August 3, 1901.3
officers of the Garrison and of the Expedi- tionary Force, was held at the Theatro D. Pedro V., kindly lont by the Committee for the occasion. The performance was held in aid of the orphans under the charge of the Italian Sisters of Charity. It was very largely attended, among those present being His Ex- cellency the Governor and the élite of Macao. The promoters' efforts in so beneficent a cause were amply rewarded. In donations and tickets sold a sum of over $400 gross was collected. This speaks much for the charitable disposition of a small community in a colony of such slender means,
MANILA.
[FROM A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.]
Manila, 27th July.
THE PHILIPPINE CIVIL SERVICE.
Work is so well advanced toward the establish ment of க civil service system for the Philippines as to make possible at this time a forecast of what that system will be when the new government shall get into full operation. The framework devised represents the sum of experiences elsewhere, modified by local condi- tions or adapted to them. There was nothing to undo in the beginning. No civil service existed, and rules had to provide for a goverment wholly new. They seem certainly to have been logically framed, for the merit plan on which they are based is so comprehensive that it will include nearly every civil position in the islands. A person entering the service in low grade may learn the branch of his choice as he would a business. his advancement depending on the diligence and ability shown in the discharge of his duties. One of the Commissioners visited India and China, to study the colonial and customs services respectively in those countries. Another is an expert in the United States system. The third, about to retire from the Board, is the ablest lawyer in the Philippines, and is Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. They do not profess that it is yet a perfect scheme, but they stand by it as the best they would devise, and they are willing to be judged by its operation.
|
Out of several thousand applicants examined, about 900 have succeeded in getting their names on the eligible list. Admission to that list is conditioned on an average marking of 70 per cent, on the subjects of examination. When the service shall be fully organised it will employ in round numbers 5,000 persons. All of the offices of the central government except the highest, all the provincial offices except those of Governor and Attorney and all the municipal offices which are not elective will be filled by civil service regulation, applied in one form or another. Education and character will be the tests, and natives will be encouraged as far as possible to equip themselves for public service. To this end it is not unlikely that when the higher public schools shall be organised, pro- vision will be made, through elective studies or otherwise, for training in lines adapted to practical use in the civil service of the islands. Nativo aptitude for penmanship, for book keeping, for drawing and for other work requiring deft fingers can be helped in the schools, so that graduates who may have elected a course preparatory for public service, will find positions ready for them at the start, with chances of advancement according to the way they acquit themselves.
AMERICANS AND NATIVE".
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
It is assumed by the Commission that Ameri- cans will not in large numbers seek positions which natives may be qualified to occupy. Just now many Americans wish to remain in the island, but the great majority of them are look. ing for something beyond clerical places in the civil service.. Volunteers who think they see business chances ahead, but who have not the money to take advantage of them, are seeking positions in the civil service to help them through. They will leave the service as soon as they think they need it no longer. Others are going into it aimlessly because they cannot now think of anything better. The average American who can fill creditably a position here could do as well at home. Living as Americans wish to live is quite as costly as in the United States. It is particularly expensive in Manila, The natural longing for home which men feel
Natives will thus in time almost inevitably fill nearly all of the places for which they may be qualified. The chief places will have enough honour or salary attached to them to make them perhaps desirable to Americans.
118
after the novelty of tropical life has worn off, I become eligible upon Americans bas led to com- will complete the stay here of this official flotsam | plaints of bad faith. Appointing officers fall in the not distant future. Those who remain, back on their discretionary privileges in ex attached to the service, will be tempted by more plaining their course, or justify it on the ground money than they could make at home, or by that qualifications were not equal, since the some special consideration.
