may direct, in connection with the execution of the civilservice act and of these rules, and in the performance thereof they shall be under the direct and sole control of the Commission. Such duties shall be considered part of the duties of the office in which they are serving, and time shall be allowed therefor during office hours. No board shall be composed solely of adherents of one political party when other persons are available and competent to

serve.

The boards of civil service examiners, tive departments in connection with though subordinate to the Commission, which they act. (20 Op. A. G., 557.) may be regarded as officials of the respec

Philippine civil service.

Executive

officers to facilitate examinations. Act, sec. 2,

cl. 1 and sec. 3.

2. The Commission shall render all practicable assistance to the Philippine civil-service board, and shall conduct examinations, upon its request, under such regulations as may be jointly agreed upon.

3. Persons in the executive civil service shall facilitate the holding of examinations and other work of the Commission; and executive officers in charge of public buildings shall permit and arrange for the use of suitable rooms under their charge, and for heating, lighting, and furnishing the same.

The rules were framed with the understanding that the stationery and other supplies necessary in the conduct of examinations, and for keeping the records pertaining thereto, shall come from the office at which the examination is held. Rooms can not be said to be "furnished,"

Citizenship.

or the execution of the rules "facilitated, " if boards are denied the supplies of various sorts necessary to perform their duties as agents of the Commission. The duty of public officers in this respect is imposed by the civil-service act.

RULE V.-QUALIFICATIONS OF APPLICANTS.

1. No person shall be admitted to examination unless he be a citizen of or owe allegiance to the United States.

Citizenship.-The attitude of the executive and legislative departments of the Government has been, and is, that the native inhabitants of Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands did not become citizens of the United States by virtue of the cession of the islands by Spain by means of the treaty of Paris.

The act for the temporary government of Porto Rico did not confer federal citizenship upon the inhabitants of that island. (23 Op. A. G., 370.)

There is nothing in the recent decisions of the Supreme Court (in the insular cases)

that would modify the view taken by the Attorney-General regarding the proposed amendment to the civil-service rules that every applicant for examination for appointment to the executive civil service of the United States in Porto Rico must be a citizen of the United States or a citizen of Porto Rico, and that every applicant for appointment to said service in the Philippine Islands must be a citizen of the United States or a native inhabitant of said islands. (23 Op. A. G., 458.)

The requirements as to citizenship may be waived for applicants for positions on

the Isthmus of Panama under such regu- nounced examinations to fill vacancies in

lations as may be provided by the Commission. (Executive order, December 8, 1904.)

The requirements as to United States citizenship may be waived for applicants for examination for the positions of officers of ships of the Coast and Geodetic Survey on duty in the Philippine Islands under such regulations as may be provided by the Commission. (Executive order, Feb. 15, 1905.)

The United States Civil Service Commission having reported that sufficient eligibles who are American citizens have not been secured through its duly an

interpreter and other positions, it is ordered that hereafter when an examination has been duly announced to fill vacancies in positions in any branch of the service and there is a lack of eligibles who are American citizens, the Commission may, if it deems it advisable and for the best interest of the service, accept applications from persons who are not American citizens, provided that, if found eligible, they shall not be certified for appointment so long as persons are eligible who are American citizens. (Executive order, June 13, 1906.)

plication.

2. Application for examination must be made under Form of apoath, in such form and manner and accompanied by such Act, sec. 2, cl. certificates as the Commission may prescribe.

Applications for examination.—All persons are required to make a proper application for appointment. The examination is not the only statutory requirement. * * * The authorities may require all applicants to verify such applications, and perjury may be committed in making oath to them. (Am. and Eng. Encycl. of "Civil Service.")

Law,

2, par. 1.

By decision of the court of appeals of the District of Columbia, an oath administered in connection with an application filed for a civil-service examination is an oath required by law, and a false statement sworn to in such an application constitutes perjury. (Johnson v. U. S., 33 W. L. R., 679.)

