4. WAR REVENUE TAXES-Continued. Where the person or persons entitled to beneficial interest shall be the brother or sister of the grandfather or grandmother or a descendant of the brother or sister of the grandfather or grandmother: When the whole amount exceeds $10,000 and does not exceed $25,000 .$4 on each $100 $6 on each $100 ..$8 on each $100 .$10 on each $100 $12 on each $100 ..$5 on each $100 .$7.50 on each $100 5. Where the person or persons entitled to beneficial interest shall be a person of any other degree of collateral consanguinity, or a stranger in blood, or a body politic or corporation : When the whole amount exceeds $10,000 and does not exceed $25,000... When the whole amount exceeds $25,000 and does not exceed $100,000. When the whole amount exceeds $100,000 and does not exceed $500,000.. When the whole amount exceeds $500,000 and does not exceed $1,000,000.. When the whole amount exceeds $1,000,000..... $10 on each $100 .$12.50 on each $100 .....$15 on each $100 Legacies to charitable, religious, literary, and educational purposes exempt from taxation. MIXED FLOUR-TOOK EFFECT 60 DAYS AFTER PASSAGE OF ACT. Person, firm, or corporation making, packing, or repacking.... On each barrel containing more than 98 pounds and not more than 196 pounds... On each 4 barrel or package containing more than 241⁄2 pounds and not more than 49 On each barrel or package containing 241⁄2 pounds or less...... ................ $12 per annum 4 cents per barrel 2 cents per barrel 1 cent per barrel 1⁄2 cent per barrel Express receipts. 4 cents on each $1 Insurance-Life, 8 cents on each $100; marine, inland, fire, cent on each $1; casualty, $20 2 cents 1 cent cent on each $1 ...25 cents to $1 ..$1 to $5 ..2 cents for each $100 25 cents for each $1,500 cent for each 5 cents 10 cents 25 cents .2 cents for each $100 ent for each 5 cents 25 cents 1 cent 1 cent 25 cents TAXES MODIFIED IN 1901. The War Revenue Taxes of 1898 modified by the act of 1901 were: Beer, $2 per barrel and 7% per cent discount; changed to $1.60 per barrel, and 7% per cent discount repealed. Bills of exchange, foreign, 4 cents for each $100; changed to 2 cents for each $100. (No tax when accompanied by bill of lading and invoice for full value of goods exported.) Cigars weighing not more than 3 pounds per 1,000, $1 per 1.000; changed to 18 cents per pound. Cigarettes weighing not more than 3 pounds per 1,000, $1.50 per 1,000; changed to, valued at not more than $2 per 1,000, 18 cents per pound; valued at more than $2 per 1,000, 36 cents per pound. Conveyance, 50 cents for each $500, now exempted below $2,500, above $2,500, 25 cents for each $500. Legacies-Law modified so as to exclude from taxation legacies of charitable, religious, literary, or educational character. Passage ticket, $1 to $5; now exempted below $50 in value. Sales of products at exchanges: 1 cent for each $100 retained, but sales of merchandise in actual course of transportation exempted from tax. Tobacco and snuff, 12 cents per pound; now, discount of 20 per cent. United States Executive Civil Service. (Revised for this issue of THE WORLD ALMANAC by the Secretary of the Civil Service Commission.) THE purpose of the Civil Service act, as declared in its title, is "to regulate and improve the Civil Service of the United States." It provides for the appointment of three Commissioners, a chief Examiner, a Secretary, and other employés, and makes it the duty of the Commissioners to aid the President as he may request in preparing suitable rules for carrying the act into effect; to make regulations to govern all examinations held under the provisions of the act, and to make investigations and report upon all matters touching the enforcement and effect of the rules and regulations. The address of the Commission is Washington, D. C. EXTENT OF THE SERVICE. It is estimated that the number of positions in the Executive Civil Service is now about 210,000, of which approximately 90,000 are classified competitive positions, 100,000 unclassified, and somewhat less than 20,000 are classified but not subject to competitive examination. Less than 20,000 of the official force are employed in Washington, D. C. Most of the unclassified positions are held by fourth-class postmasters, of whom there are more than 72,000. DIVISIONS OF THE SERVICE. The rules require that all that part of the Executive Civil Service of the United States which has been or may hereafter be classified under the Civil Service act shall be arranged in branches as follows: The Departmental Service, the Customs Service, the Postal Service, the Government Printing Service, and the Internal Revenue Service. The Departmental Service includes all officers and employés who on the one hand are not appointed subject to the consent of the Senate, and on the other hand are above the grade of laborer, and who are serving in or on detail from the Departments, Commissions, and Offices in the District of Columbia, the Railway Mail Service, the Indian Service, the Pension Agencies, the Steamboat Inspection Service, the Marine Hospital Service, the Light-House Service, the Life-Saving Service, the Revenue Cutter Service, the Mints and Assay offices, the Sub-Treasuries, the Engineer Department at large, the Ordnance Department at large, the Land Office Service, and the force employed under Custodians of Public Buildings, and in the U. S. Penitentiaries. In addition to these are included all other employés (except laborers and persons whose appointments are subject to the consent of the Senate) whose duties are clerical or medical, or who serve as watchmen, messengers, draughtsmen, engineers, firemen, computers, or as superintendents of construction, superintendents of repairs, or