Evening star., 1894-11-03
WITHIN THE LAW
The President Makes an Important
Extension of the Classified Service.
MESSENGERS AND WAFCHMEN
The Various Branches Which Are
Affected by the Order.
MORE OF THE SAME SORT

Civil service reform received substantial
| impetus yesterday at the hsrds Of Pres
| ident Cleveland. With a few strokes of his
| pen he signed orders extending the pro-
visions of the classified service to Offices
not heretofore embraced within it, and re-
vising existing classifications in branches Of
the service already classified. so as to bring
within the classification many places here
| tofore excluded. Probably the most ini-
| portant of these. so far as Washington IL
| concerned, was the order relating to mes
| sengers. assistant messengers and watch
men In the various departments of the gov
| ernment in this city.
| The Presid ,nt has for a long time had
under consideration the subject of further
improving the methods by which the bus
mess of the government is transacted Dur.
ing the press Of legislative matter, and
| especially of the tariff upon him he as.
| sured the members of the civil service COM
mission that as soon as he could find the
time he would give close attention to tho
various suggestions which the commission
had placed before him. Consequently, be-
fore his return FROM Gray Gables he notified
the commission that Immediately upon his
| arrival In Washington he would consult
/ with them in reference thereto On Wednes.
| day the members of the commission were
| closeted with him for two hours, and yes
| terdsy they were again in conference with
| him for as long time. The result wss
that President Cleveland signed orders
| which go into effect Immediately, a synop-
| sis OF which follows
The Customs Service.
/. A revision of the customs classification,
| SO as to bring within that service all en-
| ployes not serving merely as workmen or
iaborers, without regard to compensation.
| Heretofore this service has been CLASSIFIED
on the basis of compensation, all employees
| receiving a compensation of less than $500.
| or rate of compensation less than $500
per annum, have been excluded from the
classification, and therefore not subject to
| the civil service rules. This action Of the
President brings the classifcat ton of the
| customs service into harmony with those OF
| the other branches of the service, and is q
| very important one In connection with that
| service.
2. An amendment to customs rule I, ex.
| tending the classification to Include all Gus
toms districts in which there are many
| as twenty employees. The present limit II
fifty employees, and under that limit eleven
| customs districts have been classified. The
extension of the classification TO include all
districts I'm which there are many as
| twenty employees will bring into the classt-
fed service certainly eleven additional dis
tricts, and probably several more, and goes
as far in the direction of classifying the
customs service as 1t is wise to so at this
time, or, perhaps. at any time.
3. An amendment to the classification OF
the departmental service at Washington
SO as to include in the classified service, and
departments messengers, assistant messen-
gers and watchmen.
Within the Law.
4. An amendment to the civil service
rules abolishing the right of transfer upon
non-competitive examination of persons ap-
pointed to excepted places after one years
service~in such places to classified non-ex-
cepted places. Hereafter persons appointed
from the outside to excepted places In any
branch Of the classified service cannot be
| transferred at the end of one year into the
amendment, in the judment of the commits,
sion, is distinctly in the interest of good
administration of the service.
8. An order extending the classification Of
the Post Office Department so as to include
In the classified service of that department
the clerks employed In the offices of the
post office inspectors. There are compara-
lively few of these persons.
q. Amendments to the postal rules with
drawing from the excepted class very
large proportion of the places now excepted
from examination. This amendment will
transfer from the excepted class in the
classified post offices to the non-excepted
class probably not less than ] 500 places,
the whole number Of excepted places in the
classified post offices now being in the
neighborhood of 2.300. Hereafter ii will
not include more than 700 or 800.
Z. An amendment to the departmental
rules withdrawing from the excepted class
In the Department of Agriculture the chiefs
Of the divisions OF entomology, economic
orntthology and mammalogy and pomology
and the assistant chiefs of these divisions.
3. An amendment to the Indian rules pro-
viding for the appointment assistant
teachers i'm the Indian school services, with
out civil service examination, the graduates
of the normal classes at Salem, Greg:
Santa Fe. n. Mex; Haskell Institute, Law
renee, Kan; Carlisle School, Carlisle, Pa:
Hampton Institute, Hampton Va, upon
their certificates of graduation, but before
they shall be required to pass the regular
civil service examination.
A Further Extension Probable.
8. Allowing appointment without examina-
ton for not exceeding thirty days to the
places which may be filled by non-com.
petitive examination in the department at
Washington in cases Of emergency, pending
an examination by the commission. No ap-
pointment made under this authority can
continue longer than thirty days.
At the office OF the commission today
President Proctor and Commissioner Ly-
nan were particularly happy over the ex-
ecutive action. -t-
said Mr.. Proctor, significantly, to a re-
porter of The Star There are further
extensions in contemplation that only await
the arrangement OF minor details, which
will be perfected at approaching confer
ences between this commission and the
heads Of the several departments"
The AfrO-American Dureau.
The Afro american bureau of the demo-