3. Persons serving under enlistment shall not be exam- Enlisted men. ined without the written consent of the head of the department under which they are serving.

tions.

4. The Commission may refuse to examine an applicant Disqualificaor to certify an eligible for any of the following reasons: (a) Dismissal from the service for delinquency or misconduct within one year next preceding the date of his application; (b) physical or mental unfitness for the position for which he applies; (c) criminal, infamous, dishonest, immoral, or notoriously disgraceful conduct; (d) intentionally making a false statement in any material fact, or practicing any deception or fraud in securing examination, registration, certification, or appointment; (e) refusal to furnish testimony as required by Rule XIV; (f) the habitual use of intoxicating beverages to excess. Any of the last five foregoing disqualifications shall also be good cause for removal from the service.

The removal of an employee who barrassment of the service, will be reresigns without due notice, to the em- garded as a removal for delinquency or

43845-10-3

misconduct, which, under the rules, will bar him from examination or reinstatement for one year.

page 110, Twenty-sixth Report, relative to the admission of deaf-mutes to examination; also report of the chief examiner, page 40 of that report.

See executive order of April 7, 1909, Age limits. 5. The Commission may, with the approval of the proper appointing officer, change by regulation the existing age limits for entrance to the examinations under these rules; but persons preferred under section 1754, R. S., may be examined without regard to age.

Trades positions.

Rating.

6. Applicants for positions in the recognized mechanical trades must have served as apprentices or journeymen for such periods as the Commission may prescribe.

RULE VI.-RATINGS AND ELIGIBILITY.

1. Examination papers shall be rated on a scale of 100, and the subjects therein shall be given such relative weights as the Commission may prescribe. Competitors shall be duly notified of their ratings.

All examination papers resulting from itor will be rated out of order or be made the same examination are rated simul- special. taneously, and the papers of no compet

Eligible registers.

2. All competitors rated at 70 or more shall be eligible for appointment, and their names shall be placed on the proper register according to their ratings; but the names of persons preferred under section 1754, R. S., rated at 65 or more, shall be placed above all others.

Whenever an examination has been duly announced and no eligible is secured to fill a vacant position the Commission may, in its discretion, certify for appointment the competitor or competitors who received the highest ratings in the examination, and the appointing officer shall make selection from such certification if he deems it advisable to fill the vacant position before awaiting the result of another examination. (Executive order, June 13, 1906.)

Term of eligibility.

Appointment of eligible granted preference under section 1754, R. S., not mandatory.-By section 1754, Revised Statutes, it is made the duty of those making appointments to civil offices to give a preference, other things being equal, to the class of persons named in that section; but the matter of capacity and personal fitness for the place is for the determination of the appointing power. (19 Op. A. G., 318; 24 id., 64.)

3. The term of eligibility shall be one year, beginning with the date on which the name of the eligible is entered on the register. This term may be extended, in the discretion of the Commission, for all those on any register, when the conditions of good administration render it inexpedient to hold a new examination.

RULE VII.-CERTIFICATION.

vacancies.

1. Any position or employment in the classified service Method of filling not excepted from competitive examination, unless filled by reinstatement, transfer, promotion, or reduction, shall be filled in the following manner:

(a) The nominating or appointing officer shall request Certification. the certification of eligibles, and the Commission shall certify, from the head of the register of eligibles appropriate for the group in which the position or positions to be filled are classified, a number of names sufficient to permit the nominating or appointing officer to consider three names in connection with each vacancy. When Amendment of so provided by regulation of the Commission, selection shall be made from the register by the nominating or appointing officer without preliminary certification of the Commission. Certification of an eligible for temporary appointment shall not affect his certification for probational appointment. Certifications shall be made without regard to sex unless sex is specified in the request.

When information is received concerning an eligible which, if true, would affect his fitness for employment in the classified service, no action toward permanently removing his name from the register will be taken until the eligible has been given an opportunity to show why his name should not be so removed, but his eligibility may be suspended until final

action is taken.

