Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1920-12-03
Sixty thousand Have Passed
Examinations for Positions
Under the Government.
PUT SNAP into The WORK
10 the Law Establish
Preference for SoIdIers-Not Dis
ouaIIfied by War Wounds-Nun,-
bor Increases Steadily.

army men are still In the service anu
are injecting some of the Old-time war
pep into their handling Of the mail,
keeping records of government inSur-
ance, helping to liquidate the nations
war contracts putting together the re
suits Of the 1920 census, opening up
and irrigating and draining new gov
eminent land, clerking In all the vari-
GUS government departments - doing
anything that needs to be done around
the national household. The number
OF ex-service men working for the gov
eminent is increasing steadily, and to-
day numbers 10000 who have passed
the examination and 10000 who have
been certified for appointment AT the
present time the actual count Is 1880
ex-service folk now detailed for duty
with the government, but with these
new appointments the number will be
doubled and trebled in the near future.
Like Old Times.
"It reminds a person of old times to
wander through some government
buildings and hear head clerk shout
out the never-to-be-forgotten snap to
it," writes ]. w. Rixey Smith. MANY
a sedate and settled-for- the-ages gov
eminent bureau has had its papers and
It's calm ruffled recently as the thou
sands of men who did their hitch In
the army or the navy walked in under
civil service to occupy desks in just
about the same manner as they would
take trenches. They hurl papers
around as If they were throwing Mills
bombs, and they chase in and out as
II they were always after German,
bitterly lamented one old-timer about
to be retired to make way for the new
blood.
MANY amendments looking toward
civil service jobs for ex-service men
and women and their dependents have
been added to the civil-service laws.
Five such amendments and two execu-
tive orders of the President have been
instrumental In opening the gates Of
government service as wide as pos
sible to the ex-service man.
zone amendment establishes prefer
diers, sailors and marines, wives of
disabled men and widows of service
men In appointments to certain posi-
tons in the District of Columbia.
Another amendment provides for
the reinstatement of all civil service
employees who went to war. Another
restores to their places on the civil
service eligibility list all those who
lost their civil service status by reason
Of joining the military or naval forces.
"a fourth amendment makes II pos
sible for a disabled ex-service man to
hold civil service position In spite of
his disability upon the certification OF
the federal board for vocational edu-
cation that he has been trained for
and is capable Of performing the work.
"The fifth and last amendment pro-
vides that, instead Of the percentage
of 20 required to be made on the regu-
lar civil service examinations, a per
centage Of IS made by ex-service per-
sons shall result not only In their pass
ing but in their being placed on the
civil service eligibility list above all
others regardless Of the marks made.
Civil Service Preference.
"Of the two executive orders Of the
President on the subject Of civil serv-
Ice and the ex-service man, one pro-
vides for the reinstatement, within five
years of an honorable discharge, of
those who held positions before the
war In the competitive classified serv-
Ice, and the other extends civil service
preference regulations to all postmas-
terships Of the first, second and third
classes.
Despite the fact that 10000 war
veterans are on the civil service ELI
gibility list and that these changes
have been made In the law in their
interest, only 1880 have so far re-
ceived civil service appointments.
There are two reasons for this: The
first and most obvious is that there
have not been 10000 vacancies. The
second is that the law requires In the
making Of the civil service appoint
ments the names Of the three highest
eligibles shall be submitted to the de-
partment head. Where the name Of
an ex-service man Is submitted, along
with the names of two other persons
who have made the highest marks Of
any civilians taking the examination,
the department head may choose either
the ex-service man or one Of the other
two ellgibles for the position. Thus
all of the congressional amendments
and preference talk Notwithstanding,
the civil service Job for the ex-service
man depends in a great measure upon
the department heads Of the govern
ment.
Salaries In the civil service vary
greatly. The average departmental po-
sition In Washington pays anywhere
from $1,000 to $500 a year, while
many civil service positions In the
work Of the different departments
throughout the country pay as low as
$500 a year with quarters and mount
as high as 5000 year All salaries
under $500 carry a yearly bonus of
s240."