STATUTES AFFECTING THE CLASSIFIED SERVICE.1 DIRECTORY STATUTES.2 authority to lations con pointment. SEC. 1753. The President is authorized to prescribe President's such regulations for the admission of persons into the prescribe regucivil service of the United States as may best promote cerning apthe efficiency thereof, and ascertain the fitness of each candidate in respect to age, health, character, knowledge, and ability for the branch of service into which he seeks to enter; and for this purpose he may employ suitable persons to conduct such inquiries, and may prescribe their duties, and establish regulations for the conduct of persons who may receive appointments in the civil service. (R. S., act of Mar. 3, 1871.) regulations. SEC. 161. The head of each department is authorized Departmental to prescribe regulations not inconsistent with law, for the government of his department, the conduct of its officers and clerks, the distribution and performance of its business, and the custody, use, and preservation of the records, papers, and property appertaining to it. (R. S., act of Aug. 15, 1876.) "The regulation of a department of the Government is not, of course, to control the construction of an act of Congress when its meaning is plain, but when there has been a long acquiescence in a regulation, and by it rights of parties for many years have been determined and adjusted, it is not to be disregarded without the most cogent and persuasive reasons." (Robertson v. Downing, May 14, 1888, 127 U. S., 613.) (Upon this general subject see also Opinions of Attorneys General: 10 Op., 469; 11 Op., 109; 15 Op., 94; 22 Op., 167; and 22 Op., 266.)3 SEC. 165. Women may, in the discretion of the head of any department, be appointed to any of the clerkships therein authorized by law, upon the same requisites and conditions, and with the same compensation, as are prescribed for men. (R. S., act of July 12, 1870.) Clerkships open to women. 1 For statutes permitting appointments without reference to the civil-service act, see p. 92. 2 These statutes either authorize or direct certain ways of conducting the public business which falls within the purview of the civil-service act and rules, and depend upon administrative discipline for their enforcement. 8 The general subject of the legal force of regulations is treated at length in "Remarks on the Army Regulations and Executive Regulations in General," by G. Norman Lieber, Judge Advocate General, United States Army (1898). 87049°-18 4 17 "No married woman will be appointed to a classified position in the Postal Service, or will any woman occupying a classified position in the Postal Service be reappointed to such position when she shall marry, provided that these prohibitions shall not affect the appointment or reappointment of postmasters at fourth-class offices." (Sec. 157, Postal Laws and Regulations, Edition of 1913.) All married women, regardless of whether they are living separate from their husbands and supporting them Preference in reduction o f force. selves, or whether their husbands, through incapacity, are dependent upon them for support, are excluded from examinations for the Post Office Service. (Minute of commission, June 1, 1915.) This prohibition does not apply to divorced women. The wife of a soldier or sailor serving in the present war shall not be disqualified for any position or appointment under the Government because she is a married woman. (Sec. 6, selective-draft act, approved Aug. 31, 1918.) That in making any reduction of force in any of the executive departments, the head of such department shall retain those persons who may be equally. qualified who have been honorably discharged from the military or naval service of the United States, and the widows and orphans of deceased soldiers and sailors. (19 Stat. L., 169, act of Aug. 15, 1876.) SEC. 166. Each head of a department may from time to time alter the distribution among the various bureaus and offices of his department of the clerks allowed by law as he may find it necessary and proper to do. (R. S., act of Mar. 3, 1853.) 66 * * * The matter of qualification as between the persons then employed in the service was an administrative function which the courts could neither supervise nor inquire into after the exercise of the discretion of the proper official in dispensing with the preference in to civil offices. services of those adjudged to be least qualified under the law which required a reduction in the force." (Medkirk v. U. S., 44 Ct. Cls., 469; affirmed 45 Ct. Cls., 395; Keim v. U. S., 177 U. S., 290.) War veteran SEC. 1754. Persons honorably discharged from the' appointments miltary or naval service by reason of disability resulting from wounds or sickness incurred in the line of duty shall be preferred for appointments to civil offices, provided they are found to possess the business capacity necessary for the proper discharge of the duties of such offices. (R. S., act of