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other person in the Commission's service as it may designate.

(5) That the Board of Examiners shall have the power to formulate rules for the conduct of examinations.

(6) That the examiners shall determine the scope and methods of examinations, but that among the obligatory subjects shall be:

"(a) At least one modern language other than English;

"(b) The natural, industrial and commercial resources and the commerce of the United States, especially with reference to the possibilities of increasing and extending the trade of the United States with foreign countries;

"(c) Political economy; and

"(d) Elements of international, commercial and maritime law."

(7) That no person shall be certified for appointment who is rated at less than 80 per cent, in a scale of 100.

(8) That no one shall be examined who is under twenty-one or over fifty years of age, or who is not a citizen of the United States, or who is not of good character and habits and physically and mentally qualified for the proper performance of consular work, or who has not been specially designated for examination by the President.

(9) That when vacancies occur in the lower grades. there shall be certified to the President the list of all those eligible for appointment who have received the minimum marking, together with a detailed report showing the qualifications of each candidate as revealed by the examination. If the position to be filled is in a country. in which the United States exercises extra-territorial jurisdiction, the examiners will certify only such persons as have passed a supplementary examination in the fundamental principles of the common law, the rules of evidence and the trial of civil and criminal cases.

(10) That in the making of selections for appointment, so far as practicable, the states and territories shall be given proportional representation in the service, in

this regard following the apportionment law applying to the broader civil service.

The Fresident, under the plan outlined, reserves the right to appoint any person who has received the minimum marking without regard to his relative standing on any list, thougr. it may be accepted that President Roosevelt's usual course would be to select those standing highest. No doubt al future applicants for appointment to the service who can present to the President the necessary preliminary credentials will be sent, without discrimination, to the examiners. If, therefore, the practice of selecting from among the highest does prevail, there will be at least a limited competition. Your committee hope that in time competition may be made the rule. A most significant and important start at least has been made in that direction.

Although the underlying plan of the President's order is not dissimilar in many respects from the earlier order of President Cleveland, of date of September 20, 1895, it is in its full scope a great improvement on the earlier system. The requirements as to subjects of examination are more practical and more comprehensive. The Examing Board, including, as it does, a representative of the Civil Service Commission, will be better equipped in expert efficiency. The rules are to apply to the higher offices as well as to the lowest, instead of stopping at $2,500, as the Cleveland rules did. The provisions for promotion and transfer, even though encumbered by the insistence of Congress that there shall be a new nomination to the Senate whenever a consul takes a different post, will give a great deal more reality to the system than would have been possible ten years ago.

Under date of August 13 a second executive order was issued incorporating in the Consular regulations the various provisions of the reorganization act relating to the conduct of individual offices, and on August 16 a very important set of supplementary rules were adopted by the State Department governing the appointment of "student interpreters" in China and Japan. It is expected that this body, for which an appropriation was made in the Diplomatic and Consular Act of June 16, will be the

forerunner of an Oriental service, following the lines of that of Great Britain. Applicants for appointment are required to be unmarried and between the ages of 19 and 26, inclusive. Emphasis is laid upon the fact that they must present evidence of good character and strong constitution, as well as of deportment and education. They are required to pass a severe entrance examination and must sign an agreement to continue in the service so long as their services may be required, within a period of ten years. Their salaries are fixed at $1,000 a year, with an extra allowance of $125 annually for their tuition in the Oriental languages, which may continue so long as may be necessary. After an interval of two years from the passage of the first examination they will be required to pass a second, more difficult than the first, though similar in scope, with the additional requirement of a fair knowledge of international law, consular regulations and practice; and, after the passage of another two years, will be given a final examination with the additional requirement of knowledge of common, criminal and admiralty law. It will then be expected that they shall be eligible for promotion to the Consular Service.

We are advised that the various provisions of the executive order are becoming rapidly effective and that the results, both in the character of the men presented for appointment and the improvement in the general tone of the service are admirable.

Too much credit cannot, of course, be given to President Roosevelt and Secretary Root for their part in all that has been done. The persistency of Senator Lodge, who, year after year, has contended in Congress for the reform of the Consular Service, and who lent the most of the force that put through the present reorganization bill, should also be heartily recognized. The commercial bodies of the country which have lent their powerful support to the movement have formed another most important agency. A representative convention composed of leading business men from all parts of the country was held in Washington early in the winter, and a demonstration then made which no doubt very largely influenced the action of Congress and assured the President—

had he need of such assurance-of the very businesslike and earnest demand of the commercial interests of the country for a service of the sort that has since been made possible.

It is interesting to note that coincidentally with these very important advances in the conversion of the service into a professional career the Universities of Columbia and Yale have established jointly a school for preparation for foreign service-the Diplomatic and Consular service being, of course, its principal objective. This school has established a very comprehensive and sensible curriculum and is now receiving its first students, and it is not too much to expect that within a short time its graduates and the graduates, possibly, of similar institutions in other parts of the country will be among those naturally preferred for appointment to the service, and that in this regard also the United States will be placed more upon a par with other progressive nations.

Your committee has considered the question as to whether any further legislation should be urged. It is convinced, however, that at this time further agitation before Congress, so far as the League at least is concerned, would be unwise. It is certainly desirable that at some early date those principles of the executive orders, supplementing the provisions of the reorganization act, should also, so far as practicable, be made permanent by law. But the Commiteee believes that some time should be allowed for the development of the system as it stands before further suggestions to this effect are made.

Respectfully submitted,

GEORGE MCANENY,

Chairman, Committee on Consular Reform.

Report of the Special Committee on Removals.

TO THE NATIONAL CIVIL SERVICE REFORM LEAGUE:

Your Committee on Removals in the civil service has but a brief duty to perform. Appointed soon after the President's order of October 17, 1905, modifying the rule governing removals in the Federal service, the commitee has felt that its main purpose was to consider and report on the proper restrictions, if any, which should be placed on the exercise of the power of removal in that service. It was able at the last annual meeting to present certain general conclusions, unanimously arrived at, but desired not to pass judgment on the modification of the Federal rule made by the President until sufficient time in which to observe the results of the change had elapsed.

The official report of the Civil Service Commission for the year ending June 30, 1906, will show the number. of removals from competitive positions to have been 3,603 as against 2,505 in the previous year. This is a marked increase from 1.6 per cent. to 2.1 per cent. But from the best information obtainable we are led to believe this increase in the number of removals to have been due almost entirely to causes other than the modification in the removal rule, such as large reductions in force and a failure of certain branches of the service to report fully the number of removals in the year ending June 30, 1905. Indeed, it is the opinion of those officials who would watch with most interest the effect of the modification of the rule, that the change has not been taken advantage of by those having the power of removal to any appreciable extent. This is borne out by our own observationin certain Federal offices in New York, for instance, the procedure followed in cases of removal before the President's modification of the rule is still continued.

There is no reason to suppose that more use will be made of the amended removal rule in the next two years

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