COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS.

There is nothing in the nature of competitive examinations requiring different subjects or harder questions than those appropriated for pass examinations. But as they require the merits of those seeking appointments to be put in comparison, it is but natural that the competition should raise the standard. At the mere will of the examiners and the departments the pass examinations could have been extended to any subjects however literary or ornamental. But the competitive examinations required by the civil service act are by its terms (section 2, sub. 2, clause 1) required to "be practical in their character, and, so far as may be, (to) relate to those matters which will fairly test the relative capacity and fitness of the persons examined to discharge the duties of the service into which they seek to be appointed." Rule 6 is to the same effect.

The seventh rule enumerates those branches or subjects to which alone all the examinations must be confined, except in the very few cases which fall under the fifth clause of that rule.

There are certain essential conditions of competitive examinations, fully recognized and carefully provided for in the act and rules, which should be borne in mind in estimating their practical effects:

1. Accepting the theory that appointive offices are trusts and places of duty, in the common interest, these examinations treat the claim of every applicant as meritorious and strong in proportion, not to the influence behind him, but to the good character and capacity he tenders in his own person for the salary.

2. They allow, therefore, no monopoly by any party, faction, or officials of the privilege of being examined, but open the examinations to all applicants who, according to the rules, have the apparent qualifications essential in the places they seek irrespective of political or religious opinions or affiliations. (See Rule 8.)

3. To protect that privilege those who make applications in proper form must be notified in the order of the reception of their applications to attend the proper examinations.

4. After being graded according to merit those examined must be certified for appointment in the order of their grade, subject to the annual message of the President for 1880 commended them to the consideration of Congress. The same beneficial results have continued. For more than fourteen years competitive examinations, based on a much longer trial in a limited sphere, have been enforced, with great public advantage, throughout the administrative service of Great Britain and British India. The intrinsic difficulties attending their first enforcement in Great Britain were far greater than with us, for the reason that such examinations are repugnant to the exclusive spirit and class distinctions of an aristocracy. That change was essentially republican in spirit which compelled the sons of lords, bishops, and the great land-owners to compete side by side with the sons of the humblest classes for admission to the administrative service of their country. The same year (1870) in which a competition of merit was made general, the public schools were by law, for the first time, required to be supported by general taxation.

conditions of apportionment among the States and Territories, required by the second section of the act.

The parts of the public service for which such examinations are appropriate are those in which the applicant's opinions are not qualifications; consequently they are unsuitable to be applied to candidates for elective offices (or to the constitutional advisers of elective officers), an essential part of whose fitness is, that they are the representatives of political opinions or local interests. But competitive examinations are especially useful for places for which the highest qualification is an ability to do the public work, as directed by superior officers, in the same businesslike manner, whatever party may be in power, and whatever may be the political or religious opinions of the citizens most directly affected by the work to be done.

It was the part of wisdom in the outset to enforce the new system broadly enough to fairly test its merits without making it so general as to involve serious inconvenience in case of failure. There was need to bear in mind that the greatest opposition from patronage-mongers and partisans would be at the first stages, when the examiners would be the most inexperienced, the Commission most embarrassed by novel questions, and the ill-informed most easily misled. Moreover, the abuses to be suppressed increase in geometrical ratio with the magnitude of the business in the offices and the number of officials required. The head of a small office has ample time to learn the character and capacity of all those seeking appointments, and he need not be ignorant of the conduct of his subordinates. But in the Departments, and larger post-offices, and customs offices, the chief officer can hardly know the merits of more than a small proportion of the applicants. The power and opportunity for intrigue and selfish influence at such offices are dangerously great.

It was plain also that persons nominated for confirmation by the Senate could not with advantage be subjected to examinations, at least without the consent of that body, which has not yet been given. At the other extreme of the Executive service were those employed merely as laborers or workmen, whose examination as to attainments would be as impracticable as it is needless. These considerations suggested the proper limits of the examinations at the outset.

In the Departments at Washington, the classification, already referred to as existing under the Revised Statutes (including all persons receiving salaries of not less than $900 nor more than $1,800 per annum), embraced a suitable number for the first examinations in that branch of the service. Those thus included are designated the classified Departmental service.* *

* The classification existing by law in the Departments when the civil service act was passed, and which covers all places at Washington thus far embraced within the examinations, is inconvenient and misleading. There are various places not classified

A similar classification, as directed by the first and second clauses of the sixth section of the act, was made of the parts of the postal and customs service which the act required to be brought, in the first instance, under the rules, and the portions of the service embraced in the two latter branches are designated, respectively, the classified postal service and the classified customs service.* These three branches are, in the aggregate, designated the classified civil service.

The number of places included in the classified departmental service (at Washington), and consequently to be filled from those certified on the basis of the examinations, is, as nearly as we can ascertain, 5,652. The classification of the customs offices to which the act at first extends was made by the Secretary of the Treasury on the 26th of March last into five classes, of which those in the lowest receive an annual compensation of $900, and the highest (excluding those confirmed by the Senate) receiving a salary of $1,800 or over. The number of places thus classified in the customs service, at the eleven ports and twenty-five customs offices to which it extends, is in all 2,573.

A classification of those in the post-offices to which the act at first extends was made by the Postmaster-General into four classes on the 4th day of April, 1883. The highest class embraces those who receive an annual compensation of $1,800 or over, and the lowest those who receive a compensation of $800 or less, but the latter includes no person employed merely as a laborer or workman. The whole number of places embraced within this classification at the twenty-three postoffices (being the largest in the Union) was (January 1, 1883), 5,699.

