Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1901-03-17

you wish a lucrative office IN Uncle
Sans newly classified Philippine SER
vice? If so, be up and doing at once.
You have five weeks In which to brush
up your rusted learning.
The first civil service examination for
government positions in East In
dian service will be held in all large
cities of the United States on April %.
1t will be open only to American citi-
zens, who must solemnly swear that
they are. such before being admitted to
competition. l spent yesterday after
noon at our civil service bureau, study
ing the newly completed scheme for
filling these distant offices. l inter
viewed the officials concerning the
chances for Americans to succeed in the
great competition. The Philippines
have a civil service board of their own,
and l was allowed to peruse the advance
copy of the interesting manual of ex-
aminations which it has prepared. Our
civil service commission will cooperate
with this board so far as the examina-
luis W 10 uclu IL SiiiSI fCd Ii COuCOl u
ed. The board will hold the same COM
petitions at Manila. Iloilo and Cebu.
Natives of the Philippines
must, according to the strict civil SER
vice laws of the islands, be given pref
creme in the filing of all Offices in this
newly classified service. In other
words, if a Filipino and an American
are both certified by the civil service
board for the same office the former
mus be selected by the appointing Of
ficer, provided the qualifications Of the
two are equal. Second preference will
in similar manner be given TO honor
ably discharged soldiers, sailors and
marines.
About 500 American civilians will be
needed from the United States in spite
of these preferences. This is the unof-
fetal estimate of a member of the Phil
iTpine board. There will be little or no
chance for Americans to obtain ordi-
nary c~lerkships, but many st~enograph-
ers and typewriters, Spanish interpre-
tiers and translators, and men who have
professional, technical or scientific
qualifications will, / am told, be ap-
pointed from our cities and towns at
home when it is discovered that the sup
ply of Filipinos with such qualifications
is very limited. There will be plenty
of natives to fill positions as junior and
under clerks, messengers, watchmen,
laborers and such minor offices. The
salaries attached to these latter places
will, of course, be too low to warrant
Americans in travelling thousands of
miles to fill them. Therefore examina-
tions in these lower grades will not be
held in the United States.
Three grades of Offices will be COM
plted for in American cities next month.
These are for department assistants"
interpreters Tor translaters) and stem
ographers and typewriters.
Very Few F%iIipinos
are expected to compete successfully
for these. Later examinations may be
held in this country for custom house
inspectors, printers, bookbinders and
other positions, for which there is dis
covered to be a dearth Of competent ma
tives. The examinations here and in
the islands will all be held according to
the general plan of those regularly ar
ranged for our home service. Appli-
cants will have to fill u blanks sent
from Manila for distribution by our
civil service commission in this city.
The prize positions to be competed
for by Americans are those of depart
ment assistants Their incumbents
will be put in direct line for promotion
to the head of the dozen or more of
civil departments of the islands-to
offices paying $4,000 a year in some
cases. These civil department heads
are the treasurer, auditor, collector of
customs, collector of internal revenue.
director of postoffices, chief of forestry
bureau. chief Of bureau of mines, gen
eral superintendent of public instruc-
ton, member of the civil service board
and chief statistician of the insular
government. The system of filing va
cancies in these offices by promotion
of the department assistants mentioned
must. by law, commence eighteen
months after the civil service board OF
the islands has passed a sufficient num-
Der of these assistants to ill the high
est positions thus. Nowhere, perhaps.
in the entire civil service system is
there offered a brighter chance for sue
cesslon OF ambitious young men to high
office. The department assistants will
receive from $1,000 to $4,000 to begin
with. For their examinations they
will be allowed two days during which
each must write a thesis of 500 words
on one of two topics given. and must
correct a rough manuscript draft of $50
words. Other items for their examina-
ton will he arithmetic, algebra. plane
geometry, United States history. COM
merce and Industrial resources. gem
eral history, geography, territorial gov
eminent and administration and polit-
ical economy. In addition to this ex-
amlnation-which all must take-there
will be competition in a list of twenty
optional subjects. Of the latter the
applicant may be examined in as
many as he chooses.
n Civil Service of the ISLANDS.
now includes some 1900 men, POI of
whom are officers of the army and
navy. All of the latter will be grad
ually replaced by civilians as civil
government is established. OF enlisted
men there are 1S3 holding Office. Some
OF these will take advantage of the act
permitting them to remain in the civil
service without examination after hon.
orable discharge from the army or
navy. There are 3s6 American civil
ians in the service, and many oil these
will be succeeded by natives as vacan-
cies occur Filipinos. Chinese and
Spaniards already hold 3.546 Offices,