Evening star., 1895-06-14
The Aegis Of Civil Service Covers
All Government Printers.
D EFAILS OF THE 0RDE R
How the Classification Will Be
Made Up.
EXAMINATIONS TO BE STRICT

service rules are practically settled by the
rule prepared by the civil service COM
missioners and signed yesterday by the
President. Doubtless amendments will be
made from time to time, as necessity oc-
casions, but for the most part the thorough
consideration given the matter by the pub
lie printer and the commission has left
little to be suggested in the way of al
teration or addition.
The classification provided for in the Or
der signed by the President yesterday is
as follows:
l. All clerks receiving an annual salary
of $I20 or less this not including, of course,
day laborers, charwcmen or rough labor
of any kind.
2. All clerks receiving an annual salary
of $50 down to S72O.
3. All receiving from $50 to $500 year.
4. Those getting from 5000 to $1,000.
5. Those having from $1,000 to $1,000
year.
g. Those getting from $1,000 to sl,4oO.
I. Those having from 81 400 to $1,600.
s. Those getting from 81 GOO to $1,S00.
8. Those clerks getting from $1,SOO to
$1,000 year.
TO- Those receiving an annual compensa-
ton of 5000 or more.
How Piece Wages Are ReckOned.
In a large number of positions in the Of
flee the compensation IS not made in a reg
ular annual salary, but by piece wages.
All such employees will be rated as hereto
fore by their pay during their annual leave
of absence. Thus, for instance, a compost
tor receives during his leave so a day
for d month, He would accordingly be
rated as clerk of the fifth class, receiv-
ing 81 900 a year. The same rule of claSSi-
fication v i'll be applied in all lines of piece
work throughout The office. In the book
binders department this will include a
large number of women employed as skill
ed laborerS.
The Examinations.
The examinations for places in the office
will be divided into two grand divisions,
the first of which will include such practi-
cal tests of the applicants fitness as the
commission may determine upon, and the
second will embrace all the DATA apper-
tanning to each applicant as the commits
sion may deem necessary to put on record.
An applicant for a trade place will be re-
quired to answer a series of questions, Civ
ing an account of his experience in his
particular line, where he has worked, how
long, just what he has done. for whom he
has done trade work and all other infor-
nation that the commits sioners regard as
essential for he good OF the service. All
this will be taken under oath, ard the COM
missioners will in each case verify the
statements made in this way.
Registration Examinations.
For all places where competitive exam
ination Is not practicable there will be a
system of registration examinations on the
same plan as that in successful use at
some of the large post offices, notably ttat
at Boston and Chicago, where applicants
are required to make the fullest possible
statement of their qualifications all under
oath, and then the appointing boards are
required to begin at the head of the list
and give consideration to each applicant in
the order of priority. II for any reason an
applicant Is not fitted for the work re-
ouired his name is passed over, and some
other applicant following On the list is
considered
The examinations in practical efficiency
will be conducted under the direction of the
civil service commissioners by practical
experts selected by the commissioners from
the various divisions of the government
printing office. These practical tests will
be very much what they have always been
The applicant will in the first place be ask
ed to take off his coat, if the time of the
test be in winter, and his vest, If 1t be in
the sunny month of July or August. Then
he will be given a case, a stick" and a
take and his fun will begin.
Number of Applicants Reduced.
first result of the application of the civil
service rules to the Office will be to exclude
large class of applicants that have
hitherto had a chance there, especially in
the balmy old times when the spoils sys-
tenn was on top in all the government de-
partments. The inquiry which the civil
service commission will make into the ante
cedents Of each applicant will serve to de-
ter many who otherwise would be among
the applicants. For instance, the public
printer has now on file $1,000 applications
under the old system, and 1t is safe to say
that when they are thrown into the waste
basket not 500 of them will ever be renewed
before the civil service commission.
The Age Limitations.
1t will be observed that the age for male
applicants is from twenty-one to forty-five
and for female is from eighteen to thirty
five. In the case of men the idea is to al
low time for acquiring a trade. An appli-
cant twenty-one years old must show that
he has worked four years as apprentice
ana one year as 1ourneyman, which
would take him back to his sixteenth year,
which is about as young as a boy ought to
be to begin to learn a trade as difficult as
the printers and about as young as he can
be to have his apprenticeship do him any
good. In the case of women the minimum
age is three years younger This is for the
reason that women are not in the trades.
Ihey are not IN the unions, and it is not
necessary for them to have served time
either as apprentices or as journeymen.
Their employment is principally as folders
and StitcherS in the bookbnding depart
ment, and for that work they are almost
lntultVely utted from earliest S1rlhOod. 1t
is true that there are some women type
settlers, but they not credited to the
trades, but are put down skilled labor
ers. The age limitation will not be drawn
against women who apply as skilled la
borers who want to set type.
The Matter of Transfers.
Under the rule just made transfers will
be allowed to employees in the government
printing office, but only within the lines of
each trade. Thus, for instance, a type
setter could not ask to be transferred to
the land Office as a clerk, but he could be
transferred to the printing Office connected
with the railway mail service or to the
weather bureaus printing office. In other
words, his transfer must be to place for
which he has peculiar trade qualifca tons
and to no other. A bookbinder could only
ask to be transferred to a bookbindng
office in some of the departments.
A good deal of curiosity is manifested to
know just what parts of the printing office
are included in the rule. 1t practically
takes in everything that the act of Con-
gress last January placed under the public
printer. All the branch offices in the de-
partments are included except the printing
offices in the railway mail service. the