Mar. 3, 1865.) The joint resolution of March 3, 1865 (sec. 1754, R. S.), considered in connection with the act of March 3, 1871, chapter 114 (sec. 1753, R. S.), is construed to mean that honorably discharged soldiers and sailors are not exempt from liability to examination for admission into the civil service, but that they are entitled to a preference for appointment as against other persons of equal qualifications for the place. (Opinion Atty. Gen., Aug. 13, 1881, 17 Op., 194.) Preference under 1754, Revised Statutes, is not subject to the law of apportionment and extends over all others on the eligible list irrespective of their ratings. (Opinion Atty. Gen., May 12, 1910, 28 Op., 298.) "These sections (1754 R. S. and 19 Stat., 169, sec. 3) do not contemplate the retention in office of a clerk, who is inefficient, nor attempt to transfer the power of determining the question of efficiency from the heads of departments to the courts. * *The and transfers clerks. Post In the assignment or transfer of clerks from the Rail- Assignments way Mail Service, however, preference shall be given to of railway mail the persons honorably discharged from the military or office. naval service who served in the Civil War and who are now serving as clerks on the railway mail cars in order that they may be transferred to clerical service in the department or in the post offices and relieved from service on said cars as rapidly as practicable, provided they are found to possess the business capacity necessary for the proper discharge of the duties of the offices to which they may be transferred. (33 Stat. L., 1088, act of Mar. 3, 1905.) * * * That hereafter every application for examination before the Civil Service Commission for appointment in the departmental service in the District of Columbia shall be accompanied by a certificate of an officer, with his official seal attached, of the county and State of which the applicant claims to be a citizen, that such applicant was, at the time of making such application, an actual and bona fide resident of said county, and had been such resident for a period of not less than six months next preceding. But this provision shall not apply to persons who may be in the service and seek promotion or appointment in other branches of the Government. * * * (26 Stat. L., 235, act of July 11, 1890.) * * * County residence. domicile. Hereafter all examinations of applicants for Residence and positions in the Government service, from any State or Territory, shall be had in the State or Territory in which such applicants resides, and no person shall be eligible for such examination or appointment unless he or she shall have been actually domiciled in such State or Territory for at least one year previous to such examination. (36 Stat. L., 1, act of July 2, 1909.) See act approved March 27, 1918, on page 20. In so-called "nonassembled" examinations held by the Civil Service Commission it has required competitors to show that they have been actually domiciled in the State or Territory in which they reside for at least one year previous to the examination, and where a competitor is temporarily absent from his State at the time of filing his application he is not required to return to such State for the purpose either of filling out his application and making oath to it or of furnishing the other data and information required in connection with his examination. These examinations are not "had" at any particular place, and Congress in enacting this statute seems to have had in mind the examinations referred to in section 3 of the civil-service act, held by local boards of examiners "so located as to make it reasonably convenient and inexpensive for applicants to attend before them." "In view of the practical construction which has been placed upon the statute for some years by the body charged with its administration, I do not feel warranted in holding such construction incorrect." (Opinion of Atty. Gen., July 22, 1913, 30 Op., 194.) The residence and domicile restrictions contained in the first proviso of section 7 of the census act approved July 2, 1909, apply only to the examinations for the apportioned service of the Government at Washington. The provision in that section with regard to applicants being "actually domiciled" in the State or Territory where the examination is taken means that he must not only show that he resides in the State or Territory where he applies for examination, but that for at least one year previous to his examination he has been actually domiciled there; that is, he shall, for that period, have had his permanent home within such State or Territory, a home adopted at least one year previous to his examination with the intention of making it his permanent abode, which intention shall not have been departed from during the period. It is impossible to determine in advance the conclusions to be drawn by Requirement of examination of residence the application