The New Student's Reference Work/Civil Service

Civil Service is the executive branch or department of government, composed of those who serve the state or crown in a civil capacity, as opposed to those employed in the military and naval services. In England it is one of the oldest institutions of the country, dating from the earliest monarchical times, though it is only within the past century that the English civil service has assumed its present vast proportions. In this country, as in all enlightened states, the civil service branch of government is usually separated into three distinct departments, viz.: the legislative, judicial and executive branches. In the United States the divisions of the executive civil service are—the departmental service, the customs service, the postal service, the government-printing service and the internal-revenue service. The number of positions in the United States executive civil service is now close upon 330,000, of which more than half are classified competitive positions, and all employed are under civil-service rules, prescribed by act of Congress in 1883. That act authorised the president to appoint three civil service commissioners to regulate and improve the service, to make regulations to govern the examinations and to investigate and report upon all matters touching the enforcement and effect of the rules and regulations. The purpose of the law and its governing rules is to establish, in the parts of the service within their provisions, a merit-system whereby selections for appointments shall be made upon the basis of demonstrated relative fitness without regard to political or other considerations. To carry out this purpose a plan of competitive examinations is prescribed, and, when vacancies occur, the appointee is drawn from the eligibles of the highest grade on the appropriate register; and every appointment is made at first for a probationary period of six months. It has to be added that there are what are known as preference claimants, viz.: persons who have 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. Such 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.

Examinations are also held for positions in the Philippines, Porto Rico and Hawaii and for the Isthmian Canal service. The chances of appointment in the U. S. Civil Service are understood to be good for teachers, matrons, seamstresses and physicians in the Indian Service, for male stenographers and typewriters, draughtsmen, patent examiners, civil, mechanical and electrical engineers and for technical and scientific experts. Rules and regulations governing the admission of persons into the civil service in large cities and states, such as New York, are also prepared and acted upon through municipal civil service commissioners.

In Great Britain the departments of the civil service are the treasury, the exchequer and audit department, the foreign office (including the diplomatic service), the India, Colonial and Home offices, together with the three revenue-departments of the postoffice, inland revenue and customs. There are others, including the spending departments, the war-office, admiralty, board of trade, board of works, education office, privy council office, the stationery office, agriculture and fisheries, charity commission, ecclesiastical and church estates, government laboratories, observatories and record office, the mint, patent-office, meteorological office, national debt office, the local government board, etc. These are grouped under two grades—I and II—and appointments, for the most part, are made on the competitive plan. See Fish: The Civil Service and the Patronage and Goodnow's Principles of the Administrative Law of the United States (1905).