Spanish applicants did not understand English. | Since lack of English had not disqualified them for examination or for eligibility, this ples does not improve their opinion of official sincerity. On top of this injury, the officials piled the insult of tendering to native applicants Positions requiring professional, technical or positions in grades lower than those for which scientific skill will doubtless for a long time they had been examined and become eligible. have American incumbents. At present there Natives who passed for clerkships thus found are places for stenographors and typewriters, themselves appointed messengers. Such interpreters and translators, castoms inspectors. appointments have been so frequently declined' and accountants; but evon in such places, pay as to make almost imperative some assurance. quite as good if not better can be earned in the by the Board to prevent natives from thinking United States by persons competent in their that it is not intended to give them fair play. various lines. Englaud has had much such Members of the Board have already felt experience in India as faces the United States constrained to excuse the omission in the here in respect to the civil service. The policy Manual of Information of notice that eligibles there which encourages native employment has acquainted with English would be preferred worked so well and has been sustained by so over those unacquainted with it, by saying that many good reasons that its adoption here, so they did not anticipate such a preference. No far as circumstances will permit, follows almost reflection need be cast down on the good as a matter of course. Examinations to be held intentions of the Board in declaring the in the United States under the Civil Service omission to have been so faulty or short-sighted Commission, for positions in the islands, will as to call for prompt amends, lest the system not include any for junior grades, because it suffers discredit in the native mind and many will not pay Americans to come out to fill them, worthy persons whom the law hoped to and doubtless gradually they will become even invite to public service be discouraged more restricted as native proficiency develops. from attempting to enter it. Of course Americans will probably continue to fill for many places" civil in their functions existed a long time positions which may be reached under military government, The work must under the law by promotion. The Insular be done under civil rule, and those who are Treasurer, Insular Auditor, Insular Collector doing it are probably not to be thrown out of Customs, Insular Collector of Internal Rev. because of the change. Many will go as soon enne, Insular Director of Posts, Chief of the as they can be spared, because they hold Bureau of Forestry, Chief of the Bureau of military commissions and have been performing Mines, Superintendent of Public Instruction, their present duties under assignment. On and the Members of the Civil Service Board the other hand, some of the officers assigned will be Americans for an indefinite period, are volunteers, who find themselves “ "footloose except that one Member of the Civil Service at about the time civil authority is becoming Board, out of three members, is likely to supreme, and who can do better for the be a Filipino. The law provides, however, that service where they are than new men could after 18 months from the time that the Board do at once. The rules permit the retention of shall certify that it has a sufficient list of such persons in the places they hold. Should eligibles to supply racancies, any of these the Board think it advisable to order examina- offices may be filled by promotion and without tions it may do so, but they may be omitted in examination from a class to be composed of the the Board's discretion, which will probably be · first, second and third assistants in the re-exercised that way in view of the vigorous spective departments. As any American may protest against a recent examination order. become President, so any Filipino may become a big chief; but for practical purposes, so far as natiyes now above ground need concern themselves, one chance is about as long as the other. It may eventually happen that nativos will become competent to fill some or all of these positions, but that prospect should bother no one at present.
METHOD OF PROMOTION,
|
The basic principle of the service is that of promotion through several grades. Persons once in the service are in the way of improving their condition through efficiency and good conduct. The entrance examination is the only one that will usually be required, the original certificate of eligibility being con- sidered proof of fituess in the first instance, and the recommendation of superiors or the records made in advanced places answering for later purposes. This rule does not bar the Board from ordering examinations for promotion whenever it may see fit.
A RACE DIFFICULTY.
|
THE CIVIL EMPLOYEES,
The number of employees in civil work amounts now to more than 4,500, of whom 200 are army and navy officers, 180 are enlisted men, uearly 40) are American civilians, and the remainder are natives or long residents of the islands. The army and navy officers are in nearly all cases heads or assistants of bureaus, or collectors of customs or of internal revenue. Such places will for the present he held generally by Americans, wha'over the depletion in the existing force. Some of the provincial appointments made by the Civil Commission have been from this list, and usually they were made at the suggestion or upon the petition of natives. Since this shows that the work has been so well done as to command native admiration, it almost follows that if Americans are continued in such places, little or no complaint will come from natives on that account. The enlisted men detailed for civil places have been filling clerkships, teaching schools, and in various The presence of Americans here in considerable ways assisting the higher officers. Some numbers, by reason of the expiration of volunteer of the men have done so well as school teachers that the Civil Commission promised to service and otherwise, has provoked com- plaint and criticism which put the Civil Service undertake to secure their discharge in order Board just now in an unfortunate position. that they may be regularly transferred to the Under the provision which permits heads of de- force of teachers of English. It was at Capir, partments, after making requisition for help, to in Panay, that a schoolboy addressed a speech select from three eligibles whose names the Board of welcome to the Commission, and did it no furnishes, Americans have almost invariably well as to make the incident one of the mout been preferred. Criticism points to the requirememorable of the southern trip. This boy was ment of the law in relation to preferences, which the pupil of a private regular soldier, who had is that the only preference allowed in appoint- gone 30 miles back into the mountain country ments, other things being equal, must favour to teach the children English. The mme first natives of the islands, and then honourably soldier brought down several of his pupils to discharged soldiers, sailors, and marines. Since show how they could sing in English, which applicants may elect, whether they shall be ex- they did very well, making almost needless his amined in Spanish or in English, those taking the Spanish examination for certain grades have done so feeling that the law promised them as much consideration as it promised those whose papers were in English. The habitual bestowal of appointments for which they had
army
|
surance that they knew not only the tunes but also the meaning of the words that they mang. The Commission felt that the sort of material in that teacher could do better shoot- ing service for the country with young Ideas than in the uniformed ranks, and Private
H
:་
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.