the person who appeared to take the position disclosed an attempt at substitution or impersonation.

Section 24 of the Civil Service Law makes it a misdemeanor to personate any other person, or permit or aid in any manner any other person in impersonation, in connection with any civil service examination. Investigation was made by the Commission and the matter was brought to the attention of the district attorney of the county in which the examination was held, after the appointee had been advised that the Commission would receive any statement which he wished to make in explanation of the discrepancy between his declaration form, application and examination papers. Recently the Commission was informed by the district attorney of the conviction for fraud of the person who reported for appointment, and that he had been fined $75 and placed on probation for one year, and further sentence suspended. This is the third conviction for violation of section 24 of the Civil Service Law obtained in recent years.

LITIGATION

The only litigation in which the Commission participated during the year was the case of People ex rel. Weaver v. The Civil Service Commission. A writ of mandamus directing the Commission to certify his payroll as an official examiner of titles under the Torrens Law was sought by the relator. The case was decided in favor of the Commission by Mr. Justice Callaghan and no appeal was taken. An open competitive examination was subsequently held and an appointment made from the list.

III

REMOVAL OF INCOMPETENTS NOT RESTRICTED An agency head who retains a competitive appointee in office beyond the three months probationary period acknowledges by that retention the fitness of such appointee. A civil service commission has a brief time in which to ascertain the qualifications of an applicant for appointment, while supervision by the officer under whom the appointee serves, constituting a performance of duty examination which specifically extends through the probationary

period, and thereafter as long as the employee remains under that officer. It is then laxity of administration on the part of the head of an office, or his unwillingness to act, rather than the merit system which is responsible for retaining an incompetent employee.

IV

CLASSIFICATION

The last annual report of the Commission showed 20,979 positions, not including laborers, in the unclassified and classified service, subject to the civil service law and rules. As of December 31, 1920, this total is 21,588, an increase of 609.

Of the forty-two positions added to the exempt class during the year 1920, exempt classification was mandatory in seventeen instances. (Section 13, subdivisions 1, 2 or 3 of the Law.) Classification of the remaining twenty-five positions was discretionary. But the Commission did not take action until satisfied that competitive or non-competitive examination was impracticable. (Section 13, subdivision 4 of the Law.) During the year, eighteen positions were transferred from the exempt to the competitive class, making a net increase of twenty-four in the exempt classification, such classification being mandatory in the case of seventeen positions involved.

V

SUSPENSION OF THE RULE REQUIRING
COMPETITION

Two suspensions under section 15, subdivision 2, of the Law, were granted during the year.

Manager, State Insurance Fund, Industrial Commission: The Commission was satisfied that in the case of Leonard W. Hatch, the rule clearly applied. Mr. Hatch had been employed as statistician in the State Industrial Commission for many years. He is a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial and Statistical Society of America, and also of the American Statistical Association. He is a member of the Administrative Council of the American Association for Labor Legislation, which has taken an active part in the development of compensation legislation in this country. He served as a member of a committee of the Association for Labor Legislation which formulated a standard occupational disease report form which has been widely adopted in this country. He is a member of the Committee on Statistics and Compensation Insurance Cost of the International Association of (State) Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions. He is an authority in economics, sociology, financial history, labor statistics and workmen's compensation insurance. He has had large administrative experience. He enjoys the confidence of the employers of the State, which is an important consideration, in view of the fact that to be successful the State Fund must present sound and substantial reasons to employers why they should place their insurance with the State instead of with private corporations.

Chief Actuary, State Insurance Fund, Industrial Commission: The case of R. M. Pennock, Harrisburg, Pa., chief actuary, State Insurance Fund, State Industrial Commission, also came clearly under the rule, as Mr. Pennock had been actuary of the Department of Labor and Industry of the State of Pennsylvania, and was formerly actuary of the State Workmen's Insurance Fund of that state. He possesses knowledge represented to the Commission as indispensable to intelligent statistical work. He is a mechanical engineer, a qualification of value in the special actuarial work he is to be called upon to perform. The Com

mission satisfied itself that Mr. Pennock has initiative and force and has exceptional fitness for the position of chief actuary.

The number of appointments under section 15, above referred to, beginning with 1910, has been as follows:

The whole number of appointments under this rule in the last six years has been 22, an average of a little less than four a year, as compared with a total of 190, an average of 38 a year, in the previous period of five years.

VI

CERTIFICATION OF PAY ROLLS SAVES TAXES ·

Prior to the enactment of Chapter 681, Laws of 1894, amending section 7 of the Civil Service Law, there was no direct provision in the law which made it possible for the Commission or fiscal officers to know that appointments and promotions had been made in accordance with the Civil Service Law and Rules. Reference to the statute was incorporated in the report of 1894, which contains discussion of the benefit of the provisions of the amendment. In 1899, by Chapter 370, the scope of Chapter 681, Laws of 1894, was widened so as to apply the principle to cities and, generally, its provisions were put in more effective form.

The original act made it the duty of the State Commission to certify to the State Comptroller the names of persons appointed in accordance with the law and rules. But in the Act of 1899, it was required that payrolls, accounts and vouchers be submitted to a civil service commission for certification before they could be audited and paid by any fiscal officer. The provisions of sections 18 and 19 of chapter 370 have been continued and now constitute sections 19 and 20 of the Civil Service Law as revised in 1909. Section 20, which relates to disbursing officers,

was amended in 1909 and in 1914. The amendment in 1909 was for the purpose of correcting a minor error and the amendment in 1914 provides that a civil service commission shall notify a fiscal officer in case it finds that any person has been transferred, assigned to perform duties, or reinstated in violation of any provision of the law or rules.

EVASIONS DIFFICULT

The report of the Commission for the year 1899, which was transmitted to the Legislature, February 15, 1900, contains the following statement:

"The provision of the statute which forbids disbursing officers from paying any sums to persons claiming compensation for services rendered to the State without a certificate from the Civil Service Commission, that the person seeking payment was appointed or employed in accordance with the Civil Service Law and its rules and regulations, has been undoubtedly the most potent of all the means of enforcing the law. It has laid bare many schemes of evasion practised in the past and its enforcement has resulted in purging the service of several persons irregularly and illegally appointed."

The provision of the Law requiring certification of payrolls has continued to show itself most valuable. Without such a provision, appointments might be made without strict observance of the Civil Service Rules, and fiscal officers might at times be persuaded to pay compensation to those irregularly selected. Systematic presentation to civil service commissions of all payrolls, with careful scrutiny by such commissions, is however necessary in order to maintain this important feature of the Civil Service Law.

VII

SERVICE RECORDS STABILIZE

Service Record Rules were adopted after careful consideration of the subject and extended consultation with State officials and employees, and approved by the Governor June 28, 1918. No