Feb. 7, 1902.

or a compensation at the rate of $1,800 or more, but less than $2,000 per annum.

Class 5. All persons receiving an annual salary of $2,000 or more, or a compensation at the rate of $2,000 or more, but less than $2,500 per annum.

Class 6. All persons receiving an annual salary of $2,500 or more, or a compensation at the rate of $2,500 or more per annum.

Provided, That this classification shall not include persons appointed to an office by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, nor persons employed as mere laborers or workmen; but all positions whose occupants are designated as laborers or workmen, and who were prior to May 6, 1896, and on June 10, 1896, regularly assigned to work of the same grade as that performed by classified employees, shall be included within this classification. Hereafter no person who is appointed as a laborer or workman without examination under the civil-service rules shall be assigned to work of the same grade as that performed by classified employees.

Promulgated John P. Green, of Ohio, appointed August 27, 1897, to position of postage-stamp agent at $2,500 per annum in the Post-Office Department under an exception from examination, may be treated as occupying a competitive position without examination or certification by the United States Civil Service Commission.

EXECUTIVE ORDERS.

NAVY-YARD SERVICE.

The regulations of the Navy Department governing the employment of labor at navy-yards having been adopted by the Civil Service Commission as a regulation of the Commission July 29, 1896, under the authority conferred by clause 1, Rule I, of the Revised Civil Service Rules of May 6, 1896, it is hereby ordered that no modification of the existing regulations shall be made without the approval of the Civil Service Commission."

EXECUTIVE MANSION, November 2, 1896.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

PHILIPPINE SERVICE.

The United States Civil Service Commission is directed to render such assistance as may be practicable to the Civil Service Board created under the act of the United States Philippine Commission for the establishment and maintenance of an honest and efficient civil service in the Philippine Islands, and for that purpose to conduct examinations for the civil service of the Philippine Islands, upon the request of the Civil Service Board of said islands, under such regulations as may be agreed upon by the said Board and the said United States Civil Service Commission.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, November 30, 1900.

WILLIAM MCKINLEY.

a Pursuant to this Executive order, the following minute was adopted by the Commission: "Whereas the enforcement by the Secretary of the Navy of regulations governing the employment of labor at navy-yards having been shown to be highly useful, and it being important that they should be given stability independent of changes of Administration, and it appearing that the examinations and other tests of fitness provided by these regulations are based on the principles that personal fitness should prevail over recommendation, and that political influence should be disregarded, it is

"Ordered, That these regulations be, and they are hereby, adopted as the regulations of this Commission under the authority conferred by clause 1 of Rule I."-Minutes of July 29, 1896, clause 4.

VETERAN PREFERENCE.

The attention of the Departments is hereby called to the provisions of the laws giving preference to veterans in appointment and retention.

The President desires that wherever the needs of the service will justify it, and the law will permit, preference shall be given alike in appointment and retention to honorably discharged veterans of the civil war who are fit and well qualified to perform the duties of the places which they seek or are filling.

WHITE HOUSE, January 17, 1902.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

ATTEMPTS OF EMPLOYEES TO INFLUENCE LEGISLATION.

All officers and employees of the United States of every description, serving in or under any of the Executive Departments, and whether so serving in or out of Washington, are hereby forbidden, either directly or indirectly, individually or through associations, to solicit an increase of pay or to influence or attempt to influence in their own interest any other legislation whatever, either before Congress or its committees, or in any way save through the heads of the Departments in or under which they serve, on penalty of dismissal from the Government service. THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

WHITE HOUSE, January 31, 1902.

EMPLOYMENT OF DRAFTSMEN,

ETC.,

AT NAVY-YARDS.

All persons at navy-yards, naval stations, and at private shipbuilding and manufacturing establishments where work is done by contract for the Navy Department, employed as special mechanics and civilian assistant inspectors of work and materials (including ordnance, armor, armor plate, marine engines, hulls, buildings, dredging, etc.), and all persons employed under the Navy Department as ship draftsmen, marine engine and boiler draftsmen, architectural draftsmen, structural steel-work draftsmen, electrical draftsmen, cartographic draftsmen, and ordnance draftsmen, including assistant or lower-class draftsmen of the various grades, are hereby placed under regulations of the Navy Department governing the employment of labor at navy-yards. Appointments to these positions shall be made hereafter on tests of fitness prescribed in paragraphs 74 to 83, inclusive, of Navy-Yard Order No. 23, revised. Pending the result of such examinations, the Secretary of the Navy may appoint to the above positions qualified persons for a period not to exceed thirty days: Provided, That when an examination is held by the Navy Department for any of the above positions and no eligibles are obtained, temporary appointment may be made by the Secretary of the Navy for a period not to exceed ninety days, subject to the approval of the Civil Service Commission: And provided further, That transfers of draftsmen from navy-yards, naval stations, and offices outside of Washington, D. C., may be made to the respective bureaus and offices of the Navy Department proper without regard to the rule relating to apportionment.

