Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-09-10

but illustrates the demand in the public
service for young men with knowledge.
The purpose of the system is to obtain a
large number of weIl-educated. bright, keen
young fellows who are willing to enter
the permanent Philippine service and work
their way up. There is no fixed salary,
but those who enter with the poorest eX-
animation marks never receive less than
$1,000 to begin with
Uncle Sam is convinced that he misses
many a good man, just patterned for his
needs, through the public's ignorance of
the modus operandi of civil service eNami-
nation. The average applicant for eNamina-
ton appears not to have decided on the
position for which he desires to compete.
He simply wishes to take 1.-THE civil serv-
ice examination" Inasmuch as over 500
different forms of examination, regular and
special, now given in a year this re-
quest is a trifie indefinite. The commits
sion's first step is to mail the applicant
manual of examinations, which costs him
nothing. This generally forms the basis
Of selection which. after a volume of cor
respondence, is eventually expressed in
definite terms Then the proper app,ica-
ton blank is sent to the applicant.
Attempts to Bride.
The application blank when returned is
received in the application room" Here
it is carefully reviewed, and in many cases
1t has to be returned because of improper
or insufficient information. If 1t IS found
acceptable card Of authority, to be event
ually presented to the examiners, is mailed
to the prospective government employe.
This card is the ticket of admission to the
local examination room.
All examination questions are prepared in
Washington, and the papers containing
them are packed in envelopes, sealed in
with the great seal of the commission
and locked away In the question room
Previous to the examination the only per
who I.,>Nx hot n
asked are the chief Of the examination d.
vision the clerk in charge of the question
room and the shipping clerk who places
the seal on the envelope containing the pa
perS. There never was a known case OF
disclosure within the Washington office, al
though one official was visited by a man
who offered a hribe of 500 for advance in
formation and another was put in a position
to make So for such dishonesty. Not long
ago Colorado lawyer who desired his son
appointed stated that he would pay gener-
ously for any extra effort certain official
of the commission might make in his favor.
All such applicants are Immediately placed
on blacklist Of persons ineligible for ex-
animation, and fragrant cases are reported
to the Department of Justice for prosecu-
ton.
Previous to the local examinations the
sealed questions are mailed to the examin-
ing boards in the various cities. They must
be held until the first day of the contest, and
then the seal must be broken In the pres
The commission detected one case where
the seal was broken by a local United
States officer in whose safe the questions
were held awaiting the examination date.
This official, although a presidential ap-
pointee, was Immediately removed from Of
flee and the case was turned over to the
Attorney General.
Whenever there is the slightest suspicion
of a seal having been tempered with the
prepared examination is Cancelled and an
other full set of questions substituted
With the lists of questions sent to examin-
ers are always shipped from Washington
blanks and paper on which the contestants
must write their answers. In fact, they
cannot do Incidental ciphering on any but
the official paper The sheets Of paper is
sued are carefully counted and every scrap
must be returned with the questions under
seal. In fact, this paper is guarded as
closely as that upon which Uncle Sam
prints his paper money, and If fraction OF
a sheet goes astray an official investigation
Is always ordered. The Washington Of
flee issues shipping bill showing the ex-
act number of sheets issued to each ex-
must be Strengthened out or. II necessary.
repaired and returned in the sealed en-
velope.
Where Fates Are Sealed.
The written answers having been return
ed with the questions, the seals protecting
them are broken In the question room"
Here the paper account of each examining
board is checked up, and II It balances the
questions and answers are sent to the
tissue room" From here they are dis
trtbuted among the examiners, each of
whom has his speciality. The examiner af-
fixes his mark to the answers coming un-
der his jurisdiction. and finally all of the
answers Of one applicant go to the "aver-
aging ROOM" where the general average
of the applicant Is estimated and affixed.
In this room the fate OF the contestant Is
sealed.
The names Of contestants are never af-
fixed to their examination papers, but each
is given a number which distinguishes him.
The same number Is placed upon an en-
velope, inside Of which he places his name
and address. He seals the envelope In the
examination room. and It is sent with
others In a separate package, also under
wax seal, to the Washington once. These
envelopes are held by a clerk in the saver
aging room" AS soon as a general aver
age is marked the envelope whose number
corresponds with that Of the papers is un-
sealed and the applicants name Is finally
disclosed. This disclosure Is never made
until after the general average has been
worked out for the last time A formal
notice stating the average 10 then sent to |