The classification further provides that no person appointed as a laborer without examination under the rules shall be assigned to work of the same grade as that performed by classified employees, and no person shall be admitted to any place not excepted from examination by the rules until he shall have passed an appropriate examination before the commission and his eligibility has been certified to the appointing officer by the commission. The Railway Mail Service has a different classification prescribed by section 1402, Revised Statutes, as amended by an act approved August 24, 1912 (37 Stat., 555), and a different classification of the Post Office Service is prescribed by an act of March 2, 1907 (34 Stat., 1205). REGULATIONS GOVERNING CERTAIN BRANCHES OF THE CLASSIFIED SERVICE OUTSIDE OF WASHINGTON. Regulations prescribing methods of appointment and promotion have been adopted with the concurrence of the heads of the departments concerned, for the Ordnance Department at Large, the Engineer Department at Large, the Quartermaster Corps, except the Philiadelphia Depot, for which there are special regulations, Isthmian Canal Service, Bureau of Fisheries, Subtreasury Service, Mint and Assay Service, LifeSaving Service, Lighthouse Service, Public Health Service, Reclamation Service, Government Hospital for the Insane, Indian Service, Irrigation and Allotment Services, Geological Survey, and the Coast and Geodetic Survey in relation to persons employed on vessels. Regulations governing promotions have been applied to the Railway Mail Service, Navy Department, Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Government Printing Office, promotion of taggers to stock examiners in the Bureau of Animal Industry of the Department of Agriculture, and to the customs ports of New York, Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Francisco, Portland (Oreg.), and Port Townsend. Regulations relating to the appointment and promotion of foremen, mechanics, and laborers are in force at the navy yards. These regulations may not be modified without the approval of the commission. The regulations for the Engineer Department at Large provide for a central board in the department at Washington which has the control and direction of the local boards, and such details connected with the application of the civil-service rules as do not require the action of the Chief of Engineers or the Secretary of War. This board communicates directly with the commission. The local engineer boards in the several districts prepare lists of eligibles for the various noneducational positions for which applicants may register. The regulations for several of the other branches of the classified service provide a system by which applicants may be registered by local boards of examiners made up of officers in the branch of the service affected, who rate applicants upon the elements of experience and physical condition, and certify eligibles for appointment. The promotion regulations in general provide for the relative rating of employees on the basis of their services. In the marking, the character, quality, and quantity of work, and the office habits of the employee are considered. Federal positions in the Philippines, Porto Rico, and Hawaii, and other insular possessions are filled in the same manner as positions of the same classes in other localities outside of Washington. Positions in the insular service of the Philippines are regulated by an act and rules promulgated by the Philippine Government and those in Porto Rico by an act of the Porto Rican Legislature in effect January 1, 1908. Insular positions in Hawaii are not classified. The regulations referred to, unless mentioned below under the publications of the commission, are issued by the departments concerned. PUBLICATIONS OF THE COMMISSION. In addition to the annual reports, which may be consulted at the principal public libraries, the commission issues the following publications: MANUAL OF EXAMINATIONS. A manual of examinations (Form 302) published semiannually, in January and July, containing information as to the dates and places of examinations not held under the district system, and the character and scope of each, and also showing the numbers of persons examined, passed, failed, and appointed, respectively, in certain examinations during the last preceding fiscal year. INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS. For the position of unskilled laborer in the District of Columbia (Labor Form 1); for the position of unskilled laborer outside of the District of Columbia (Labor Form la); in regard to examinations held on other than scheduled dates (Form 376); for examination for mechanical trades and other noneducational positions in the departmental and Indian Services (Form 1250); for positions under the district system and positions in the Federal service in Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rico (Form 1372); for examinations for entrance