The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-09-07
EIGHTEENTH REPORT OF THE
 CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION

| that win soon be ready for public dis
 tribution is the Eighteen Report of the
 Civil Service Commission, covering the
 period from July l. 1900 to June 30. 1901
 Exmintions and Appointments.
 The report proper tas distinguished
 from the appendix) is largely statistical,
 It opens with the statement that T,0l5 persons were examined during the year, | of whom 2, OPS were examined for the De- pertinent Service. This service does not
 include merely the departments at Wash ington. but all the federal classified ser vices outside of Washington, with the | exception of the postal, customs. internal- | revenue, and government printing ser vices. Thus, the railway mail and ln- dian services are divisions of the depart- mental service. Nearly H.oOo persons were examined for the postofiice servicej or a little over a thousand less than the | number examined for the departmental | service. About @ per cent. or 8. 739, of those taking examinations passed. and I4,959 failed. Compared with the year previous. this represented an increase of 2,112 n the number of persons examined, a decrease of 1,29s in the number who passed, and an increase of $40 in the number who failed.
 The total humber Of persons receiving appointment, excluding the Philippine service and the municipal service of the District of Columbia, neither of which is subject to the provisions of the CIVIL service act, was 9S70, distributed as fol- lows: Department service (excluding the railway mall and Indian services) 3.933; railway mail service Sl6; Indian service, 276; postoffice service, 4,2SS; custom house
 service, 302; government printing service, I72; internal revenue service, S Two- thirds of the appointments in the depart- mental service proper and nearly one- half of the appointments in the Indian service were of persons who had passed non- educational examinations. These examinations, which are sometimes term ed registration or experience examina- tions, are mainly based upon considera- ticn of the length and quality of the ex- perit. Q Grd the physical fitness Of ap- p,icants ...ey are usually held for posi- tons requiring a knowledge of one Of the mechanical trades or skilled manual occupations. In quiry is made by means of certificates from employers and fel- low workmen concerning qualifications A prescribed period of service at a trade is usually a requirement.. The examina- tions for competitors, pressmen, etc, in the government printing office are not in- cluded in this classy since Tn these scholastic tests are essential. The com mission states in the report that 1t has been unable to make the registration system for workmen as thorough as IS desirable for lack of sufficient clerical force.
 Concerning the preference given to Uni ted States soldiers and sailors honerably discharged for disability incurred in line of duty the report says:
 with a view to securing to those hon. orably discharged from the military or naval service by reason of disability tn- | cured in line of duty the benefits grant, | ed by Section 1754 of the Revised Statutes l the civil service rules give preference to l such persons in examinations by requir- l ing them to obtain an average of only 6 | in order to pass, in certification by plac- | ing their names at, the head of the reg ister before all others not veterans, and | in exempting them from all age limita- tions. The preference thus conferred ex- tends to all who have at any time been discharged from the military or naval ser- 1 vice by reason of disability incurred in l the line of duty, and is not confined to l those who have served during a war;
 A table accompanying shows that forty five appointments of preference claimants
 were made during the year. most of these
 being to positions in the Departments at
 Washington. The average age of these |
 years. Tn the appendix to the report the
 preference given to honorably discharged
 veterans of the war of the rebellion and
 the SpanishAmerican war in the matter l of reinstatement to the civil service Is
 mentioned. Such veterans, their widows,
 and army nurses of either of these wars
 may be reinstated without regard to the length of time they have been separated from the civil service. That this fs sub
 stantiaI benefit appears from the fact | that during the fiscal year covered by the
 report 131 such persons were reinstated, I or over 15 per cent of the entire number | of relnstatements. ."
 Transfers, Temporary Appointments, I Etc.
 | The Commission regards the number of ! transfers effected during the year (559) as ! excessively large, and in the interest of | the individual rather than the public ser vice, and attention is called to the fact | that the transfer rule has since been l amended to restrict transfers within the l same lines of work.
 At the end of the statistical portion of the report proper are presented the re-
 suits of a comparison of the number of persons examined, appointed, transferred. etc.. during the fiscal year ended June 90, ! 1901. with the corresponding figures for " pears that there was an increase of 1559 in the number of persons who took com petitive examinations, and an increase of sos in the number who received appoint ment. There was decrease of 327 in the number of appointments from non -educa- tional examinations. The increase in the number of temporary appointments was
 large, being AS over the previous year. It
 may be stated: in this connection. that
 the rule governing temporary appoint
 ments has since been amended, with
 view to cofining them more strictly to
 persons who have passed a competitive
 examination. There appears an increase
 decrease in the number of reinstate-
 ments of 16S.
 Extent of the Classified Service.
 A brief statement of the extent of the service subject to the civil service act and rules is a feature of the report. From
 his it appears that in the entire execu- tive service of the government there are,
 n round numbers. 900 places, of which number about 121, 900 are classified. Of the f14000 remaining unclassified. 7249S are hose of fourth-class postmasters. The
 'nnual expenditure for salaries for the
 lntire executive service Is stated to he 'bout $i30,0O GOO. and of this. $S5 0O0. .0eO or
 'early two-thirds, goes to salaries for positions subject to the civil service
 'ules. What Positions Should Be Classified.
 The view of the Commission as to what
 'ositions should properly be classified
 ppears in the following quotation from
 he report
 ftrN-