foremen under the Supervising Architect of the Treasury, or who are in any branch of the Treasury Department not enumerated above. The Customs Service includes all officers and employés between the extremes before mentioned who are serving in any customs district. The Postal Service includes all similar offices and employés at free-delivery post-offices. The Government Printing Service and the Internal Revenue Service cover all like positions in the branches indicated by their designations, APPLICATIONS. Persons seeking to be examined must file an application blank. The blank for the Departmental Service at Washington, Railway Mail Service, the Indian School Service, and the Government Printing Service should be requested directly of the Civil Service Commission at Washington. The blank for the Customs, Postal, or Internal Revenue Service must be requested in writing of the Civil Service Board of Examiners at the office where service is sought. These papers should be returned to the officers from whom they emanated. Applicants for examination must be citizens of the United States, and of the proper age. No person using intoxicating liquors to excess may be appointed. No discrimination is made on account of sex, color, or political or religious opinions. The limitations of age vary with the different services, but do not apply to 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. ness. EXAMINATIONS. The applicants to enter the services designated are examined as to their relative capacity and fitFor ordinary clerical places in the Departmental, Customs, and Internal Revenue Services the examination is confined to orthography, penmanship, copying, letter-writing, and simple arithmetic. Patent examiners are examined in physics and technics, mathematics, chemistry, and mechanical drawing. Meat inspectors are examined in letter-writing, veterinary anatomy and physiology, veterinary pathology, and meat inspection. One of the tests for post-office and railway mail clerks is an exercise in reading manuscript addresses. Specimen sets of questions will be furnished by the Commission upon request. Examinations are held twice a year in every State and Territory at fixed times and places. All examinations relate as nearly as possible to the duties to be performed, and, wherever practicable, include experience and practical tests. No applicant is admitted to an examination in any one of the different recognized trades, such as those in the Government Printing Office, unless he has had five years' experience in his trade, one year of which must have been as a journeyman. This information is obtained by personal questions relating to the applicant's experience at his trade and the certificates of persons who have employed him. No one is certified for appointment whose standing in any examination is less than 70 per centum of complete proficiency, except applicants whose claims for military or naval preference under Section 1,754 R. S. have been admitted. These need obtain but 65. The law also prescribes competitive examinations for promotion in the service. A certificate is given to each person examined, stating whether he passed or failed to pass. For positions in the classified service where technical qualifications are needed special examinations are held. In the Departmental Service they are held for the State Department, the Pension, Patent, and Weather Bureaus, Geological and Coast Surveys, Engineer Department at large, Ordnance Department at large, etc. For places which do not require technical qualifications the number of applicants is usually excessive, and only those who attain high grades have a good chance for appointment. There is always a good demand for male stenographers. EXCEPTED PLACES. Among the places excepted from examination or subject only to non-competitive examination are the following: Two private secretaries or confidential clerks to the President and each of the heads of departments; one for each head of bureau appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, if authorized by law; all persons appointed solely by the President; attorneys, assistant attorneys, and special assistant attorneys. The excepted positions throughout the departments were increased in UNITED STATES EXECUTIVE CIVIL SERVICE-Continued. number by the President's order of May 29, 1899, but are too diverse to summarize and too numerous to mention here specifically. APPOINTMENTS. Upon the occurrence of a vacancy, the appointment to fill it, if not made by promotion, reduction, transfer, or reinstatement (for all of which provision is made by the Civil Service rules), must be made by selection from the eligibles of highest grade on the appropriate register. In the Executive Departments at Washington and in the Government Printing Office appointments are apportioned among the States and Territories on the basis of population. Every appointment is made for a probationary period of six months. Whenever there are no names of eligibles upon a register for any position in which a vacancy exists, and the public interest requires that it be filled before eligibles can be provided by the Commission, such vacancy may, subject to the approval of the Commission, be filled by appointment without examination and certification until an eligible can be provided by the Commission. The number of women applying for clerical places is greatly in excess of the calls of appointing officers. The positions to which the largest numbers of them are appointed are those of assistant microscopist in the branch offices of the Bureau of Animal Industry at the various stockyards throughout the country, and teachers, matrons, seamstresses, etc., in the Indian Service. A few receive