US Presidency
1888

No person shall be appointed or employed to enter the civil service, classified in accordance with section 163 of the Revised Statutes and under the Act to regulate and improve the civil service of the United States, approved January 16, 1883, until he shall have passed an examination or shall have been shown to be specially exempted therefrom by said act or by an exception to this rule set forth in connection with the rules regulating admission to the branch of the service he seeks to enter. 2. No noncompetitive examination shall be held except under the following conditions: ( a ) The failure of competent persons to be, after due notice, competitively examined, thus making it impracticable to supply to the appointing officer in due time the names of persons who have passed a competitive examination. ( b ) That a person has been during one year or longer in a place excepted from examination, and the appointing or nominating officer desires the appointment of such person to a place not excepted.