The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1908-07-24


decided to be this: All who wanted
such positions must pass certain ex-
aminations, and those who stood
highest on the list of those who pass
ed the examination must be chosen.
Before the law was passed each per-
sor who did any part of the public
work was given his position by the
persons at the head of his depart
ment. For example, the postmasters
who were and still are appointed by
the president Except in the case of
what are called Fourth Glass post
Offices" which exist only in small
towns,) choose the clerks and mail
carriers who did the practical work
of the post Office under their direc-
ton. Now all these clerks and mail
carriers are chosen from lists Of
men who have taken the civil SER
vice examinations and passed them
successfully.
Now what are these examinations?
Most school children know what
school examinations are and that
they are intended to test the pupils
in different studies. If a pupil is
to be tested in his knowledge of his
tory for example, he is not asked
questions about geography. In just
the same way the questions that are
asked people wishing civil service
positions are intended to test their
knowledge of the duties they will
have to perform in the Office they are
trying to get. This must be remem-
bered because many people think
that civil service examinations are
only made up of questions in history
or arithmetic, or geography and 9TH
err studies that may not have any
thing to do with the work the sue
cessful applicant will actually have
to accomplish. To find out what the
real civil service examination is let
us suppose that a young man wishes
to be steamboat inspector. This
of course, is a very important posi-
ton, as a careless or ignorant inspec-
tor might report boat to be in per-
requires good eyesight,: plenty of
strength, and steady judgment he
must go to a good physician and get
from him certificate or paper tell
ing all that is important to know
about his health and strength. When
he sends these papers to the COM
| commission by which the examina-
lions are conducted, if the answers
are satisfactory, a notice is sent to
him and on the day of the examina-
tion he and others whose application
papers have been approved, meet at
the place appointed to write their ex-
animation papers. We will suppose
that he wishes to be an Inspector of
the hulls of steamboats,. Among the
questions ne will answer will be
many relating to the way in which
bulls are made, he is supposed to
know how the different parts of a
hull are joined together, how the
deck beams are connected with the
hull, how wooden deck planking is
fastened to iron deck beams and
many other practical facts connected
with the construction of steamboat.
Other questions will test his knowl-
edge of the rules of navigation, he
will be asked about the different
kinds of signals that are used ,''oout
the number of people lie boat
should carry, and about other things
important for him to know.
If he wishes to be an Inspector of
boilers on steamboat very different
questions will be asked. He will
then be supposed to know how
boilers are made, all about safety
valves and Indicators, how boilers
are run, what causes them to wear
out, and best ways of testing their
strength and so forth.
Other questions also are asked to
test the candidates knowledge of
arithmetic, and to show whether he
| can write clear and correctly spell
! ed letter or report. But the ques-
lions about the special duties of his
| position are considered the, most i'm
portant, and when the papers are
| marked his knowledge of these du-
ties is given the greatest weight.
| This means that, in the special case
of boiler inspection, if he answers all
! the questions in arithmetic correctly
| his papers will be marked 10 in
arithmetic, but if he answers all the
questions about boilers and machin-
cry correctly he will get 60 in this
subject. His letter writing may also
be marked 10 and his experience if it
has been of kind to fit him for the
1 al ~,