1. AGE LIMITATION.

1. NOTES ON THE RULES.

I. GENERAL RULES.

(a) Begins with the filing of application paper. (Minutes, June 4, 1888, clause 4, vol. 8, p. 18.)

(b) Applies to persons at post-office who wish to be transferred to the railway mail service; also to a transfer from an excepted to nonexcepted place.

2. APPEAL FROM MARKINGS, customs and postal service.

Inspection by competitor of his papers may take place in the presence of the secretary of the board, or of any other member when necessary, the competitor to make no copy of questions or answers, and the board to review no papers except on appeal made in writing. Ordinarily appeals should be made directly to the Commission, but the board may review papers on appeal; and if errors in the markings are discovered may obtain consent of the Commission for their correction. It is not desirable that the board should hear oral statement or argument by appellants in support of their appeals. (Minutes, April 24, 1888, clause 6, vol. 7, pp. 300, 301.) 3. CERTIFICATION.

(a) From higher registers to fill lower places-customs service.-May only be made when the lower register is exhausted and it is not practicable to replenish it in time to meet the demands of the service. The approval by the Commission of any such proposed certification must first be obtained. The order of general average must be followed. (Minutes, September 27, 1888, clause 11, vol. 8, p. 446.)

(b) From kindred register, when permitted.—This Commission certifies the three highest eligibles in all cases. Where there is no register of eligibles for the position required, the Commission will certify from some kindred register if the department so desires it, allowing the department to examine the papers of the applicants on these registers to see whether or not they are fitted for the service required; similarly if in a supplementary examination for a given position all the candidates passing the preliminary examination fail, then, under the like conditions, the Commission will certify in the order of grade, i. e. the three highest from among those who are ineligible on the special register, those having passed the examination, but no heed shall be paid to the request of the Department for the certification of any particular name or names, nor should the Department make such request, confining itself to the statement that upon the examination of the papers it is willing to select from a certification made by the Commission in the usual manner from among these papers. Minutes, June 28, 1893, clause 3.

(c) Course to be pursued in the case of an eligible who is certified to a place and declines the same, and asks the benefit of the remaining certifications which the rules allow.—The instructions of the Commission in its letter of September 30 will govern in the matter as far as they go. The eligible, however, is not to be again certified to the identical place which he has declined, but should be certified to a similar place, a vacancy occurring therein, and he being entitled to certification. If, however, the identical place which he declined, after having been filled, should again become vacant, he should be again certified to that place if at the time entitled to certification. In other words, the rule to be invariably followed is the certification of the names of the three eligibles having highest grade at the time of the certification. (Minutes, October 28, 1893.)

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(d) When name is certified and all available means employed to find the person without success, the appointing officer has discharged his full duty, and has a right to a further certification.

(e) Eligible who declined appointment upon certification in May last, asks that his name may now be restored to the register. Will be informed that the Commission must decline at this late day to restore his name to the register. Eligibles declining appointment should indicate, at the time of such declination, that they desire the benefit of the remaining certifications due them, if such is the fact. (Minutes, November 8, 1893.)

4. CITIZENSHIP.

Applicants who are not native-born citizens of the United States must produce evidence of full citizenship.

Ordered, That hereafter no application for examination in any branch of the classified service made by a person who is not a native-born citizen of the United States shall be approved by any person or board authorized to approve applications until the final naturalization paper or other record evidence of full citizenship is produced. The declaration of intention to become a citizen of the United States does not constitute citizenship, and does not entitle the person who has made it to a civil-service examination. After the approval of the application of a naturalized person the final papers or record evidence of such naturalization may be returned to the applicant. (Minutes, April 23, 1892, clause 2.)

5. CLASSIFICATION.

(a) An office once subject to the examinations does not cease to be subject to them merely because the clerks and persons employed have been reduced below fifty. (Minutes, May 14, 1888, vol. 7, p. 370.)

(b) Per diem employés.—Under the terms of the departmental classification all the employés who, on the one hand, are not appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, or, on the other hand, who are not employed merely as messengers, laborers, workmen, or watchmen, are classified and subject to the civil-service rules, and if not specifically excepted from examination are subject to examination. The manner of their employment and payment does not in the least affect this question. It makes no difference whether they are employed at an annual salary specifically provided for by appropriations, or at a compensation fixed by the head of the Department and paid out of the lump sum appropriated for the specific work, or whether the employment is permanent or temporary. They are in any case classified employés and must be appointed in the manner provided by the civil-service rules. The persons employed in connection with the preparation of the Official Register of the United States, contained in the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act, approved February 26, 1889, and paid out of this appropriation, were held to be classified employés, and they were appointed upon the certificate of this Commission. The persons employed in the General Land Office, under appropriation s made from year to year in the acts making appropriations for the sundry civil expenses of the Government, for furnishing transcripts of records and plats, have, since the classification of June 29, 1888, been held to be classified employés, and have in all cases been appointed upon certification from the eligible registers of the Commission. The persons employed in the Indian Office to "transcribe and copy contracts, reports, and miscellaneous matters," under the appropriation made for that purpose in the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act approved March 3, 1891, are employed upon examination and certification under the civil-service rules.

