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appointed in accordance with chapter 469, of the Laws of 1917." This amendment was approved by the Governor October 25, and became effective at once, with the result that a new group of places has been brought within the scope of the Civil Service Law.

Appointments have already been made to these positions following an open competitive examination.

Village of Ilion. After several conferences with officials of the village of Ilion the provisions of the civil service rules were extended to the service of said village by resolution adopted by the Commission December 21, 1916, and approved by you February 27, 1917. With few exceptions the entire classified service was made competitive.

These extensions have been made without objection on the part of the officials involved, and it is believed meet with general approval. It is hoped that a further advance may be made during the coming year, particularly in the service of some of the larger counties which are not now subject to the Civil Service Law and rules.

Civil Service Rules for Cities

A considerable part of the work of the Commission for the year related to the revision of the civil service rules for cities. Revised rules and classification have been adopted for the cities of Amsterdam, Buffalo, Jamestown, Lockport, Schenectady and Troy. The rules and classification of the following cities have been amended on one or more occasions: Amsterdam, Binghamton, Buffalo, Geneva, Gloversville, Ithaca, Jamestown, Lackawanna, Lockport, Mechanicville, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, New York City, Niagara Falls, North Tonawanda, Oneida, Poughkeepsie, Rochester, Rome, Schenectady, Syracuse, Tonawanda, Troy, Utica, White Plains, Watertown, Yonkers.

Resolutions relating to exempt or non-competitive classification in the cities of Binghamton and Rochester were returned by the Commission without approval. In all cases extension of the competitive class has been sought and obtained, so that the net result of the year's work in this respect shows a material reduction in exempt places in the cities mentioned, and a corresponding increase in the competitive class.

In the city of New York alone, 284 positions were transferred from the exempt to the competitive class, as against 17 new places made exempt.

Inspection of the Records of Municipal Civil Service Com

missions

The Commission, by one or more of its members, or its secretary, or its chief examiner, officially visits each city in the State at least once in two years, and observes the method of the administration of the Civil Service Law in such city, and ascertains whether the municipal commissioners and other city officials are faithfully discharging their duties in respect to that law. This part of the Commissioners work is of great importance. These conferences invariably result in an improvement in the service, and usually are of much benefit to local commissioners in their examinations and other work. The Commission believes that due in part to these conferences the enforcement of the provisions of the law by municipal commissions is advancing in cities of every class.

Twenty-one cities were thus visited in 1917. These are Auburn, Batavia, Buffalo, Cortland, Dunkirk, Jamestown, Lockport, Lackawanna, New Rochelle, Niaraga Falls, North Tonawanda, Rome, Syracuse, Tonawanda, Ogdensburg, Oneida, Oswego, Plattsburg, Rochester, Utica and Watertown. All, with one or two minor exceptions showed improvement in comprehension and administration of the Civil Service Law and rules since the Commission's last visit.

Special War Resolutions

Early in the year it became apparent to the Commission that some unusual action would be required in order to enable appointing officers to fill positions, many of a professional or technical character, which were becoming vacant because of the demands of the military service of the Federal Government on account of the

At the beginning the Commission established the policy of requesting that such vacancies should be filled if possible either by promotion or by selection from an appropriate list. Many appointments were thus made, but where there was no one to

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promote, or no list available special war resolutions became necessary and were adopted in the following twenty-one cases:

William Gilmour, DeKalb Junction, N. Y., sealer of weights and measures, St. Lawrence County, $600, vice George E. Van Delinder.

Paul B. Brooks, M. D., Norwich, N. Y., Director, Division of Communicable Diseases, Department of Health, $4,000, vice Fred M. Meader, M. D.

LeRoy W. Hubbard, M. D., Mount Vernon, N. Y., Orthopedic Surgeon, Department of Health, $3,500, vice Armitage Whitman, M. D.

Edward Clark, M. D., Buffalo, N. Y., Director, Division of Child Hygiene, Department of Health, $4,000, vice H. L. K. Shaw, M. D.

Bernard F. Schreiner, M. D., Buffalo, N. Y., Internist, Institute for the Study of Malignant Disease, $2,000, vice John A. P. Millet, M. D.

Katherine Connelly, North Tarrytown, N. Y., Stenographer and Bookkeeper, Comptroller, Westchester County, $13 a week, due to absence of L. O. Haskell.

Olive A. Chabbott, Ogdensburg, Assistant Principal of Training School, St. Lawrence State Hospital, $900, vice Ida J. Anstead.

