An act to regulate and improve the civil service
of the United States.
Be it enacted...That the President is authorized
to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of
the Senate, three persons, not more than two of
whom shall be adherents of the same party, as Civil
Service Commissioners, and said three commissioners
shall constitute the United States Civil Service
Commission. Said commissioners shall hold no other
official place under the United States.
Sec. 2. That it shall be the duty of said
commissioners:
First. To aid the President, as he may request,
in preparing suitable rules for carrying this act
into effect, and when said rules 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.
Second. And, among other things, said rules
shall provide and declare, as nearly as the conditions
of good administration will warrant, as follows:
First, for open, competitive examinations for testing
the fitness of applicants for the public service
now classified or to be classified hereunder. Such
examinations shall be practical in their character,
and so far as may be shall relate to those matters
which will fairly test the relative capacity and
fitness of the persons examined to discharge the
duties of the service into which they seek to be
appointed.
Second, that all the offices, places, and employments
so arranged or to be arranged in classes shall be
filled by selections according to grade from among
those graded highest as the results of such competitive
examinations.
Third, appointments to the public service aforesaid
in the departmentsat Washington shall be apportioned
among the several States and Territories and the
District of Columbia upon the basis of population
as ascertained at the last preceding census...
Fourth, that there shall be a period of probation
before any absolute appointment or employment aforesaid.
Fifth, that no person in the public service is
for that reason under any obligations to contribute
to any political fund, or to render any political
service, and that he will not be removed or otherwise
prejudiced for refusing to do so.
Sixth, that no person in said service has any right
to use his official authority or influence to coerce
the political action of any person or body.
Seventh, there shall be non-competitive examinations
in all proper cases before the commission, when
competent persons do not compete, after notice has
been given of the existence of the vacancy, under
such rules as may be prescribed by the commissioners
as to the manner of giving notice...
Third. Said commission shall, subject to
the rules that may be made by the President, make
regulations for, and have control of, such examinations...
Sec. 3...The commission shall, at Washington,
and in one or more places in each State and Territory
where examinations are to take place, designate
and select a suitable number of persons, not less
than three, in the official service of the United
States, residing in said State or Territory, after
consulting the head of the department or office
in which such persons serve, to be members of boards
of examiners...Such boards of examiners shall be
so located as to make it reasonably convenient and
inexpensive for applicants to attend before them
and where there are persons to be examined in any
State or Territory, examinations shall be held therein
at least twice in each year...
Sec. 6. That within sixty days after the
passage of this act it shall be the duty of the
Secretary of the Treasury, in as near conformity
as may be to the classification of certain clerks
now existing under...[Section 163]...of the Revised
Statutes, to arrange in classes the several clerks
and persons employed by the collector, naval officer,
surveyor, and appraisers, or either of them, or
being in the public service, at their respective
offices in each customs district where the whole
number of said clerks and persons shall be all together
as many as fifty. And thereafter, from time to time,
on the direction of the President, said Secretary
shall make the like classification or arrangement
of clerks and persons so employed, in connection
with any said office or offices, in any other customs
district. And, upon like request, and for the purposes
of this act, said Secretary shall arrange in one
or more of said classes, or of existing classes,
any other clerks, agents, or persons employed under
his department in any said district not now classified;
and every such arrangement and classification upon
being made shall be reported to the President.
Second. Within said sixty days it shall
be the duty of the Postmaster-General, in general
conformity to said...[Section 163,]...to separately
arrange in classes the several clerks and persons
employed, or in the public service, at each post-office,
or under any postmaster of the United States, where
the whole number of said clerks and persons shall
together amount to as many as fifty. And thereafter,
from time to time, on the direction of the President,
it shall be the duty of the Postmaster-General to
arrange in like classes the clerks and persons so
employed in the postal service in connection with
any other post-office; and every such arrangement
and classification upon being made shall be reported
to the President.
Third. That from time to time said Secretary,
the Postmaster-General, and each of the heads of
departments mentioned in...[Section 158]...of the
Revised Statutes, and each head of an office, shall,
on the direction of the President, and for facilitating
the execution of this act, respectively revise any
then existing classification or arrangement of those
in their respective departments and offices, and
shall, for the purposes of the examination herein
provided for, include in one or more of such classes,
so far as practicable, subordinate places, clerks,
and officers in the public service pertaining to
their respective departments not before classified
for examination.
Sec. 7. That after the expiration of six
months from the passage of this act no officer or
clerk shall be appointed, and no person shall be
employed to enter or be promoted in either of the
said classes now existing, or that may be arranged
hereunder pursuant to said rules, until he has passed
an examination, or is shown to be specially exempted
from such examination in conformity herewith. But
nothing herein contained shall be construed to take
from those honorably discharged from the military
or naval service any preference conferred by...[Section
1754]...of the Revised Statutes, nor to take from
the President any authority not inconsistent with
this act conferred by... [Section 1758]... of said
statutes; nor shall any officer not in the executive
branch of the government, or any person merely employed
as a laborer or workman, be required to be classified
hereunder; nor, unless by direction of the Senate,
shall any person who has been nominated for confirmation
by the Senate be required to be classified or to
pass an examination.
Sec. 8. That no person habitually using
intoxicating beverages to excess shall be appointed
to, or retained in, any office, appointment, or
employment to which the provisions of this act are
applicable.
Sec. 9. That whenever there are already
two or more members of a family in the public service
in the grades covered by this act, no other member
of such family shall be eligible to appointment
to grades.
Sec. 10. That no recommendation of any person
who shall apply for office or place under the provisions
of this act which may be given by any Senator or
member of the House of Representatives, except as
to the character or residence of the applicant,
shall be received or considered by any person concerned
in making any examination or appointment under this
act.
Sec. 11. That no Senator, or Representative,
or Territorial Delegate of the Congress, or Senator,
Representative, or Delegate elect, or any officer
or employee of either of said houses, and no executive,
judicial, military, or naval officer of the United
States, and no clerk or employee of any department,
branch or bureau of the executive, judicial, or
military or naval service of the United States,
shall, directly or indirectly, solicit or receive,
or be in any manner concerned in soliciting or receiving,
any assessment, subscription, or contribution for
any political purpose whatever, from any officer,
clerk, or employee of the United States, or any
department, branch, or bureau thereof, or from any
person receiving any salary or compensation from
moneys derived from the Treasury of the United States...
Source: U.S. Statutes at Large 22
(1883): 403.
