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of Panama, and, after conference with Mr. Wallace, certain regulations were adopted and a local board of examiners was organized on the Isthmus. These regulations, although adopted, were never actually put in force, and the local board never discharged any duties. On March 24, 1905, Mr. D. I. Murphy, secretary of the Isthmian Canal Commission, addressed a letter to the president of the Civil Service Commission, transmitting a letter of the assistant secretary of the Isthmian Canal Commission and of Chief Engineer Wallace complaining of the delay of the Civil Service Commission in filling requisitions for certifications. The Commission replied on March 24, showing that it was issuing certificates to fill vacancies as rapidly as the appointment clerk of the Isthmian Canal Commission could handle the papers, and that at the time the letter of the secretary of the Canal Commission was received there were held ready for delivery at the office of the Civil Service Commission certifications for filling 116 vacancies.

These papers were merely awaiting the convenience of the appointment clerk of the Isthmian Canal Commission, who had asked that no more papers be sent to him until he had disposed of the accumulation on hand in his office, indicating that the delay was due to the appointment division of the Isthmian Canal Commission and not to the Civil Service Commission.

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No further complaint was received until August 30, 1905, when the President transmitted to the Civil Service Commission a letter from Chief Engineer Stevens to Chairman Shonts, in which Mr. Stevens said in part as follows: Something must be done immediately to correct the abuses under which we are and have been for some time, I judge, suffering. I refer to the character of the men who are being sent down here, largely, I undersand, from selections approved by the Civil Service Commission. I do not believe 10 per cent of the men who pass these examinations have any qualifications whatever pertaining to the jobs they are selected for."

The following day Commissioner Cooley called on Mr. Shonts, and stated that the Civil Service Commission was willing at any time to recommend that any or all positions on the Isthmus should be excepted from the requirements of the civil-service rules if the Isthmian Canal Commission so wished. Mr. Shonts stated that he preferred that the service should remain classified provided he could get the right kind of men through the machinery of the Civil Service Commission. The attitude of the Civil Service Commission was then and always has been that its machinery was at the disposal of the Isthmian Canal Commission provided the latter body wished to make use of it, and that any exceptions desired by the Isthmian Canal Commission on the Isthmus of Panama would be recommended by the Civil Service Commission.

On January 12, 1906, the President amended the original order of classification by excepting all positions on the Isthmus except those of clerk, bookkeeper, stenographer, typewriter, surgeon, physician, trained nurse, and draftsman. As nearly as can be ascertained from the reports of changes furnished by the Isthmian Canal Commission, there were 4,541 persons in the canal service above the grade of mere laborer, or unskilled workman, on February 10, 1906. The Commission is unable to determine from the reports covering the period since July 1 how many appointments have been made to positions excepted from examination under the rules; but assuming that the percentage is about the same as prior to that date (22 per cent), 999 of these people may be considered as occupying excepted positions. This leaves a total of 3,542 persons in competitive positions, 463 of whom were brought in through classification on November 15, 1904, so that 3,179 appointments have been made to competitive positions since November 15, 1904. Of these, about 551 have been made through examination, leaving 2,628 appointments to competitive positions without examination.

Of these 2,628 appointments, about 900 have been specifically authorized by the Commission in the absence of registers for such positions, and 115 have been authorized in the presence of such registers, because of some peculiar qualification or experience possessed by the person whom it was desired to appoint. This leaves about 1,613 positions for which the method of appointment is not shown. It is probable that a number of these were made without specific authority of the Commission at a time when some of the Commission's registers, such as that for stenographer and typewriter, had been exhausted. These figures are only approximate, for the reason that the reports from the Isthmian Canal Commission do not give sufficient details in regard to some appointments to enable the Commission to determine exactly their nature. Under the rules prior to the amendment of January 12, 1906, which excepted from examination

all outdoor positions, certain trades positions were excepted from examination when appointments were made of persons on the Isthmus, but were subject to examination when appointments were made from the United States.

The reports of changes do not show where such appointments were made. Since January 12, 1906, when the Executive order was issued excepting from examination all positions except those of clerks, bookkeepers, stenographers, typewriters, surgeons, physicians, trained nurses, and draftsmen, the number of appointments through examination has been relatively very few. Out of 115 of the appointments made during the months of December, 1905, and January, 1906, and up to February 10, 1906, but 51 have been made through examination. The Civil Service Commission believes that the difficulty in satisfactorily filling vacancies in the Isthmian Canal Commission has been due to two causes: 1. The Isthmian Canal Commission has not found it possible to advise the Civil Service Commission of prospective vacancies in the service and of examinations it was desired that the latter Commission should hold. The Isthmian Canal Commission has been in the habit of making requisitions on the Civil Service Commission for a large number of employees for positions for which no registers are maintained, and insisting on special qualifications that could only be tested by special examinations. The demand was always made that the requisition should be filled immediately, in order that the employees might be sent to the Isthmus at the earliest possible date.

