Part 41

7. Any person who has been transferred from a classified position to another classified position may be retransferred to the position in which he was formerly employed or to any position to which transfer could be made therefrom without regard to the limitations of this rule.

8. All transfers herein authorized shall be made only after the issuance by the Commission of the certificates therefor, except those which may be specifically exempted from such condition by regulation of the Commission.

9. Whenever a person is proposed for transfer from one branch of the service to another branch of the service and from a part of the service not within the provisions regulating apportionment to a part of the service within said provisions, and the transfer is one which under the provisions of this rule may be allowed without examination, such person shall be required precedent to his transfer to file a statement under oath setting forth the same facts, accompanied by the same certificates or vouchers relating to residence, as may be required in an application for examination.

RULE XI.

1. In pursuance of the requirements of section 7 of the civil-service act, competitive tests or examinations shall, as far as practicable and useful, be established to test fitness for promotion in any part of the civil service of the United States which has been or may hereafter be classified under the civil-service act.

2. The details regulating promotions shall be formulated by the Commission after consultation with the heads of the several Departments, bureaus, or offices. It shall be the duty of the head of each Department, bureau, or office when such regulations have been formulated to promulgate the same, and any amendments or revocations thereof shall be approved by the Commission before going into effect.

3. The Commission shall, upon the nomination of the head of each Department, bureau, or office, designate and select a suitable number of persons, not less than three, in said Department, bureau, or office to be members of a board of promotion. In the Departments, bureaus, or offices in Washington and in all other offices the members of any board of examiners shall not all be adherents of one political party when persons of other political parties are available and competent to serve upon said board.

4. Until the regulations herein authorized have been approved for any Department, bureau, or office in which promotion regulations approved by the Commission are not in force promotions therein may be made from one class to another class which is in the same grade and from one grade to another grade upon any test of fitness, not disapproved by the Commission, which may be determined upon by the promoting officer: _Provided_, That no promotion of a person shall be made, except upon examination provided by the Commission, from one class to another class or from one grade to another grade if for original entrance to said class or grade to which promotion is proposed there is required by these rules an examination involving essential tests different from or higher than those involved in the examination required for original entrance to the class or grade from which promotion is proposed: _And provided further_, That no promotion of a person shall be made, except upon examination provided by the Commission, to a position in which, in the judgment of the Commission, there is not required the performance of the same class of work or the practice of the same mechanical trade which is required to be performed or practiced in the position from which promotion is proposed; but a person employed in any grade shall not because of such employment be barred from the open competitive examination provided for original entrance to any other grade: _And provided further_, That no promotion of a person shall be made to a class or grade from original entrance to which such person is barred by the age limitations prescribed therefor or by the provisions regulating apportionment.

RULE XII.

1. In pursuance of the provisions of section 2 of the civil-service act every nominating or appointing officer in the executive civil service of the United States shall furnish to the Commission a list of all the positions and employments under his control and authority, together with the names, designations, compensations, and dates of appointment or employment of all persons serving in said positions or employments, said list to be arranged as follows: (_a_) Classified positions not excepted from examination; (_b_) classified positions excepted from examination; (_c_) unclassified positions.

2. Every nominating or appointing officer in the executive civil service shall report in detail to the Commission, in form and manner to be prescribed by the Commission, all changes as soon as made, and the dates thereof, in the service under his control and authority, setting forth among other things the following: The position to which an appointment or reinstatement is made; the position from which a separation is made, whether the same was caused by dismissal, resignation, or death, and the position from which and the position to which a transfer or promotion is made; the compensation of every position from which or to which a change is made; the name of every person appointed, reinstated, promoted, transferred, or separated from the service, and every failure to accept an appointment and the reasons therefor.

Approved, May 6, 1896.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C., May 7, 1896_.

In the exercise of the authority vested in the President by the seventeen hundred and fifty-third (1753d) section of the Revised Statutes--

_It is ordered_, That the office of the Interstate Commerce Commission be, and the same is hereby, classified as a part of the classified departmental service, and for the purpose of applying the civil-service rules thereto the officers, clerks, and other employees of said Commission are hereby arranged in the following classes, viz:

_Class A_.--All persons receiving an annual salary of less than $720, or a compensation at the rate of less than $720 per annum.

_Class B_.--All persons receiving an annual salary of $720 or more, or a compensation at the rate of $720 or more, but less than $840 per annum.

