applied in all offices alike, so far as circumstances will permit, and does not deem it wise at the present moment to apply it in but one or two offices at the very end of an outgoing administration. (Minutes, October 16, 1893, clause 14.)

6. FAILURES TO REPORT IN RESPONSE TO TENDERED APPOINTMENTS.

Where a reasonable length of time, consistent with the needs of the office, has expired, and the person selected for appointment has not reported for duty, his name may be dropped from the register and a new certification may be made upon the request of the postmaster. What constitutes a reasonable length of time is of course a question to be decided by the postmaster within certain limits, say not less than five nor more than fifteen days. If a person thus dropped from the register for failure to appear shall make request to be again entered upon the register, the board may restore his name to the register, under Regulation VII, clause 4, for the additional certifications to which he may be entitled. (Letter to Los Angeles postal board, September 6, 1892, File 3760.)

7. PROMOTIONS AND TRANSFERS Postal Rule 5.

(a) Postmaster may make distribution of his force by promotion, transfer, or reduction, upon any test of fitness determined upon by him which the Commission does not disapprove, in the absence of promotion regulations. This discretion of course would not permit the promotion of a person to a grade requiring a higher examination where he was only appointed to a lower grade for the purpose of promotion, as such promotion would obviously break down the distinction between the examinations. Where a person has been appointed in good faith to a lower grade, and in the performance of his duties has been faithful and efficient, showing all the necessary qualifications for the place to which his transfer or promotion is proposed, and those qualifications have been practically tested, and where such promotion would add to the efficiency of the service and promote the public interest more than would an appointment from the eligible registers of a person unfamiliar with the work of the office or with the particular duties of the place to be filled, the promotion would be strictly within the spirit and letter of the rule. Whether a transfer to a place of carrier is to enter the service within the meaning of the act of August 2, 1882, Statutes, 185, requiring entrance to the class having the minimum rate of pay, is not a question for decision by the Commission. Regard must be had to the age limitations prescribed by Postal Rule II, clause 2, but no promotion or transfer (except appointment of substitute to regular places) may be made from one grade to another until after absolute appointment. (Letter to postmaster at Boston, July 31, 1888, and Minutes, June 4, 1888, clause 5.) (b) Watchmen, being within the classified service, may be promoted to clerk upon a test of fitness determined by the postmaster. (Minutes, April 10, 1888, clause 3, vol. 7, p. 250.)

(c) In view of the fact that there are now only two registers, clerk and carrier, an appointee need not serve six months in the lower grade before transfer to a higher grade, all appointments to clerical positions being made from the same register. (Minutes, October 26, 1893.)

(d) A substitute carrier can not be transferred to clerk, nor can a substitute clerk be transferred to carrier. (Minutes, August 18, 1893, clause 5.)

8. REINSTATEMENT.

(a) If a substitute carrier who was separated from the service involuntarily and through no fault of his own be reinstated, he shall be restored to all the rights which attached to his original position, and will be entitled to resume the relative position as substitute which he held at the time of his separation; but if a substitute or regular carrier who left the service voluntarily be reinstated, his relative position on reinstatement will be a matter in the discretion of the Department. (Letter from First Assistant Postmaster-General to postmaster, New York City, November 23, 1893.)

(b) To what class may be made.-So far as the regulations of the Commission are concerned a clerk can be reinstated to the same class or the same place he gave up when separated from the service over all other clerks below that class; but this question must be submitted to the Post-Office Department for practical settlement, the rules of that Department controlling the settlement of the question. (Minutes, October 4, 1893, cl. 11 )

(c) Upon the requisition of a postmaster certificate may issue for the reinstatement of a person who was separated from the service either as a clerk or carrier, either to the grade of clerk or the grade of carrier, provided he would be eligible for original appointment under the minimum age limitations prescribed by the rules for the grade to which the reinstatement is to be made, it being held that this rule must be construed in connection with the rule in relation to age limitations. (Minutes, January 23, 1894, cl. 11.)

