The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-12-21
SECOND ANNUAL REPORT


 Of the Executive Committee of the Con-
 necticut Civil Service Reform Associa-
 ton.
 To the Connecticut Civil Service Reform
 Association:
 Gentlemen: The work of the assoeia- ton during the past year has consisted mainly in watching and Investigating civil service examinations held in the state of Connecticut. These include federal examinations. conducted under the United States civil service commits sion, and municipal examinations con- ducted by the New Haven civil service board, the only board of it's kind in the state s,.5. -...- @
 FEDERAL EXAMINATIONS.
 The federal examinations are held mainly for the purpose of filling vacan- cies in clerical positions in the depart nents in the postofffee and in the cus- tom houses. Such examinations are held from time to time in the principal cities of the state, and special sub- committees of the association have been appointed to look into the manner of conducting them. These sub-co committees were: For Hartford. Charles Hopkins Clark. Jacob l.. Greene and G. c. F.. Williams; for Bridgeport, Howard H. Knapp; for waterbury, Arthur Reed Kimball Charles P. Kellogg, and Julius F. Maltbys for New Haven, Clarence Deming, Charles s. Pickett and Henry W. Farnarn: for Norwich, William A. Aiken. The importance of this watch- falness on the part of the local assoeia- tions Is shown in the fragrant cases of stimulation which were discovered in Boston by Mr. Stebbins early in the year, and which resulted in the prosecu- tion of the men concerned. Where per- sons acquainted with the locality are allowed to be present and to see the can didates, such cases are much less likely to occur and the civil service commits sion state distinctly in their latest rules that they have no objection to the pres ence of visitors. provided, of course, they are not allowed to carry away or publish the questions. One drawback to theslnethod which these examinations have been commonly conducted is that, owing to lack of funds, the federal commission is obliged to rely largely upon local committees, usually appoint ed from among. the employees of the post office, to conduct the examinations There is therefore, opportunity for lax- ity and misund understanding in the appli- cation of the system. Thus. while in New Haven the committee of the asso- citation was cordially welcomed to the examination room and allowed to look over the papers and ask questions of the examiners. in another city of the state the committee was informed that such an inspection was quite contrary to the rules. An order recently issued by the federal commissioners is expect ed to remedy this local independence, and give greater uniformity to the ex- aminations. Under this order the coun- try is districted, and ecan district is put under the supervision of an exam ming board. Thus the greater part of New England is under the jurisdiction "a board in Boston: New Haven and the western partof Connecticut, togeth- CT with certain parts of New Jersey are under the Jurisdiction of New York board. We shall watch with interest during the coming year the operation Of this new system.
 POVERTY OF THE UNITED STATES :.# { COMMISSION.
 Another curious fact with regard to the federal examinations came to our attention during the year. It appears that the federal government has no means of paying for room large enough to properly conduct it's examina-