APPENDIX A.

1. CHIEF EXAMINER'S ANNUAL REPORT.

2. CHIEF EXAMINER'S SPECIAL REPORT ON INVESTIGATION OF THE ROCHESTER CIVIL SERVICE BOARD.

Chief Examiner's Annual Report.

ALBANY, N. Y., December 31, 1895.

To the New York Civil Service Commission:

GENTLEMEN. I have the honor to submit the following report of examinations held during the past year in this department.

Very respectfully,

THOMAS CARMODY,

Chief Examiner.

Competitive Examinations.

Number Examined.

The number of applicants who entered the competitive examinations during the past year is largely in excess of that of any year since this department was organized. Some of this excess is due to the new positions which were brought into this schedule by the classification of last year and the amendments thereto during the present year. Excluding the number who entered these examinations, the increase is about the same as during each of the two preceding years, and indicates that, outside of an occasional or abnormal gain, caused by special circumstances or emergencies, there is now a steady and substantial growth in this direction. As against 236 applicants in 1884, the year the Civil Service system was started in this State, there were upwards of 1,400 this year. This gain has nearly all been made during the last three years. During the first nine years the increase was slight and not constant - not reaching at any time more than 150 in excess of the first year. The year 1893 showed a gain over the preceding year of fifty per cent.; 1894 showed a similar gain over 1893, while this year the gain will be about seventy-five per cent. over last year. The significance of this lies in the fact that the number of applicants is largely controlled by the confidence which they have in Civil Service examinations, and the facilities furnished by the Commission for trying these examinations.

It is noticeable that in localities where there is a strong sentiment in favor of Civil Service methods, the applicants are more numerous and usually more intelligent than elsewhere. This is also true of those regular annual examinations, the nature of which have become familiar to the public. While this increase is largely due to the growing popularity of this method of filling public offices, it is also, to a great extent, the cause of that popularity. It is fair to assume that those who enter these examinations have confidence in their fairness and in the opportunity thereby furnished for obtaining a position, and that being permitted to judge of the character of these examinations and the safeguards with which they are surrounded, a knowledge is being widely disseminated which is fast displacing the ignorant hostility which has stubbornly contested the progress of the reform idea.

New Examinations.

By reason of the reclassification of December, 1894, many new places were brought into the competitive schedule. This schedule was still further expanded by transfers made during the year. These changes have a greater significance than merely enlarging the competitive class. They extended competition into many hitherto untried fields, to positions which had been supposed to present insuperable obstacles to this form of.examination. Among them are the positions of bank examiner, electrician, dynamo tender, law clerk, carpenter, plumber, fireman, draughtsman; milk, vinegar, cheese and butter experts in the Department of Agriculture; excise inspectors in New York city, and many special positions in the different State institutions. The result of these examinations clearly justifies the action of the Commission in including them in the competitive schedule.

They were all well attended, and the applicants in all cases numbered many with skill and experience. The papers in these cases were prepared by experts in their various lines, and were confined to the technical or expert knowledge requisite for the filling of the positions. To this were added questions on education, training and experience, and where feasible, practical work was given the applicants, as in the case of carpenters, who were taken into a shop, and required to show their familiarity with tools, etc. The heads of departments and institutions for which such examinations were held, although in some cases very much opposed originally to this method of making selections, have almost invariably acknowledged its efficiency, after an examination of the methods used and the lists obtained. Many of these examination papers were inspected by an investigating committee of the Legis

lature, and it is to be hoped that its views as to their character will be promulgated.

Where appointments have been made from the lists thus obtained, they have given entire satisfaction so far as this department has any knowledge. Under their respective headings will be found more specific information and all-important statistics of these examinations.

Character of Examinations.

Specimen questions are given in the appendix, and will, it is hoped, receive the inspection of those who maintain that Civil Service examinations are scholastic in their character, and conceived for the purpose of giving advantage to college graduates and impractical theorists. The object of the examiners has been to ascertain the qualifications of applicants for the positions sought, and to eliminate, so far as possible, all extraneous matter from the examination. The examiners have kept in mind the fact that this is a business and not an academic department, and the papers have been prepared with a view of giving prominence to those qualifications which are most useful in doing the State's work. There are some positions for which the examinations are necessarily scholastic, as for certain positions in the Regent's department and in the Department of Public Instruction. In certain other positions, such as general clerkships, where the duties vary, some places requiring skill in one branch and some in another, questions on general intelligence are inserted, with such small relative weight in the marking that even here business experience and knowledge almost always obtain precedence. And to still farther insure the recognition of special ability, in this examination certain optional subjects are allowed, such as bookkeeping, expert penmanship, drawing and advanced arithmetic, one or more of which may be taken by any one who has completed the obligatory subjects, and supplemental eligible lists are made up in each of those optional subjects from which certifications may be made, provided the candidate is also in the regular list. The above subjects have been found sufficient to meet the demand for special or expert qualifications in the line of clerkships, and to insure the recognition of such qualifications where possessed by applicants.

In the examination generally, we have endeavored to ascertain the duties to be performed by appointees and to confine the examination to those duties if possible. It is often urged against such examinations that there are many who possess sufficient knowledge and ability to perform any special work, but who have not the ability to tell it in