REFORM IN THE CIVIL SERVICE. 



of Examiners. He shall take care to secure accuracy, 

 uniformity, and justice in all their proceedings, which 

 shall at all times be open to him, but leaving the 

 duty of the examiners for marking and grading those 

 examined unimpaired. The commission will, in its 

 discretion, designate one of its own members, or re- 

 quest the detail of a suitable person, to supervise ex- 

 aminations whenever deemed needful. 



2. He shall prepare and submit to the approval of the 

 commission proper forms and questions. He shall 

 take care that the rules and regulations are complied 

 with, and bring every case of injustice and irregularity 

 observed by him to the attention of the commission. 

 He shall take such part as the commission shall assign 

 him in the work at Washington. It shall be his duty 

 to confer, from time to time, with the heads of the 

 postal and custom-offices which he officially visits con- 

 cerning the regularity, sufficiency, and convenience^ 

 the examinations for the service under them. 



Paragraph 3 relates to the duties of secretary. 



4. The General Board of Examiners for the depart 

 mental service shall consist of two persons from the 

 Treasury Department, two from the Post-Office De- 

 partment, two from the Interior Department, and one 

 trom each of the other departments. But any three 

 members may be designated by the commission to 

 constitute the acting Examining Board for any exami- 

 nation. The Secretary of the Board of Examiners 

 for the departmental service shall keep a record of its 

 proceedings and have charge of its papers. 



5. A special Board of Examiners will be selected by 

 the commissioners for the departmental service at 

 Washington for holding any examination whenever, in 

 the judgment of the commission, the technical infor- 

 mation or skill to be tested seems to require it. 



6. In case of examinations to be held at other places 

 than those having the classified service, the commis- 

 sion may designate an Examining Board for that pur- 



7. For each post-office the Board of Examiners shall 

 consist of three persons. 



8. The examiners for each customs district shall 

 consist of two persons selected from the office of the 

 collector, and one from each of the other customs of- 

 fices which are subject to the rules ; but if there be no 

 office subject thereto, except that of tne collector, the 

 three shall be selected from his office. 



9. Three examiners may serve as a board for con- 

 ducting any examination, and the examiners for any 

 customs district will determine which three shall hold 

 any examination, taking care that if an examination 

 is wholly or mainly for any office, one or more of the 

 examiners from that office shall be on the acting board. 

 In case of a failure or disagreement as to which three 

 shall be the board for any examination, the commis- 

 Bion or chief examiner shall designate the local exam- 

 iners who shall serve. In case of the disability or 

 necessary absence of one of the three examiners se- 

 lected, the other two may conduct the examination. 



10. Each Examining Board in the postal and cus- 

 toms service shall select on > of its members to serve 

 as secretary, and it shall be his duty to keep a com- 

 plete record of the proceedings of the board and of all 

 examinations held. He shall also keep the record of 

 applicants and examinations, and the register of per- 

 sons eligible for appointment. He shall have charge 



of all books and papers belonging to the board. On 

 application of the proper appointing officer, he shall 

 certify to such officer the names of the four persons of 

 the highest grade remaining on the register, in con- 

 formity to the rules. He shall also answer all proper 

 requests for application- blanks, and send due notifica- 

 tions to applicants to be examined, and shall give all 

 other notices required to be given by the board. 



11. No examiner or officer serving under the com- 

 mission must attempt to control or influence removals. 



12. Care must be taken by the examiners not to al- 

 low such visitors as they may admit, nor any conver- 

 sation or other cause, to obstruct or distract those be- 

 ing examined. 



13. Examiners must not disclose for public informa- 

 tion, unless by the consent of those examined, more 

 than the general results of examinations, without the 

 details of answers given. 



14. Complaints which show injustice or unfairness 

 on the part of any Examining Board, or any one act- 

 ing under the commission, will he considered by the 

 commission, and, if necessary, it will revise the murk- 

 ing and grading on the papers, or order a new exami- 

 nation, or otherwise do justice in the premises. 



15. The head of each post-office and of euch cus- 

 toms office, to which the rules are applicable, should 

 inform the local Board of Examiners of probable va- 

 cancies, that examinations for tilling them may bo held 

 in due season. 



10. The Board of Examiners for each office or dis- 

 trict must promptly notify the commission of the need 

 of holding an examination in and for such office or dis- 

 trict, and may appoint the time for the same, but sub- 

 ject to any change the commission may find it neces- 

 sary to make for the more convenient and effective 

 discharge of its duty to see that the examinations are 

 accurate, uniform, and just. The notice must state 

 under which clause or clauses of rule 7 the applicants 

 are to be examined, and must, when practicable, be 

 given at least twenty days before the time appointed 

 therein for the examinations. 



17. Notices in writing shall be mailed to applicants 

 for examination in the postal and customs service at 

 least eight days before the examination, and they shall 

 clearly specify the place and the time, including the 

 hour, of holding the same. 



18. All competitive examinations for admission to 

 the civil service shall be in writing, except that testa 

 of physical qualities or expertness may be added as the 

 commission shall approve. 



19. All the questions on any subject in the examina- 

 tions will be given on a single sheet. The sheets will 

 be numbered, and will be given out in the order of 

 their numbers, each, after the first, being given only 

 when the applicant shall return to the examiners the 

 last sheet given to him. 



20. Not less than four nor, more than ten questions 

 shall be given in each subject of the examination, and, 

 to facilitate the marking, the questions in the same 

 subject shall, as far as practicable, be equal in diffi- 

 culty. Care shall also be taken that the time allotted 

 for the examination shall be reasonably sufficient for 

 answering the questions. 



21. In general, no competitive examination should 

 occupy more than five hours, exclusive of any inter- 

 mission ; and in case the examination be divided into 

 two sessions, no questions given out during the first 

 session should be allowed to be answered in the sec- 



22. Every examiner will exercise all due diligence 

 to secure fairness, and to prevent all collusion or fraud 

 in the examination. 



23. The examination papers of each applicant shall 

 be marked only with a number ; and his name, with 

 his number, shall be placed in a sealed envelope, which 

 shall not be opened till after his papers arc marked. 



24 The examination papers snail be reviewed by 

 each examiner separately, and in every case of disagree- 

 ment the average of the markings to be made on the 

 papers by all shall be the final marking on each ques- 

 tion, subject to the regulation as to revision. 



25 The views of the heads of post-offices and c 

 toms offices as to whether applicants for the several 

 parts of the service under them shall be examined i 

 the five subjects under clause 1 of rule 1, or on v in 

 the two subjects under clause 4 of that rule, will be 

 accepted bv'the commission so far as its duty to re- 

 quire uniformity and adequate tests of capacity for 

 doing the public work will permit^ 



26 The marking on the examinations has three 

 objects : First, to determine the standing in each sub- 

 ject second, to determine the average standing upon 

 the whole examination ; third, to determine whether 

 the applicant is admissible to the register. 



