A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents by Grover Cleveland

G >> Grover Cleveland >> A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61

(_b_) From any classified post-office or from the classified
railway mail service to the Post-Office Department, and from the
Post-Office Department to any classified post-office, or to the
classified railway mail service, upon requisition of the
Post-master-General.

2. No person may be transferred as herein authorized until the
Commission shall have certified to the officer making the transfer
requisition that the person whom it is proposed to transfer has passed
an examination to test fitness for the place to which he is to be
transferred, and that such person has been at least six months next
preceding the date of the certificate in the classified railway mail
service or in the classified service of the Department or post-office
from which the transfer is to be made.

Approved, January 4, 1889.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

RAILWAY MAIL RULES.

RAILWAY MAIL RULE I.

The classified railway mail service shall include all the officers,
clerks, and other persons in that service classified under the
provisions of section 6 of the act to regulate and improve the civil
service of the United States, approved January 16, 1883.

RAILWAY MAIL RULE II.

1. To test fitness for admission to the classified railway mail service
the following examinations shall be provided:

_Clerk examination_,--This examination shall include not more than
the following subjects:

(_a_) Orthography.

(_b_) Copying.

(_c_) Penmanship.

(_d_) Arithmetic--fundamental rules, fractions, and percentage.

(_e_) Letter writing.

(_f_) The geography of the United States, and especially of the
State or railway mail division in which the applicant resides.

(_g_) The railway systems of the State or railway mail division in
which the applicant resides.

(_h_) Reading addresses.

_Other competitive examinations_.--Such other competitive
examinations as the Commission may from time to time deem necessary.

_Noncompetitive examinations_.--Such examinations may, with the
approval of the Commission, be held under conditions stated in General
Rule III, clause 2.

2. No person shall be examined for the railway mail service if under 18
or over 35 years of age, except that any person honorably discharged
from the military or naval service of the United States by reason of
disability resulting from wounds or sickness incurred in the line of
duty, and whose claim of preference under section 1754 of the Revised
Statutes has been allowed by the Commission, may be examined without
regard to his age.

3. Any person desiring examination for admission to the classified
railway mail service must, in his own handwriting, make request for a
blank form of application, which request, and also his application,
shall be addressed as follows: "United States Civil Service Commission,
Washington, D.C."

4. The date of reception, and also of approval, by the Commission of
each application shall be noted on the application paper.

5. Exceptions from examination in the classified railway mail service
are hereby made as follows:

(_a_) General superintendent.

(_b_) Assistant general superintendent.

6. No person appointed to a place under any exception to examination
hereby made shall within one year after appointment be transferred to
another place not also excepted from examination; but after service of
not less than one year in an examination-excepted place he may be
transferred to a place not excepted from examination upon the
certificate of the Commission that he has passed an examination to test
fitness for the place to which his transfer is proposed.

RAILWAY MAIL RULE III.

1. The papers of every examination shall be marked under the direction
of the Commission, and each competitor shall be graded on a scale of
100, according to the general average determined by the marks made by
the examiners on his papers.

2. The Commission shall appoint in each railway mail division as many
boards of examiners as it may deem necessary for the good of the service
and the convenience of applicants: _Provided_, That there shall be
at least one such board in each Territory and not less than two in each
State, except that the number may be limited to one each in the States
of Rhode Island and Delaware.

3. These boards shall conduct such examinations for admission to and
promotions in the classified railway mail service and such examinations
for the other branches of the classified service as the Commission may
direct. They shall also mark such examination papers as the Commission
may direct.

4. Unless otherwise directed by the Commission, the papers of
examination for admission to the classified railway mail service shall
be marked by the central board.

5. The papers of an examination having been marked, the Commission shall
ascertain--

(_a_) The name of every competitor who has, under section 1754 of
the Revised Statutes, claim of preference in civil appointments, and who
has attained a general average of not less than 65 per cent; and all
such competitors are hereby declared eligible to the class or place to
test fitness for which the examination was held.

(_b_) The name of every other competitor who has attained a general
average of not less than 70 per cent; and all such applicants are hereby
declared eligible to the class or place to test fitness for which the
examination was held.

6. The names of all preference-claiming competitors whose general
average is not less than 65 per cent, together with the names of all
other competitors whose general average is not less than 70 per cent,
shall be entered upon the register of persons eligible to the class or
place to test fitness for which the examination was held.

7. The grade of each competitor shall be expressed by the whole number
nearest the general average attained by him, and the grade of each
eligible shall be noted upon the register of eligibles in connection
with his name. When two or more eligibles are of the same grade,
preference in certification shall be determined by the order in which
their application papers were filed.