In the three branches of the classified service, therefore, the number of places to be filled on the basis of competitive examinations is in the aggregate 13,924. The increase, since made, in the classified service carries the number above 14,000.†

which seem to come within the principle of the old classification. It is presumed that at the proper time this classification will be extended, and that its lines will be made regular and consistent. One effect of its present deficiency and inconsistency is to be regretted. Persons not well informed—and some within the Departments-seeing certain places really outside the classification, but which should consistently be within it, filled by persons not examined under the Commission, have considered, and in some cases, have informed members of Congress that the rules in such instances are being disregarded. It is believed that no violation of the rules in that regard has taken place. The power and duties of the Commission, so far as relates to examinations, are, by section 2 of the act, confined to the classified service, and do not extend to any employés not classified, whatever the position or duties of such employés.

The right of transfer from place to place in the same Department is given to its head by section 166 of the Revised Statutes, and that right is not taken away by the civil service act. The Commission has neither authority nor responsibility in the matter of such transfer.

* See Rule 5, which shows the post-offices and customs offices thus included. + If we assume the civil service of the United States to embrace in all about 110,000 persons, a large proportion of the whole must be classed as laborers or workmen. There are 48,434 postmasters. Of the remaining 61,566, 4,017 are in the Railway Mail

In the grades above those classified in the Departments at Washington there are 359 officers, of whom 76 are subject to confirmation by the Senate. Of the 5,652 included in that classification only 135 are excepted under Rule 19.

Ample authority is conferred upon the President by the third clause of the sixth section of the act to require the new system to be extended to other parts of the executive service whenever, in the light of the experience gained, the public advantage is likely to be promoted thereby. No further legislation in that direction seems necessary.

But if a more enlightened and independent sentiment, developed among the people, shall hereafter so encourage the President, heads of Departments, and the Senate that they will co-operate in enforcing a joint policy which shall require the selection of chiefs of Bureaus and of postmasters and collectors at the larger offices from among the subordinates at such offices, who would bring business experience rather than partisan activity to those positions, there would be a yet greater extension given to the merit system of office, and a new and salutary ambition would be awakened among subordinates. And beyond that, there would be a great relief from the solicitation and controversy which attend appointments to such positions.

THE EXAMINERS.

The act requires the examiners, other than the chief examiner, to be selected by the Commission from among those in the official service of the United States. It is the principal duty of the chief examiner, under the direction of the Commission, to secure accuracy, uniformity, and justice on the part of all the examiners. He is, in that particular, the executive officer of the Commission. (See Regulations 1 and 2.) For such purposes he has visited, during the past six months, nearly every office to which the rules apply, and most of them more than once. Every such office, including those at San Francisco, has also been visited, and most of them more than once, by one or more members of the Commission. The Commission does not directly conduct examinations or mark or grade those examined, although some of its members have attended a majority of all the examinations held. The Commission is a board of final appeal from all examinations, and as to all complaints concerning marking and grading, or other matters coming within the sphere of its duties. It has also to take care that everywhere the public interest and convenience are regarded in the grade of questions and in the method of the examinations.

Service, and 4,010 are in the Internal Revenue Service outside of Washington. The number in the diplomatic and consular service is also large. To these must be added the officers and clerks of Congress and of all the Federal courts. Those under the rules at the outset embrace, therefore, a very large proportion of the officials to which the competitive system can properly be extended.

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The selection of examiners from those in the public service was required by Congress in the interest of economy, as well as to secure examiners who should be familiar with the real needs of the offices for which applicants were to be examined. They are paid no extra compensation. Three examiners, selected at each post-office coming under the rules, serve as a Board for the examination of applicants for that office; and from three to five selected in each customs district to which the rules extend serve as a Board for that district.

For the seven Executive Departments at Washington a common Board of ten is selected, two members of this Board coming from each of the three Departments having the largest number of subordinates, and one from each of the four others. This Board supervises the examinations at Washington for the Departmental service, and marks and grades all persons examined there or elsewhere for that service.

Besides the Boards above named, special ones are selected to examine applicants for places for which special knowledge or skill is required, as draughtsmen, telegraphers, patent examiners, &c.

The Commission used the greatest care in the selection of the examiners, in order to secure gentlemen of candor, good judgment, and conscientiousness, united with a high order of intelligence and practical experience. We wish to bear testimony to the efficient and satisfactory manner in which, without exception, the duties of these Boards have been performed.

The result has shown what those best acquainted with the public service anticipated. It has been made clear that many members of that service, ready to make sacrifices and efforts for its improvement, are glad to welcome such tests for admission as will substitute demonstrated merit for partisan influence and secret favor. We have found ample numbers in the offices fully competent for the administration of a system which they believe will improve alike the reputation and efficiency of that service of which they are a part, and to the honor of which they are justly sensitive. Even if an appropriation could have been secured to pay outside examiners, they would have known far less of the needs of the service, and their employment would have been justly regarded, in the Departments and offices, as an offensive and unwarranted condemnation of the capacity and fidelity of those serving there.

In States and Territories in which no postal or customs examiners are yet required, the examinations of applicants for the Departmental service, unless they prefer to go into some adjoining State, or to attend at Washington, are held under the charge of a Board selected by the Commission from among persons in the Federal service in such States and Territories. Boards of this latter class have already held examinations in North and South Carolina. The need of supplying promptly the wants of the classified postal and customs service caused examinations to be first held in the States to which such classified service extends, but local examinations for the service at Washington are now being extended to other States.