Part 55

In the Interior Department the classification was made on the 6th day of December, 1884. It consists of eight classes and subclasses, and embraces employees receiving annual salaries from $720 to $2,000.

On the 2d day of January, 1885, a classification of the employees in the Treasury Department was made, consisting of six classes and subclasses, including those earning annual salaries from $900 to $1,800.

In the Post-Office Department the employees were classified on February 6, 1885, into nine classes and subclasses, embracing persons earning annual salaries from $720 to $2,000.

On the 12th of December, 1884, the Bureau of Agriculture was classified in a manner different from all the other Departments, and presenting features peculiar to itself.

It seems that the only classification in the Department of State and the Department of Justice is that provided for by section 163 of the Revised Statutes, which directs that the employees in the several Departments shall be divided into four classes. It appears that no more definite classification has been made in these Departments.

I wish the Commission would revise these classifications and submit to me a plan which will as far as possible make them uniform, and which will especially remedy the present condition which permits persons to enter a grade in the service in the one Department without any examination which in another Department can only be entered after passing such examination. This, I think, should be done by extending the limits of the classified service rather than by contracting them.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 23, 1888_.

_To the People of the United States_:

The painful duty devolves upon the President to announce the death, at an early hour this morning, at his residence in this city, of Morrison R. Waite, Chief Justice of the United States, which exalted office he had filled since March 4, 1874, with honor to himself and high usefulness to his country.

In testimony of respect to the memory of the honored dead it is ordered that the executive offices in Washington be closed on the day of the funeral and be draped in mourning for thirty days, and that the national flag be displayed at half-mast on the public buildings and on all national vessels on the day of the funeral.

By the President:

T.F. BAYARD, _Secretary_.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, May 26, 1888_.

Under the provisions of section 4 of the act approved March 3, 1883, it is hereby ordered that the several Executive Departments, the Department of Agriculture, and the Government Printing Office be closed on Wednesday, the 30th instant, to enable the employees to participate in the decoration of the graves of the soldiers who fell during the rebellion.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION, _Washington, D.C., June 2, 1888_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: In the force employed in the office of the collector of customs at the port of New York there are eight tellers who receive and count the money paid in at that office, amounting to $500,000 a day or upward, and who should be persons qualified to handle money with skill and to detect counterfeit coin and bills. One of these places is now vacant, and it is important that it should be filled at the earliest practicable date. The position is not one excepted from examination by Customs Rule II, clause 5; but the collector thinks that it would be imprudent and impracticable for him to be restricted in filling the vacancy to the three names that might be certified to him from the eligible register, and in this opinion the Commission concurs. But whether this class of positions and certain others in the customs service should be filled by noncompetitive examination or by special exception is a matter which the Commission has under consideration, but can not determine until after a visit to New York and perhaps other ports. In view, however, of the necessity for immediately filling the present vacancy--but without establishing a precedent--the Commission has the honor to recommend that a noncompetitive examination for the purpose be authorized under subdivision (_e_), clause 2 of General Rule III, Civil-Service Rules. Your obedient servants,

JNO. H. OBERLY, CHAS. LYMAN, _United States Civil Service Commissioners_.

Approved, June 5, 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

CLASSIFIED POSTAL SERVICE, SPECIAL RULE NO. 1.

JUNE 16, 1888.

In addition to the exceptions from examination in the classified postal service made by Postal Rule II, clause 5, the following exception to examination in that service is hereby made:

Printers, employed as such.

_Provided_, That before any person may be employed under this exception to examination the Post-Office Department shall inform the Commission of the authority given to employ printers at any post-office and of the number authorized to be employed at such office.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

_Ordered_, That noncompetitive examinations to test fitness for the following designated places in the classified departmental service be, and are hereby, authorized:

1. In all the Departments: Engineers, assistant engineers, pressmen, and compositors.

2. In the Department of the Treasury:

In the office of the Secretary: Storekeeper, inspector of electric lights, foreman of laborers, captain of watch, lieutenants of watch, and locksmith and electrician.

In the office of the Treasurer: Seventeen clerks employed as expert money tellers.

In the office of the Supervising Surgeon-General of Marine-Hospital Service: Hospital steward, employed as chemist.

3. In the Department of the Interior:

In the office of the Secretary: Stenographer (to be confidential clerk to Secretary), members of the boards of pension appeals, returns-office clerk, and six clerks to act as assistant disbursing clerks.

In the Bureau of Pensions: Superintendent of buildings and two qualified surgeons.

In the Patent Office: Librarian, principal examiners, machinists, and model attendants.