(d) Vacancy not actually existing.-In reference to reinstatements, where, at the time of making the request for reinstatement a vacancy, although not actually existing, has been provided for either by the resignation of a carrier then in office or by the request for the dismissal of said carrier by the postmaster, the Commission reconsiders its action in the case of the letter-carrier at Baltimore whose application for reinstatement was recently denied. In view of the peculiar conditions governing the carrier service the Commission takes the position that where the reinstatement of a carrier is asked for within the year to a specific position in which a vacancy is about to exist because either the resignation of the incumbent has already been handed in, or because the postmaster has asked for the dismissal, such reinstatement can be allowed only to the specific position in which the vacancy has actually been provided for as above indicated, and then only upon a full presentation of the case by the Post-Office Department and the approval of the Commission. (Minutes, October 13, 1893, cl. 12.)

(e) Separation from excepted places.-Requisition having been made for the reinstatement of a person named, and it appearing that he had served in the military service of the United States in the late war of the rebellion and was honorably discharged therefrom; and further, that he had occupied a nonexcepted place in a post-office from which he was promoted December 1, 1889, to an excepted place, from which place he became separated, without delinquency or misconduct, August 31, 1893, the question arises in his case whether upon the facts stated certificate may issue for his reinstatement without evidence of service in the Army. It is held that said certificate may issue, he having been appointed to an excepted place, from which he was separated within one year by promotion through the regular grades from a nonexcepted place. Had he been originally directly appointed to the excepted place, and become separated therefrom, no certificate could be issued unless he had served in such position more than one year, and then only upon examination. (Minutes, September 30, 1893. File, 5817.)

(f) In view of the peculiar conditions governing the carrier service, the Commission takes the position that where the reinstatement of a carrier is asked for within the year to a specific position in which a vacancy is about to exist, because either the resignation of the incumbent has already been handed in or because the postmaster has asked for the dismissal, such reinstatement can be allowed only to the specific position in which the vacancy has actually been provided for as above indicated, and only then upon a full presentation of the case by the Post-Office Department and the approval of the Commission. (Minutes, October 13, 1893.)

(g) Grade to which reinstatement may be made.-So far as the regulations of the Commission are concerned a clerk can be reinstated to the same class or the same place he gave up when separated from the service over all other clerks below that class; but this question must be submitted to the Post-Office Department for practical settlement, the rules of that Department controlling the settlement of the question. (Minutes, October 4, 1893. File, 5838.)

9. SUBSTITUTES-Postal Rule IV, clause 2.

(a) Probationary appointment begins with appointment to substitute place, and promotion may be made to regular place in that order before expiration of probationary period. (Letter to St. Paul postal board, November 23, 1889, Book L, p. 360.)

(b) In all future cases it will be insisted upon that promotions from substitute to regular positions shall be made in the order of the date of probational appointment, a course which must be pursued in order to preserve the spirit of the civil-service law and rules. The method which you followed in the case cited, promoting according to seniority in substitute service in each separate division, if adopted, would result in the promotion of substitutes serving in divisions where changes are frequent, while those serving in divisions where changes occur less frequently would remain upon the substitute list long after their more fortunate associates, probationally appointed after they were, had secured places on your regular force. (Letter to Louisville postmaster, dated November 23, 1892, File No. 4080. See also minutes, May 18, 1888, clause 3; July 7, 1888, clause 1; August 14, 1888, clause 2.) (c) For the purpose of determining with certainty the order of appointment as substitute, and therefore the order of priority for appointment to the regular force, the date given in the nomination to the Postmaster-General of a person for appointment to the grade of substitute carrier is to be taken as the date of such appointment. The date of commencement of service and of pay of a person appointed to the substitute force of any other grade is to be taken as the date of such appointment. When two or more persons are appointed on the same date their appointment to the regular force must be made in the order of their selection from the certification or certifications for appointments as substitutes: Provided, That when two or three persons are selected from one certification and the appointing officer does not indicate the order of selection at the time of selection their appointment to the regular force must be made in the order of their examination grade. (Circular letter No. 2 of January, 1891.)