6. DROPPING ELIGIBLE FROM THE REGISTER, customs and postal service.

It is competent for a board of examiners, without previous approval by the Commission, to drop from the register the name of any eligible upon proper written request of such eligible. The request should be kept on file. A withdrawal from the register which will evade the provisions of the rules forbidding a re-examination

during the period of eligibility, without the consent of the Commission, must not, of course, be permitted. (Book A, p. 253.) Dec. 2, 1887.

7. EFFICIENCY RATING.

Efficiency rating is embraced in all examinations for promotion and transfer except examinations of a technical or professional character. (Minutes August 23, 1893.) 8. EXAMINATION.

(a) Examination, so far as age limitations are concerned, begins with the filing of the application. (Minutes, June 4, 1888, clause 4, vol. 8, pp. 2, 3.)

(b) A person who has passed an examination may be again examined one year thereafter, although the term of eligibility has not expired, upon his filing a new application. The filing of a new application does not cancel eligibility, the examination for which it is filed not being a re-examination in the sense of Rule III, section 7, but a new examination on a new paper, the new eligible period not to begin until the old one expires. (Letter to Baltimore postal board, January 11, 1889, Book M, p. 229.)

(c) Entrance examination by those already in the service.-The entrance examinations have for their object the testing of the qualifications of applicants for admission to the service, and therefore these examinations for any branch of the service are not open to persons already in the same branch. It is unnecessary and contrary to public policy to examine a person for a place for which he is already eligible by promotion or transfer. The apparent exception to this rule is that a person in the departmental service may be examined for a special register for that branch of the service. The rules do not prohibit a person serving in one branch of the service from applying for examination for admission to another branch, as, for instance, a person serving in a post-office from applying for admission to a custom-house. Clause 4 of General Rule III, however, prohibits a person from being an applicant for examination or an eligible for appointment in more than one branch of the service at the same time. (Minutes, April 27, 1838, vol. 7, pp. 317, 318. Also, April 6, 1888, p. 243.)

(d) Conduct of examination.-After the examination has begun an applicant will not be admitted, nor after the hour for closing the examination has arrived will an applicant be allowed to remain, unless for proper reasons in the discretion of the examiners. (Minutes, October 14, 1893, clause 6.)

(e) In reference to requiring two persons to be present during the hearing of the readingaddresses exercise in the railway mail and postal examinations, it is ordered that this be the case in postal examinations hereafter, and where practicable it shall be the case in railway-mail examinations. (Minutes, October 10, 1893.)

9. EXAMINING BOARD.

(a) An agency of the Commission.-In its creation a board of examiners is not beyond and outside of the jurisdiction of the head of the office; but after its creation it is an agency of the Commission and not of the head of the office, and must perform its work under the direction of the Commission (see section 3, civil-service law, sections 11-16 of General Rule III). This must be so or the Commission might find itself very much embarrassed in the execution of the law and the rules. It is imperative that the intercourse between the Commission and the examiners be direct. Under the law and rules, the first connection that the head of the office has with any business of the board is when he wishes to fill a vacancy and makes a requisition upon the board for a proper certification. He deals with the board in this matter, and in all other matters, as the agents of the Commission, and not as his own subordinates. In the discharge of their duties as employés of the office the members of the board are wholly under the jurisdiction of its head. In the discharge of their duties as examiners they are wholly under the jurisdiction of the Commission. This should produce no clashing, and as a rule does not. While maintaining its own rights and authority under the law and rules, the Commission is always careful not to trespass upon the rights and authority of others and will never countenance any assumption

of authority on the part of its examiners which does not rightfully belong to them. (Letter book R, p. 78, March 9, 1891.)

(b) Supplies for examiners to be furnished by the offices for which the examinations are held. The civil-service rules were framed with the understanding, and they seem clearly to imply, that in practice the carrying on of the examinations and the supply of stationery and of the means of safely keeping the records shall come from the offices for which the examinations are to be held. (See General Rule III, clause 14, and General Rule V.) Rooms are not only to be heated and lighted, but are to be "furnished" for the purposes of such examinations; and in all proper ways the examinations and the execution of the rules are to be facilitated. The work incident thereto is to be regarded as a part of the public business to be performed at such office. The rooms could not be said.to be "furnished" or the examinations to be "facilitated" if the boards should be left without the stationery, etc, indispensable. This duty is not dependent on the rules, but is imposed by the civil-service law (See section 2, clause first, and section 3, near the end.) As such supplies have heretofore been furnished by the offices themselves, the Commission has assumed that this view of the matter has had the concurrence of the Post-Office Department. (Letter book Q, p. 111, November 25, 1890.)

10. EXCEPTED PLACES.

(a) Transfers from excepted to unexcepted places.-Where a person has been appointed to an excepted place by promotion through the lower grades of the classified service, he may be transferred to an unexcepted place place without examination, the requirement of an examination applying only to those appointed to excepted places from outside the classified service of the office in which they exist. (Book M, p. 20, Dec. 14, 1889.)

