discharge the duties of the service into which they seek to be appointed. Section 4415, Revised Statutes, so far as it prescribes the method by which vacancies on the board of inspectors of hulls of steam vessels shall be filled, was repealed by the civil-service act. (21 Op. A. G., 393.) how filled. Second, that all the offices, places, and employments so Vacancies, arranged or to be arranged in classes shall be filled by selections according to grade from among those graded highest as the results of such competitive examinations. Third, appointments to the public service aforesaid in Appointments. the departments at Washington shall be apportioned among the several States and Territories and the District of Columbia upon the basis of population as ascertained at the last preceding census. Every application for an Application for examination shall contain, among other things, a statement, under oath, setting forth his or her actual bona fide residence at the time of making the application, as well as how long he or she has been a resident of such place. Fourth, that there shall be a period of probation before Probation. any absolute appointment or employment aforesaid. examination. contributions Fifth, that no person in the public service is for that Political reason under any obligations to contribute to any political and service. fund, or to render any political service, and that he will not be removed or otherwise prejudiced for refusing to do so. Sixth, that no person in said service has any right to Coercion. use his official authority or influence to coerce the political action of any person or body. examinations. Seventh, there shall be noncompetitive examinations in Noncompetitive all proper cases before the Commission, when competent persons do not compete, after notice has been given of the existence of the vacancy, under such rules as may be prescribed by the Commissioners as to the manner of giving notice. changes in Eighth, that notice shall be given in writing by the Notice of appointing power to said Commission of the persons service. selected for appointment or employment from among those who have been examined, of the place of residence of such persons, of the rejection of any such persons after probation, of transfers, resignations, and removals, and of the date thereof, and a record of the same shall be kept by said Commission. Exceptions to rules. Regulations for examinations. Minutes of proceedings. Investigations. Annual report. Chief examiner. Secretary. Stenographer and messenger. And any necessary exceptions from said eight fundamental provisions of the rules shall be set forth in connection with such rules, and the reasons therefor shall be stated in the annual reports of the Commission. Third. Said Commission shall, subject to the rules that may be made by the President, make regulations for, and have control of, such examinations, and, through its members or the examiners, it shall supervise and preserve the records of the same; and said Commission shall keep minutes of its own proceedings. Fourth. Said Commission may make investigations concerning the facts, and may report upon all matters touching the enforcement and effects of said rules and regulations, and concerning the action of any examiner or board of examiners hereinafter provided for, and its own subordinates, and those in the public service, in respect to the execution of this act. Fifth. Said Commission shall make an annual report to the President for transmission to Congress, showing its own action, the rules and regulations and the exceptions thereto in force, the practical effects thereof, and any suggestions it may approve for the more effectual accomplishment of the purposes of this act. SEC. 3. That said Commission is authorized to employ a chief examiner, a part of whose duty it shall be, under its direction, to act with the examining boards, so far as practicable, whether at Washington or elsewhere, and to secure accuracy, uniformity, and justice in all their proceedings, which shall be at all times open to him. The chief examiner shall be entitled to receive a salary at the rate of three thousand dollars a year, and he shall be paid his necessary traveling expenses incurred in the discharge of his duty. The Commission shall have a secretary, to be appointed by the President, who shall receive a salary of one thousand six hundred dollars per annum. It may, when necessary, employ a stenographer, and a messenger, who shall be paid, when employed, the former at the rate of one thousand six hundred dollars a year, and the latter at the rate of six hundred dollars a year. The Commission shall, at Washington, and in one or more places in each State and Territory where examinations are to take place, designate and select a suitable number of persons, not less than three, in the official service of the United States, residing in said State or Territory, after consulting the head of the department or office in which such persons examiners. serve, to be members of boards of examiners, and may at Boards of same. Chief examiner.-The office of chief examiner created by the civil-service act is to be filled by appointment by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate. (18 Op. A. G., 409.) Detail of clerks to Commission.-Section 3 of the civil-service act of January 16, 1883 (22 Stat. L., 405), authorizes the detail of persons in the official service of the executive departments to be members of the boards of examiners in the Civil Service Commission, but does not authorize such detail for any other purpose or service. public officers. Opinion of December 22, 1904, adhered to. (25 Op. A. G., 379.) Examining boards-carrier entitled to compensation while serving as examiner.