to the Steamboat-Inspection Service (Form 1405); for the railway mail clerk examination (Form 1407); concerning conditions of employment in the competitive classified service under the Isthmian Canal Commission (Form 1417); for the positions of female skilled laborer in the Government Printing Office and printer's assistant in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (Form 1419); for stenographer and typewriter examinations (Form 1424); for promotion or transfer to the position of post-office inspector (Form 1502); for examination for the position of fourth-class postmaster (Form 1759); in regard to the admission of deaf-mutes to civil-service examinations (Form 1786); for the positions of aid and deck officer in the Coast and Geodetic Survey (Form 1799); relative to employment in the Philippine civil service (Form 1894); for positions in the Post Office Service in the Sixth Civil-Service District (Form 1898); for the rural carrier examination (Form 1977); for mechanical trades and similar noneducational positions in the Fourth and Sixth Civil-Service Districts (Form 1989). MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. Concerning reinstatements (Form 126); for boards of examiners and nominating officers concerning applications, examinations, and appointments (Form 131); concerning transfers (Form 305); concerning removals (Form 505); concerning political assessments and partisan activity of officeholders (Form 1236); relative to the manner of conducting the stenographer and typewriter examinations (Form 1338); concerning veteran preference (Form 1481); for district secretaries and other persons conducting investigations for the Civil Service Commission (Form 1698); regarding the classification, assignment, and appointment of laborers (Form 1725); concerning temporary appointments (Form 1729); concerning the method of conducting examinations for the position of fourth-class postmaster (Form 1758); for appointing officers with respect to unauthorized appointments (Form 1774); concerning prosecutions in connection with civil-service examinations under provisions of the Criminal Code of the United States (Form 1775); concerning the extent of civil-service districts (Form 1842); relating to the classification of assistant postmasters and clerks at certain first and second class post offices (Form 1865); for boards of examiners, Engineer Department at Large (Form 1866); in regard to difference in relative standing on a register of the same person at different times (Form 1899); concerning transfers, supplementary (Form 1903); for boards of examiners, Ordnance Department at Large (Form 1904); relative to the manner of conducting the rural-carrier examination (Form 1986); the civil-service act, rules, and Executive orders. REGULATIONS. Governing admission to the grade of surfman in the Life-Saving Service (Form 396); governing the employment of mates in the Coast and Geodetic Survey (Form 1470); governing the appointment of unclassified laborers in the departments at Washington, D. C. (Form 1485); governing the manner of appointment to the position of carrier in the Rural Delivery Service (Form 1494); governing promotions in the Customs Service at the port of New York (Form 1522); governing promotions and transfers in the Customs Service at ports other than that of New York (Form 1556); governing the appointment of fourth-class postmasters (Form 1752); in regard to traveling expenses of employees of the commission in the field (Form 1777); governing the appointment of unclassified laborers in Federal offices outside of Washington, D. C. (Form 1782); governing promotion from positions below the grade of clerk or copyist, Departmental Service; governing appointments to the Navy Yard Service. ARCHIVES OF THE COMMISSION. In aid of persons interested in promoting the civil-service reform movement, historical investigators, and others who may desire to know what material is to be found in the archives of the commission bearing up on subjects concerning which they desire information, it may be said that the library of the commission contains fairly complete collections of congressional documents and departmental and other publications relating to executive patronage and the civil service, as well as collections of bills, speeches, and newspaper clippings, and of the reports and other publications of State and city civil-service commissions. The records of the commission are largely administrative in character, and their interest is chiefly personal, but they are of value in the study of Executive patronage and the application of remedies for abuses in the exercise of the appointing power. They are complete since the establishment of the commission in 1883, are provided with a subject index, and accessible for historical purposes. They embrace the minutes of the proceedings of the commission in 36 volumes, a card record of everyone in the classified service, with a history of his service, volumes