fix the number that may be appointed to each grade. The salaries of all other office employees and the number in each position and at each salary, are specified by law. All other employees of the Coast and Geodetic Survey are paid out of lump sum appropriations. Commissioned Personnel. Until the year 1920 all the employees of the Coast and Geodetic Survey had a civilian status, except that during the World War, under authority given the President by the act of May 22, 1917, a number of officers of the Survey were temporarily commissioned, as officers in the army and navy, in grades corresponding in salary to the positions held by them in the Survey. The act of May 18, 1920 (41 Stat. L., 603), gave the commissioned officers in addition to rank, the pay and allowances of naval officers holding the same relative ranks. There are no army or naval officers on detail with the Coast and Geodetic Survey.

The commissioned officers of the Survey, according to the appropriation act of March 4, 1921 (41 Stat. L., 1417), consist of the Director and two other Hydrographic and Geodetic Engineers, each with the relative rank of captain; seven Hydrographic and Geodetic Engineers with relative rank of commander, nine with relative rank of lieutenant commander, and thirty-eight with relative rank of lieutenant; fifty-five Junior Hydrographic and Geodetic Engineers with relative rank of lieutenant junior grade; and twentynine Aids with relative rank of ensign.

They are on duty in the Washington office and on land and sea duty in the field. They occupy the positions of chief, and assistant chief of technical divisions; chief of some technical sections; inspector in charge of stations; chief of field parties; and commander of vessels. They perform administrative and hydrographic, geodetic, and other scientific work.

Appointments and Promotions. The act of May 22, 1917 provides for the appointment of field officers of the Coast and Geodetic Survey by the President "by and with the advice and consent of the Senate." It classifies these officers into Hydrographic and Geodetic Engineers, Junior Hydrographic and Geodetic Engineers, and Aids. No person can be appointed an Aid, and no person can be promoted to a higher grade until he has passed a satisfactory mental and physical examination conducted in accor

dance with regulation prescribed by the Secretary of Commerce. The Director, who has the relative rank, pay, and allowances of a captain in the navy, is appointed to that position by the President, "by and with the advice and consent of the Senate," but he must be selected, according to the act of June 4, 1920 (41 Stat. L., 825), from the list of commissioned officers of the Survey not below the rank of commander. His appointment to this office is for a term of four years, but he may be reappointed for further four-year terms. The Assistant Director is required by the act of June 5, 1920 (41 Stat. L., 929), to be designated by the Secretary of Commerce from among the hydrographic and geodetic engineers.

The effect of these provisions is that appointments of commissioned officers are originally made to the lowest grade only, the higher grades, including the positions of Director and Assistant Director, being attainable only through promotion.

The regulations of the Survey, which have the approval of the Secretary of Commerce, provide that all Aids, that is, the lowest grade of commissioned officers, shall be appointed from the ranks of the junior field officers after at least six months' satisfactory service in these ranks and upon passing the required physical examination. In the case of promotions, officers are usually ordered for examination in the order of their rank. Failure to pass an examination for promotion does not involve dismissal, but simply continuation in the attained rank.

As the junior field officers are all originally appointed from an eligible list of the Civil Service Commission, it follows that the commissioned officers, although Presidential appointees, under the regulations begin their service as classified civil service employees.

The examinations for appointment and promotion in the grades of commissioned officers are conducted by a board of from three to five commissioned officers of the Survey, appointed by the Director, the ratings and marks fixed by the board being final. After a mental and physical examination, the successful candidates are certified for promotion.

Pay and Allowances. The act of May 18, 1920, provides that the commissioned officers of the Coast and Geodetic Survey shall receive the same pay and allowances as officers of the navy with whom they hold relative rank, including longevity, and that all laws relating to the retirement of commissioned officers of the

navy shall apply to commissioned officers of the Coast and Geodetic Survey.

The pay of the commissioned officers of the Coast and Geodetic Survey as well as those of the Public Health Service, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, are fixed by the act of June 10, 1922 (Public No. 235, 67th Congress). This act fixes the base pay according to periods of service, and in addition provides longevity pay, allowance for quarters when these are not furnished by the government, and allowance for subsistence. The base pay and the number of allowances are shown in table on opposite page.

The longevity pay is 5 per cent of the base pay for each three years up to thirty years of service, with the proviso that the base pay plus longevity for officers below the grade of Captain shall not exceed $5,750. It also provides that the total of the base pay, longevity pay, and allowances for subsistence and rental of quarters shall not exceed $7,200 except in the case of the Director of the Survey.

Each subsistence allowance is fixed at sixty cents a day for the fiscal year 1923, and it is provided that the value for subsequent years shall be fixed by the President in accordance with a certificate furnished by the Secretary of Labor showing the comparative retail cost of food as compared with the calendar year 1922.

The value of the allowance for one room is fixed at $20 a month for the fiscal year 1923, and its value for future years is to be determined by the President in the same manner as the allowance for subsistence.

The allowances for subsistence and for rooms, as shown in the table, are greater for officers with dependents, which include the wife, unmarried children under 21 years of age, and the mother of the officer if she is in fact chiefly dependent on him for support.

Retirement. The act of May 18, 1920 provides that the laws relating to the retirement of commissioned officers of the navy shall apply to commissioned officers of the Coast and Geodetic Survey.

According to an act of May 13, 1908 (35 Stat. L., 127), the retirement age is sixty-four years, but when an officer has been thirty years in service or has become incapacitated for the performance of duties he may be retired from active service and placed upon the retired list.

An officer without dependents receives only one subsistence allowance regardless of period of service.

Officers on the retired list receive three-fourths of the pay of the grade or rank which they held at time of their retirement, if retired on account of age, length of service, or for incapacity resulting from an incident of the service. If retired for other reasons they receive either one-half pay of the grade or rank which they held at the time of their retirement, or one-half of the leave pay of such rank or grade, according to the cause for which they were retired. In computing retired pay, longevity is included.

An officer on the retired list while on active duty receives full duty pay and allowances.

Separations and Reductions. Commissioned officers may not be dismissed from the service or reduced in grade without investigation by a board of commissioned officers of the Survey ordered by the President of the United States or the Secretary of Commerce on the recommendation of the Director. The findings of such a board recommending the dismissal of a commissioned officer cannot be carried into execution until approved by the President of the United States. The separation or reduction of officers and employees in the classified service may be made by the Secretary of Commerce upon the recommendation of the Director, under provisions of the civil service rules.

Junior Field Officers. The junior field officers, from the ranks of which the commissioned officers are appointed, are the junior engineers and deck officers. The junior engineers are assigned as subordinate officers on parties engaged in geodetic operations, such as primary triangulation and traverse, precise leveling, astronomic determinations of latitude and longitude, determinations of intensity of gravity, etc. Deck officers are assigned to ships or to shore parties engaged in hydrographic and topographic surveys, triangulation and magnetic observations, or examinations of coastal waters with the wire drag. After promotion to commissioned rank these officers may be assigned to any class of duties, either ashore or afloat, irrespective of whether they served as junior engineers or as deck officers in the entrance grade.

Junior field officers are appointed by the Secretary of Commerce from a list of eligibles established by competitive examination conducted in accordance with the rules of the Civil Service Commission. In order to be eligible for the civil service examina