DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

One confidential clerk, one chief clerk, one disbursing clerk.

[Under Special Departmental Rule No. 1.]

Statistical experts and temporary experts.

CUSTOMS SERVICE.

Places excepted from examination at the several ports within the classified customs service, under section 5, Customs Rule II, and under Special Customs Rule No. 1.

BALTIMORE, MD.

Office of the collector: Two deputy collectors, one cashier, one auditor, one assistant cashier, one private secretary.

Office of the naval officer: One deputy naval officer.

Office of the surveyor: One deputy surveyor, one private secretary.

BOSTON, MASS.

Office of the collector: Three deputy collectors, one auditor and disbursing clerk, one cashier, one secretary and chief clerk, one assistant cashier.

Office of the naval officer: One deputy naval officer, one assistant deputy naval officer, Office of the surveyor: One deputy surveyor.

Office of the appraiser: One private secretary.

BURLINGTON, VT.

Office of the collector: Four deputy collectors, two deputy collectors to assist as cashiers at subports.

CHICAGO, ILL.

Office of the collector: One cashier, one clerk and auditor, one confidential secretary, two deputy collectors, one assistant cashier, one chief acting disbursing officer.

DETROIT, MICH.

Office of the collector: One cashier, one deputy collector.

NEW ORLEANS.

Office of the collector: Two deputy collectors, one auditor, one cashier, one private secretary, one assistant cashier.

Office of the naval officer: One deputy naval officer.

Office of the surveyor: One deputy surveyor.

NEW YORK.

Office of the collector: Nine deputy collectors, one private secretary (only one allowed), one cashier, one acting disbursing agent, one auditor, one assistant cashier to collector.

One bookbinder.

[Under Special Customs Rule No. 11.]

Detectives employed exclusively as such.

Office of the naval officer: One deputy naval officer, one comptroller and acting deputy naval officer.

Office of the surveyor: Three deputy surveyors, one private secretary.

PHILADELPHIA, PA.

Office of the collector: One deputy collector, one deputy collector and cashier, one as

sistant cashier (one allowed), one secretary and confidential clerk,

Office of the naval officer: One deputy naval officer, one private secretary.

Office of the surveyor: Two deputy surveyors.

Office of the appraiser: One confidential clerk.

PORT HURON, MICH.

Office of the collector: Two deputy collectors, one deputy collector and cashier.

PORTLAND, ME.

No places excepted.

SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.

Office of the collector: One auditor, three deputy collectors, one clerk and cashier, one assistant cashier.

Office of the naval officer: One deputy naval officer.

Office of the surveyor: One deputy surveyor.

Statement of the approximate number of excepted places in the classified post-offices.

The Commission is in possession of no official statement of the number of excepted places in the Atlanta, Ga., and Nashville, Tenn., post-offices, and has not accurate data in regard to such places in many other offices, especially in regard to those excepted under clauses a, b, c, and d, of section 5, Postal Rule II. This table is therefore made out largely on estimates, and the figures are only approximate.

STATEMENT OF EXCEPTED PLACES IN THE RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE.

The places excepted from examination in the classified railway mail service are defined in Railway Mail Rule II, section 5. The exceptions are as follows: One general superintendent, one assistant general superintendent, six printers (employed as such), twenty-nine clerks employed as porters at railway stations in handling mail matter in bulk, in sacks or pouches, and not otherwise, eleven clerks employed exclusively on steamboats.* The whole number of such excepted places is fifty-three.

INDIAN SERVICE.

No places are excepted from examination, and all vacancies are filled through competitive examination.

* On August 6, 1891, transfer clerks at junction points or stations, where not more than two such clerks are employed were excepted.

NOTES ON THE RULES.

L GENERAL RULES-DEPARTMENTAL, CUSTOMS, POSTAL, AND RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE,

1. AGE LIMITATION.

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

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 bear oral statement or argument by appellants in support of their appeal. (Minutes April 24, 1888, clause 6, vol. 7, pp. 300-301.)

2. CERTIFICATIONS.

(a) More than three certifications of names may be made only where there are no eligibles who have not already been three times certified and where it is not possible to replenish the register in time to meet the needs of the service, and then only with the consent of the commission. (Minutes May 10, 1888, clause 5, vol. 7, p. 359.)

(b) From higher registers to fill lower places-customs and postal 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.)

e) Certification of preference claimants-departmental service.-To be made without regard to apportionment. (Minutes September 17, 1886, clause 17, vol. 2, pp. 2, 3.) 4. CITIZENSHIP.

Only citizens may be examined. It is not enough that first papers have been issued. The commission may inquire into the facts. (Minutes March 18, 1889; book H, p. 114.) 3. CLASSIFICATION, customs and postal service.

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.)

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

7. EXAMINATION.

(6) 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 there

after, 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 reëxamination in the sense of Rule III, section 8, 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, 1888, vol. 7, pp. 317, 318. Also, April 6, 1888, p. 243.)

8. 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 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.)

(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.)

9. 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.)

10. 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.)

11. 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.

SECTION 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 pur