Provision also is made that in case of a vacancy in a post of minister the personnel board shall recommend on the basis of the service records those candidates who in the discretion of the board merit consideration for promotion from the lower grades to the rank of minister.

By the adoption of these reforms through legislative and executive action the United States has laid the foundation for a foreign service which may become equal, if not superior, to the foreign service of any other nation. Secretary Hughes has informed the League that in the first six months of the operation of the Rogers law and the executive order adopted thereunder the records of 120 diplomatic and 520 consular officers were scrutinized. Eight diplomatic and thirteen consular officials with records below the standard required by the personnel board were demoted. Two of the diplomatic officers affected by this action of the personnel board have resigned. An unassigned list of officials has been abolished and five diplomatic officers were not reinstated. Through the operation of the newly created superannuation system one diplomatic and thirty-one consular officers over the age of sixty-five have been retired. These figures bear ample testimony to the benefits to the nation which may be derived from the new system.

The Prohibition Enforcement Service

While the Volstead act was pending in Congress the League sought, and ever since its passage has sought, to provide that the government employes engaged in the enforcement of the prohibition law should be appointed through competitive civil service examination. Various measures appeared in Congress purporting to accomplish what the League stood for. The League opposed those measures which were advocated by the Anti-Saloon League and by officials of the prohibition

service, because they did not provide for the elimination of the unfit incumbents of the offices in question and also because they provided for the exemption of a number of the higher offices on the staff. The only bill which had the League's approval was one introduced by Representative Tinkham. A bill was introduced by Representative Cramton of Michigan at the request of the Anti-Saloon League, which in its final form met every objection hitherto made by the League and which provides for the inclusion of every position in the prohibition enforcement bureau within the classified civil service. It provides that all incumbents must take the examinations and be regularly appointed under the civil service law. In its present form it is cordially endorsed by the League. This bill passed the House of Representatives in the closing days of the last session of Congress, but was not brought before the Senate before adjournment. The bill includes a provision for the separation of the prohibition enforcement unit from the Internal Revenue Bureau, and because of this fact it has the strong opposition of wholesale druggists who are engaged in the dispensation of commercial alcohol. For this reason there is a chance that the bill will fail of passage in its present form.

Federal Service Reclassification

In accordance with recommendations made by the League for many years and specifically in accordance with the recommendation of the League's Special Committee on Reclassification, which reported at the last annual meeting, a bill was introduced in the House of Representatives by Representative Lehlbach, which would abolish the Personnel Classification Board as at present constituted and transfer all of the functions and duties performed by that Board to the United States Civil Service Commission. In a congressional investigation of the work of the Personnel Classification Board the findings of the League's Special Committee were

completely justified. It was determined by the investigating committee of Congress that certain policies adopted by the Board are in violation of the law. The Lehlbach bill also passed the House in the closing days of the session, but, in the turmoil just preceding adjournment, failed to receive consideration in the Senate. The League reiterates the recommendations made by the Special Committee on Reclassification of a year ago that the measure be adopted speedily by Congress.

The League also calls attention to the other recommendation of its Special Committee that "the time has come for a complete exclusion of the Efficiency Bureau from any business connected with personnel administration in the federal civil service." It is important that the functions pertaining to personnel administration of all matters affecting the government personnel other than those that appropriately belong to the President and heads of departments should be concentrated in the Civil Service Commission without delay. The administration of all matters affecting the government personnel other than those that appropriately belong to the President and heads of departments should be concentrated in the Civil Service Commission.

The Classification of Presidential Postmasters

A bill was introduced in the Senate following the President's message to Congress that would, in effect, carry out the President's intention with respect to the civil service classification of presidential postmasters. This bill, however, was not reported from the Senate Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, because of the apparent opposition of certain members of that Committee. Both the Civil Service Commission and the Postmaster General have advised the Chairman of the Senate Committee that they have no opposition to the provisions of that bill, and it is highly desirable that the Committee act upon it without further delay.

For each appointment now made to a presidential postmastership it is necessary for the President to sign a commission. Each such appointment must also be confirmed by the United States Senate. There is now a total of 14,788 such offices, and in practically every case the action of the President in signing a commission and the action of the Senate in confirming a nomination is purely formal. But entirely aside from the pressure and the physical labor thus put upon the President and the additional work thrust upon Congress by the present method of appointment, the greatest benefit to be derived from a change in the existing system would be to bring about the competitive classification of these offices under the terms of the civil service law. Until that end is accomplished we shall not secure the application of a real merit system through competitive examination. The League, therefore, urges prompt action by Congress on the Frazier bill, which would provide for the classification under the civil service law of all presidential postmasters.

Spoils System Persists in the Postal Service

On five occasions the League has sent communications either directly to the President or to the President through his secretary, calling attention to the deplorable conditions existing in the postal service, due to the present practice of the Post Office Department of submitting eligible lists for rural carriers, fourth-class postmasters and presidential postmasters to members. of Congress, seeking their recommendations as to the selection of one out of the first three. In this correspondence the League has maintained that the Department has actually removed employes in the classified civil service for the apparent purpose of making a vacancy to which a Republican might be appointed. In substantiation of this charge, the League has transmitted to President Coolidge a copy of a report of an

investigation made by the Indiana Anti-Spoils League concerning this subject. Mr. Dana, the former President of the League, in a personal conference urged upon President Coolidge the necessity of some action that would require a change in the policy of the Post Office Department in submitting these eligible lists to members of Congress. In October a communication addressed to the President called attention to a typical case in the matter of the appointment of a rural carrier at Highland Falls, N. Y., in which instance it seems that the Department has actually violated Section 10 of the civil service law. In this case, the Department has selected and appointed Mr. James J. Hanretta, the third person on an eligible list for rural carrier. A few months after the appointment there appeared in a local newspaper a letter signed by Hamilton Fish, Jr., Representative from the Twenty-sixth Congressional District of New York, in which Representative Fish stated, "As far as the appointment of rural carrier is concerned, no Republican service man qualified and the appointment of Mr. Hanretta, a Republican worker, was recommended by the entire Committee." In this letter Representative Fish attempted to explain the reason why he had secured the appointment of certain individuals to federal offices and his reference to the appointment of this rural carrier is evidence that he at least is satisfied that Hanretta's appointment was due solely to his political affiliations. If, as a matter of fact, the Post Office Department selected Mr. Hanretta from the eligible list for rural carrier because of Representative Fish's recommendations, and it seems impossible to believe that it did not, the appointment is in contravention of that section of the law, which provides that the recommendations of members of Congress may not be received or considered, except as to character or residence, by any person concerned in making an appointment under the Act. Although the facts in this