_Class C_.--All persons receiving an annual salary of $840 or more, or a compensation at the rate of $840 or more, but less than $900 per annum.

_Class D_.--All persons receiving a salary of $900 or more, or a compensation at the rate of $900 or more, but less than $1,000 per annum.

_Class E_.--All persons receiving an annual salary of $1,000 or more, or a compensation at the rate of $1,000 or more, but less than $1,200 per annum.

_Class 1_.--All persons receiving an annual salary of $1,200 or more, or a compensation at the rate of $1,200 or more, but less than $1,400 per annum.

_Class 2_.--All persons receiving an annual salary of $1,400 or more per annum, or a compensation at the rate of $1,400 or more, but less than $1,600 per annum.

_Class 3_.--All persons receiving an annual salary of $1,600 or more per annum, or an annual compensation at the rate of $1,600 or more, but less than $1,800 per annum.

_Class 4_.--All persons receiving an annual salary of $1,800 or more per annum, or a compensation at the rate of $1,800 or more, but less than $2,000 per annum.

_Class 5_.--All persons receiving an annual salary of $2,000 or more or a compensation at the rate of $2,000 or more per annum.

_Provided_, That no person who may be appointed to an office by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and that no person who may be employed merely as a workman or laborer shall be considered as within this classification, and no person so employed shall be assigned to the duties of a classified place.

_Provided further_, That no person shall be admitted to any place not excepted from examination by the civil-service rules in any of the classes above designated until he or she shall have passed an appropriate examination under the United States Civil Service Commission and his or her eligibility has been certified to by said Commission.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

AMENDMENTS OF CIVIL-SERVICE RULES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 13, 1896_.

The civil-service rules are hereby amended as follows:

Rule III, clause 2 (_a_), is amended by adding after the words "the light-house service" the words "the life-saving service."

Paragraph (_b_) of the same rule and clause is amended by striking out after the words "who are in the service of the Treasury Department in any capacity" the words "except those in the life-saving service."

Approved:

GROVER CLEVELAND.

AMENDMENTS OF CIVIL-SERVICE RULES.

The civil-service rules as revised May 6, 1896, are hereby amended as follows:

Rule I, section 2, clause (_b_): In the third line, after the word "act," insert "and these rules;" so that as amended the clause will read:

(_b_) The term "classified service" refers to all that part of the executive civil service of the United States included within the provisions of the civil-service act and these rules.

Rule III, section 2, clause (_a_), is amended by adding thereto the following clause:

The Ordnance Department at large.

Rule III, section 2, clause (_a_), is amended by striking out after "persons" in the third line the words "who have been nominated for" and inserting in lieu thereof the words "whose appointments are subject to."

Rule III, section 2 clause (_b_), is amended by inserting in the second line, after the word "designation," the words "except persons merely employed as laborers or workmen and persons whose appointments are subject to confirmation by the Senate."

Rule III, section 2, clause (_b_), is amended by adding thereto the following words:

Who are employed in the Department of Justice under the annual appropriation for the investigation of official acts, records, and accounts of officers of the courts.

Rule III, section 3, is amended to read as follows:

3. The custom-house service shall include such officers and employees as have been or may hereafter he classified under the civil-service act who are serving in any customs district whose officers and employees number as many as five; and whenever in any customs district whose officers and employees number less than five the number of officers and employees shall be increased to as many as five the Secretary of the Treasury shall at once notify the Commission of such increase, and the officers and employees of said district shall be included within the classified service from the date of said increase.

Rule III, section 6, is amended by inserting in the second line, after the word "employees," the following: "in any internal-revenue district;" and in the third line, after the word "act," by striking out the following: "in any internal-revenue district;" so that as amended the section will read:

6. The internal-revenue service shall include the officers and employees in any internal-revenue district who have been or may hereafter be classified under the civil-service act.

Rule VI is amended by adding in the departmental service an additional clause, making exceptions from examination, to read as follows:

(_c_) Attorneys or assistant attorneys in any Department whose main duties are connected with the management of cases in court.

Amend Rule VI by striking out after "internal-revenue service" the words "one cashier in each internal-revenue district" and inserting in lieu thereof--

One employee in each internal-revenue district who shall act as cashier or chief deputy or assistant collector, as may be determined by the Treasury Department.