In the office of the Commissioner of Railroads: One bookkeeper.

In the Bureau of Education: Clerk of class 4, as librarian.

In the Geological Survey: In permanent force--Librarian. In temporary force--Assistant paleontologists, assistant geologists, topographers, and assistant photographers.

4. In the Department of Agriculture:

In the disbursing office: Four clerks.

5. In the Post-Office Department:

In the office of the Assistant Attorney-General: Stenographer (to be confidential clerk to the Assistant Attorney-General).

Approved, July 2, 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

SPECIAL DEPARTMENTAL RULE NO. I.

In addition to the exceptions from examination made by Departmental Rule III, clause 2, the following exceptions to examinations for the classified departmental service are hereby made, viz:

1. In the Department of State: Lithographer.

2. In the Department of the Treasury:

In the office of the Secretary: Government actuary.

In the office of the Comptroller of the Currency: Bond clerk.

In the office of the Supervising Architect: Supervising Architect, assistant supervising architect, confidential clerk to Supervising Architect, and photographer.

In the Bureau of the Mint: Assayer, examiner, computer of bullion, and adjuster of accounts.

In the Bureau of Navigation: Clerk of class 4, acting as deputy commissioner.

In the office of Construction of Standard Weights and Measures: Adjuster and mechanician.

In the Bureau of Engraving and Printing: Chief of the Bureau, assistant chief of Bureau, engravers, and plate printers.

In the Coast and Geodetic Survey: Superintendent, confidential clerk to Superintendent, the normal or field force, general office assistant, confidential clerk to general office assistant, engravers and contract engravers, electrotypist and photographer, electrotypist's helper, apprentice to electrotypist and photographer, copperplate printers, plate-printers' helpers, and mechanicians.

In the office of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue: Superintendent of stamp vault.

3. In the Department of the Interior:

In the office of the Secretary: Superintendent of documents, clerk of class 3 as custodian, clerk to sign land patents, and telephone operator.

In the office of the Assistant Attorney-General: Law clerks--One at $2,750 per annum, one at $2,500 per annum, one at $2,250 per annum, and thirteen at $2,000 per annum.

In the Patent Office: Financial clerk, examiner of interferences, and law clerk.

In the General Land Office: Two law clerks, two law examiners, clerk of class 4 acting as receiving clerk, and ten principal examiners of land claims and contests.

In the Bureau of Pensions: Assistant chief clerk, medical referee, assistant medical referee, and law clerk.

In the Bureau of Indian Affairs: Principal bookkeeper.

In the office of Commissioner of Railroads: Railroad engineer.

In the Bureau of Education: Collector and compiler of statistics and statistician.

In the Geological Survey: In permanent force--General assistant, executive officer, photographer, twelve geologists, two paleontologists, two chemists, chief geographer, three topographers, and three geographers. In temporary force--Six paleontologists, eight geologists, geographer, mechanician, and editor.

4. In the Department of War: Clerk for the General of the Army and clerk for the retired General of the Army.

In the office of the Chief Signal Officer: Lithographer.

5. In the Department of the Navy:

In the Hydrographic Office: Engravers, copperplate printers, printers' apprentices.

6. In the Department of Justice: Pardon clerk and two law clerks.

7. In the Department of Agriculture:

In the office of the Commissioner: Private secretary to the chief clerk, superintendent of grounds, and assistant chief of each of the following divisions: Of botany, of chemistry, of entomology, of forestry, and of statistics.

In the Bureau of Animal Industry: Chief of the Bureau, assistant chief, private secretary to chief, and chief clerk.

8. In the Post-Office Department: Assistant Attorney-General, law clerk, and agents and employees at postal-note, postage-stamp, postal-card, and envelope agencies.

9. In the Department of Labor: Statistical experts and temporary experts.

Approved, July 2, 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

SPECIAL DEPARTMENTAL RULE NO. 2.

No substitute shall hereafter be employed in any Department; and the head of any Department in which substitutes are now employed may appoint any of such substitutes to take the place of his principal, or to any place of lower grade: _Provided_, That no substitute shall be appointed as herein authorized until he shall have passed an appropriate examination by the Civil Service Commission and his eligibility shall have been certified by said Commission to the head of the Department in which he is employed.

Approved, August 3, 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 9, 1888_.

_The Heads of Departments_:

As a mark of respect to the memory of General Sheridan, the President directs that the several Executive Departments in the city of Washington be closed and all public business at the national capital suspended on Saturday, August 11 instant, the day of the funeral.

By direction of the President:

DANIEL S. LAMONT, _Private Secretary._

SPECIAL CUSTOMS RULE NO. 1.

