Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-11-05
CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATIONS.
HOW THEY ARE Conducted.
Judge Foiger Upon Civil Service Ques-
ti0ning.

EXAMINATIONS PAST AND PRESENT - COMICAL
YEaTUREs-oDD EXAMPLES OF IGNORANCE AND
STUPIDITY.
A member Of the old board of examiners, when
promotions and appointments In the civil ser
vice were regulated by examinations told STAR
reporter the other day an incident about Judge
Foiger in that connection. The gentleman
quoted was chairman of board which was
holding q civil service examination in New
York for appointments and promotions In the
federal service i'm that city. In these examina-
lions there was always ixity of standard
which was adhered to throughout. Judge
Folger came in when the papers of the candi-
dates were being examined He spoke i'm terms of
praise in regard TO the exact fairness and the
perfect system of the examination. but said
that he did not think that federal appointments
should be regulated by the rule of three. He
spoke at some length on the subject: the gene
raj driit of his remarks was that civil service
examinations did not amount to much, partcu-
larry in the way Of reform. and that he thought
other methods would in the end be found to
be more practicable.
FUNNY CIVIL SERVICE "REMINISCENCES.
In view of ex-SeCretary WINDOWS idea on
civil service reform. which has done more to
attract public attention at this time to that
suo1ect than ANYTHING else, there has
"reminiscences among officers of the Trea-
sury department, concerning the times when
the attempt was made to reform treasury
patronage. There is good deal of fun i'm these
"reminiscences The form of the examinations of
those days is still kept up but it is only form.
An old gentleman who was prominently con-
nected with the civil service reform eXamina-
tioDs of a few years ago, now goes through the
motions OF examining candidates for Treasury
appointments whose selection has been assured
before they ever present themselves for exam
nation. He has a small room In an out -of-the-
way part of the Treasury building, instead OF
the full swing of a suite of apartments the ex-
8minlng board possessed in its palmy day
The desks in his room at which ca ndidates are
supposed to sit, bear the unmistakable signs
OF very lnfrequent occupation. In not more
than one case out of twenty appointments made
In the department is there an examination. The
applicant always passes, and only goes through
an alleged mill in order to prevent the death of
all that is left Of the civil-service reform scheme
But TO the "reminiscences that spring up among
Treasury department officers. Some OF the ex-
animation papers of the time when exam
liners really examined certainly were interest
Ing reading.
THE NERVOUS MAIDEN.
The most unique, perhaps on record are those
of lady of about fOrty-f1 years. She handled
all the papers in a quiet, deliberate way and
while spending considerable time over each, got
through with her task considerably in advance
of any OF the Others undergoing the inquisitiOn.
She showed no signs of excitement or perturba-
ton whatever. The examiners were therefore
somewhat surprised when they looked over the
papers and found that all that the apparently
calm lady had done was to write these words
upon each paper 'Oh. dear! / am so nerviss l
don't know what to dOl'
CASE OF FALSE sYNTAx.
At one Of the examinations the candidates
were directed to correct the false syntax in the
following sentence: And Rebecca took eoodly
rameDt and put them on JACOB" One aspirant
for salary from Uncle Sam corrected the SEN
tence by making il read: ''And Rebecca took
sufficient raiment and put them on Jacob" He
evidently labOred under the impression that
jacob had come to see his girl without putting
On all his clothes.
THE CLERK WHO WAS NOT THERE AT THE TIME
clerk who was up for promotion to 81 400 a
year was given problem in regard to a suppo-
sitiOus case of the settlement of the accounts of
apaymaster entrusted with certain amount of
money The solution to the problem, as put
down in black and white, was that the clerk did
not know anything about it. ''This case hap
pened. he said, before came into the depart
meEt.
TIE YOUNG MAN WHO TACKLED THE INDETERMIN-
ABLE FRACTION.
Candidates were required to write out in full
the arithmetical problems which were given
them for solution. One of the problems upon
one examination-the first on the list-had for
its answer an Understandable fraction. One
young man struck that problem and went for il.
He was careful young man and wanted to
carry out his instructions in full He was an
hour later than the other candidates i'm handing
In his papers. He had touched nothing but that
problem He had staid by it all day. He had
covered sheets upon sheets of paper in the vain
endcavor to seize upon that Understandable
fraction.
ODD CASES OF IGNORANCE
Every candidate was asked to write out his or
her Clerical experience. In the majority of
cases this question brought full and detailed ac-
counts of religious belief and experience.
There were found hundreds of candidates who
could not bound the state in which they lived
nor tell its capital In fact, it was an excep-
tional case where person was found capable of
accurately bounding any state.
THE PROUD KENTUCKIAN.
Kentuckan in answer to the question who
discovered America? proudly wrote Daniel
Boone"
WHAT CANDIDATE KNEW ABOUT AMERICAN HIS
TORY.
The question "What two distinguished Polish
generals served in the Revolutionary WARP" was
asked After wrestling with it some time. one
young man put them down Cromwell and
Layfayeit."
BOUNDING" THE UNITED STATES
The records of the department show that one
answer to the question gave as the boundaries
OF the United States: Grand Portage and Lake
Michigan, New Foundand. Yucatan, Central
America aud the West Indies" The same man
Also confidently asserted that Sierra Leone was
one or the mountain ranges of the United States
Another adept in geography said that Vermont
and Arkansas were both Atlantic coast states A
candidate from New York admitted that he was
unable to bound his native state-NewYo rk-but
yentured that Chesapeake bay and the Gulf Of
St Lawrence were two of its boundaries In an
swer to the question what the three coordinate
branches Of the government WERE an answer
from candidate from cultured Boston was
''the senatorial. political, congressional and
legislative bodies" In American history
o Marylander said that the revolution
AIRY war commenced in 1853. One exam
ination paper dubbs the Attorney General as
the "Adjitant General and the President as
the ''exieitive branch" Of the government Nj
agara was spelt By one man three different ways:
''NiagOra," ''Nyagarer" and 'Nighaga-is-" Ne
braska " az spelt New Braska" and .'Nebras-
ker" by a handsome lady from Ohio-state Of