WHITE HOUSE, April 30, 1902.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

DECLARATION OF THE MEANING OF SECTION 8, RULE II.

Whereas certain misunderstandings have existed in regard to the proper construction of section 8 of Civil Service Rule II, which provides as follows:

"No removal shall be made from the competitive classified service except for just cause and for reasons given in writing; and the person sought to be removed shall have notice and be furnished a copy of such reasons, and be allowed a reasonable time for personally answering the same in writing. Copy of such reasons, notice, and answer and of the order of removal shall be made a part of the records of the proper department or office; and the reasons for any change in rank or compensation within the competitive classified service shall also be made a part of the records of the proper department or office."

Now, for the purpose of preventing all such misunderstandings and improper constructions of said section, it is hereby declared that the term "just cause," as used in section 8, Civil Service Rule II, is intended to mean any cause, other than one merely political or religious, which will promote the efficiency of the service; and nothing contained in said rule shall be construed to require the examination of witnesses or any trial or hearing except in the discretion of the officer making the removal. Approved.

WHITE HOUSE, May 29, 1902.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

PERSONS EMPLOYED IN THE U. S. MILITARY GOVERNMENT OF CUBA.

Persons who were in the employ of the United States in the military government in Cuba and who are not eligible for retention in the classified service under existing rules, but have been specially commended for appointment therein by the chiefs of their respective departments, with the approval of the Secretary of War, because of efficient services rendered under conditions of personal danger from yellow fever and other tropical diseases, and whose names are embraced in the list heretofore furnished to the Civil Service Commission by the War Department, may be retained and appointed to positions of a grade corresponding to that which they now hold in the classified service, with the consent and approval of the Commission.

Approved.

WHITE HOUSE, July 3, 1902.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

APPOINTMENT OF UNCLASSIFIED LABORERS.

In the exercise of power vested in the President by the Constitution and of authority given to him by the seventeen hundred and fifty-third section of the Revised Statutes, it is hereby ordered that appointments of all unclassified laborers in and under the several Executive Departments and independent offices shall be made in accordance with regulations to be approved and promulgated by the heads of the several departments and offices and the Civil Service Commission; such regulations to be in full force and effect on and after the date of their promulgation. Approved.

WHITE HOUSE, July 3, 1902.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

AMENDMENTS TO THE CIVIL-SERVICE RULES.

During the period covered by this report the following changes in the civil-service rules were made by the President:

July 31, 1901.

Rule V, clause 4, was amended so as to subject all positions in the Post-Office Service to uniform age limitations as follows: Minimum, 18 years; maximum, 45

years.

This amendment was the result of correspondence between the Post-Office Department and the Commission, with the purpose of making all the requirements, including the examination itself, uniform for the two grades of clerk and carrier, so that eligibles for either grade might be made available for the other grade in case of necessity.

October 31, 1901.

The following special rule was promulgated:

SPECIAL RULE.

An appointment to the vacancy now existing in the position of the clerk designated to sign checks for the pension agent at the pension agency at Philadelphia, Pa., may be made without examination under the civil-service rules.

The necessity for this special rule is explained in a letter from the Commissioner of Pensions to the Secretary of the Interior under date of October 21, 1901, as follows: Under date of December 23, 1897, I had the honor to recommend the exemption from the classified service of a chief clerk, a designated clerk, and a confidential clerk at each of the several pension agencies; however, the only exception approved by the President in the civil-service rules as amended May 29, 1899, section 57 of Rule VI, is one clerk to act for the agent during his absence or disability.

