bracing fewer subjects; 3, for night inspectors and messengers, for whom there is a yet lower grade of questions. In some of the offices there are special customs examinations, in additional subjects, for gaugers, weighers, and examiners. (See Regulation 23.)

(2.) The places in the classified customs service give a compensation of $900 and upwards, but do not include any place the appointment to which is made subject to confirmation by the Senate, nor the places excepted under Rule 19.

EXAMINATIONS AND SALARIES IN THE POSTAL SERVICE.-(1.) There are in the post-offices three grades of examinations: 1, for clerks; 2, for carriers, and 3, for porters, the last including various subordinate positions. The first is the most difficult and the last is the easiest. (Seø Regulation 22.)

(2.) The classified postal service includes all kinds of service at postoffices above the grade of laborers, and the compensation is too various at the different offices for definite statement here.

The railway mail service is not at present embraced under the rules, and applicants for that service cannot therefore be examined for it under the Commission.

LEGAL RESIDENCE.-If the applicant has any doubt as to the place of his legal residence he should consult some competent person on the subject. The law requires the oath of the applicant to actual bona fide residence. It would not be proper for a commissioner, or any one serving under the Commission, to become the adviser of any applicant on this question, and no such advice will be given.

OCCUPATION AND BUSINESS.-It is not enough in the application paper to use the word agent, clerk, or broker, which gives no idea of the kind of business; nor is it satisfactory to state "no business," merely because the applicant has had only household duties. There should be a descriptive statement of the business or occupation.

THE STATEMENTS MUST BE TRUE.-Every false statement know. ingly made in the application, or connived at in any certificate which may accompany it, is good cause, not only for exclusion from examination, but for discharge during probation or thereafter. (See Rule 17.)

NO ADDITIONAL CERTIFICATES.-No recommendations or certificates, besides those provided for in the application itself, will be received or can be of any use in securing an examination or a certification for appointment. (See Regulation 10.)

PLACE OF EXAMINATION.—(1.) The examinations for any customs district or for any post-office are held only in that district or office, and by the examining board thereof, which also marks and grades the pa

pers.

(2.) Applicants for the departmental service may be examined either at Washington or at any place in the several States more convenient for the applicant where examinations are ordered by the Commission. Examinations for the departmental service are occasionally held at the same time with examinations for the postal and customs service at the cities named in Rule 5. The examination papers are sent to Washington to be marked by the departmental examiners. All questions are prepared at Washington.

TIME OF HOLDING EXAMINATIONS.-The times of holding customs and postal examinations depend upon the needs of the offices in the several branches of the service, and cannot, therefore, be precisely stated long beforehand. But these and other local examinations are

held often enough to supply eligible persons for departmental appointments from the several States and Territories.

NOTICE OF EXAMINATIONS.-(1.) Notice of each examination is seasonably given to all applicants for the departmental service who can properly and conveniently attend it, by the secretary of the Commission; and by the secretary of the proper board of local examiners to those seeking to enter the postal or customs service.

(2.) In case of the inability of the applicant to attend, he will, upon a satisfactory explanation of the facts in writing, receive a notice to atiend another examination.

(3.) It is important that the applicant at all times keep the Commission informed of his or her post-office address.

NOTICE OF STANDING.-(1.) Notice of the standing gained, whether the applicant passes or not, will be given by the same secretary as the notice of examination, and as soon as practicable after the papers are marked, without any request being made; but, owing to the many papers sometimes to be marked, several weeks may occasionally elapse before the notice can be sent.

(2.) As under Rule 7 and the regulations, the first three subjects named in clause 1 of that rule (or the parts thereof to which the examination extends) are separately marked, the standing therein may be either higher or lower than the general average given for all the subjects. If the average on these three subjects is above 65, the name will go on the register of eligibles, even though the general average on all the subjects falls below 65. (See Regulations 27-35.)

(3.) No person who has failed on any examination can, within six months thereafter, be admitted to any other examination without the consent of the Commission, in writing. Consent to a re-examination is given only where sickness or other disabling cause occasioned the failure. No person dismissed from the service for misconduct can be examined within two years thereafter. (See Rules 11 and 16.)

APPORTIONMENT AND CERTIFICATION.—(1.) The law requires appointments to the departmental service to be apportioned to the States, Territories, and the District of Columbia on the basis of population, and the Commission must make the certifications in such order as to bring about such apportionment. The names for any certification, are, therefore, taken from the State or States, &c., which have competent applicants of the sex and grade required, and which are entitled in the order of apportionment. In selecting persons from a State or Territory, &c., for a certification, the Commission send the names of those standing highest in grade on the proper register for that State or Territory..

