APPENDIX No. 5.

The questions below are an example of those used in the grades which fall under the first and fourth clauses of Rule 7, known respectively as the general and limited examinations. They are a fair sample of all those used in those grades. It is at one or the other of those grades that fully 95 out of every 100 applicants have been examined under the rules. The questions are frequently varied, indeed almost at every examination, without materially changing their grade, and there are special adaptions of them to various places in the postal and customs offices. For the sake of brevity the ample spaces for the answers on the examination papers are omitted.

GENERAL EXAMINATION UNDER CLAUSE 1 OF RULE 7.—FIRST SUBJECT.

Question 1.—One of the examiners will distinctly read (at a rate reasonable for copying) fifteen lines from the Civil Service Law or Rules, and each applicant will copy the same below from the reading as it proceeds.

Question 2.—Write below, at length, the names of fifteen states and fifteen cities of the Union.

Question 3.—Copy the following, which is section five of the Civil Service act, in the blank below:

Sec. 5. That any said commissioner, examiner, copyist, or messenger, or any person in the public service who shall willfully and corruptly, by himself or in coöperation with one or more other persons, defeat, deceive, or obstruct any person in respect of his or her right of examination according to any such rules or regulations, or who shall willfully, corruptly, and falsely mark, grade, estimate or report upon the examination or proper standing of any person examined hereunder, or aid in so doing, or who shall willfully and corruptly make any false representations concerning the same or concerning the person examined, or who shall willfully and corruptly furnish to any person any special or secret information for the purpose of either improving or injuring the prospects or chances of any person so examined, or to be examined, being appointed, employed, or promoted, shall for each such offense be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars, nor more than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not less than ten days, nor more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

SECOND SUBJECT.

Question 1.—Multiply 307968 by 490875 and divide the product by 307968. Write in full the operation.

Question 2.—Divide three fourths of eight ninths by one seventh of three fifths and subtract one seventh from the quotient.

Question 3.—Divide one thousand and eight and three one-thousandths by three and eight one-hundredths, expressing the process in decimal fractions.

Question 4.—The compensation of a clerk, beginning June 30th, was $133.33 a calendar month. On the first of October his salary was increased 15 per cent., and so remained until June 1st, when it was increased a further amount of three per cent. on the original salary. What was the whole amount payable to the clerk for the year?

Question 5.—A commissary suddenly forced to change quarters had on hand 980 bushels of wheat which cost 80 cents per bushel. He sold six per cent. of it at a loss of four per cent. and four per cent. of it at a loss of three per cent. How much was the whole loss incurred by the sale?

THIRD SUBJECT.

Question 1.—A note for $2,647.34 is payable eleven months from date with interest at 3½ per cent. What will be the amount due on the note at maturity? Give all the figures in the operation.

Question 2.—A disbursing agent failed, owing the government one item of $308.45, another of $2,901.02. The government agreed to make a discount of 13 per cent. on the first item and 11½ per cent. on the second. How much was payable under the agreement?

Question 3.—June 30, 1880, A gave B a note for $1,005 payable July 4, 1882, with interest at 4 per cent. May 1, 1882, A paid $235. What was the amount of principal and interest due B when the note matured?

Question 1.—A contractor furnished the government articles as follows: June 8, 1880, 300 barrels of flour at $4.50 a barrel, and July 6, 1880, 187 yards of carpet at $1 a yard. August 4, 1880, 1,000 yards of carpet at 87 cents a yard. The government paid on account as follows: June 12, 1880, $1,000; July 10, 1880, $100; August 4, 1880, $500. State the dealings between the parties in the form of a debit and credit account, showing the balance due.

FOURTH SUBJECT.

Question 1.—Give a definition as full as the space will allow of (1) a verb; (2) a noun; (3) an adverb; (4) an adjective; (5) a preposition; (6) a conjunction; and of (7) the phrase, “the grammar of the English language.”

Question 2.—Write a letter, addressing it to the President and giving your views, as far as you are willing to express them, in regard to the duties and responsibilities of an officer in the public service which you seek to enter. Let it fill, as nearly as may be, the following space.

FIFTH SUBJECT.

Question 1.—Which States extend to or border on the sea or tide-water? What is the capital of each of said States?

Question 2.—What is meant in our history, (1) by the Colonial period; (2) by the Continental Congress; (3) by the Declaration of Independence; (4) by the Emancipation Proclamation? Let your answers, as nearly as may be, fill this blank.

Question 3.—State in general terms, but as particularly as the space below will permit, what are the authority and functions of (1) the Congress of the United States; of (2) the Supreme Court of the United States; of (3) the President of the United States; and give the names of each of the executive departments at Washington.

LIMITED EXAMINATION UNDER CLAUSE 4 OF RULE 7.

First subject same as in examination under Clause 1.

SECOND SUBJECT.

Direction.—In case the examiners think that any of the following examples may have been seen by the applicants, they can in the first strike out a line of the figures, and, in the others, change some of the figures without altering the grade of the question.

Question 1.—Add the following:

64379582
28597346
91731625
52613719
26598421
53679713
83576532
62985274
79365497

Question 2.—Find the difference between the following numbers:

905127038624
605138759928

Question 3.—Subtract ten thousand one hundred dollars and six cents from one hundred thousand and seven dollars and five cents, giving all the figures required in the operation.

Question 4.—Multiply 7089 by 983.

Question 5.—Divide 368506 by 375.

Question 6.—When board costs three dollars and seventy-six cents per week what will it cost from March 15th to July 4th?

Question 7.—How many times is 17 cents contained in ten thousand dollars and ten cents?

Question 8.—There are seven hundred and three dollars to be divided between nine men and three boys. The boys are to have twenty-five dollars and five cents each, the residue is to be equally divided among the men, what is each man’s share? Give all the figures involved in the solution.