The Little Giant Cyclopedia and Treasury of Ready Reference

The officials and clerks-over 120,000 in all-by whom the people's business in the administration of government is carried on, constitute the Civil Service. About 5,000 of these are appointed by the President, alone or with the consent of the Senate; about 15,000 under what are known as the "Civil Service Rules," but the great body of officeholders are appointed by heads of departments.

Those employed in the civil service have always been theoretically entitled to serve "during good behavior," but practically, until within a few years, their positions have depended upon their allegiance to the political party in power.

In 1883 Congress passed a law for the improvement of the civil service of the United States. This act provides for the appointment by the President of three commissioners to have general charge of filling the vacancies in the civil service department, and stipulates that the fitness of all applicants for all subordinate positions in the departments at Washington, and in all custom houses and postoffices having as many as 50 officeholders, shall be tested by examinations, and the positions assigned with reference to the capacity, education and character of the applicants, regardless of political preferences.

According to this, no absolute appointment to office can be made until the applicant has proven his or her ability to fill the position satisfactorily by six months' service; no person habitually using intoxicating beverages to excess shall be appointed to, or retained in, any office; no recommendation which may be given by any Senator or member of the House of Representatives, except as to character and residence, shall be considered by the examiners; men and women shall receive the same pay for the same work.

The general competitive examinations for admission to the service are limited to the following subjects: 1. Orthography, penmanship and copying. 2. Arithmetic-fundamental rules, fractions and percentage. 3. Interest, discount, and the elements of bookkeeping and of accounts. 4. Elements of the English language, letter writing, and the proper construction of sentences. 5. Elements of the geography, history and government of the U. S.

A standing of 65 per cent. in the first three branches is necessary to qualify an applicant for appointment. Where special qualifications are necessary for specific work the examinations are adapted to test the knowledge of the applicant in that particular line.

No applicant will be examined who cannot furnish proof that he is of good moral character and in good health.

There is a board of examiners in each of the principal cities of

the U. S., and several examinations are held each year. Applications must be made on the regular "application paper," which can be obtained of the commissioners, or any board of examiners.

Several of the States have adopted the principles laid down in the civil service act and applied them to the State civil service, and it is probably only a question of time when Civil Service Reform will be consummated throughout the U. S., and the public service will thereby be rendered much more efficient.

United States Land Measure and Homestead Law. A township is 36 sections, each a mile square. A section is 640 acres. A quarter section, half a mile square, is 160 acres. An eighth section, half a mile long, north and south, and a quarter of a mile wide, is 80 acres. A sixteenth section, a quarter of a mile square, is 40

acres.

The sections are all numbered 1 to 36, commencing at north-east corner, thus:

5 | 4 | 3 | 2

NW NE

3 2

SW SE

The sections are all divided in quarters, which are named by the cardinal points, as in section I. The quarters are divided in the same way, as shown in the smaller diagram. The description of a forty-acre lot would read: The south half of the west half of the south-west quarter of section I in township 24, north of range 7 west, or as the case might be; and sometimes will fall short and sometimes overrun the number of acres it is supposed to contain.

Titles to the Public Lands-How Acquired.

The public lands of the United States still unsold and open to settlement are divided into two classes, one class being sold by the Government for $1.25 per acre as the minimum price, the other at $2.50 per acre, being the alternate sections reserved by the United States in land grants to railroads, etc. Such tracts are sold upon application to the Land Register. Heads of

tamilies, or citizens over twenty-one years, who may settle upon any quarter section (or 160 acres) have the right under the pre-emption law of prior claim to purchase, on complying with the regulations.

Under the homestead laws, any citizen, or intending citizen, has the right to 160 acres of the $1.25 land, or So acres of the $2.50 land, after an actual settlement and cultivation of the same for five years. Under the timber culture law, any settler who has cultivated for two years as much as five acres in trees of an So-acre homestead, or ten acres of a homestead of 160 acres, is entitled to a free patent for the land at the end of eight years.

STAGE FAVORITES.