2. Even where registers existed the disposition of all or nearly all of the officials of the Isthmian Canal Commission has been to insist on the appointinent of men known to them rather than of those whose names appeared on the eligible registers of the Civil Service Commission. Consequently about 88 per cent of all the employees on the Isthmus of Panama entered the service without passing any civil service examination. It appears that a considerable number of those employed on the Isthmus have not proved satisfactory.

Both Mr. Wallace and Mr. Stevens seem to have fallen into the error of supposing that everyone sent from the United States had passed a civil service examination. (See Mr. Stevens's testimony, p. 53 of the investigation of Panama Canal matters, and Mr. Wallace's testimony, p. 617.) Mr. Stevens's statement is so general that it is impossible for the Civil Service Commission to make any direct reply to it. Mr. Wallace, however, states that he asked for 25 track foremen, and that when these men arrived on the Isthmus, out of the whole twenty-five there were not, in his judgment, two that could drive a railroad spike; and in answers to questions by members of the Senate Committee on Interoceanic Canals, he stated that these men came down through civil service examination. The records of the Civil Service Commission disclose the fact that only two persons were appointed from the track-foreman register of the Commission. It is understood that the other twenty-three were selected by one Thomas A. Davis, jr., an employee of the Isthmian Canal Commission, who was appointed June 21, 1904, and blanketed into the civil service by the Executive order of November 15, 1904. He never passed a civil service examination.

The Commission understands that among those selected by Mr. Davis was one William G. Manley, who had been for three years prior to his appointment as track foreman a correspondence clerk for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, of New York; another, J. J. Gilroy, was in the last stages of consumption. It is further understood that as a result of this action on his part, Mr. Davis was dismissed from the service of the Isthmian Canal Commission on August 24, 1905. Nevertheless, the persons selected by him are charged up to the Civil Service Commission.

The two men certified by the Civil Service Commission were J. A. Van Hardavelt, of Wyoming, and William Veach, of Pennsylvania. The examination papers of Van Hardavelt show that he was from June, 1897, until March, 1905, practically continuously in the employ of the Union Pacific Railroad Company as track laborer, assistant foreman, and section foreman. The papers of William Veach show that he worked for various railroads in the United States and Mexico for a number of years, and that he had served for five years in the United States Army.

Attention is invited to the fact that at the time the examination for foreman of laborers was held both the Isthmian Canal Commission and the Civil Service Commission were experiencing great difficulty in securing persons with anything like suitable qualifications for service on the Isthmus. The Civil Service Commission accordingly decided to rate papers very leniently, and even to admit those to the examination whose papers showed that they had merely had experience in handling gangs of men and not necessarily in handling such gangs

on excavating work, which was the particular qualification desired by the Isthmian Canal Commission. In transmitting the papers to the Isthmian Canal Commission, however, attention was invited to the exact experience which each eligible had had by means of an abstract attached to the papers. The Isthmian Canal Commission was therefore fully advised of the qualifications of the men. In spite of broadening the requirements of the examination, it was still found very difficult to secure satisfactory eligibles, and the Isthmian Canal Commission subsequently requested that it might be furnished with the names of all who had applied for examination, whether they had been examined or not.

The only specific complaint the Civil Service Commission has received from Chief Engineer Stevens is contained in a letter addressed to the secretary of the isthmian civil-service board, dated September 15, 1905, in which he makes the following statement:

"In connection with this whole matter, lest you get mistaken information in regard to the men that are selected purely and simply by the Civil Service Commission, I will give you the following names of incompetent stenographers: James A. Palmer, Henry N. Jenkins, Robert Sinclair, Martin J. J. Leahy, Edwin C. Gabell."

The records of the Civil Service Commission show that none of these men passed a civil-service examination. Palmer never even applied for one. Jenkins, Leahy, and Gabell had filed applications at the Civil Service Commission, but had never been examined. The Isthmian Canal Commission was so anxious to secure stenographers immediately that the office of administration in Washington requested the Civil Service Commission to furnish it with the names and addresses of all those who had applied for the stenographer and typewriter examination for the isthmian service. Purely as a matter of convenience to the Isthmian Canal Commission the Civil Service Commission furnished the names and addresses of a certain number of those applicants, concerning whom nothing was known further than that they were willing to accept appointment on the Isthmus.