8. There shall be a register of eligibles for each State and Territory,
and the names of all the eligibles of any State or Territory shall be
entered upon the register for that State or Territory. The eligibles of
the District of Columbia shall be entered, according to their election,
upon the register of the State of Maryland or upon that of the State of
Virginia.

9. Immediately after the general averages shall have been ascertained
each competitor shall be notified that he has passed or has failed to
pass.

10. If a competitor fail to pass, he may, with the consent of the
Commission, be allowed a reexamination at any time within six months
from the date of failure without filing a new application; but if such
reexamination be not allowed within that time he shall not be again
examined without making in due form a new application.

11. No eligible shall be allowed reexamination during the term of his
eligibility unless he shall furnish evidence satisfactory to the
Commission that at the time of his examination, because of illness or
other good cause, he was incapable of doing himself justice in said
examination.

12. The term of eligibility shall be such as the Commission may by
regulation determine, but shall not be less than one year from the day
on which the name of the eligible is entered upon the register:
_Provided_, That for public and sufficient reasons the Commission
shall have authority to extend the term of eligibility of the eligibles
on the register of any State or Territory for such period, not exceeding
one year, as it may deem necessary, without correspondingly extending
the term of the eligibles on the registers of the other States and
Territories as to which the same reasons do not exist.

RAILWAY MAIL RULE IV.

1. All vacancies in the classified railway mail service above class 1,
unless among the places excepted from examination, shall be filled by
promotion, upon such tests of fitness as the Postmaster-General, with
the approval of the Commission, may prescribe: _Provided_, That a
vacancy occurring in a State or railway mail division in any grade may
be filled by the transfer of a clerk of the same grade from another
State or division, under such regulations as the Postmaster-General,
with the approval of the Commission, may prescribe, or by reappointment
under the provisions of Railway Mail Rule VI.

2. All vacancies in class 1, unless filled by transfer or reappointment
under Railway Mail Rule VI, shall be filled in the following manner:

(_a_) The general superintendent shall, in form and manner to be
prescribed by the Commission, request the certification to him of
eligibles from a State or Territory in which a vacancy then exists.

(_b_) The Commission shall certify from the register of the State
or Territory in which the vacancy exists the names of the three
eligibles thereon having the highest averages who have not been three
times certified: _Provided_, That if upon said register there are
the names of eligibles having a claim of preference under section 1754,
Revised Statutes, the names of such eligibles shall be certified before
the names of other eligibles of higher grade: _Provided further_;
That if there are not three eligibles upon the register of the State or
Territory in which the vacancy exists eligibles may be certified from
the register of any adjoining State or Territory.

(_c_) The name of an eligible shall not be certified more than
three times.

3. Of the three names certified to the general superintendent one shall
be selected and designated for appointment, and more than one may be if
there be more than one vacancy existing at the time.

4. Each person designated for appointment shall be notified, and upon
reporting to the proper officer shall be appointed for a probational
period of six months, at the end of which period, if his conduct and
capacity be satisfactory, he shall be absolutely appointed; but if his
conduct and capacity be not satisfactory he shall be so notified, and
such notice shall be his discharge from the service.

5. The general superintendent, with the approval of the
Postmaster-General, shall prescribe regulations under which each
probationer shall be observed and tested and a record kept of his
conduct and capacity, and such record shall determine his fitness for
the service and whether he shall be dropped during or at the end of
probation or be absolutely appointed.

6. There may be certified and appointed in each State and Territory, in
the manner provided for in this rule, such number of substitute clerks,
not exceeding the ratio of one substitute to twenty regular clerks, in
such State or Territory as the Post-master-General may authorize, and
any vacancies occurring in class 1 in any State or Territory in which
substitutes have been appointed shall be filled by the appointment
thereto of those substitutes in the order of their appointment as
substitutes without further certification. The time during which any
substitute is actually employed in the service shall be counted as a
part of his probation.

RAILWAY MAIL RULE V.

1. Transfers may be made as follows:

(_a_) From the classified railway mail service to any classified
post-office, and from any classified post-office to the classified
railway mail service, upon requisition of the Postmaster-General.

(_b_) From the classified railway mail service to the Post-Office
Department, and from the Post-Office Department to the classified
railway mail service, upon requisition of the Postmaster-General.

