The Detroit times., 1910-10-24
THE GOVERNMENT AT WOl
IE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION
\ By FREDERIC 4 .HASKIM

(, that all positions in the classiiiod SCR
vice are filled under the open com
petitiye examination, Positions which
require highly conndentiai service. are
fii.eu without exaiuinAtlon under uivu
service rules, National hank examin-
ers. receivers In the once on the comp
troiler OF the currency, cable eiecIri-
clans under the WarNDepartmeut. and
special agents in the general rand or
nee appointed TO Investigate Ilaudu-
lent entries and olner matters OF
criminal nature, are instances OF sucn
exceptions M
There has been Q marked develop
ment In the work OF ne civil seryice
commission. This n disclosed by 4
diminution In the abuses which the
civil service act Is intended 10 remedy.
Positions formerly regarded as im-
possible OF classification have been
classified or otherwise drawn from pat
ronage: examinations have been ap-
piled with a greater measure or sue
cess to positions requiring q high de-
gree OF professional, scientific, or tech
meal qualifications: political activity
| on the part OF employees occupying
competitive positions has met with in.
creased prosecution by the commits
sion; political levies ON ofice-hoiders
have been less frequent: and the ap-
pointing ofiicers OF the government
are being relieved from the impor.
tunities for positions.
Only about one-eighth OF the posi-
tons embraced In the competitive SER
vice are located at Washington. In
Misunderstanding the rules In the SER
vice outside OF Washington. the com.
mission is aided by some 100 local
boards OF examiners. having In al more
than 5000 members. The rules require
that none OF these local boards shall
be composed solely OF adherents to
one political party when other per-
sons are available and competent 70
serve.
When there Is vacancy In the gov
eminent service. the official In charge
OF the bureau or department In which
the vacancy occurs requests the civil
service commission to send him list
OF elegibles for appointment. The COM
mission certines to that Official the
names of the three eligibles for APP
pointment having the. highest ratings
upon their examipation papers. The
appointing ofYicial may select any one
OF the three. Formerly, II was the
custom of the appointing official to
reject all certifcations until he found
the name he was looking for. II
senator desired the appointment OF q
certain constituent who had succeed
ed in passing the examination. he
simply went to the appointing ofIicer
and got promise from him to take
care Of that constituent. Under pres
ent rules the appointing oficer may
not reject a long list Of certified
eligibles in order to reach the name
he is looking for. The rules are be-
ing more strictly enforced and their
spirit more thoroughly lived up to
and while there Is still opportunity
for officials making appointments TO
} favor political friends. these oppor-
tunities are gradually disappearing.
Men have q much better chance In
the government service than women.
The list of employees discloses the
fact that only eight per cent Of the
vast army Of workers In the employ
OF Uncle Sam are women. II may be
! said to the credit OF the women, how
ever, that the records OF the civil SER
vice commission show that they are
} able to stand examinations better than
their brothers. During the course OF
! many years the women applicants
have had higher ratings on their ex-
animation papers than the men. How.
ever, this does not result In q pro-
! portionate favor among the govern
! ment officials. The law gives to the
various cabinet officers. and other ap-
pointing officials, the privilege Of cali
ing for male eligibles II they desire,
and this privilege is frequently exer-
cised Especially Is this true In the
case Of positions requiring confidential
service. In former years women ell
gibles found II comparatively easy 10
get positions as stenographers and
: typewriters. but today nearly all such
: appointments are made from the list
J OF male applicants.
Some positions are more easily Sc
cured than others. This Is true In the
case Of young men for stenographers.
The supply OF these has never ex-
ceeded the demand, and the same con-
dition prevails in the railway mali
service. In the more important POSI-
tons the supply OF eligibles Is far
smaller than in the less important
ones. There may be thousand
eligibles for a elerkship and only one
for a place as craftsman. The reason
for this Is that In the ordinary posi-
! ton In the government service sal
aries are considerably higher than sal
aries for like services In private busi-
ness, while In the more important
positions the salaries paid by Uncle
Same are lower than those pal din