EXHIBIT 12.

Statement showing requisitions for material and supplies on hand in purchasing department on February 1, 1905, not ordered. [February 1, 1905, being the date Maj. H. J. Gallagher assumed the duties of purchasing agent.]

[blocks in formation]

Pneumatic tools, machine-shop equipment, pipe tools, files, valves, cotton waste, oils, packing, belting, etc.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Leather belting, level glasses, cotter keys, hand cars, push cars, rail cars, spare parts for hand cars, etc. Forage.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

From the foregoing statement it will be seen there were on hand February 1, 1905, the following requisitions for material and supplies not ordered: Two dated October, 1904; 13 dated November, 1904; 8 dated December, 1904; 9 dated January, 1905; total, 32.

[graphic]

Statement showing requisitions for material and supplies on hand in purchasing department on June 1, 1905, not ordered.

[June 1, 1905, being the date Mr. D. W. Ross assumed the duties of general purchasing officer.]

[blocks in formation]

174A.

Nov. 22, 1904

No date.. ..do.

Apr. 19, 1905 .do

329C

Feb. 28, 1905

Mar. 10, 1905

Apr. 18, 1895

May 17, 1905 .do May 15, 1905

June 7, 1905 .do

Printing press and material. Do.

Aug. 1, 1905

[blocks in formation]

Door hardware, etc.

336C

do

Mar. 24, 1905

Apr. 15, 1905

May 12, 1905

337C

.do

Mar. 16, 1905

Apr. 19, 1905

May 17, 1905

337 C

.do

Mar. 24, 1905

May

1, 1905

May 24, 1905

[blocks in formation]

June 7, 1905
Aug. 1, 1905
July 18, 1905
June 7, 1905
June 12, 1905
June 7, 1905
July 10, 1905

Paints and oils, beeswax, alcohol, borax, glue, glycerine, chloride of lime, rubber cement, putty, tallow, sulphur, etc.

Office safes.

Sanitary fixtures and roughing material, oakum, solder, and pig lead. Kitchen ranges and kitchen utensils.

Tackle blocks, rivets, bolts, iron washers, etc.

Linoleum (500 yards).

Pipe and pipe fittings, hardware, iron buckets, packing, cotton waste, soap, pig lead, tin, solder, boiler plates, metals, bar iron and steel, wire, brass rod, bath brick, ground glass, etc.

Coke (5,000 bushels).

Cotton duck (3,000 yards).

Nails, cotters, screws, oil cans, manila rope, wire rope, oakum, etc.

[blocks in formation]

Railroad tools of all kinds, saws, jacks, equipment for bridge gang and section gang, etc.

Pneumatic machinery, machine-shop equipment, etc.

General office and desk supplies.

[blocks in formation]

Aug. 1, 1905 June 7, 1905

Floor varnish.

358C

Apr. 4, 1905

Apr. 13, 1905

May 3, 1905

May 26, 1906

..do
June 6, 1905
June 12, 1905
July 10, 1905

Iron bolts and washers.

360 A.

Feb. 23, 1905

Mar. 10, 1905

Apr. 18, 1905

May 15, 1905

Aug. 1, 1905

360A

.do.

.do

Apr. 15, 1905

May 12, 1905

June 12, 1905

360A

.do

.do.

May

3, 1905

May 26, 1905

362C

Apr. 7,1905

Apr. 17, 1905

May

6, 1905

May 29, 1905

362C

do

.do

May

8, 1905

May 31, 1905

363 A

Mar. 6, 1905

Mar. 24, 1905

Apr. 18, 1905

May 15, 1905

[blocks in formation]

Apr. 15, 1905 .do

July 10, 1905
June 1, 1905
June 19, 1905
Aug. 1, 1905
July 18, 1905
.do

364A

.do

Apr. 19, 1905

May 12, 1905 .do May 17, 1905

June 7, 1905

[blocks in formation]

Dump carts and wagons, wheel scrapers, ambulance, and cart harness. Charcoal, tinsmith's supplies, sheet steel, sheet lead, etc. Tinsmith's supplies.

Cooking stoves.

Track tools of all kinds, roofing material, tile, lanterns, oils, and miscellaneous supplies.

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