(2.) In view of such facts, it ought to be seen that time spent in attempts to change the order of these certifications will be lost. Neither the presence of the applicant in Washington nor writing to the Commision will in the least hasten his certification.

(3.) No requests or recommendations for certification will be considered or regarded, and they will be returned to the sender. (See Rule 16 and Re_ulation 10.)

REMOVALS AND APPOINTMENTS.-(1.) The Commission has no part in removals. In appointments it has no participation except as hereinbefore explained. It can help no one to get an appointment. It knows nothing of any vacancy until it receives from the head of the Department the formal request for a certification to fill it; and it has nothing whatever to do with the choice of the appointing officer from those certified.

(2.) There is this exception, however, in regard to removals. The Commission will investigate any charge of an alleged removal by reason of a refusal to pay an assessment. (Rule 2.)

WHEN MAY AN APPOINTMENT BE EXPECTED?-(1.) The Commission will not attempt to predict the time or probability of an appointment. The highest mark possible is 100, the lowest which gives eligibility for appointment is 65. Each applicant by his examination practically decides his own standing, and hence his own chances of an early appointment.

(2.) The time of examination is not considered in making certifications, as the highest in grade on the register must be certified first, even though the last examined. Upon strict business principles, the Government insists on the most competent who offer to work for the salary it pays.

(3.) When any State is reached in its order of apportionment the request for a certification may be 1 for females, 2 for males, 3 for those who have passed the limited examination, 4 for those who have passed the general examination, or 5 for those who have passed some one of three or four special examinations. There are, therefore, all these contingencies against the possibility of predicting correctly the particular person who may be selected.

(4.) Neither the Commission nor any one connected therewith can inform applicants of their standing as compared with other persons. (See sec. 5 of the act.)

APPOINTMENT OF WOMEN.-(1.) The civil service act and the rules make no discrimination in regard to sex. The examinations are open alike to both sexes.

(2.) The appointing officer, in his requests for certifications, declares whether males or females are desired. The Commission must certify from the sex named. If the sex is not specified, the highest in grade, irrespective of sex, must be certified.

(3.) Very few females are appointed in either the postal or the cus

toms service.

(4.) In the departmental service less than a sixth part of the appointments have thus far been of females; and more than one-third of those examined have been of that sex.

THE GRADE OF APPLICANTS NOT MADE PUBLIC.-The Commission has no wish, on its own account, to conceal the marking of any one, but the injustice and uselessness of making public the failures to pass the examinations are manifest. The Commission and examining boards will not, therefore, give the standing of applicants to strangers.

EFFECT OF AN APPOINTMENT.-Applicants who have accepted an appointment, or been tendered one which they fail to accept, are regarded as no longer on the register of eligibles or the record of applicants.

PAPERS CANNOT BE RETURNED.-All application papers and accompanying certificates of vouchers are a part of the records which the civil service act requires the Commission to preserve, and under no circumstances will the originals be returned to the applicant.

COMMISSION CANNOT GIVE ADVICE.-The Commission cannot advise persons as to vacancies in the service, nor furnish information as to the duties, salaries, course of promotion, or other facts as to positions, except such as may be found in its reports.

Address all communications to United States Civil Service Commis. sion, Washington, D. C.

APPENDIX No. 6.

(Six statistical tables.)

TABLE NO. 1.-LIMITED AND GENERAL EXAMINATIONS FOR THE DEPARTMENTAL SERVICE.

This table is in two parts: Part 1 shows the number, &c., who have taken the limited examination only. Part 2 shows the number, &c., who have taken the general examination. See Rule 7, clauses 1 and 4.

But this table does not show the whole number who have taken the general and limited examinations. The papers of three hundred and five persons who have taken these examinations are not tabulated. These persons are from thirty-two States and two Territories. Their tabulation would not materially vary either the average age, the ratio of sexes, or the proportion of those who passed. To show the whole number examined for the departmental service the 791 given in Table No. 5, and the 305 above mentioned must be added to those here tabulated, making in all two thousand two hundred and seventy-six.

Part 1.-Limited examinations.

826572T4766.

4

23

12

1

10

1

5

4

23

25

8

17

45

24

14

4