2. No person shall be transferred as herein authorized until the
Commission shall have certified to the Postmaster-General that the
person whom it is proposed to transfer has passed an examination to test
fitness for the place to which he is to be transferred, and that such
person has been at least six months next preceding the date of the
certificate in the classified railway mail service or in the classified
service of the post-office or Department from which the transfer is to
be made: _Provided_, That no employee shall be transferred to any
grade which he could not enter by original appointment by reason of any
age limitation prescribed by the civil-service rules.

RAILWAY MAIL RULE VI.

1. Upon requisition of the Postmaster-General the Commission shall
certify for reinstatement in a grade or class no higher than that in
which he was formerly employed any person who within one year next
preceding the date of the requisition has, through no delinquency or
misconduct, been separated from the classified railway mail service.

RAILWAY MAIL RULE VII.

1. The general superintendent of the railway mail service shall report
to the Commission--

(_a_) Every probational (whether substitute or regular) and every
absolute appointment in the railway mail service in each State or
Territory; every appointment under any exception to examination
authorized by Railway Mail Rule II, clause 5; every reappointment under
Railway Mail Rule VI, and every appointment of a substitute to a regular
place.

(_b_) Every refusal to make an absolute appointment and the reason
therefor, and every refusal or neglect to accept an appointment in the
classified railway mail service.

(_c_) Every transfer into the classified railway mail service.

(_d_) Every separation from the classified railway mail service and
the cause of such separation.

(_e_) Every promotion or degradation in the classified railway mail
service, if such promotion or degradation be from one class to another
class.

(_f_) Once in every six months, namely, on the 30th of June and the
31st of December of each year, the whole number of employees in each
railway mail division, arranged by States and classes, showing the
number of substitutes and the number of regular employees in each class
in each State or Territory.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, January 4, 1889_.

The above rules are hereby approved, to take effect March 15, 1889:
_Provided_, That such rules shall become operative and take effect
in any State or Territory as soon as an eligible register for such State
or Territory shall be prepared, if it shall be prior to the date above
fixed.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION,
_Washington, D.C., February 8, 1889_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: The Commission recommends that Special Departmental Rule No. 1 be
amended by adding to the exceptions from examination therein declared
the following:

"11. In the Department of Justice: Assistant attorneys.

"12. In the Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Experiment Stations:
Private secretary to the Director."

Very respectfully,

CHAS LYMAN,
_United States Civil Service Commissioner._

Approved, February 11, 1889.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION,
_Washington, D.C., February 9, 1889_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: This Commission has the honor to recommend that the order of the
President fixing the places to which appointments may be made upon
noncompetitive examination under General Rule III, section 2, clause
(_f_), may be amended by including among such places the following:

"In the Post-Office Department: Captain of the watch."

This recommendation is based upon the letter of the Postmaster-General
dated December 19, 1888, in which he says:

"I would request that places in the Post-Office Department subject to
noncompetitive examination be increased by including the position of
captain of the watch, as the duties of the position are of such a nature
that the head of the Department should be permitted to recommend for
examination such person as would possess such other qualifications in
addition to the merely clerical ones as would commend him to the head of
the Department to fill satisfactorily such position."

Very respectfully,

CHAS LYMAN,
_United States Civil Service Commissioner._

Approved, February 11, 1889.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION,
_Washington, D.C., February 9, 1889_.

The PRESIDENT.

SIR: This Commission has the honor to recommend that the order
heretofore approved by you authorizing noncompetitive examination under
General Rule III, section 2, clause (_e_), to test fitness for
certain designated places in the classified departmental service, may be
amended by the revocation of so much of the order above referred to as
provides for the appointment upon noncompetitive examination of
"inspector of electric lights" in the office of the Secretary in the
Treasury Department.

Very respectfully,

CHAS. LYMAN,
_United States Civil Service Commissioner_.

Approved, February 11, 1889.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 26, 1889_.

Whereas by an act of Congress entitled "An act to enable the President
to protect the interests of the United States in Panama," approved
February 25, 1889, it was enacted as follows:

That there be, and is hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the
Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $250,000 to enable the
President to protect the interests of the United States and to provide
for the security of persons and property of citizens of the United
States at the Isthmus of Panama in such manner as he may deem expedient.

And whereas satisfactory information has been received by me that a
number of citizens of the United States have been thrown out of
employment and left destitute in the Republic of Colombia by the
stoppage of work on the Panama Canal:

_It is therefore ordered_, That so much as is necessary of the fund
appropriated by the said act be expended, under the direction and
control of the Secretary of State, in furnishing transportation to the
United States to any citizen or citizens of the United States who may be
found destitute within the National Department of Panama, in the
Republic of Colombia.

GROVER CLEVELAND.