those persons whose office is not specifically created by act of Congress, No positions in the reclamation service were thus specifically created, and hence all of the men are officially in the category of temporary, though regular, employees. This designation need not alarm any one, as the greater portion of the force of the Geological Survey consists of "temporary" appointees, some of whom have been twenty years or more in the service of the Government and intend to devote the remainder of their lives to the work. A few persons in the Geological Survey are not "temporary," such, for example, as the director, chief clerk, chief disbursing clerk, a few messengers, etc., but most of the geologists, topographers, hydrographers, etc., are designated as "temporary," even though their terms of service may extend over the greater part of a generation.

It is, in one way, an advantage to be a temporary appointee, since the compensation of such an employee is not fixed rigidly by law, and in his case it is possible to pursue the methods of ordinary commercial life-that is, his compensation may be increased or reduced at the will of the Secretary and arranged in accordance with the ability of the employee and the character of the duties performed by him.

The regular employees of the reclamation service are classified, in accordance with duties and compensation, into various grades, ranging from the aids, at $60 per month or even less, up to the consulting engineers and chief. The aids, as a rule, are young men, fresh from college or technical school, who are supposed to have had a thorough education in civil, hydraulic, electrical, or mechanical engineering. Their compensation is usually $60 or $75 a month for the first six months, or until ability has been shown in the field. As a rule, attempt is made to procure young men at a nominal compensation, in order to give them a trial and determine what they are worth.

After service in the field the aids are promoted from $720 to $900 or $1,000 per annum, and after one or two years of service promotion to the position of assistant engineer may be considered.

When this grade is attained the appointees are considered as regular officers of the reclamation service, while all below the class of assistant engineer that is, below class 1 of the civil service-are habitually spoken of as occasional employees. The regular officers are furnished with an identification card for convenience in transacting business.

The assistant engineers are men who have had a certain amount of experience in the field, and who have been found competent to handle small field parties and suggest or initiate minor branches of the work. As the organization now stands, a considerable number of the assistant engineers are men who have come in from private practice and who have had considerable experience in surveying and constructing irrigating ditches. Not all of the men are graduates of colleges or tech

nical schools, for the various grades of assistant engineer have been sometimes filled by the promotion of young men who have been educated in the service as engineering aids. Assistant engineers are paid $1,200, $1,400, and $1,600 per annum.

Officers designated as engineers receive $1,800 or more per annum. They are required to have sufficient experience and ability to carry on independent work and to direct the movements of several field parties. Advancement is made, as ability is demonstrated, to $2,000, $2,200, or $2,400, and ultimately, as the value of the judgment of the men is demonstrated, they may become consulting engineers at $3,000 or more. Entrance into the regular service is gained as above stated, through competitive civil-service examination, and by selection, under customary rules, from the lists submitted by the Civil Service Commission. It is proposed each year to have two examinations--one of these will be held in the spring (probably in April) to secure young men who are about to graduate from college, and the other will be held in the fall (probably in October) to give an opportunity to more experienced men. In the latter examination experience counts largely and book learning plays a less essential part.

ORGANIZATION.

Next in importance to the character of the men themselves is the general plan of organization, and to this much time and thought has been devoted during the past year. With the rapid growth there has been and will continue to be a gradual shifting, but in a general way it may be said that the organization of the reclamation service is now fairly well outlined.

DISTRICT ENGINEERS.

The grouping together of the various grades of aids, assistants, engineers, and consulting engineers, is based largely on geographic divisions. In each of the thirteen States and three Territories named in the reclamation law, there are one or more district engineers, the district being the basis of the organization and embracing an important river basin. The district, for convenience, is designated by the name of the State rather than by that of the river, provided there is only one district recognized in a State.

The district engineer has charge of all of the work in his district, and matters are referred to him for report. He corresponds directly with the chief engineer, prepares quarterly estimates of expenditures, approves all accounts, and is responsible for all Government property. Each district may be regarded as the unit in the field organization.

There are assigned to the district engineer other engineers to take charge of various parts of the work, and under these, in turn, are assistant engineers and aids to execute the details. The assistant

engineer, as a rule, has charge of a small party, and acts as principal instrument man. The aids act as recorders, rodmen, or occasionally use level and transit, acquiring experience which will enable recommendations to be made for their future promotion.

The district engineer receives the reports of the assistant engineers, arranges and digests the information, and elaborates the results into a definite statement, with recommendations concerning the feasibility of some one reclamation project or another. At the same time he directs the preliminary surveys and examinations that are conducted in various parts of his districts, and keeps all matters moving forward along the lines approved by the chief engineer.

When a district engineer has prepared for presentation his detailed report, with plans and estimates, on any particular reclamation project, it is transmitted to the chief engineer and by him referred to a board of consulting engineers convened for the purpose and instructed to ascertain all the facts, to verify the conclusions, and to approve or disapprove the recommendations.