In addition to exceptions from examination in the classified customs service made under Customs Rule II, clause 5, the following special exceptions are made:

In the Boston customs district, office of the naval officer: Assistant deputy naval officer.

Approved, August 10, 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

WAR DEPARTMENT, _Washington City, August 14, 1888_.

By direction of the President, Major-General John M. Schofield is assigned to the command of the Army of the United States.

WM.C. ENDICOTT, _Secretary of War._

UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION, _Washington, D.C., August 25, 1888_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: The Commission respectfully submits for your consideration the following extract from the minutes of its proceedings of August 23, 1888:

"Navy Department, August 23. Harmony, Acting Secretary of the Navy, refers, with a request that the examination asked for therein be held at the earliest possible moment, a communication of the same date of G.S. Dyer, lieutenant, United States Navy, in charge of the Hydrographic Office, Navy Department, requesting that Francis A. Lewis, at New York City, and Joseph T. McMillan, of San Francisco, may be noncompetitively examined for the positions of assistants at the branch hydrographic offices at those places, respectively, under General Rule III, paragraph 2 (_e_), stating that the positions of assistants at those offices require men specially fitted by a technical nautical education, and therefore such as is only obtained in the Navy, and that the young men referred to are recent graduates of the Naval Academy and have been honorably discharged from the service.

"The positions named in this communication, and similar positions at other branch hydrographic offices, being regarded as in the classified departmental service in the Department of the Navy, and subject to examination, and in view of the qualifications required in such positions and of the fact that the service is to be rendered at points remote from the city of Washington, it is deemed impracticable to fill these places by competitive examination. It is therefore ordered that they be included among the places to be filled by noncompetitive examination under the provision of General Rule III, clause 2 (_e_), and that the President be asked to approve this order."

The Commission respectfully requests that you indorse this communication with your approval of the action above quoted and return it as the authority of the Commission for including the places mentioned among the noncompetitive examination places under General Rule III, clause 2 (_e_).

Very respectfully,

A.P. EDGERTON, JOHN H. OBERLY, CHAS. LYMAN, _United States Civil Service Commissioners._

Approved:

GROVER CLEVELAND.

UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION, _Washington, D.C., October 17, 1888_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: This Commission has been informed by the Treasury Department that an additional teller has been authorized to be appointed at the custom-house in the city of New York, and that his immediate employment is desired.

This position is not one excepted from examination by Customs Rule II, clause 5, but the collector thinks, in view of its fiduciary character, that it ought to be filled by noncompetitive instead of by competitive examination, and in this view the Commission concurs. It is therefore respectfully recommended that a noncompetitive examination for the purpose be authorized under subdivision (_e_) of clause 2 of General Rule III, Revised Civil-Service Rules.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

CHAS. LYMAN, _Commissioner, in Charge._

Approved, October 17, 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION, _Washington, D.C., October 31, 1888_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: Approval of the following order for noncompetitive examinations under the provisions of General Rule III, section 2, clause (_e_), of Revised Civil-Service Rules, is respectfully recommended:

_Ordered_, That noncompetitive examinations to test fitness for the following-designated places in the classified customs service are hereby authorized:

1. In the customs district of New York, collector's office: The tellers employed in the cashier's office; three stenographers employed under the immediate supervision of the collector.

2. In the customs district of San Francisco: Chinese interpreter.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

CHAS. LYMAN, _Commissioner, in Charge._

Approved, November 1, 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION, _Washington, D.C., October, 3 1888_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: Approval of the following order for noncompetitive examinations under the provisions of General Rule III, section 2, clause (_e_), of Revised Civil-Service Rules, is respectfully recommended:

_Ordered_, That noncompetitive examinations to test fitness for the following-designated places in the classified departmental service are hereby authorized:

1. In the Department of the Interior, Geological Survey, permanent force: Assistant photographers.

2. In the Department of Labor: Special agents.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

CHAS. LYMAN, _Commissioner, in Charge._

Approved, November 1, 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

Clause (_e_) of section 2 of General Rule III is amended by adding thereto the following, and as thus amended is hereby promulgated:

But no person appointed to such a place upon noncompetitive examination shall within one year after appointment be transferred or appointed to any place not excepted from examination; but after having served in such noncompetitive place not less than one year he may be transferred or appointed in the bureau or office in which he is serving to a place not excepted from examination upon the certificate of the Commission or the proper board of examiners that he has passed an examination to test fitness for the place to which his transfer or appointment is proposed.

