was only $33,830. I simply call your attention to these figures to show you that Congress has not been altogether unmindful of the increase of the work on the part of the commission. Mr. McILHENNY. It is not that Congress has been altogether unmindful of the increase of the work on the part of the commission, but what I am trying to call to the attention of this committee is the fact that the work of the commission is work that is thrown upon us by the natural growth of the Government, and that whether you gave us an average of $10,000 for the last four years or not, the work lies undone, and has piled up through no fault of the Civil Service Commission, and that it still lies at your door to give us that help which is necessary to enable us to perform properly the Government work. I can not go elsewhere; I can not perform the work through any other medium than through your assistance. It is not humanly possible. ASSISTANT CHIEF EXAMINER. Mr. BYRNS. You estimate for an assistant chief examiner, to act also as chief of division, $2,500. That is an increase of $250? Mr. McILHENNY. Yes, sir. He is a very capable and able man who is paid a very small salary now in comparison with the responsibilities of the work which he has to perform. Mr. BYRNS. Is this on account of an increase in the duties? Mr. McILHENNY. No, sir; no increase in his duties at all; just tó give him $250, a slight increase. The duties of this position will not be increased at all, so far as I know. ASSISTANT SECRETARY. Mr. BYRNS. Then, the assistant secretary? Mr. McILHENNY. To act as chief of the division of appointments. Mr. BYRNS. That seems to be a new position? Mr. McILHENNY. No; simply the designation of assistant secretary. He is now and will continue to be the chief of the appointment division. CHIEF OF DIVISION. Mr. BYRNS. You also have one chief of division, $2,250? Mr. McILHENNY. This man is a devoted, able and hard-working servant of the Government and the commission desires to commend him to you in the most earnest way as deserving of the slight increase asked for. Mr. STAFFORD. Is there any advantage, so far as the work of your office is concerned, in describing him as assistant secretary? Mr. McILHENNY. Yes, sir; in the absence of the secretary he has control of that work. Mr. STAFFORD. And without that he would not have it? Mr. McILHENNY. It would require the recurrent designation of the commission. It is only to make smooth the administration of the commission. |