Page.

PART IV.-STATISTICAL INFORMATION, ETC.-Continued.

APPENDIX TABLE 12. Showing the number examined, the number eli-

gible, the number ineligible, the education, and

the average age of those examined in the clas-

sified customs district from January 16, 1886, to

June 30, 1887, inclusive

13. Showing the number examined, the number eli-

gible, the number ineligible, the education, and

the average age of those examined in the clas-

sified postal service from January 16, 1886, to

June 30, 1887, inclusive.

721-726

727-731

UNITED STATES CIVIL-SERVICE COMMISSION.

FOURTH REPORT.

The report for January

16, 1886, to June 30, 1887.

The second section of the act to regulate and improve the civil-service of the United States requires this commission to report annually to the President. The several reports heretofore made under this requirement have respectively covered the following specified periods of time: (1) The twelve months that commenced January 16, 1883; (2) the twelve months that commenced January 16, 1884, and (3) the twelve months that commenced January 16, 1885. But the 16th of January commences neither the calendar nor the fiscal year, and it is a questionable proposition that Congress intended that the annual report of the commission should be made for a year commencing in the middle of a month. It is more probable that the congressional intention was to require the commission to make a report for each fiscal year; and this view seems to be undoubtedly correct when it is remembered that all legislation by Congress that relates in any way to the duties of the commissioners and the functions of the commission becomes effective on the first day of the fiscal year, and that all appropriations for the payment of the expenses of the commission become available with the commencement of that year and lapse with its close. It is therefore concluded that the orderly methods of official business make it necessary that the commission's annual reports should each cover a fiscal year, and that it was the intention of Congress to require this. For the purpose of enabling the commission to hereafter conform to this intention, this report will cover the time from and including January 16, 1886, to the commencement of the fiscal year 1887-'88.

Subjects of report.

The section of the civil-service act referred to above requires the commission to report its own action; the rules, with any exceptions thereto, and the regulations in force; the practical effects of the rules, of the exceptions thereto, and of the regulations; and suggestions for the more effectual accomplishment of the purposes of the law.

19420 crv-1

1

EXAMINATIONS.*

In reporting its action the commission must show among other things the number and kinds of examinations held, and other facts in relation thereto.

aminations.

It was formerly the practice to order into exami How applicants were formerly notified to attend ex. nations held to test fitness for the departmental service as many of the applicants for such exami nations as from time to time the commission deemed necessary to supply the demands of the departments for persons eligible to places within the classified service thereof. This method of ordering examinations was unsatisfactory to applicants. They could not be informed, at the time they filed their applications, of the times and places of examinations, and frequently numbers of them would, without previous notice, be ordered into an examination to be held, within a few days from the date of the order, at some place possibly hundreds of miles distant from their residences. Many applicants were for good reasons unable to obey a sudden summons of this kind, and were therefore deprived of opportunity to have their qualifications for the public service tested.

Schedule of places and

To obviate the dissatisfaction that had been cretimes of examinations dur. ated by this method of ordering examinations, the ing 1887. commission prepared in the latter part of 1886 a schedule of times and places of examinations to be held for the departmental service in 1887. A copy of this schedule† was mailed to every person who had before the date of its publication filed an application for examination, and he was requested to designate some time and place fixed by the schedule at which he desired to be examined. And since its publication a copy of the schedule has been furnished with every blank form of application supplied by the commission, and each applicant has been allowed to determine for himself the time and place of his examination.

In this way the examination of applicants has been expedited, in what degree is shown by the fact that, during the year preceding the time at which the schedule method of determining the times and places of examinations for the departmental service went into effect, 165 such examinations were held, at which 2,199 applicants were examined, while, during the six months immediately following that time, 104 examina. tions were held, at which 2,128 applicants were examined.

DEPARTMENTAL-SERVICE

EXAMINATIONS.