Amend Rule VIII by striking out section 3.

Rule IX is amended by striking out in the seventh line the word "classified" and inserting in lieu thereof after the word "position" in the same line the following: "included within the classified service;" so that as amended the line will read: "misconduct, been separated from a position included within the classified service at the."

Rule XI, section 2, is amended by striking out in line 1 the words "The details regulating" and inserting in their stead the words "Regulations to govern;" so that as amended the section will read:

2. Regulations to govern promotions shall be formulated by the Commission after consultation with the heads of the several Departments, bureaus, and offices. It shall be the duty of the head of each Department, bureau, or office when such regulations have been formulated to promulgate the same, and any amendments or revocations thereof shall be approved by the Commission before going into effect.

Rule XI, section 3: The word "examiners" in line 7 is changed to "promotion," making the section read:

3. The Commission shall, upon the nomination of the head of each Department, bureau, or office, designate and select a suitable number of persons, not less than three, in said Department, bureau, or office to be members of a board of promotion. In the Departments, bureaus, or offices in Washington and in all other offices the members of any board of promotion shall not all be adherents of one political party when persons of other political parties are available and competent to serve upon said board.

Approved, November 2, 1896.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

CIVIL SERVICE--EXECUTIVE ORDER.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _November 2, 1896_.

The regulations of the Navy Department governing the employment of labor at navy-yards having been adopted by the Civil Service Commission as a regulation of the Commission July 29, 1896, under the authority conferred by clause 1, Rule 1, of the revised civil-service rules of May 6, 1896, it is hereby ordered that no modification of the existing regulations shall be made without the approval of the Civil Service Commission.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 7, 1896_.

_To the Congress of the United States_:

As representatives of the people in the legislative branch of their Government, you have assembled at a time when the strength and excellence of our free institutions and the fitness of our citizens to enjoy popular rule have been again made manifest. A political contest involving momentous consequences, fraught with feverish apprehension, and creating aggressiveness so intense as to approach bitterness and passion has been waged throughout our land and determined by the decree of free and independent suffrage without disturbance of our tranquillity or the least sign of weakness in our national structure.

When we consider these incidents and contemplate the peaceful obedience and manly submission which have succeeded a heated clash of political opinions, we discover abundant evidence of a determination on the part of our countrymen to abide by every verdict of the popular will and to be controlled at all times by an abiding faith in the agencies established for the direction of the affairs of their Government.

Thus our people exhibit a patriotic disposition which entitles them to demand of those who undertake to make and execute their laws such faithful and unselfish service in their behalf as can only be prompted by a serious appreciation of the trust and confidence which the acceptance of public duty invites.

In obedience to a constitutional requirement I herein submit to the Congress certain information concerning national affairs, with the suggestion of such legislation as in my judgment is necessary and expedient. To secure brevity and avoid tiresome narration I shall omit many details concerning matters within Federal control which, though by no means unimportant, are more profitably discussed in departmental reports. I shall also further curtail this communication by omitting a minute recital of many minor incidents connected with our foreign relations which have heretofore found a place in Executive messages, but are now contained in a report of the Secretary of State, which is herewith submitted.

At the outset of a reference to the more important matters affecting our relations with foreign powers it would afford me satisfaction if I could assure the Congress that the disturbed condition in Asiatic Turkey had during the past year assumed a less hideous and bloody aspect and that, either as a consequence of the awakening of the Turkish Government to the demands of humane civilization or as the result of decisive action on the part of the great nations having the right by treaty to interfere for the protection of those exposed to the rage of mad bigotry and cruel fanaticism, the shocking features of the situation had been mitigated. Instead, however, of welcoming a softened disposition or protective intervention, we have been afflicted by continued and not infrequent reports of the wanton destruction of homes and the bloody butchery of men, women, and children, made martyrs to their profession of Christian faith.

While none of our citizens in Turkey have thus far been killed or wounded, though often in the midst of dreadful scenes of danger, their safety in the future is by no means assured. Our Government at home and our minister at Constantinople have left nothing undone to protect our missionaries in Ottoman territory, who constitute nearly all the individuals residing there who have a right to claim our protection on the score of American citizenship. Our efforts in this direction will not be relaxed; but the deep feeling and sympathy that have been aroused among our people ought not to so far blind their reason and judgment as to lead them to demand impossible things. The outbreaks of blind fury which lead to murder and pillage in Turkey occur suddenly and without notice, and an attempt on our part to force such a hostile presence there as might be effective for prevention or protection would not only be resisted by the Ottoman Government, but would be regarded as an interruption of their plans by the great nations who assert their exclusive right to intervene in their own time and method for the security of life and property in Turkey.