appointments as stenographers and typewriters in the Departmental Service, and a few are appointed to technical and professional places. PREFERENCE CLAIMANTS. Persons who served in the military or naval service of the United States, and were discharged by reason of disabilities resulting from wounds or sickness incurred in the line of duty, are, under the Civil Service rules, given certain preferences. They are released from all maximum age limitations, are eligible for appointment at a grade of 65, while all others are obliged to obtain a grade of 70, and are certified to appointing officers before all others. Subject to the other conditions of the rules, a veteran of the rebellion or of the war with Spain, or the widow of any such person, or any army nurse of either war, may be reinstated without regard to the length of time he or she has been separated from the service. PROVISIONS CONCERNING POLITICAL DISCRIMINATION, ASSESSMENTS, ETC. The Civil Service rules provide that no person in the Executive Civil Service shall dismiss, or cause to be dismissed, or make any attempt to procure the dismissal of or in any manner change the official rank or compensation of any other person therein, because of his political or religious opinions or affiliations; that no removal shall be made from any position subject to competitive examination except for just cause and upon written charges filed with the head of the department or other appointing officer, and of which the accused shall have full notice and an opportunity to make defence; and that no person in the Executive Civil Service shall use his official authority or official influence for the purpose of interfering with an election or controlling the result thereof. Such rules also provide that any person in the Executive Civil Service who shall wilfully violate any provision of the Civil Service act or rules shall be dismissed from office. The Civil Service act contains provisions forbidding any person in the service of the United States from levying upon or collecting from persons in the Executive Civil Service contributions to be devoted to political objects, the collection of such contributions by any person in any public building of the United States, or discrimination against persons who do not make such contributions or render political service. A violation of any of the provisions concerning political assessments, or their collection in a public building of the United States, is declared to be a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or by such fine and imprisonment both in the discretion of the court. The act also declares that when rules to carry its provisions into effect shall have been promulgated, "it shall be the duty of all officers of the United States in the departments and offices to which any such rules may relate, to aid, in all proper ways, in carrying said rules, and any modifications thereof, into effect." POLITICAL ACTIVITY OF OFFICIALS. An executive order of July 14, 1886, which is still in force, warns office-holders that, while individual interest and activity in political affairs are by no means condemned, they must bear in mind that their time and labor are due to the Government, and that they should scrupulously avoid, in their political action as well as in the discharge of their official duty, offending, by obtrusive partisanship, their neighbors who have relations with them as public officials. THE UNCLASSIFIED EXECUTIVE CIVIL SERVICE. The portion of the Executive Civil Service which is not classified embraces the following: All officers nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, including members of the Cabinet, assistant secretaries, certain chiefs of bureaus, etc., in the Executive Departments at Washington, collectors, naval officers, surveyors, and appraisers in the Customs Service, collectors in the Internal Revenue Service, and first, second, and third class postmasters. Other unclassified positions are fourth-class postmasters, the employés of the District of Columbia, the employés of the Library of Congress, clerks in post-offices not having free delivery, mere laborers and workmen, certain positions having a compensation of less than $300 a year, and the Consular Service. Examinations for positions in the service last named are non-competitive, and conducted by a board of the Department of State. A considerable number of positions were excluded from classification by the President's order of May 29, 1899, principally in the Departments of the Interior, War, and Navy outside of Washington. THE PHILIPPINE CIVIL SERVICE. On September 19, 1900, the United States Philippine Commission passed an act: "An act for the establishment and maintenance of an efficient and honest civil service in the Philippine Islands." The act provides for a Civil Service Board of three persons which is to prepare rules for appointments and promotions according to merit, and by competitive examinations so far as practicable; for the selection of laborers according to the priority of their applications, by such non-competitive examinations as may be practicable. Competitive examinations for appointment and promotion are to be held at Manila, Iloilo, and Cebu, and also in the United States, under the auspices of the United States Civil Service Commission, for original appointment. Provision is made for transfer from one branch to another, and from the UNITED STATES EXECUTIVE CIVIL SERVICE-Continued. Federal classified civil service; for reinstatements, for examining American applicants in Spanish and native applicants in English, in cases where the Board deems knowledge of both languages essential; for a physical examination of applicants in the United States; for an