The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-01-28
HOW TO GET AN OFFICE.

are applying almost every day for positions
in the railway mail service after the 4th of
March. The fact that positions of this
character have been placed within the civil
service seems to be lost sight of, and as
pirants for postal clerkships appear to en-
tirely overlook the fact that it will bs
necessary for them, after the 18th of March,
to make their applications for these places
to the Civil-service Commission, and stand
a regular examination. 1t is source of
great satisfaction to men in Congress that
they have been relieved of the irksome
duties which would otherwise devolve up
on them under the next administration, by
a recent proclamation from President
Cleveland placing the mail service within
the jurisdiction of the Civil-service Com
mission. 1t will relieve them of fully
25 per cent of the ofice-seekers. as about
One-fourth of the men who aspire to fed
eral positions want to so into the railway
mail service. All of these applications
must now go to the Civil-service Commits
sion and thus the Congressman are re-
heved. 1t is useless for those who want
positions in the railway mail service 10
write to their Senators and Representatives
in Congress. They must first apply to tho
Civil-service Commission for the prelimi-
nary blank applications. Then the work of
pushing the ambition for a position is
through the commission, without any polit-
lcal influence.
To-day your correspondent had talk
with Secretary John L. Doyle of the Civil
service Commission, who is one of the most
capable advocates of civil-service reform
and the machinery which it is necessary to
work In order TO get a position under the
government. He told me all about the
routine through which applicants for posi-
tions IN the railway mail service must go In
order to be successful. Mr.. Doyle said:
First, those who want to enter the rail-
way mail service should write to the COM
mission and get the blank applications for
examination, stating that the examination
is to be for the railway mail service. These
applications include a blank showing
the name of the applicant: resiaencc,-ege
birthplace, education, domestic relations,
moral record, physical and mental capabili-
| ties, and in general brief history of the
applicant and lis fitness for the position TO
| which he aspires. A circular is sent with
| the application, giving instructions TO ap-
| plicants. They must be eighteen years old.
| and not over thirty-fve, unless they have
| been honOrably discharged from the mill
| tary or naval service by reason of disabil-
ity resulting from wounds or sickness in
i CURED in the line of duty, when they may
| be examined without regard TO age. No one
| sewing IN the army or navy can be exam-
! ined without the consent of his superior
| officer. and no one habitually using intoxi-
eating beverages 10 excess can be appointed.
| No females can be appointed"
Secretary. Doyle was asked as TO the
| scope and rigidity of the examinations. and
| he said:
There is but enc grade of examination,
| appointments being made to the first class.
4 which includes all places of $500 or less per
| annum. Places above that pay are filed
| by promotion or transfer. The examina-
tions are not rigid, although they are in-
tended to elicit the fitness of the applicant
for the position applied for The examina-
tion is in orthOgraphy, copying, penman-
ship, arithmetic. fundamental rules, frac-
| tlons and per centage; also letter writing.
The geography OF our country, and especial
| ly of the State or railway mail division in
| which the applicant resides; the words
| i'll spelling are such as any per-
son of ordinary school education can be
| able to handle, and the copying exercise
will be, for instance, fifteen or twenty lines
| taken from the civil-service rules and regu-
lations, OF from some official document. He
| will be marked In penmanship, and in
letter writing he will probably be marked
an examination made in the readiness and
| correctness of the applicant In reading adj
dressed cards, and in that exercise he will
be marked in accuracy and Quickness. 1t
| is test of eye-sight.
"The applicants who pass. an examina-
| ton will be entered upon the register of
the eligibles according to the State in
4 a
ours the names cf the three persons stand
| ing highest on the register Of the State in
| which service is to be rendered will be GER
titled, and from among these three q selec-
| tion and appointment must be made. 1t
will be a local system for being
brought home TO the applicants in their
own neighborhoOd. The commission has
| already sent out over 800 sets of applica-
tion papers and instructions and requests
are coming In rapidly every day. The en-
tire number of places In the railway mail
service is $50. The commission now has
| boards of examiners in every State and
Territory, and these boards viii be able 10
continue the examinations upon very short
notice. The questions will, of course, be
| prepared and printed at Washington and
sent to the boards. The answers viii be
| marked at Washington under the direction
and supervision of the commission. You
can lay emphasis on the fact that every ap-
plicant by the merit of his examination
practically decides his own standing and
his chance of appointment. Any political
or other influence brought 10 bear upon the
commission with the object of inducing the
commission 10 hasten appointment or
swell the percentage OF 5he applicant
will be more of q hindrance than help. The
number of applicants viii doubtless be in
excess of the needs OF the service, IL is
quite impossible 10 make any prediction on
that score just now. 1t may be that a large
proportion of these applicants, upon finding
the nature of the examination, will be de-
TERED from making application. Ii is a
practice now of the members of Congress
and officials generally To refer all letters
on the subject directly TO the commission
for the commission's action. Influence can
not help anyone to be certified for appoint
ment The commission must always cer-
| tify the names of those standing highest,
and it is useless TO appeal TO any outside
influence TO secure a certihcation. All in-
quiries should be addressed directly 10 the
commission, thus avoiding a roundabout
correspondence through third persons con-
fusion and delays. The experience the
commission has had in the examination for
the forty postofiices that are now embraced
under the rules will. of course, be applied
10 the execution of the rules for this new
class.
The commission has under il now 1900
places IN departments. eleven custom dis
tricts and eleven custom boards and forty
of the largest postOifices In the country.
making "a total of twenty-eieht thousand
places. Including railway mail-service, as
far as possible, the commission has uniform
ity in methods of application. examination
and appointment. The rules have been in
successful operation in the customs. postal
and departmental services since 1883, and
can be extended with but very few modif-
cations to the railway mail service. Exam
J ination will be practical as TO ply steal ana