(d) Effect of cessation of temporary employment.-Certain persons employed temporarily on account of the increase in the business of an office during the summer months have been separated from their temporary employment, the question arises as to whether they are relegated by this separation from temporary regular employment to their former positions on the substitute force of the office, or whether they become entirely separated from the service. The Commission holds that they are relegated to their former positions on the substitute force of the office and do not become separated from the service unless so separated by some action of the PostOffice Department intended to have that effect. (Minutes, October 5, 1893, cl. 5.) (e) A substitute letter-carrier may perform any duty, with or without compensation, in the post-office at which he is employed, when he is not actually engaged in the performance of substitute letter-carrier work. (Minutes of January 2, 1894, cl. 5.)

10. TRANSFERS.

(a) Transfers under Postal Rule VI, clause (b), may not be made to office of Sixth Auditor, Treasury. (Minutes, November 3, 1889, cl. 1.)

(b) Departmental age limitation applies in transfers to the Post-Office Department. (Minutes, April 3, 1889, cl. 3.)

(c) Transfer from an excepted to a nonexcepted place in an office, with a view to further transfer immediately to another office or Department. Where this purpose is stated in the papers in the form of a requisition for such transfer, a single examination may suffice for both transfers, the examination to test fitness for the place to which the second transfer is made, provided that such transfer requires an examination of equal or higher grade than the transfer from the excepted to the nonexcepted place; but if, on the other hand, transfer to the nonexcepted place requires a higher examination than the subsequent transfer, then that examination shall serve as the basis for the double transfer. (Minutes, July 28, 1893.)

No substitute carrier can be transferred to clerk, nor can a substitute clerk be transferred to carrier. (Minutes, August 18, 1893. File 5625.)

(d) An eligible on the clerk register asks that his name may be transferred to the carrier register, since the clerk and carrier examinations are the same. Will be informed that his request can not be complied with, the Commission holding that although the examinations for clerk and carrier are the same, the registers are not interchangeable, and can not be so made, for the reason that age limits for the two grades, clerk and carrier, differ under the rules, and because it would open the way for eligibles on one register to seek advantage by transfer to another register, and, for the same reason, retransfer back again. This ruling in this case will have general application to all classified post-offices. (Minutes, November 20, 1893. File 4448.)

11. WATCHMEN, employed merely as such, in the post-office, in the corridors in the building, and as elevator conductors, and who are not engaged in handling the mails, nor otherwise engaged as employés in the post-office, are regarded and treated at classified post-offices as unclassified employés. (Minutes of November 23, 1893, cl. 13.)

1. AGE LIMITATION.

V, RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE.

The age limit is waived only in the case of those described in section 1754, Revised Statutes, viz: those discharged for disability resulting from wounds or sickness incurred in the line of duty. The conditions of this service are such that a maximum age limit is necessary, if its efficiency is to be maintained. That limit was fixed at 35 in the civil-service rules (1) because that was the limit fixed by the regulations of the Post-Office Department before the service was classified, and (2) because the great strain upon the physical constitution and powers of endurance of those engaged in this service, and the greater ease and facility with which young men learn the schemes of distribution, and, consequently, their greater efficiency in the service, made it necessary to fix it at some point anterior to the time when the average man reaches the maximum of physical and mental ability and aptitude. The question was seriously debated at the time, whether, in the interest of a good service, the limit should not be fixed at 30 rather than at 35.