— It is within the spirit and, as a consequence, within the clear meaning of the letter of the law, that the examiner during the time he is engaged in conducting civil-service examinations is attending to his official duties, and it is quite clear that he should be paid the compensation attaching to his office during that time. (Op. Asst. Att'y-Gen'l P. O. Dep't, July 23, 1892.) tions, etc., for SEC. 4. That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of Accommodathe Interior to cause suitable and convenient rooms and Commission. accommodations to be assigned or provided, and to be furnished, heated, and lighted, at the city of Washington, for carrying on the work of said Commission and said examinations, and to cause the necessary stationery and other articles to be supplied, and the necessary printing to be done for said Commission. SEC. 5. That any said Commissioner, examiner, copyist, or messenger, or any person in the public service who shall willfully and corruptly, by himself or in cooperation with one or more other persons, defeat, deceive, or obstruct any person in respect of his or her right of examination according to any such rules or regulations, or who shall willfully, corruptly, and falsely mark, grade, estimate, or report upon the examination or proper standing of any person examined hereunder, or aid in so doing, Frauds. Customs classification. Post-office classification. or who shall willfully and corruptly make any false representations concerning the same or concerning the person examined, or who shall willfully and corruptly furnish to any person any special or secret information for the purpose of either improving or injuring the prospects or chances of any person so examined, or to be examined, being appointed, employed, or promoted, shall for each such offense be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars, nor more than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not less than ten days, nor more than one year, or by both such fine and imprison ment. SEC. 6. That within sixty days after the passage of this act it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury, in as near conformity as may be to the classification of certain clerks now existing under the one hundred and sixty-third section of the Revised Statutes, to arrange in classes the several clerks and persons employed by the collector, naval officer, surveyor, and appraisers, or either of them, or being in the public service, at their respective offices in each customs district where the whole number of said clerks and persons shall be altogether as many as fifty. And thereafter, from time to time, on the direction of the President, said Secretary shall make the like classification or arrangement of clerks and persons so employed, in connection with any said office or offices, in any other customs district. And, upon like request, and for the purposes of this act, said Secretary shall arrange in one or more of said classes, or of existing classes, any other clerks, agents, or persons employed under his department in any said district not now classified; and every such arrangement and classification upon being made shall be reported to the President. Second. Within said sixty days it shall be the duty of the Postmaster-General, in general conformity to said one hundred and sixty-third section, to separately arrange in classes the several clerks and persons employed, or in the public service, at each post-office, or under any postmaster of the United States, where the whole number of said clerks and persons shall together amount to as many as fifty. And thereafter, from time to time, on the direction of the President, it shall be the duty of the Postmaster-General to arrange in like classes the clerks and persons so employed in the postal service in connection with any other post-office; and every such arrangement and classification upon being made shall be reported to the President. classifications. Third. That from time to time said Secretary, the Revision of Postmaster-General, and each of the heads of departments mentioned in the one hundred and fifty-eighth section of the Revised Statutes, and each head of an office, shall, on the direction of the President, and for facilitating the execution of this act, respectively revise any then existing classification or arrangement of those in their respective departments and offices, and shall, for the purposes of the examination herein provided for, include in one or more of such classes, so far as practicable, subordinate places, clerks, and officers in the public service pertaining to their respective departments not before classified for examination. Examination appointment war veterans R. S. SEC. 7. That after the expiration of six months from required for the passage of this act no officer or clerk shall be ap- and promotion. pointed, and no person shall be employed to enter or be promoted in either of the said classes now existing, or that may be arranged hereunder pursuant to said rules, until he has passed an examination, or is shown to be specially exempted from such examination in conformity herewith. But nothing herein contained shall be con- Preference to strued to take from those honorably discharged from the under sec. 1754, military or naval service any preference conferred by the seventeen hundred and fifty-fourth section of the Revised Statutes, nor to take from the President any authority Exclusions. not inconsistent with this act conferred by the seventeen hundred and fifty-third section of said statutes; nor shall any officer not in the executive branch of the Government, or any person merely employed as a laborer or workman, be required to be classified hereunder; nor, unless by direction of the Senate, shall any person who has been nominated for confirmation by the Senate be required to be classified or to pass an examination. SEC. 8. That no person habitually using intoxicating Intoxicating beverages to excess shall be appointed to, or retained in, any office, appointment, or employment to which the provisions of this act are applicable. SEC. 9. That whenever there are already two or more members of a family in the public service in the grades beverages. Members of a family. |