Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1885-03-30
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
EXAMINATION or APPLfCANTS AND
QUESTIONS PUr rO CLERKS.
A specimen OF the Process 20 which Able
Bodied Democrats Are Subjected Before
They Can Get n Chance at Some
of the OHices They Seek.


the government all applicants will have To
undergo competitive examination. Some
of our young friends hereabouts Republi.
cans and Democrats, who contemp plate sub
jectiDg themselves to such process will be
interested I'm reading the following account
from the Baltimore Sun, of recent competi-
tive examination in that city for positions in
the Baltimore postoffice. People who have
heard great deal about civil service reform
without having very clear idea of what IL
is, can also judge In measure from this ac-
count whether or not such system is calc,i-
ia'eu 10 select good class of officials.
THE PRELIMINARIEs.
Before the examination opened each appli-
cant was furnished with a declaration to be
filled out with full name, residence, whether
examined for the civil service within year
whether the applicant had ever been in tho
civil services If the applicant was now or ever
had been been in the army or navy of the
United States; date of birth and present en-
ployment, and state of health. At the head
of this blank number Is placed, which is
the applicants examination number, and cor
responds to his number put at the head
OF each of his examination sheets. This dec
iaration is placed in an envelope and not
opened until after all the papers have been
examined, so that the board does not know
while marking paper whose IL is, except
that 1t is number one or number two &c
After the averages of the applicants are
made up the declarations, upon being opened
uisciose the name corresponding to the
number.
EXERCISE IN DICTATIoN.
The first blank, which was on dictation,
was handed around, and Major Bailey, the
president of the board of examiners, took his
stand, where he could be heard by all, and
read aloud the following:
No question In any examination or pro-
ceding by, or under the commission or ex-
aminers shall call for the expression or dis
closure of any political or religious opinion
or afhliation, and If such opinion or afIiliation
De known, no discrimination shall be made
by reason thereof by the examiners, the COM
mission or the appointing power. The COM
mission and its examiners shall discounte-
nanceall disclosure, before either of them, of
such opinion by or concerning any applicant
Tor examination, or by or concerning any one
whose name is on the register awaiting ap-
pointment"
Major Bailey read it slowly and distinctly
with frequent pauses to allow 'catching up"
He look ed every inch the schoolmaster, and
some could even picture the birch i'm his
hand. " read slowly" he afterwards ex-
planned, "to give the fast writers time to
write more carefully and not to crowd the
slower Ones" A short time was allowed for
revision and punctuation, and in ten minutes
from the start all the papers were handed in.
Inc dlctation exercise, II afterwards trans
pired, was rule eight of the civil-service reg
ulationS
Then came the second part of the first sub
lsct, which was on copying and spelling.
Inc copying exercise was very simple con-
sisting of about 200 words of an abstract from
the postmaster-generals report of 1882. 1t
related merely to the saving accomplished by
the then recent contract for stamped enve-
iopes. The spelling exercise consisted of
twenty words in common use. The copying
and spelling made up sheet two.
ARITHMETICAL NUTS TO CRACK.
Sheet three, or the second subject, was
arithmetic, in which there were eight ques-
tons, with instructions to give the operations
in full Question one was one in addition,
the object being to get the total of the large
amounts of cotton exported from New Or
leans, Baltimore, New York, Yorktown and
Galveston. Question two was to find the
difference between the debt of the United
States and the cash in the treasury. The an
swer to this, whether accurate or only pro-
blematic, was something over sl,450O00
Question three was on this order SO clerks
are to distribute AS 900 letters on a particular
day. Half are experienced and half are new
men. If each of the experienced men do
twice as much as each new man, how many
will be distributed by each man and by each
class of men. Though apparently a stickler
at first, 1t soon resolved itself into a question
of proportions. The fourth question was
TO find the money value of lot of
stamps, where there were number of sheets
Of each denomination and each sheet contain
ed 100 stamps There were 100 sheets of one
cents stamps, 80 of twos, 73 of five and q of
tens. Question five was, "Write in figures
one million one thousand and one hundred
dollars and seven cents" Question six was
not very hard 1t was case like this
"There were handled by the railway postal
clerks in one year 2, l55, ,2l3, $50 letters and
postal cards and l,GS, ,756,765 pieces of other
UrnntI n.,A ttaIf
every 3,SO5 pieces handled. What was the
number of errors committed. The next was
this: "How many mail bags, containing 2
l-2 yards of cloth each, can be made of bolt
of so Yards, and what does each yard of cloth
cost, the cost of bag being s5 cents?" The
last question was 1: "The total revenues of the
postoffice department for the fiscal year 1882
were Sal, ,S76,4 no. l5 and the expenditures for
postmasters' salaries for the same time s., ,964,-
67672. What percentage of the revenues
did the salaries amount toY"
AN EXERCISE IN COMPOSITION.
Then came the third subject, which was
writing letter to the postmaster general
giving the applicants views on the Ameri-
can pOstoffice system and its importance on
the business of the country. This was chiefly
to try the skill of the applicants in simple
English composition and punctuation. If
many had jotted down their prevailing views
to the head of the department the tenor of
the letters would evidently have been on the
OTu6T 'lnt sySteIl lS II RODu one. fledSt
give me the best you have in the shop" But
no one dared, and the answers, as rule,
were short and to the point
The next and last subject was geography,
in which there were eight questions as fol-
lows Name the original thirteen states !"
"name the five great lakes i'm their order
from east to west !" 'name five mountain
ranges of the United States;' "name the
states bordering ON the Gulf OF Mexico" !"
"what states would you travel in going the
most direct line from Boston to Washing
ton - "name three rivers directly tributary
to the Mississippi" !" "glve five rivers, five
lakes, five bays and five mountain peaks in
the United States" The other was to give
the states I'm which are the waters on which
were ten large cities, such as Buffalo, New
Orleans, Chicago, &c. Geography was of
all the hardest subject, though seemingly
simple.
AS each candidate finished one paper he
put on it the time received and the time
finished, and handed it over to Secretary
Adams, who furnished the applicant with the
next sheet The first to finish was a young
man, who handed i'm his last paper at ten
minutes after H. The last paper was handed
in at 2p m.
HOW SELECTIONS ARE MADE.
The local board will be some days exam
ing the papers of the applicants, and those
who grade at 10 or over will be placed on the
civil service list. When the postmaster has 9
vacancy to fill he notifies the board, who send
him the names of the four grading highest
and from them the postmaster selects a name
The other three and the one standing mex