Notwithstanding the above considerations, the maximum age limit is waived in the case of those who are entitled to preference in civil appointments under section 1754, Revised Statutes, not because they are more competent than other honorably discharged soldiers (for in most instances they are undoubtedly less so), but because there is no discretion to do otherwise, since the seventh section of the civil-service law provides that, "Nothing herein contained shall be construed to take from those honorably discharged from the military or naval service any preference conferred by the seventeen hundred and fifty-fourth section of the Revised Statutes;" and such preference has been understood to extend to age limits. In excepting from the age limit only those entitled to preference under section 1754 there is no discrimination against other classes, but a discrimination in favor of this particular class, because the laws discriminate in favor of it. Very few of this class, notwithstanding the law's favors, offer themselves for examination, being deterred, no doubt, by a knowledge of their physical incapacity for the hardships of the service or to meet the requirements of the physical examination which must be undergone in connection with the filing of the application. (Letter book U, p. 126, March 22, 1892.)

2. APPLICATION TO BE ACCEPTED WITHOUT REGARD TO LENGTH OF TIME APPLICANT HAS RESIDED IN THE STATE FROM WHICH MADE.

There is no law, rule, or regulation which requires that an applicant for the railway mail service shall have had a residence in the State from which he makes application for any definite length of time. The law which applies to applicants for the departmental service does not apply to applicants for the railway mail service, and

where an applicant complies with the requirements of the application blank and furnishes the certificates of vouchers who are residents of the State from which he applies, who have known him for six months or more, and so certify, his application should be accepted without regard to the length of time he has been a resident of the State, it being held that he is eligible to file an application as soon as he establishes a residence, and such residence shall be held for that purpose to be established when the change from his former residence to the new one is actually made. (Minutes, March 8, 1892, cl. 2.)

3. CERTIFICATION.

To be by counties which are the base of mail supply.—The general superintendent of the railway mail service states that an eligible residing in a county not touched by a railroad, though surrounded by counties bordering upon or traversed by them, may not be certified for appointment during his year of eligibility, notwithstanding his rating on the eligible list may be higher than that of any eligible residing in the counties "through or on the borders of which the section of the road passes on which the person to be appointed is to serve," and suggests that the difficulty experienced would be removed if his office were informed that the intent of the rule is that a call for a certification to fill a vacancy existing in a railway post-office which, by reason of the juxtaposition of the railroad over which it runs to certain counties, is either wholly or in part a base of mail supply for such county, should embrace all such counties whether they touch upon or are crossed by it. This interpretation of the rule is approved by the Commission. (Minutes, June 3, 1893, cl. 32.)

4. DEAF MUTES.

They can not be appointed in the railway mail service. Under the rules the question of physical fitness for the service rests with the appointing officer. The general superintendent of the railway mail service has decided that, as it is very dangerous for deaf mutes to be employed on a railroad, and for other reasons, his office does not feel justified in selecting deaf mutes. (Letter book U, p. 85, March 4, 1892.)

5. PREFERENCE CLAIMANTS.

The provisions of Railway Mail Rule IV, providing for certifications by counties, shall not apply to the certification of preference claimants, who shall, as heretofore, be certified by States. (Minutes, November 30, 1888, cl. 5.)

6. SUBSTITUTES.

Order of advancement to regular places.—The provision of clause 6, of Railway Mail Rule IV, requires that "any vacancies occurring in class 1 in any State or Territory in which substitutes have been appointed shall be filled by the appointment thereto of those substitutes in the order of their appointment as substitutes without further certification." Under the method of certification for the employment of substitutes the entire State is not taken into consideration in making a call upon the Commission, but only the counties which are supplied, either wholly or in part, by the line upon which the vacancy exists. Clause 6 of Railway Mail Rule IV must be construed in connection with clause 2, and when a vacancy occurs in class 1 in any State or Territory, it should be filled by the appointment thereto of the substitute earliest appointed "resident in the counties of said State or Territory through or on the borders of which the section of the road passes on which the person to be appointed is to serve." (Letter book X, pp. 343-4, September 20, 1893.)

VI. INDIAN SERVICE.

1. INDUSTRIAL TEACHERS, AND ASSISTANT MATRONS NOT TREATED AS WITHIN THE CLASSIFIED SERVICE.

They receive but a small compensation, and it is desired, as far as practicable, to employ in these places Indians who have been trained in the schools and on reservations. Persons who may be appointed to them will not be assigned to duty as