People's Pilot, Volume 5, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 September 1895 — THE MERIT SYSTEM. [ARTICLE]

THE MERIT SYSTEM.

ITS EXTENSION GRANTED BY THE PRESIDENT. Many Consular Office* Are Put Under Civil Service Rule* by the Administration —Full Text of the White House Order. Washington, Sept. 24. —The president, by an executive order issued yesterday, has extended the civil service system, in a modified form, to all consular officers whose compensation, directly or through fees, ranges from SI,OOO to $2,500. This will include about one-half of the total number of Consuls who receive more than SI,OOO. This change has been gained by reviving in substance an old order of 1873. Vacancies in the service will be felled hereafter by transfer or promotion, by appointment of qualified persons fornierly in the employ of the state department and by appointment of persons selected by the President after passing a noncompetitive examination. The order reads: Executive Mansion, Sept. 20, 1895. — It being of great importance that the consuls and commercial agents of the United States shall possess the proper qualifications for their respective positions, to be ascertained either through a satisfactory record of previous actual service under the department of state or through an appropriate examination, it is hereby, ordered that any vacancy in any consulate or commercial agency now or hereafter existing, the salary of which is not more than $2,500 nor less than SI,OOO, or the compensation of which, if derived from official fees, exclusive of notarial and other unofficial receipts, does not exceed $2,500 nor fall below SI,OOO, shall be filled (A) by a transfer or promotion from some other position under the department of state of a character tending to qualify the incumbent for the position to be filled, or (B) by appointment of a person not under the department of state, but having previously served thereunder to its satisfaction in a capacity tending to qualify him for the position to be filled, or (C) by the appointment of a person who, having furnished the customary evidence of characier, responsibility and capacity and being thereupon selected by the President for examination, is found upon such examination to be qualified for the position. For the purpose of this order notarial and unofficial fees shall not be regarded, but the compensation of a consulate or commercial agency shall be ascertained, if the ofllce is salaried, by reference to the last preceding appropriation act, and, if the office is not salaried, by reference to the returns of official fees for the last preceding fiscal year. The examination hereinbefore provided for shall be by a board of three persons designated by the secretary of state, who shall also prescribe the subjects to which such examinations shall relate and the general mode of conducting the same by the board. A vacancy In a consulate will be filled at discretion only when a suitable appointment cannot be made in any of the modes indicated in the first paragraph of this order.

GROVER CLEVELAND.