departments. At the close of the fiscal year these forms were being printed, and their use will materially aid in the standardization and simplification of personnel paper work. While this is an administrative detail, its effect on administrative procedure in an organization of the magnitude of the Veterans' Bureau is considerable.

The handling of travel orders has been simplified, with a consequent cutting in half of the time necessary to handle a given order. During the year the signing of travel orders, upon prior approval of the director, was made a responsibility of the personnel division, thus relieving the director's office of the administrative detail incident thereto.

With the consolidation of field offices and the reorganization of central office, there arose during the year the problem of general personnel reductions. The policy of the bureau has been settled as to the application of the law with respect to ex-service employees, and definite instructions from the director have been promulgated to the fields, with the result that the handling of this problem has been made uniform.

At the beginning of the fiscal year, June 30, 1923, there were 29,074 employees on the bureau's rolls, whose aggregate annual salaries were $45,127,168, while at the close of the fiscal year, June 30, 1924, there were 27,035 employees, whose aggregate annual salaries were $42,476,378, making a net reduction of 2,039 employees and $2,650,790 in aggregate annual salaries.

During the above period 630 employees, with aggregate annual salaries of $878,155, were assigned to new hospitals opened during the year at American Lake, Wash.; Northampton, Mass.; Tupper Lake, N. Y.; Chillicothe, Ohio; Beacon, N. Y.; and St. Cloud, Minn. Excluding the personnel assigned to these new hospitals opening during the period from the total figures quoted above, there is obtained a gross reduction of 2,669 employees, at a saving of $3,528,945 in aggregate annual salaries. Of the total personnel on the bureau's rolls on June 30, 1923, there were 13,611 in the districts, excluding the Evergreen School for the Blind, with aggregate salaries of $22,577,084, and 9,889 in hospitals, with aggregate annual salaries of $14,262,278; as compared with a total personnel on June 30, 1924, of 11,522 in districts, with aggregate annual salaries of $19,518,127, and 10,178 in hospitals, with aggregate annual salaries of $14,583,687, making a net reduction. in the districts of 2,089 employees and $3,058,957 in salaries, and an increase in hospitals of 289 employees and $321,409 in salaries. It can be readily seen that the large reduction in personnel has been in the districts, 47.29 per cent of this reduction being made possible by the consolidation of subdistrict offices. since June 30, 1923, affecting 487 employees and saving $836,879 in salaries, and the reduction in and the closing of resident and nonresident schools affecting 501 employees and saving $745,428 in annual salaries. There is also shown during the fiscal year a net reduction of 426 physicians and dentists, representing a saving of $922,825 in annual salaries.

Like other great business organizations the bureau experiences a considerable turnover in personnel, which constitutes one of the great problems of administration. During the fiscal year there were 23,268 additions to and 25,307 separations from the bureau's rolls. Of the

total additions, 693, or 2.98 per cent, occurred in central office; 17,246, or 74.12 per cent, in hospitals; and 5,329, or 22.9 per cent, in the field, exclusive of hospitals. Of the total separations, 3.05 per cent occurred in central office, 67.01 per cent in hospitals, and 29.94 per cent in field offices. It will be noted that the largest turnover in personnel occurred in hospitals, where there was reported a turnover of approximately 173 per cent. As might be expected, the greatest turnover of personnel in hospitals occurred among the unskilled help, such as attendants, maids, waiters, kitchen help, orderlies, etc., where a turnover of 267 per cent occurred. A turnover of 14 per cent occurred among physicians and dentists, and approximately 50 per cent among nurses. The hospitals showing the greatest number of changes are situated in district No. 12, where no doubt this condition is due to the labor situation.

On June 15, 1923, Hospital No. 91, Tuskegee, Ala., was opened and initially, the entire staff, or approximately one-third of the total personnel, was white, the remaining two-thirds being colored. During the year the staff was gradually replaced until at the close of the fiscal year all personnel at this hospital, including the medical officer in charge, was colored.

In making new appointments, ex-service personnel are given preference whenever possible. At the close of the fiscal year, 52.9 per cent of a total of 14,608 men were ex-service, and 10.42 per cent of a total of 12,427 women were ex-service, or of all personnel in the entire bureau 33.38 per cent were ex-service. The percentage of ex-service male employees in central office increased during the year from 41.62 per cent on June 30, 1923, to 51.27 per cent on June 30, 1924.

On June 7, 1924, an Executive order was issued placing all commissioned officers, formerly detailed from the United States Public Health Service, on the regular rolls of the Veterans' Bureau. The above order affected a total of 649 commissioned officers, of which number 38 were in central office and 208 in district and subdistrict offices, and 401 in veterans' hospitals.

It is of interest to note that as of June 30, 1924, there were being employed by the bureau in the 14 district offices, the subdistrict offices, and in hospitals 2,252 physicians and dentists, receiving salaries aggregating $6,921,627, at an average salary of $3,074. Of this number, 1,531 were on a full-time basis, receiving salaries averaging $3,757, and 721 were on a part-time basis, receiving salaries averaging $1,621. Included in the above figures are 194 full-time dentists and 6 parttime dentists.

In the accompnaying tables on personnel, there is shown the distribution of employees by number, salary, and location for the commencement and end of the fiscal year 1924.

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1 For June 30 and July 31, 1923, Evergreen School for the Blind was charged to district No. 4, but for comparative purposes is shown separately on this report.