(b) A person in an excepted place may, in addition to the duties of that place, if they do not occupy his whole time, perform such other duties as may be required of him. Such duties must be in addition to and not in lieu of the duties of the excepted place. (Minutes, May 23, 1888, clause 4, vol. 7, pp. 405, 406.)

(c) The service of one year required by the rules before transfer can be made to an unexcepted place must be next preceding the date of the request.

11. EXCESSIVE NUMBER OF APPLICANTS.

The Commission has no specific authority for dropping applicants merely because excessive numbers apply; but assuming it to have the authority, it is deemed unwise to exercise it. (Minutes, April 25, 1888, vol. 7, pp. 306, 307.)

12. OATH TO APPLICATIONS BEFORE A JUSTICE OF THE PEACE.

Board of examiners must use its best judgment, accepting papers where there is no apparent fraud or want of authority on the part of the officer before whom affidavit is taken. (Minutes, July 26, 1888, clause 7, vol. 8, p. 225.)

13. PARTISAN ACTIVITY.

The Commission has no authority to take any action relative to the political conduct of an officeholder unless it is charged that he has violated the civil-service act of January 16, 1883, section 2, part 2, sub. 6, in the use of "his official authority or influence to coerce the political action of any person or body," or the civil-service rules, General Rule I, by the use of “his official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with an election or controlling the results thereof," or in influencing a dismissal for a refusal to be coerced in political action, to contribute money for political purposes, or for a refusal to render political service. The conduct of an officeholder not falling within these prohibitions is a matter wholly for the consideration of the appointing power, and in which this Commission can not interfere. The utility of these provisions of the law and rules quoted rests in some degree as precepts, as only gross forms of their violation can be easily proved. See also President Cleveland's warning against the use of official positions to control politi

cal movements, at pages 541 and 542, Fourth Report. This warning is embodied in the Postal Regulations. (Letter book U, pp. 324, May 23, 1892; 336, May 24, 1892; and Letter book Q, p. 68, Nov. 18, 1890.)

14. POLITICAL ACTION.

(a) The Commission has no objection to a letter-carrier being a candidate for another office while a letter-carrier, provided the candidacy for such office does not involve him in partisan activity nor interfere with the full discharge of his official duties. (Minutes, January 23, 1894, clause 8.)

(b) Upon inquiry whether an employé in the mail service may act as delegate or on the committees for any party or parties in the city, county, or State elections, or act in any capacity as judge, clerk, or challenger, or in fact in any position in connection with an election, the Commission decided that it was not its province to direct in matters of this sort, but that it has always discouraged Government employés from taking any active part in party or political matters. (Minutes, Jan uary 23, 1894, clause 8.)

15. POLITICAL OPINIONS.

It is the duty of every officer concerned in making appointments to refuse to receive or entertain any letters disclosing an applicant's politics, or any letters written on behalf of an applicant on political grounds, and to explain to the writers that he does not and will not receive their communications if based upon such grounds, and that he will not keep them on file. (Minutes, January 24, 1893, clause 8.) 16. PREFERENCE, SECTION 1754, REVISED STATUTES.

On March 3, 1865, Congress passed a joint resolution in two sections, which subsequently became sections 1754 and 1755, Revised Statutes, and which are as follows: SEC. 1754. Persons honorably discharged from the military or naval service by reason of disability resulting from wounds or sickness incurred in the line of duty shall be preferred for appointments to civil offices, provided they are found to possess the business capacity necessary for the proper discharge of the duties of such office. SEC. 1755. In grateful recognition of the services, sacrifices, and sufferings of persons honorably discharged from the military or naval service of the country by reason of wounds, disease, or the expiration of enlistment, it is respectfully recommended to bankers, manufacturers, mechanics, farmers, and persons engaged in industrial pursuits to give them the preference for appointments to remunerative situations and employments.

The intent of Congress in this legislation is perfectly evident, namely: First, to give preference in civil appointments to those who were honorably discharged from the Army and Navy by reason of disability resulting from wounds or sickness incurred in the line of duty, and who are found to possess the necessary business capacity; and, second, to recommend to the grateful recognition of persons engaged in industrial pursuits, etc., those honorably discharged from the Army or Navy, by reason of wounds, disease, or the expiration of the term of enlistment. Both these provisions are in the same act, and as to civil office, the distinction is clearly drawn between those who were discharged for disability and those who were not so discharged; the former being given a preference, and the latter not. In forming rules under the civil-service law, the Civil Service Commission, without any additional legislation, would have been bound to take notice of and give effect to this statute, now section 1754, Revised Statutes; but Congress, in order to secure such action without peradventure, inserted in section 7 of the civil-service law the following provision:

But nothing herein contained shall be construed to take from those honorably discharged from the military or naval service any preference conferred by the 1754th section of the Revised Statutes.

How has the Commission treated those whom Congress, by this legislation, say shall be preferred? It has released them from all maximum age limitations; has fixed the minimum grade of eligibility at sixty-five, while for all others it is seventy,