The examinations which were held for the classified departmental service during the period that commenced January 16, 1886, and ended June 30,

1887, are shown by the following table:

* See Appendix, Part IV, Tables 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13.
+ See Appendix, Part I, Exhibit 9.

TABLE 1.-Showing places and dates of examinations for the classified departmental service, January 16, 1886, to June 30, 1887, both inclusive.

TABLE 1.-Showing places and dates of examinations, etc.—Continued.

MISSOURI.

Kansas City, April 6, 29, 1886.

Kansas City, May 19, 1887.

Saint Louis, April 6, 1886.

Saint Louis, May 1, 1886.
Saint Louis, July 15, 1886.
Saint Louis, August 7, 1886.
Saint Louis, February 19, 1887.
Springfield, February 17, 1887.

NEBRASKA.

Lincoln, April 22, 1887.
Omaha, April 27, 1886.

Omaha, July 12, 1886.

Omaha, April 20, 1887.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.

Concord, May 10, 1887.

NEW JERSEY.

Trenton, June 4, 1887.

NEW YORK.

Albany, February 26, 1886.
Buffalo, April 6, 1886.
Buffalo, May 29, 1886.

Buffalo, March 9, 1887.
New York, February 23, 1886.
New York, May 4, 1886.
New York, August 6, 1886.
New York, May 4, 1887.
Rochester, February 6, 1886.
Rochester, March 8, 1886.
Rochester, March 8, 1887.

NORTH CAROLINA.

Charlotte, January 29, 1886.
Charlotte, January 29, 1887.
Raleigh, January 20, 1887.
Wilmington, January 22, 1887.

OHIO.

Cleveland, June 26, 1886.
Cleveland, October 27, 1886.
Cleveland, March 23, 1887.
Cincinnati, May 7, 1886.
Cincinnati, August 9, 1886.
Cincinnati, February 26, 1887.
Columbus, April 7, 1887.
Toledo, March 21, 1887.

PENNSYLVANIA.

Harrisburg, August 28, 1886.

Philadelphia, April 6, 1886.

PENNSYLVANIA-continued.
Philadelphia, January 29, 1886.
Philadelphia, August 7, 26, 1886.
Philadelphia, March 3, 1887.
Pittsburgh, August 30, 1886.
Pittsburgh, March 25, 1887.
Williamsport, March 5, 1887.

RHODE ISLAND.

Providence, March 23, 1886.
Providence, May 7, 1887.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

Charleston, March 22, 1886.
Charleston, January 25, 1887.
Columbia, January 27, 1887.
TENNESSEE.

Knoxville, April 6, 27, 1886.
Nashville, April 6, 29, 1886.
Nashville, May 6, 1886.
Nashville, February 8, 1887.
Memphis, May 1, 1886.
Memphis, February 10, 1887.

TEXAS.

Austin, July 10, 1886.
Fort Worth, July 8, 1886.
Houston, July 13, 1886.

UTAH.

Salt Lake, May 4, 1887.

VERMONT.

Burlington, May 14, 1887.
Rutland, May 16, 1887.

VIRGINIA.

Lynchburgh, February 1, 1887.
Norfolk, March 19, 1886.
Richmond, January 18, 1887.

WEST VIRGINIA.

Charleston, February 1, 1887.
Martinsburgh, April 5, 1887.
Parkersburgh, September 1, 1886.

WISCONSIN.

Madison, April 16, 1887.

Milwaukee, April 20, 1886.

Milwaukee, November 17, 1886.

Milwaukee, April 14, 1887.

WYOMING.

Cheyenne, April 28, 1887.

No examinations were held in the state of Nevada or in the territories of Arizona, Montana, and Washington, for the reason that the examinations ordered to be held in that state and those territories had been fixed by the schedule of 1887 for dates subsequent to the period covered by this report.

Number of examinations held and of applicants examined.

The number of examinations held, as stated above, was 268, of which number 118 were held at Washington, D. C. The number of applicants