HEARINGS BEFORE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE. 391 
Mr. Bowrr. Is it customary to have the principal law advisers of 
these Departments certified by the Civil Service Commission ? 
Mr. Burcu. I could not tell you; I think not. 
Mr. Bowrs. You said this one had been certified. 
Mr. Burcu. Yes; he held a former position. He was an auditor, 
you know, in the Treasury Department, and transferred to our Depart- 
ment. He is in the classified service. : 
Mr. Bowrs. I have always imagined that a man competent to advise 
_agreat Department in the expenditure of several millions of dollars is 
a man who should have shown his ability in something besides stand- 
ing a civil-service examination. 
r. Burcu. I do not know anything about his ability beyond what 
he has accomplished. 
Mr. Bowis. But be draws contracts. 
Mr. Burcu. So far as conducting cases is concerned, that would 
come under the Attorney-General’s Office if there was a prosecution. 
Mr. Bowre. I do not see, after all, that he does much more than 
gather evidence; he has not the power to try cases. 
Mr. Burcu. He does not try a case at all; he only assists; gathers 
the evidence, and makes briefs and prepares the cases for the Attorney- 
General, as in all instances where he has secured convictions for vio- 
lation of law, quarantine laws, and-— 
Mr. Burveson. The contracts the Department enters into from 
tine to time could be drawn by the head of the division, could they 
not ¢ 
Mr. Burcu. They are not lawyers; I do not think any of them could 
draw them properly. They may be wise in their,line of work and are, 
I think, but—— 
The Cuarrman. We have covered the lieutenant of the watch. Now 
this ‘‘assistant engineer.” 
Mr. Burcu. To have charge of the different engines—thereare three , 
or four—and to assist the engineer, as J said before, in that line of 
work—to go with the plumber, to determine what is necessary to be 
done in that work there. 
The Cuarrman. I thought nearly all of those Bureaus in rented 
buildings have engineers and pay for them. 
Mr. Burcu. None of them have, over in that part of the town. 
The CuarrmMan. They have firemen ? 
Mr. Burcu. Yes, sir; firemen. 
The Cuarrman. There are no engines in those rented buildings? 
Mr. Burcu. No; except what we have putin. The chemical labora- 
tory has an engine; the Bureau of Plant Industry has an engine, and 
the Bureau of Animal Industry hasan engine. All those have engines. 
The Cuarrman. What kind of engines are they—steam engines or 
vapor engines ¢ 
Mr. Burcu. Steam engines, all of them. 
The Cuarrman. They have engineers to run them? 
Mr. Burcu. They do not have an engineer, they have a fireman 
The Cuarrman. He is called a fireman; but he must be, practically, 
an engineer? ; ; : 
Mr. Burcu. He has got to understand it, and he is under the instruc- 
tion of the engineer; and that is what we want the assistant engineer 
for, to visit these places and instruct these men. ss 