Several naval vessels are stationed in the Mediterranean as a measure of caution and to furnish all possible relief and refuge in case of emergency.

We have made claims against the Turkish Government for the pillage and destruction of missionary property at Harpoot and Marash during uprisings at those places. Thus far the validity of these demands has not been admitted, though our minister, prior to such outrages and in anticipation of danger, demanded protection for the persons and property of our missionary citizens in the localities mentioned and notwithstanding that strong evidence exists of actual complicity of Turkish soldiers in the work of destruction and robbery.

The facts as they now appear do not permit us to doubt the justice of these claims, and nothing will be omitted to bring about their prompt settlement.

A number of Armenian refugees having arrived at our ports, an order has lately been obtained from the Turkish Government permitting the wives and children of such refugees to join them here. It is hoped that hereafter no obstacle will be interposed to prevent the escape of all those who seek to avoid the perils which threaten them in Turkish dominions.

Our recently appointed consul to Erzerum is at his post and discharging the duties of his office, though for some unaccountable reason his formal exequatur from the Sultan has not been issued.

I do not believe that the present somber prospect in Turkey will be long permitted to offend the sight of Christendom. It so mars the humane and enlightened civilization that belongs to the close of the nineteenth century that it seems hardly possible that the earnest demand of good people throughout the Christian world for its corrective treatment will remain unanswered.

The insurrection in Cuba still continues with all its perplexities. It is difficult to perceive that any progress has thus far been made toward the pacification of the island or that the situation of affairs as depicted in my last annual message has in the least improved. If Spain still holds Havana and the seaports and all the considerable towns, the insurgents still roam at will over at least two-thirds of the inland country. If the determination of Spain to put down the insurrection seems but to strengthen with the lapse of time and is evinced by her unhesitating devotion of largely increased military and naval forces to the task, there is much reason to believe that the insurgents have gained in point of numbers and character and resources and are none the less inflexible in their resolve not to succumb without practically securing the great objects for which they took up arms. If Spain has not yet reestablished her authority, neither have the insurgents yet made good their title, to be regarded as an independent state. Indeed, as the contest has gone on the pretense that civil government exists on the island, except so far as Spain is able to maintain it, has been practically abandoned. Spain does keep on foot such a government, more or less imperfectly, in the large towns and their immediate suburbs; but that exception being made, the entire country is either given over to anarchy or is subject to the military occupation of one or the other party. It is reported, indeed, on reliable authority that at the demand of the commander in chief of the insurgent army the putative Cuban government has now given up all attempt to exercise its functions, leaving that government confessedly (what there is the best reason for supposing it always to have been in fact) a government merely on paper.

Were the Spanish armies able to meet their antagonists in the open or in pitched battle, prompt and decisive results might be looked for, and the immense superiority of the Spanish forces in numbers, discipline, and equipment could hardly fail to tell greatly to their advantage. But they are called upon to face a foe that shuns general engagements, that can choose and does choose its own ground, that from the nature of the country is visible or invisible at pleasure, and that fights only from ambuscade and when all the advantages of position and numbers are on its side. In a country where all that is indispensable to life in the way of food, clothing, and shelter is so easily obtainable, especially by those born and bred on the soil, it is obvious that there is hardly a limit to the time during which hostilities of this sort may be prolonged. Meanwhile, as in all cases of protracted civil strife, the passions of the combatants grow more and more inflamed and excesses on both sides become more frequent and more deplorable. They are also participated in by bands of marauders, who, now in the name of one party and now in the name of the other, as may best suit the occasion, harry the country at will and plunder its wretched inhabitants for their own advantage. Such a condition of things would inevitably entail immense destruction of property, even if it were the policy of both parties to prevent it as far as practicable; but while such seemed to be the original policy of the Spanish Government, it has now apparently abandoned it and is acting upon the same theory as the insurgents, namely, that the exigencies of the contest require the wholesale annihilation of property that it may not prove of use and advantage to the enemy.