As set forth in my letter above referred to, the designated clerk is the person whose duty it is to sign all pension checks. It is a very important and responsible position, and in view of the fact of the pension agent being a very heavily bonded officer and responsible to the Government for the disbursement of millions of dollars annually, I am still of the opinion that the pension agent should be allowed to make his own selection of a person to whom he could intrust so important a duty and not be compelled to recommend the designation of a person already in the classified service of whom he has no knowledge and in whom he can not place implicit confidence. The Civil Service Commission, on page 76 of its Fifteenth Annual Report, concurred in my recommendation as to two of the positions, designated clerk being one of them. The foregoing is suggested by a letter from the pension agent at Philadelphia, Pa., under date of June 11 last, requesting the appointment of a person of his own selection to fill the position of designated clerk, now vacant. In view of this, I have to request that the President be asked to make a special exception in this instance, so that appointment to the present existing vacancy may be made without examination under the civil-service rules, and that the concurrence of the Commission be requested in the premises.

November 1, 1901.

The following special rule was promulgated:

SPECIAL RULE.

An appointment to the vacancy now existing in the position of steward of the White House may be made without examination under the civil-service rules.

The person appointed under this exception had previously been serving under an emergency appointment. The reasons for the exception were the personal character of the duties, which could not be properly provided for by competitive examination.

November 6, 1901.

The following special rule was promulgated:

SPECIAL RULE.

An appointment to the vacancy now existing in the position of laborer, with the duties of coachman, in the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy may be made without examination under the civil-service rules.

It was deemed impracticable to fill this position by competition, and no suitable eligibles were found upon the skilled-laborer register.

November 18, 1901.

Section 8 of Civil-Service Rule III was amended by striking out all of clauses (g), (h), (i), and (j) thereof and relettering the succeeding clauses accordingly. The clauses stricken out read as follows:

(g) Any person in the Quartermaster's Department at large of the United States Army employed as train master, chief packer, foreman packer, pack master, master baler, foreman of laborers, superintendent of stables, or forage master. Appointments to these positions shall be made hereafter on registration tests of fitness prescribed in regulations to be issued by the Secretary of War and approved by the President.

(h) Any person in the Medical Department at large of the United States Army employed as chief packer, packer, or assistant packer. Appointments to these positions shall be made hereafter on registration tests of fitness prescribed in regulations to be issued by the Secretary of War and approved by the President.

(i) Any person in the Ordnance Department at large of the United States Army employed as foreman, assistant foreman, forage master, weigher, skilled laborer, guard, or on piecework. Appointments to these positions shall be made hereafter on registration tests of fitness prescribed in regulations to be issued by the Secretary of War and approved by the President.

(j) Any person in the Engineer Department at large of the United States Army employed as subinspector, overseer, suboverseer, superintendent, master lock manager, deputy lock manager, assistant superintendent of canal, chief deputy inspector, deputy inspector, rodman, stadiaman, chainman, foreman, timekeeper, lock master, assistant lock master, custodian, storekeeper, fort keeper, torpedo keeper, assistant torpedo keeper, light keeper, board master, subforeman, master laborer, gauge reader, steward, dam tender, assistant dam tender, helper, carpenter's helper, machinist's helper, quarry master, blacksmith's helper, climber, barge master, recorder of vessels, track man, gardener, assistant gardener, or weigher. Appointments to these positions shall be made hereafter on registration tests of fitness prescribed in regulations to be issued by the Secretary of War and approved by the President.

The reasons for this amendment were set forth in a memorandum prepared by the Assistant Secretary of War and submitted to and approved by the Chief of Ordnance, Chief of Engineers, the Surgeon-General, and the Quartermaster-General, early in April, 1901. Under date of Octorber 17, 1901, said memorandum, with the indorsements of approval, was forwarded to the Commission by the War Department and formed the basis of the above amendment. The memorandum is as follows:

In the month of May, 1896, the civil-service rules were amended, and the rules as thus amended remained in force until May 29, 1899. The amended rules of 1896 provided for the trades and other noneducational examinations in the different Departments and Indian Service. The working of these rules was in the main satisfactory to the Departments concerned. On May 29, 1899, by Exécutive order, certain civilian positions in the Quartermaster's, Medical, Ordnance, and Engineer departments were taken out from the operation of the existing regulations, and it was provided that appointments to these designated positions should hereafter be made on registration tests of fitness prescribed in regulations to be issued by the Secretary of War and approved by the President.

No regulations have ever been issued by the Secretary of War in regard to these positions. The result is that the legal status of all appointees to these designated positions is somewhat in doubt, owing to the fact that as no new regulations have been prescribed and as the appointments are not governed by the provisions of the previous regulations, there are no rules or regulations governing their selection. If regulations were formulated by the Secretary of War it would result in two systems