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


Arithmetic ........ Nv
Letter writing ~. ........ 10
knowledge of boilers and machin-
cry ........ ......... 'oV
Experience ...... 20
And he will be marked only 70 on
his entire paper.
In order to have any chance at all
Of getting the position his paper
must be marked at least 70 unless
he has been sailor or soldier hon
orally discharged on account of
wounds or illness, in which case it
will answer for him to get as low a
mark as IS on his paper.
After he has passed his examina-
ton successfully his name will be
placed on a list at the head if he
has passed highest, at the foot If he
has passed lowest, or elsewhere ac-
cording to the marks he has received.
If he is among the highets three on
the list he stands a good chance of
fectly safe condition where as mat
ter of fact, it is quite unsafe and
thus put the lives of many people in
danger. Before the young man who
is candidate for this position takes
the regular examination, he must fill
out an application blank which will
be sent to him with certain questions
printed on it. The answers to these
questions show how old he is, where
he was born, what kind of an educa-
ton he has had, what kind of work
he has been accustomed to do,
whether he is healthy or has some
disease or deformity that might in
terfere with his doing the work
properly, whether he drinks intoxi-
eating liquors, and so fourth. He
must swear that his answers to these
questions are absolutely true, and
he must find two other people who
are citizens of the United States,
have a good reputation, and have
known him at least six months, to
answer few more questions about
his character and ability Now, be-
cause he is going to do work that
being chosen, as the first three
names are sent to the head of the
department in which he wishes to
work, and anyone of these may be
selected by him.
After the candidate has been ap-
pointed he must work for six months
ION probation" or on trial. If he
does not do his work as well as he
should, or if he misbehaves in any
way he can be discharged, and the
next three names on the list (Which
is called the eligible LIST are sent
to the head of the department, but
no on can take his place who has not
passed the examination. 1t is inter
esting to know that it very seldom
happens that candidates appointed
on probation have to be turned out
Once appointed, there is of course,
opportunity of promotion for those
who have done their work well. 1t
is quite plain, however, that man
occupying a low position might not
be fitted by his work for a higher
position in his department. Under
the rules he is required to take pro-
motion examination in which his
record is given heavy weight and
in which also the length of time he
has been in the service counts for
something. This is very important
part of the whole matter, since if it
were possible to promote men who
got into the service through easy ex-
animation to place the duties of
which called for much harder ex-
animation and the salaries in which
were larger, much of the good of the
examination system would be undone
and we would again have poor men
in important places.
There are many more things to
learn about the civil service and
about this method (called the merit
SYSTEM of choosing people to do it's
work; but it is easy to see from
even this slight explanation that 1t is
an improvement on the old way of
getting the public work done. The
public money is not SO easily wasted,
there is better chance of getting
people who understand the work,
and those who are appointed are
reasonably sure of not being turned
out for political reasons, but only if
they do not do their duty. The sys-
tenn does not always work perfectly
and the people who wish to get
places in the service without hav-
ing to pass the test of an examina-
ton, and especially the people who
would like to go back to the old
rrsx, -, l.