containing specimens of all questions used in the examinations, reports of hearings before committees of Congress, and files of correspondence with the President, the executive departments, and the general public. The annual reports of the commission, of which 31 have been issued, contain historical and statistical statements of the chief matters of public interest in the commission's work. The Twenty-fifth Report contains an index of the preceding reports and a list of the notable articles in them. The politics laboratory of the department of politics of Columbia University, New York City, is making a fairly exhaustive collection of material on civil service, which it is believed will be of advantage to students of civil-service reform. HISTORICAL REGISTER OF THE UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION. COMMISSIONERS: JOHN A. MCILHENNY, Louisiana, President. GEORGE R. WALES, Chief Examiner. List of commissioners, chief examiners, and secretaries since 1883. Name. Whence appointed. Date of oath Date of retirement. COMMISSIONERS. Dorman B. Eaton.. CHIEF EXAMINERS. Charles Lyman.. Resigned Apr. 17, 1886. Resigned Apr. 17, 1886. Resigned May 25, 1909. Apr. 17, 1886.1 SECRETARIES. Wm. S. Roulhac. Apr. 25, 1884 Resigned Sept. 15, 1886. 1 Appointed commissioner. Mr. Wales, when appointed by the President as chief examiner, had served on the force of the commission for 14 years as clerk, examiner, law clerk, chief of division, and assistant chief examiner. Mr. Doyle was appointed stenographer to the commission Mar. 9, 1883, and promoted upon appointment by the President from that position to secretary. EXECUTIVE ORDERS. [General Executive orders from Aug. 26, 1912, to June 15, 1914, and special exceptions to the civil service rules from Oct. 17, 1912, to Oct. 30, 1913, are published in the Thirtieth Annual Report. The following are general orders from June 16, 1914, to Sept. 28, 1914, and special exceptions to the civil service rules from Nov. 1, 1913, to Oct. 1, 1914.] I. GENERAL ORDERS AMENDING THE CIVIL SERVICE RULES. APPOINTMENT OF PERSONS WITH RARE QUALIFICATIONS. July 25, 1914. Civil service Rule II is hereby amended by the addition of the following section, to be numbered 10: 10. Whenever the commission shall find that the duties or compensation of a vacant position are such, or that qualified persons are so rare, that, in its judgment, such position can not, in the interest of good civil service administration, be filled at that time through open competitive examination, it may authorize such vacancy to be filled without competitive examination; and in any case in which such authority may be given, evidence satisfactory to the commission of the qualifications of the person to be appointed without competitive examination shall be required. A detailed statement of the reasons for its action in any case arising hereunder shall be made in the records of the commission and shall be published in its annual report. Any subsequent vacancy in such position shall not be filled without competitive examination except upon express authority of the commission in accordance with this section. The Executive order of December 1, 1910, and paragraph 15 of Subdivision I of Schedule A are hereby revoked. This amendment to the civil service rules makes existing authority a part of the civil service rules, where it logically belongs, and obviates confusion by the elimination of an Executive order and a provision of the civil service rules covering the same general class of cases. July 25, 1914. ADMISSION OF ALIENS TO EXAMINATION. Section 1 of Rule V is hereby amended by adding thereto the following proviso: Provided, That when an examination has been duly announced to fill a vacancy and there is a lack of eligibles who are citizens, the commission may, in its discretion, examine persons who are not citizens, but they shall not be certified for appointment so long as citizens are eligible. As amended this section will read: 1. No person shall be admitted to examination unless he be a citizen of or owe allegiance to the United States: Provided, That when an examination has been duly announced to fill a vacancy and there is a lack of eligibles who are citizens, the commission may, in its discretion, examine persons who are not citizens, but they shall not be certified for appointment so long as citizens are eligible. This order merely transfers to the civil service rules a provision of an Executive order of June 13, 1906. RESTORATION OF NAME OF PROBATIONER TO REGISTER. July 25, 1914. Clause (c) of section 1 of Rule VII is hereby amended by adding the following sentence: A probationer separated from the service without delinquency or misconduct may be restored to the register of eligibles in the discretion of the commission for the remainder of his period of eligibility. The practice indicated has been in effect for more than 15 years and for a number of years was included in the civil service rules. |