Evening star., 1897-01-22
M A N w A N T E D
An Important Question in Regard to Civil
Service Appointments.
A Lady Certified, hut She is Rejected
by the War Depart-
ment.

The War Department has raised an inn
portant question in regard to appointments
III the executive departments under civil
service rules Briefly stated the depart-
Iheht holds that the department or bureau
making requisition for clerk, messenger
VI othef employe has the right 10 determine
1or Itself the kind of person that is re-
quired for the services to be rendered Tho
question arose In connection with a va
cancy in the bureau of military fnforma t,on
OF the war Department. This bureau IS mar,
OF the adjutant generals office. Gen. Rug
giles, the head of the office held thar a man
was needed to perform the required services
and. accepting his Judgment on that pont
the Secretary of War made reuuisition
upol, ,he civll service commission for
ihdie cierk, at the same time Indicating
the character of the services required This
was IN october last. AS result the civil
service commission gave public notice of a
pvoal 1l,,',.s, us examination to fill the vacancy.
= 00nusuany nigh qualifications were required
L ne appicants must be competent to trans
iaee INTO English technical military works
IN french. German, Spanish and Italian,
TO do typewriting in all of these lanpuap.s
to do proof reading and prepare manu-
scripts for the press. to be familiar with
modern literary methods. with the c,ass,-
hcatlon OF books. cataloguins and index
ing. preparation of binding etc and also
10 be Versed in the use of the English lam
guage and literary composition
only Two applicants presented themselves
man and woman. The man failed The
woman passed with high percentage. and
III lne ordinary course of events she was
regularly certified TO the War Departmcnt
for appointment.
The War Department authorities posi-
uVeiy declined to accept her, however, on
the broad ground that they were entitled
10 male" clerk. 1t is explained at the
department that the personality of the lady
certified has nothing to do with the case
her rejection was based solely on the
ground that the department. and not the
civil service commission, was the Judge of
what was wanted. and. the department.
having asked for 'maie' clerk ii was
the duty OF the commission to honor its
requlsit1on in that regard. The question
OF the general merits of men and women
as clerks was not involved in the matter
The department held that a man was need
eu Tor this pacticular position, and that its
judgment on that point must be accented as
final
The commission evidently concurred i'm
this contention. At any rate IL did no,
press the matter, and has recently given
notice of another examination for the pur-
pose of filling the clcrkship in question.
Inc unfortunate victim of this contro-
Versy is Miss Maud Stalnecker of this CITY.
a lady OF unusual culture and attainments
as IS clearly Indicated by her highly sue
cessfm examination. Her friends claim
that she has not been fairly dealt with, and
it is possible the case may be brought to
the attention of Congress. 1t remains 10
be seen whether the commission will be
able to secure man possessing the re-
CURED qualifications for the office for The
salary hXed by law, VIZ, 81. 500 a year