Approved, November 1, 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

SPECIAL DEPARTMENTAL RULE NO. I.

So much of Special Departmental Rule No. 1, approved July 2, 1888, as applies to-the Department of Agriculture is hereby amended and promulgated as follows:

7. In the Department of Agriculture:

In the office of the Commissioner: Private secretary to the chief clerk, superintendent of grounds, and assistant chief of each of the following divisions: Of botany, of chemistry, of entomology, of forestry, and of statistics, and the director of experiment stations and the assistant director.

In the Bureau of Animal Industry: Chief of the Bureau, assistant chief, private secretary to the chief, and chief clerk.

Approved, November 1, 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

SPECIAL CUSTOMS RULE NO. I.

Special Customs Rule No. 1, specially excepting from examination certain places in the customs service, is hereby amended by including among those places the following:

At the port of New York, office of the collector: Bookbinder.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, November 1, 1888_.

The foregoing amendment is hereby approved.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

Departmental Rule VII is hereby amended by inserting at the end of the first sentence of section 1 the following:

_Provided_, That no certification shall be made from the clerk or any supplementary register to any Department to which promotion regulations have been applied under General Rule III, section 6, to fill a vacancy above the grade of class 1.

So that as amended the first paragraph of section 1 will read:

1. Vacancies in the classified departmental service, unless among the places excepted from examination, if not filled by either promotion or transfer, shall be filled in the following manner: _Provided_, That no certification shall be made from the clerk or any supplementary register to any Department to which promotion regulations have been applied under General Rule III, section 6, to fill a vacancy above the grade of class 1.

Approved and promulgated.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _November 1, 1888_.

The foregoing amendment is hereby approved.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

The following amendments to departmental rules are hereby made and promulgated:

To Departmental Rule IV: After the word "service," in section 1 of said rule, insert the following:

_Provided_, That any person may apply for the position of printer's assistant in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing who is not under 18 nor over 35 years of age.

And after the word "for," in the same section, strike out the words "which purpose" and insert in lieu thereof the words "such application," so that as amended section 1 will read:

1. Any person not under 20 years of age may make application for admission to the classified departmental service: _Provided_, That any person may apply for the position of printer's assistant in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing who is not under 18 nor over 35 years of age; and blank forms for such application shall be furnished by the Commission.

To Departmental Rule VI: After the word "examination," where it first occurs in section 5 of said rule, insert the words "or an examination for printer's assistant in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing." After the word "which" strike out the words "supplementary or special," where they last occur in said section, and insert in lieu thereof "the," so that as amended section 5 will read:

5. But the names of all competitors who have passed a supplementary or a special examination, or an examination for printer's assistant in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, shall be entered, without regard to State residence, upon the register of persons eligible to the class or place to test fitness for which the examination was held.

To Departmental Rule VII: After the word "or," in the second paragraph of section 3 of said rule, strike out the article "a," and after the word "register" in said paragraph insert the words "or the printer's-assistant register," so that as amended said second paragraph of section 3 will read:

When certification is made from a supplementary or special register, or the printer's-assistant register, and there are more vacancies than one to be filled, the appointing officer may select from the three names certified more than one.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, November 5, 1888_.

The foregoing amendments are hereby approved.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION, _Washington, D.C., October 31, 1888_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: The order heretofore approved by you authorizing noncompetitive examinations under General Rule III, section 2, clause (_e_), to test fitness for certain designated places in the classified departmental service, included among such places the following:

In the office of the Treasurer of the United States, seventeen clerks employed as expert money tellers.

The attempts thus far made to make appointments to these places under this order have fully satisfied the Commission and the Treasury Department of the impracticability of this method of procedure, not because of any difficulty of applying suitable tests to determine the expertness required, but because there are really no experts to be tested. The duties of these positions can not be learned elsewhere than in the positions themselves, and therefore the only experts are those now occupying them and the very few who have left them for one cause or another, but who are not seeking to return. Therefore, since experts are not available, and persons will have to be appointed who must learn the duties of the positions in the actual performance of those duties, there would seem to be no good reason why such persons should not be selected from the eligible registers of this Commission, which are at all times abundantly supplied with the names of persons who are both competent and worthy. And besides, so long as these tempting places are in the noncompetitive list, the Department will be subjected to solicitation and pressure concerning them which it would rather avoid.

In view of these considerations it is respectfully recommended that you approve the revocation of so much of the order above referred to as provides for the appointment upon noncompetitive examination of seventeen clerks in the office of the Treasurer of the United States employed as expert money tellers.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

CHAS. LYMAN, _Commissioner in Charge_.