Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-04-20
Three Thousand to Be Appointed by
August 1.
GREAT PRESSURE FOR PLACES
Plan for Gradual Increase of
Force
LET RS Mt OU T

will be appointed 5000 additional clerks in
| the census office. The eligible list at pres
ent contains almost enough names to fill
these places. and from time to time the APP
plicants who have successfully passed the
examination are being notified when to re-
port for duty. 1t has been necessary in
planning out this immense work to so ar
range the taking on of clerks that as fast
as they are needed there will be work for
them to do. This has been perhaps one of
| the most difficult propositions that has con-
fronted Director Merriam; and Appoint
! ment Clerk Langley, who has immediate
charge of this matter, has been threatened
with paresis several times. 1t is impossible
for one to appreciate the enormous pressure
that has been and is being brought to bear
| uron the census officials for positions.
When the director hit upon the plan of
dividing the appointments among the sena-
tors and representatives he believed he had
overcome perhaps the greatest obstacle
Which would confront him.
Pressure for Places.
But experience has proved this to be a
false position. Senators and representa-
tives have been insisting, from the day the
director was appointed. that their friends
should be Immediately put in office. For
me nths there was absolutely nothing for
tatives were just as persistent, and either
could not, or did not, want to understand
the exact condition of affairs. Since, how
ever, the preliminary work of taking the
census commenced, the effort of these con-
gressmen to have their constituents ap-
pointed has been redoubled. AS fast as pos
sible the director has made appointments
in line with their recommendations, en-
deaVoring at all times to eQutably dis
tribute the patronage. The office has grown
immensely within the last three months
and within the next three the Office force
will have been completed.
Those who have passed the examination
and have not been appointed are living in
the hope of early recognition. and that
great army Of applicants who have never
been examined. augmented by that smaller
but more persistent force of those who
have been examined and failed. are anx-
1cuSly waiting a chance to show their
merits in an examination. Chief Exam
liner CARRIER, who conducts the eYamina-
tions has returned from his flying trip east
and west, and taken up new quarters in the
Union building, on G street between 9th
and 1th, where, beginning next Monday,
examinations will be conducted every day
until the 18th of June. The director has
arranged to have at least forty examined
day, and hopes by the middle of June to
number he anticipates will be necessary to
complete his force. The examinations will
be similar to those already held, a little
more care being given to practical mathe-
iAtttiSo, SpciiiHso @hiiu Siiii
Gradual Increase of Force.
During this month IA additional clerks
will be appointed In May 195 will go to
work. June will call for the greatest num-
Der; 1869 will be added to the pay rolls
during that month. In July SSS additional
ones will go to work, while August calls
for pa. Of course, there will be other ap-
pointments in the early fall, but they will
be comparatively small in number.
The large increase in the force for June
is explained by the director to be due to the
puncherS who use the registering ma
Chimes for counting the population of the
United States Already contracts have
been let for the desks upon which these
machines will be operated. together with
all of the paraphernalia necessary. This
punching force, which will number approx
mately 1,2O0 people, will be located in one
of the large halls the first floor of the
census building. 1t will be divided into
sections containing twenty-eight punchers
and each section presided over by a chief
and an assistant. There will be at least
fifty sections. The desks will all be on
hand and in position by the middle of May
and the machines will follow shortly after
ward.
1t must not be understood that because
the census office will require approximately
1900 clerks between now and August that
there is the slightest opportunity for any
one who is not on the eligible list to get
one of these appointments. The director
has mad an estimate made UP by the chiefs
of the several divisions of the number of
clerks they will require during the different
months. and already letters are being sent
advising certain applicants of their appoint-
ment and when they will be expected to re-
port.
Notifications Sent Out.
This letter states briefly that upon the
recommendation of Mr.. So-and-So their
appointment has been ordered, at salary
of 800 per annum, upon the condition that
they report to the Office on a certain day.
1t also states that the work to which they
have been assigned cannot be delayed and
unless they are ready to enter upon duty
on the day named it will be necessary to
appoint some one else. All appointees the
letter says, will be given a fair opportunity
to show their fitness for the work and only
those will be retained who are satisfactory
Promotions will depend entirely upon merit.
The letter closes with the statement that if
the foregoing conditions are acceptable the
applicant sign the blank at the bottom and
return the Same at once to the director
The blank at the bottom which thew are
required to sign states: II accept the an
pointment rendered above upon the condi
tons named, and will report at the census
Office tor duty blank date, 1900