of these rules to all varying facts that may be presented in different cases arising under these statutes. As was said by Attorney General Miller, "A general rule applicable to all cases can not be formulated." Again, as stated by Attorney General Miller in the opinion cited by Mr. Olney (20 Op., 649), the question of domicile as well as of residence involves a mixed question of law and fact to be determined in each case upon its own peculiar facts. (Opinions, Atty. Gen., Aug. 18 and Nov. 15, 1909, 27 Op., 546; 28 Op., 78.) The Attorney General also held, June 17, 1910 (28 Op., 348), that this proviso has no application to those already in an apportioned service. "The restrictions of the act (sec. 7) as to one year domicile and examination within the State of legal residence do not apply to examinations for promotion or transfer. The act does apply in cases of reinstatement where examination is necessary." (Minute of commission, July 10, 1909.) Residence, married women. The legal residence of a married woman is the same as that of her husband, and so remains until she is separated from him by an absolute or limited divorce. A married woman living apart or divorced from her husband may, if she so desires, for the purpose of filing an application for examination, claim a legal residence other than his, but she must furnish a sworn statement of the facts upon which she based her claim to a separate legal residence. (Minute of commission, May 23, 1907,) That the act of July second, nineteen hundred and nine within State (Thirty-sixth Statutes at Large, Numbered One), is waived. hereby amended so as to permit the United States Civil Service Commission, during the period of the present war, to hold examinations of applicants for positions in the Government service in the District of Columbia, and to permit applicants from the several States and Territories of the United States to take said examinations in the said District of Columbia and elsewhere in the United States where examinations are usually held. Said examinations shall be permitted in addition to those required to be held by said act of July second, nineteen hundred and nine (Thirty-sixth Statutes at Large, Numbered One): Provided, That nothing herein shall be so construed as to abridge the existing law of apportionment or change the requirements of existing law as to legal residence and domicile of such applicants. (Pub. Res. No. 24, 65th Cong., approved Mar. 27, 1918.) ecute oaths to ers. SEC. 8. After June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and Who may extwelve, postmasters, assistant postmasters, collectors of expense vouchcustoms, collectors of internal revenue, chief clerks of the various executive departments and bureaus, or clerks designated by them for the purpose, the superintendent, the acting superintendent, custodian, and principal clerks of the various national parks and other Government reservations, superintendent, acting superintendents, and principal clerks of the different Indian superintendencies or Indian agencies, and chiefs of field parties, are required, empowered, and authorized, when requested, to administer oaths, required by law or otherwise, to accounts for travel or other expenses against the United States, with like force and effect as officers having a seal; for such services when so rendered, or when rendered on demand after said date by notaries public, who at the time are also salaried officers or employees of the United States, no charge shall be made; and on and after July first, nineteen hundred and twelve, no fee or money paid for the services herein described shall be paid or reimbursed by the United States. (37 Stat. L., 487, act of Aug. 24, 1912.) Promotion of Bureau of SEC. 1. Apprentices in the Bureau of Standards may apprentices, be promoted after satisfactory apprenticeship, with the standards. approval of the Civil Service Commission, to positions corresponding to the journeyman grades for which their duties logically prepare them without regard to apportionment: Provided, That they thus acquire no rights to transfer to other lines of work. July 16, 1914.) In an opinion of August 21, 1915, the Attorney General held that the term "apprentice" in the above section in (38 Stat., 302, act of cludes the position of office apprentice as well as laboratory and shop apprentice. That the Postmaster General shall not approve or continue any rule or regulation which terminates the employment of any employee by reason of absence on account of illness for a period of less than one year. (39 Stat., 413, act of July 28, 1916.) Reemploy Employees, including substitute employees, of the ment after Postal Service who have entered the military or naval ice. military serv service of the United States or who shall hereafter enter it during the existence of the present war shall, when honorably discharged from such service, be reassigned to their duties in the Postal Service at the salary to |