The following is a carefully prepared list of stage favorites, giving the professional and private name of each: Fanny Davenport, Mrs. McDowell; Louise Pomeroy, Mrs. Arthur Elliott; Maggie Mitchell, Mrs. Henry Paddock; Rose Eytinge, Mrs. Cyril Searle; Rose Coghlan, Mrs. E. H. Edgerly; Margaret Mather, Margaret Miles; Kate Claxton, Mrs. Charles Stevenson; Effie Ellsler, Mrs. Frank Weston; Lillian Russell, Mrs. Edward Solomon; Agnes Booth, Mrs. John B. Schoeffel; Ida Mulle, Mrs. Benjamin Tuthill; Kate Castleton, Mrs. Harry Phillips; Lotta, Miss Charlotte Crabtree; Alice Atherton, Mrs. Willie Edouin; Minnie Maddern, Mrs. Le Grand White; Irene Perry, Mrs. Albert Weber; Minnie Palmer, Mrs. John R. Rogers; Marie Wainright, Mrs. Louis James; Marie Jansen, Mrs. James Barton; Laura Joyce, Mrs. Digby Bell; Minnie Conway, Mrs. Osmund Tearle; Dickie Lingard, Mrs. David Dalziell; Kittie Blanchard, Mrs. McKee Rankin; Louise Davenport, Mrs. W. E. Sheridan; Louise Thorndyke, Mrs. D. Boucicault; Agnes Robertson, Mrs. D. Boucicault; Maude Granger, Mrs. Albert Follin; Marie Prescott, Mrs. Perzel; Caroline Hill, Mrs. Herbert Kelcey; Minnie Hauk, Mrs. G. Von Hesse Wartegg; Lily West, Mrs. Harry Brown; Ellie Wilton, Mrs. Frank Wilton; Helen Dauvray, Mrs. J. M. Ward; Fay Templeton, Mrs. Howell; Modjeska, Mme. Helena Benda; Janauschek, Mrs. E. J. Pillott; Emma Abbott, Mrs. Eugene Wetherell; Marian Elmore, Mrs. Frank Losee; Ada Gray, Mrs. Charles Watkins; Lottie Church, Mrs. John A. Stevens; Sydney Cowell, Mrs. Geo. Giddens; Annie Pixley, Mrs. Robert Fulford; Clara Morris, Mrs. F. C. Harriott; Julia Wilson, Mrs. Charles Fox; Dora Wiley, Mrs. Richard Golden; Lizzie May Ulmer, Mrs. George Ulmer; Mattie Vickers, Mrs. Charles Rogers; Theresa Vaughn, Mrs. William Mestayer; Albina de Mer, Mrs. M. B. Curtis; Alfa Norman, Mrs. Charles Byrne; Lizzie Harold, Mrs. W. S. Cornlay.

You cannot lawfully condone an offense by receiving back stolen property.

The exemption of females from arrest applies only in civil, not in criminal matters.

Every man is bound to obey the call of a Sheriff for assistance in making an arrest.

The rule "Every man's house is his castle" does not hold good when a man is accused of crime.

Embezzlement can be charged only against a clerk or servant, or the officer or agent of a corporation.

Bigamy cannot be proven in law if one party to a marriage has been absent and not heard from for five years.

Grand larceny is when the value of property stolen exceeds $25.00-when less than that, the offense is petit larceny.

Arson to be in the first degree must have been committed at night and the buildings fired must have been inhabited.

Drunkenness is not a legal excuse for crime, but delirium tremens is considered by the law as a species of insanity.

In a case of assault it is only necessary to prove an "offer or attempt at assault." Battery presumes physical violence.

Mayhem, although popularly supposed to refer to injury to the face, lip, tongue, eye, or. ear, applies to any injury done a limb.

A felony is a crime punishable by imprisonment in a State prison; an “infamous" crime is one punishable with death or State prison.

A police officer is not authorized to make an arrest without a warrant unless he has personal knowledge of the offense for which the arrest is made.

An accident is not a crime, unless criminal carelessness can be proven. A man shooting at a burglar and killing a member of his family is not a murderer.

Burglary in the first degree can be committed only in the night time. Twilight, if dark enough to prevent distinguishing a man's face, is the same as "night" in law.

Murder to be in the first degree must be willful, premeditated and malicious, or committed while the murderer is engaged in a felonious act. The killing of a man in a duel is murder, and it is a misdemeanor to accept or give a challenge.

False swearing is perjury in law only when willfully done, and when the oath has been legally administered. Such qualifying expressions as "to the best of my belief," "as I am informed," may save an averment from being perjured. The law is that the false statement sworn to must be absolute. Suborna

tion of perjury is a felony.