When the conditions of good administration require it, certification for filling a lower grade position may be made from a higher grade register.

Effect of delivery of certification of eligibles.-The certificate delivered to an appointing officer by a subordinate of the Civil Service Commission containing a list of eligibles is a complete authority to the officer and a complete protection to the appointee. (21 Op. A. G., 335.)

Certification should be made of the highest three names on a register on the date on which the request for certification is received.-D.'s name appeared fourth on a female clerk register. Upon request the highest three names were certified, one of the eligibles declining. A new

Apr. 28, 1910.

certification was requested, but before this request was made, new eligibles were entered on the register, so that D.'s name still remained fourth thereon. D. claimed that she was entitled to certification, as her name appeared fourth on the register at the time of the original request, and by the declination of the eligible preceding her, she became eligible for appointment on that date, and that her name should be certified upon the second request: Held, That as no selection was made from the original certification, the request had lapsed, and upon a new request, certification should be made of the highest three names then appearing on the register. (See De Lan Case, Fifteenth Report, p. 413.)

Certification to low salaried positions.— Certifications of persons for appointment to positions with salaries materially lower than the usual entrance salary will be made on the condition that such persons are not to be promoted within six months after appointment, unless at the time of or since appointment their names would have been within reach for certification at the salary to which promotion is proposed.

Selection.

Amendment of
Apr. 28, 1910.

(b) The nominating or appointing officer shall make selection for the first vacancy from not more than the highest three names certified, or on the register, with sole reference to merit and fitness, unless objection shall be made, and sustained by the Commission, to one or more of the persons certified, for any of the reasons stated in Rule V, section 4. For the second vacancy he shall make selection from not more than the highest three remaining, who have not been within his reach for three separate vacancies, or against whom objection has not been made and sustained in the manner indicated. The third and any additional vacancies shall be filled in like manner. More than one selection may be made from the three names next in order for appointment, or from two names if the register contains only two, subject to the requirements of section 2 of this rule as to the apportionment. Any eligible who has been within reach for three separate vacancies in his turn may be subsequently selected, subject to the approval of the Commission, from the certificate on which his name last appeared, if the condition of the register has not so changed as to place him in other respects beyond reach of certification.

An objection to a certification on the ground that one or more of the persons certified is already in the service can not be sustained.

* *

* *

Power of appointment not destroyed by limitation to three.-* the President, by authority derived from Congress, can prescribe qualifications, and require that the designation shall be made out of a class of persons ascertained by proper tests to have those qualifications. * An act of Congress, or a rule promulgated by the President, may require that the selection shall be made from persons found by an examining board to be qualified in such particulars as diligence, scholarship, integrity, good manners, and attachment to the Government. The appointing power would still have scope for the exercise of its own judgment and will. (13 Op. A.-G., 516.)

Presumption of compliance with law.The Comptroller of the Treasury will not go behind the certificate of the appointing power to ascertain whether the civil-service rules and regulations have been complied with in the employment

of persons in the classified civil service. (5 Dec. of Compt. Treas., 649.)

Revocation of order canceling selection for appointment.—Whether an appointing officer may revoke order revoking Mrs. · B.'s selection for appointment, withdraw his notice to the Commission of this revocation, and appoint Mrs. B. without further certification. Mrs. B. failed to receive the notice of her selection for appointment, not through any fault or neglect on her part, but probably from an error of the department in addressing the notice to Miss, instead of Mrs. B., and the failure of the postmaster at the address on the notice to forward the letter to Mrs. B. at a new address, which had been left with him.

There are weighty reasons why such a course would be inadmissible under the civil-service rules and regulations. It seems clear that after the revocation of the order of selection Mrs. B. stood in the same position as the other eligibles whose names were certified with hers; like them, she had been certified, but not appointed.