age limitation, 18 to 40 years, for entrance to the lowest class; for temporary appointments, and a few exceptions from examination. The act applies to all appointments of civilians to executive positions under the Military Governor and thirteen specified departments, bureaus, and offices. The rules to be formulated will prescribe the method of appointment to the Manila police force and fire department. The Board has power to administer oaths, summon witnesses, and require the production of official books and records, and to prevent payment of salaries to persons in the service contrary to the act and rules. THE CIVIL SERVICE IN HAWAII. On July 5, 1907, the Secretary of the Treasury issued an order classifying the employés of the Treasury Department in Hawaii. The order is similar in scope and language to that of the same date relating to Porto Rico. THE CIVIL SERVICE IN PORTO RICO. Under the act of April 12, 1900, the United States Civil Service supplanted the military service in Porto Rico. Inasmuch as the executive officers and employés under this act become a part of the Executive Civil Service of the United States, they are properly subject to the provisions of the Civil Service act and rules. On July 5, 1900, the Secretary of the Treasury, with the President's approval, issued an order classifying and including within the provisions of the Civil Service law and rules the officers and employés in and under the Treasury Department in Porto Rico, excepting persons appointed with the advice and consent of the Senate and persons employed as mere laborers or workmen. On August 29, 1900, the Postmaster-General informed the Commission that the United States Post-Office Department, on May 1, 1980, assumed control of the free-delivery service at Mayaguez and San Juan, Porto Rico. The Commission approved the lists of carriers transmitted therewith and authorized the treatment of the offices as free-delivery offices. The Life-Saving Service. THE Ocean and lake coasts of the United States are picketed with the stations of the Life-Saving Service attached to the United States Treasury Department. Sumner I. Kimball is general superintendent, with headquarters at Washington, and there is a corps of inspectors, superintendents, station keepers, and crews, extending over the entire coast line, together with a Board on Life-Saving Appliances, composed of experts selected from the Revenue Marine Service, the Army, the Life-Saving Service, and civilians. At the close of the last fiscal year the life-saving establishment embraced 270 stations, 195 being on the Atlantic coast, 58 on the lakes, 16 on the Pacific coast, and 1 at the falls of the Ohio, Louisville, Ky. In the following table are the statistics of the service: The cost of In addition to the foregoing there were 393 casualties to smaller craft, such as sailboats, rowboats, etc., on which there were 927 persons, of whom 917 were saved and 10 lost. the maintenance of the service during the year was $1,640,013. 74. United States Steamboat Enspection Service. THE Supervising Inspector-General of the Steamboat Inspection Service, James A. Dumont, reported to the Secretary of the Treasury for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1901: Number of annual certificates of inspection issued to domestic steam, sail, and motor vessels, 8,832; number of certificates to foreign passenger steamers, 341; total number of annual certificates of inspection issued, domestic and foreign, 9,173. Decrease in number of certificates to domestic vessels from previous year, 76; decrease in number of certificates issued to foreign steamers, 4; total decrease in number of certificates issued to domestic and foreign vessels, 80. Gross tonnage of domestic vessels inspected, 3, 466, 984; gross tonnage of foreign steam vessels inspected, 1,376,243. Number of officers' licenses issued, 5.096, being a decrease of 1,349 from previous year; estimated number of officers holding licenses, 43,000, 5-year licenses having been issued since January 1, 1897. NUMBER OF STEAMBOAT ACCIDENTS IN THE UNITED STATES DURING THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1901, RESULTING IN LOSS OF LIFE, ETC. *Several of these were undoubtedly suicides. Increase over previous year, 134, which is almost entirely accounted for by the loss of the steamer Rio de Janeiro while entering the harbor of San Francisco, on the morning of February 22, in which accident 127 lives were lost. Estimated number of passengers carried during the fiscal year on steam vessels inspected, at least 600,000.000. SYNOPSIS of regulations governing the admission of persons into the civil service of the City of New York. Information may also be had by applying to the Secretary of Civil Service Commission, 346 Broadway, New York City. Under the White Civil Service law, Chapter 370, Laws of 1899, April 19, the rules apply to all positions in the service of the City of New York except officers elected by the people, all legislative officers and employés, heads of any department, or superintendents, principals, or teachers in a public school, academy, or college. This requires examinations, wherever practicable, to ascertain the fitness of applicants for appointment to the civil service of said city. "The Constitution requires that these examinations shall be competitive, so far as practicable." APPLICATIONS. Applications of competitors for positions included in Schedules B, C, D, E, and F must be addressed to the Secretary of the Municipal Civil Service Commission, New York City," and for all positions except firemen and park policemen, must be accompanied with the following papers: First-The affidavit of the applicant, showing that he is not less than eighteen years