Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-03-26
CIVIL SERVICE RULES.

The point having been made in Washing
ton by Southern office seekers that the civil
service regulations disfranchise every ex-
Confederate soldier, and storm of COM
plaint having been raised thereat, the fol-
lowing authoritative statement is telegraph
ed from the capital under date of last Fri
day:
The point which Southern men are en-
deavoring to make against the civil service
regulations, namely: that these regulations
''disfranchises all ex-Confederate soldiers" ,"
is not fair one. The proper way to put
the distinction, of course, is that the regu-
lations exclude from competition for posi-
tions in the Post Office any American citi-
zen over 35 years of age, and under the
Treasury any American citizen over 40
wears of age, with the exception only OF
honorably discharged Union soldiers and
sailors who are otherwise qualified. These
exceptions, which give an honorable recog-
milton to the Union soldier and sailor, were
embodied in the Federal statutes long be-
fore there was any civil service law, and no
one in either party has ventured to gainsay
their propriety. No, Northern man who
was not in the Federal army and honOrably
discharged, who was more than II years of
age when the war began, can be admitted
to any position in the postal service, or who
was more than q years of age when the
war began can be admitted to any position
under the Treasury Department, any more
than any Southern man under like condi-
tions can he. The ex-Confederates, there
fore, will seek in vain to find any sectional
distinction in the civil service regulations,
save and except the distinction which runs
through most all Federal legislation, that
service in the Union army or navy is a
L. 4 TInr 60 ~ ic
ion upon the statute books which imposes
any disabilities upon ex-Confederates who
have applied to have their disabilities re-
moved, and the Southerners will in vain
seek to charge the Civil Service Commission
with sectionalism by raising this issue. The
point unquestonably is not made for any
such purpose. 1t originates in hostility to
the civil service system as whole. 1t has
been preceded by attacks designated to cast
ridicule upon the general system of compet-
tive examination for original appointment
and subsequent promotion upon the basis
of merit. While it is not known that the
Civil Service Commissioners are strenuous
as to the exact age which they have pre-
scribed in the regulations as the limitation,
they did conclude that those years were the
best to secule efficiency.
Commissioner Dorman B. Eaton, Of the
Civil Service Commission, was questioned
tonight as to the justice of this point. He
said that the question was entirely new to
him and the Commission. He had never
before heard an insinuation that the rules
Disseminated against eX-Confederates, and
this charge was prepOsterous. The eXclu-
sion Of eX-COnfederates was never thought
of when the regulations were framed. The
requirement as to age is an eminently prop
er one. Experience has taught and the opin-
ion is unanimously expressed, that the
ages fixed are those best suited to efficient
preiudicial to the service. The civil SER
vice rules did not exempt Union soldiers
any further than was required by law, and
did not exclude Confederate soldiers in any
sense of the term. 1t is true that an en-
Confederate soldier who was more than IL
years of age when the war broke out is dis
qualified for employment in the postal SER
vice. 1t is equally true of any man in any
business or profession in any portion of the
United States unless exempted under the
law. 1.-The reguation," Commissioner Ea-
ton added, "cannot be justly attacked or
made the preteXt for any such agitation as
that proposed"
SPRING FAsHIONs.-A fashion article
gives the following as the coming spring
styles in ladies' head covering:
The coming hats and bonnets are of styles
and shapes that would puzzle any one but a
milliner to describe. They are seen with
one, two and even three points on the brim
in front or at the back, and sometimes the
crown runs up into point; in fact, they are
decidedly Gothic in architecture, the trim
mings also pointing upward. Then there
are round hats with curled brims and pref
ty little capotes, varying only slightly from
the present shapes They are in all kinds
of white and colored straws from the finest
to the coarsest braids. Silver and gold
tissue, Grape in light tints, silk, velvet, rib
bons of all kinds, coarse woolen and thread
laces, and linen battiste and canvas ribbons
and scarfs are all used in the manufacture
and trimmings of these coverings. Flowers
and straight wings or plumes are also among
the ornaments most used. The style of
trimming is often bunch of upright loops
and ends of ribbon of several shades almost
directly in front of the hat. A dark brown
straw, for instance, has three high loops Of
ecru watered ribbon, two loops of canvas