REFORM IN THE CIVIL SERVICE. 



On June 6th William S. Roulhac, of North 

 Carolina, was appointed secretary of the com- 

 mission. In the mean time the commission 

 had prepared the rules for appointments in the 

 civil service, which, after some slight modifica- 

 tions, were approved by the President on the 

 7th of May. They were as follow : 



1. No person in said service shall use his official 

 authority or influence to coerce the political action of 

 any person or body, or to interfere with any election. 



2. No person in the public service shall for that 

 reason be under any obligation to contribute to any 

 political fund or to render any political service, and 

 he will not be removed or otherwise prejudiced for 

 refusing to do so. 



3. It shall be the duty of collectors, postmasters, 

 assistant treasurers^ naval officers, surveyors, ap- 

 praisers, and custodians of public buildings, at places 

 where examinations are to be held, to allow and ar- 

 range for the reasonable use of suitable rooms in the 

 public buildings in their charge respectively, and for 

 heating, lighting, and furnishing the same for the pur- 

 poses of examinations, and all other executive officers 

 shall, in all legal and proper ways, facilitate such ex- 

 aminations and the execution of these rules. 



4. I. All officials connected with any office where, 

 or for which, any examination is to take place, will give 

 the Civil-Service Commission and the chief examiner 

 such information as may be reasonably requested to 

 enable the commission to select competent and trust- 

 worthy examiners ; and the examinations by those se- 

 lected as examiners, and the work incident thereto, 

 will be regarded as a part of the public business to be 

 performed at every such office. II. It shall be the 

 duty of every executive officer to promptly inform the 

 commission in writing of the removal or discharge 

 from the public service of any examiner in his office, 

 or of the inability or refusal of any such examiner to 

 longer act in that capacity. 



5. There shall be three branches of the service, clas- 

 sified by the Civil-Service Act, not including laborers 



Washingtor 



Departmental Service at Washington.'' II. Those 

 classified under any collector, naval officer, surveyor, or 

 appraiser in any customs district shall be designated 

 " The Classified Customs Service." III. Those classi- 

 fied under any postmaster at any post-office, including 

 that at Washington, shall be designated " The Classi- 

 fied Postal Service. ' IV. The several customs dis- 

 tricts now having the classified service herein referred 

 to, being those where the officials are as many as fifty, 

 are the following : New York city, N. Y. ; Boston, 

 Mass. ; Philadelphia, Pa. ; San Francisco, Cal. ; Bal- 

 timore, Md. ; New Orleans, La. ; Chicago, 111. ; Bur- 

 lington, Vt. ; Portland, Me. ; Detroit, Mich. ; Port Hu- 

 ron, Mich. V. The several post-offices now having 

 the classified service herein referred to, being those 

 where the officials are as many as fifty, are the follow- 

 ing: Albany, N. Y. ; Baltimore, Md. : Boston. Mass. ; 

 Brooklyn, N. Y. ; Buffalo, N. Y. ; Chicago, 111. ; Cin- 

 cinnati, 0. ; Cleveland, 0. ; Detroit, Mich. ; Indi- 

 anapolis, Ind. ; Kansas City, Mo. ; Louisville, Ky. ; 

 . Milwaukee, Wis. : Newark, N. J. : New Orleans, La. ; 

 New York city, N. Y. ; Philadelphia, Pa. ; Pittsburg, 

 Pa. ; Providence, K. I. ; Rochester, N. Y. ; St. Louis, 

 Mo. ; San Francisco, Cal. ; Washington, D. C. 