There may be distinguished three stages in the development of any great project of reclamation: First, the exploratory and location surveys; second, the designing; and third, the execution.

The first stage, that of exploration and location, is carried on by the district engineer and his assistants, with aid from a supervising engineer. His conclusions are then passed upon by a board of engineers, of whom the supervising engineer is one of the members.

The second stage, that of designing, is next taken up by the district engineer with the assistance of specialists in the particular line of construction. The results are again passed upon by the same or another board of engineers, and if the results are approved by the Secretary of the Interior the project passes to the third stage, that of construction.

When a project reaches the construction stage, experienced constructing engineers are detailed to the work, these men being taken as needed and assigned to the particular work in hand to stay with it continuously and supervise and inspect every detail of construction. In short, in all stages of progress the attempt is made to provide men specially fitted by education and experience to carry on the work in hand. At the same time the number of men is kept at the minimum and the force increased only where needed.

With this form of organization, it is expected that the experienced men in the field will initiate ideas and make suggestions and recommendations, to be passed upon by the chief engineer and boards of consulting engineers. These ideas may be modified or expanded, but the success of any man rests largely upon his intelligence in grasping the general situation, and his ability to execute readily and economically

the conceptions which, originating largely with himself or his assistants, are approved before being put into effect.

SUPERVISING ENGINEERS.

The supervising engineers are in effect deputies of the chief engineer and possess all requisite authority to execute the work which may be delegated to them. As it is impracticable for any one man to supervise all of the operations of planning and construction, the territory of the supervising engineers is designated in general terms and is being in each case gradually narrowed, additional supervising engineers being designated from time to time as the work progresses. The supervising engineers are men of experience in engineering affairs and in executive work, and they may serve as consulting engineers, but it is assumed that the greater part of their time will be used in the executive work pertaining to the conduct of affairs in the various districts under their charge.

CONSULTING ENGINEERS.

The consulting engineers are men employed continuously to give advice and suggestions concerning various details of the engineering work. They have few, if any, executive functions, but upon them is placed the responsibility of determining engineering details and policies. They are not limited geographically in their operations, but their sphere of activity is rather in specialization of operations. That is to say, the consulting engineer of most experience in cement work is called into consultation in any part of the country where important questions are raised concerning the use of cement in large quantities. The consulting engineers are generally organized into boards, as the problems presented in any one locality may fall into various departments of engineering. They travel widely, and meet according to prearranged programme, bringing together such of the men as are believed to be best qualified to pass upon the broad problems met in each project. The supervising and district engineers are usually called in consultation wherever practicable, but the main features are left to the decision of the engineers employed in a consulting capacity.

PLACING OF RESPONSIBILITY.

In the organization of the reclamation service great care has been taken to preserve and place direct responsibility upon each individual, so that he appreciates his relation to the work and is stimulated by the fact that he will receive recognition or disapproval according to his actions or judgment.

In widely diverse and broadly scattered work of this kind a carefully graded organization is needed to insure the complete responsibility of

individuals and to have the burden bear upon each individual precisely in proportion to his experience and opportunities.

Primarily, the Secretary of the Interior, as required by law, is the responsible officer. He in turn holds responsible the Director of the Geological Survey, and he in turn the chief engineer of the reclamation service. Under the direction of the latter are the supervising and consulting engineers, each of whom, acting individually or in boards, submits carefully prepared written statements and recommendations covering each important point. Next come the district engineers, who have the direct and immediate responsibility for all work in their districts, and under these are the designing and constructing engineers, the inspectors, instrument men, etc., each with his specified line of work.

The two principal ends aimed at by the organization of the reclamation engineers as outlined are, first, the fixing of responsibility definitely upon those engineers to whom the execution of a project is assigned; and, second, the securing of such elasticity in the organization that the best talent possessed by the corps of engineers may easily be applied to the special needs of the service.

In order to attain these ends the execution of each project is placed in the hands of a limited number of engineers, preferably three-viz, a resident engineer, a district engineer, and a supervising, directing, or consulting engineer, whose duties are as follows:

(a) The resident engineer is directly in charge of the construction work, and reports to the district engineer.

(b) The district engineer has general supervision of the execution of the project, and reports to the chief engineer.

(c) The supervising, directing, or consulting engineer is definitely attached to the given project, being selected and assigned to that duty by the chief engineer, and he reports to the chief engineer only in conjunction with the district and resident engineers.

These three engineers constitute what may be termed the "project board" for a particular project. They are individually and jointly responsible for the successful carrying out of the approved plans covering a project, and for all expenditures incurred in connection with the execution of the project.

The resident engineer devotes himself exclusively to a particular project; the district engineer divides his attention among all the proj ects, whether contemplated or approved, lying within his district; the supervising engineer divides his attention among all the projects, regardless of districts to which he is assigned.

The district engineer keeps in close touch with the details of the work being done by the resident engineer, so that practically nothing will be done without the joint knowledge and approval of these two members of the project board.