of age and a citizen of the United States, giving his place of residence, with the street and number thereof, if any; the place, nature, and extent of his education, and of his business training and experience, and stating whether he has ever been in the civil service of the City of New York, or in the military or naval service of the United States, and if so, when and where. service. Second-A statement whether such application is limited to any particular office or offices in the Third-The certificate of four reputable persons of the City of New York, that they have been personally acquainted with the applicant for at least one year, and believe him to be of good moral character, of temperate and industrious habits, and in all respects fit for the service he wishes to enter, and that each of them is willing that such certificate should be published for public information, and will upon request give such further information concerning the applicant as he may possess. The requirements as to citizenship and certificates of character, in case of persons applying for positions under Schedules E and F,and the requirements as to citizenship in case of persons applying for positions under Schedule D, may be modified or dispensed with in the discretion of the Civil Service Commission. All applications for examination shall be filed in the office of the Secretary, and all application and other blanks shall be kept at his office, and shall be procurable there only. Applicants for the following positions must, before being admitted to examination, present satisfactory evidence as to the following facts: First-If the position to be filled be that of physician, surgeon, medical officer, inspector of vaccination, or sanitary inspector, that the applicant is duly authorized by the laws of the State of New York to practise medicine and surgery. Second-If the position to be filled be that of chemist or analyzer, that the applicant has received the degree of Bachelor of Sciences, or its equivalent, from some institution duly authorized by law to confer such degree, In positions where the duties are professional, technical, or expert, the candidates will be required Lo show what preliminary training or technical education they have undergone to qualify them for such situations before they can be admitted to examination. In all examinations for professional positions, or positions requiring technical knowledge, no person shall be placed on the eligible list who obtains a rating in technical knowledge of less than 75. Applications for positions included in Schedule G must be addressed to the "Labor Clerk, etc." For the boroughs of Manhattan, Bronx, and Richmond address New York." For the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens address Brooklyn. CONDUCT OF EXAMINATIONS. Applicants shall be admitted to examination upon the production of the official notification to appear for that purpose. Each applicant shall receive a number,which shall be indorsed upon his notification when produced, and the notifications so indorsed shall be sealed in an envelope. Each applicant shall sign his examination papers with his number, omitting his name, and the envelope shall not be opened until all the examination papers have been received and the markings and gradings made. All paper upon which examinations are to be written shall be furnished to the applicants by the examining board and shall bear some suitable official indorsement, stamp, or mark, for the purpose of identifying the same. All examinations shall be in writing, except such as refer to expertness or physical qualities, and except as herein otherwise provided. The sheets of questions shall be numbered and shall be given out in the order of their numbers, each, after the first, being given only when the competitor has returned to the examiners the last sheet given to him. In general, no examination shall extend beyond five hours without intermission; and no questions given out at any session, to any candidate, shall be allowed to be answered at another session. Each applicant must complete his examination on the obligatory subjects before taking up any of the optional subjects. Examiners of persons named for promotion shall personally question them concerning their office work and its purposes, in order to ascertain if they have a general and intelligent knowledge of the business in the department in which they are employed, and may require the persons examined to give a written description of the work done by them and its relation to the duties of others. Each examiner shall exercise all due diligence to secure fairness and prevent all collusion and fraud in the examinations. The time allowed for completing the examination shall be announced before the first paper is given out. For the obligatory subjects the examination shall be confined to a single day. The following municipal departments and offices come under the jurisdiction of the Civil Service rules: Accounts, Com. of. Armory, Board of. Assessors, Board of. Aqueduct Commission. Bridges, Dept. of. Brooklyn Disciplinary Training School for Boys, Brooklyn Public Library. Change of Grade Com. City Record, Supervisor of the. City Clerk, Civil Service Commission. Court, City Magistrates. Court of Special Sessions. Estimate and Apportionment, Finance Dept. Highways, Dept. of. Municipal Statistics, Bureau of. Plumbers, Examining Board of. Public Buildings, Lighting, and Public Improvements, Board of. President of Borough. Rapid Transit Commission. Sinking Fund Commission. The inspectors of elections and poll clerks are exempt from examination. Special patrolmen, appointed pursuant to section 269 of the New York City Consolidation act, are also exempt. |