6. I. There shall be open competitive examina- 

 tions for testing the fitness of applicants for admission 

 to the service, which examinations shall be practical 

 in their character, and, so far as may be, shall relate 

 to those matters which will fairly test the relative ca- 

 pacity and fitness of the persons examined to dis- 

 charge the duties of the branch of the service which 

 they seek to enter. II. There shall also be competi- 

 tive examinations of a suitable character to test the 

 fitness of persons for promotion in the service. 



es n wc a ower e- 

 ce, the commission may 

 . Penmanship, copying, 

 ndamental rules of arith- 



7. I. The general examinations under the first 

 cause of rule 6, for admission to the service, shall be 

 limited to the following subjects: 1. Penmanship, 

 copying, orthography, and letter-writing. 2. Arith- 

 metic, fundamental rules, fractions, and percentage. 

 3. Interest, discount, and elements of book-keeping 

 and of accounts. 4. Elements of the English lan- 

 guage, and the proper construction of sentences. 5. 

 Elements of the geography, history, and Government 

 of the United States. II. Proficiency in each of these 

 subjects shall be credited in grading the standing ot 

 the persons examined in proportion to the value of u 

 knowledge of such subjects in the branch or part of 

 the service which the applicant seeks to enter. III. But 

 no one shall be entitled to be certified for appointment 

 whose standing upon a just grading in the general ex- 

 amination shall be less than 65 per cent, of complete 

 proficiency in the first three subjects, or less than 60 

 per cent, in the last two subjects mentioned in this 

 rule, and that measure of proficiency shall be deemed 

 adequate. IV. But for places in which a lower de- 

 gree of education will suffice, '' 

 limit the examination to 1. 

 and orthography. 2. The fundamental nil 

 metic ; but no person shall be certified under this ex- 

 amination of a less grading than 65 per cent, on each 

 subject. V. And the commission may also hold ex- 

 aminations of a higher grade, or upon additional or 

 special subjects, to test the capacity and fitness which 

 may be needed in any special place or branch of the 

 service. 



8. No Question in any examination ? or proceeding 

 by or under the commission or examiners, shall call 

 for the expression or disclosure of any political or re- 

 ligious opinion or affiliation, nor, if known, shall any 

 discrimination be made by reason thereof; and the 

 commission and its examiners shall discountenance 

 all disclosures before either of them of such opinion 

 by or concerning any applicants lor examination, or 

 by or concerning any one whose name is on any regis- 

 ter awaiting appointment. 



9. All regular applications for the competitive ex- 

 aminations for admission to the classified service must 

 be made on blanks in a form approved by the com- 

 mission. All requests for such blanks and all appli- 

 cations for examination must be addressed as follows : 

 I. If for the classified service in any department at 

 Washington, to the United States Civil-Service Com- 

 mission, Washington, D. C. II. If for the classified 

 postal service, to the postmaster under whom service 

 is sought. III. If for the classified customs service, 

 to the head of either customs office in the customs 

 district in which service is sought. All officers re- 

 ceiving such applications will indorse thereon the date 

 of the Veception thereof, and transmit the same to the 

 proper examining boara of the district or office where 

 service is sought, or, if in Washington, to the Civil- 

 Service Commission. 



10. Every examining board shall keep such records, 

 and such papers on file, and make such reports as the 

 commission shall require, and any said paper or record, 

 in the charge of any examining board, or any officer, 

 shall at all times be" open to examination, as the com- 

 mission shall direct, and, upon its request, shall be 

 forwarded to Washington for inspection and revision. 



11. Every application, in order to entitle the appli- 

 cant to appear for examination, or to be examined, 

 must state under oath the facts on the following sub- 

 jects, as may be required by the regulations of the 

 commission : I. Name, residence, and post-office ad- 

 dress. II. Citizenship. III. Age. IV. Place of birth. 

 V. Health and capacity for the publio service. VI. 

 Right of preference by reason of military or naval ser- 

 vice. VII. Previous employment -in the public ser- 

 vice. VIII. Business or employment and residence 

 for the last five years. IX. Education and such other 

 facts as the commission may reasonably require, as 

 showing fitness for the public service. The applicant 

 must also affirm his qualification under section 8 of 

 the Civil-Service Act, which is as follows: "That no 