J. M. Elliot, M. D., New York City, Acting Superintendent, Homestead Sanatorium, Saratoga County, $1,800, vice P. J. Hirst, M. D.

Edward G. Stout, M. D., Utica, N. Y., Acting First Assistant Physician, Utica State Hospital, $2,600, vice George B. Campbell, M. D.

Hollis DeNiord, M. D., Buffalo, N. Y., Assistant in RadioPhysics, Institute for the Study of Malignant Disease, $1,200, vice Thomas F. Cooke, M. D.

A. F. Mosher, M. D., Waterville, N. Y., Assistant Physician (Surgeon) Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, $1,500, vice Paul Betowski, M. D.

Charles W. Turnbull, Ogdensburg, laundry overseer, St. Lawrence State Hospital, $780, vice Herbert F. Shaver.

Thomas Hand, Ilion, N. Y., operator and night watchman, Board of Light Commissioners, Village of Ilion, $17 a week, vice Averill Currier.

Clara Holland, Central Islip, N. Y., special attendantrequisition clerk, Central Islip State Hospital, $600, vice Christopher Jones.

Rupert W. Fagan, New York City, engineering draftsman and photographer, District Attorney, New York County, $1,500, vice Edwin B. McGuire.

W. V. Balch, M. D., Galway, N. Y., Acting Superintendent, Homestead Sanatorium, Saratoga County, $1,800, vice Dr. Elliot, who was appointed August 27, 1917, in place of Dr. Hirst.

John E. Ketcham, Patchogue, N. Y., stenographer, County Court, Suffolk County, $750, vice A. F. Dayton.

Cyrus E. Pringle, M. D., Buffalo, Acting Senior Assistant Physician, Buffalo State Hospital, $1,800, vice Herman F. May, M. D.

Elsie Betts Suter, Albany, N. Y., clerk, Public Service Commission, Second District, $1,200, vice John A. Dolan.

Frederick A. Moran, Schenectady, N. Y., Assistant Secretary, Probation Commission, $1,600, vice John D. Lynn, 2nd.

John Heim, New York City, clerk, County Clerk, New York County, $1,200, vice Benjamin Harris.

The persons above named are appointed solely as substitutes, due to the fact that the vacancies which accrued were caused by absences on military or naval duty in the existing war, and the incumbent to reinstatement upon his return. The service of each is limited to the period of absence of the regular employee in the military, naval or marine service.

Legislation

Section 11 of the Civil Service Law provides for printing in the annual report of the Commission all rules adopted for cities. The Commission each year revises and approves rules for a number of cities, and to publish the same as a part of its annual report serves no good purpose, and is an unnecessary expense. Essential amendment to municipal rules would be printed, we assume, without statutory direction, and the printing of revised rules by

the respective municipalities would seem to be sufficient. It is believed that the law should be amended by striking out this mandatory provision.

The Commission also recommends that the law be amended so as to prescribe three as the number of members of a municipal civil service commission, with a definite term of three years arranged so that the term of one commissioner shall expire on the 31st of December of each year. Under the present law with each change in administration it is generally the procedure to appoint an entire new commission, the members of which are frequently unacquainted with the law or its purpose, and often have no desire for a commissionship, but accept at the mayor's desire. Such a system is obviously unfair to those in the service, and in addition, due to a lack of continuity of information and policy, constructive work by a commission is made needlessly difficult. Experience shows that a fixed term of office, with overlapping terms, for municipal civil service commissioners is most likely to give good results.

The Commission believes that the law should make it a misdemeanor for a candidate in a civil service examination, conducted by the State or a Municipal Civil Service Commission to intentionally accept or use any information imparted by another candidate; or to use, attempt to use, or to have in his possession during any examination any book, paper, or data of any kind which would be of assistance in any way in answering the examination questions. The present law makes it a misdemeanor for one candidate to aid another candidate, but it does not reach the person who willfully cheats by copying from the papers of another, or from papers which he may have smuggled into the examination room. The integrity of examinations, we believe, will be increased if this amendment to the statute is adopted.

The entrance into the war of a large number of persons whose names appear upon eligible lists established by the State and Municipal Civil Service Commissions leads the Commission to believe that some consideration should be given to those persons who have failed to receive appointments on that account.

While undoubtedly the various civil service commissions in the State could adopt a rule which would cover these cases, such procedure ought to be uniform and should not be effective longer than