COMMISSION’S REJOINDER DATED DEC. 20, 1905.
We are clear that vacancies in the position as Special Agent cannot be satisfactorily filled by open competitive examinations....
... If it be your desire as indicated in your letter that we should hold an examination for law clerk we will do so; and if you wish to make use of that register in filling vacancies in the position as Special Agent, it is of course your privilege to do so.
Very respectfully,
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Commissioner.
Thereupon the Secretary of the Treasury made request:
“Replying to your letter of December 20th handed to me by your Mr. —— and in harmony with our verbal understanding I request that the Civil Service Commission hold an examination, giving it such name as it may deem appropriate but so arranged as to exclude all but graduates from law colleges, and who in addition have had not less than three years experience in active practice including trial of cases in Nisi Prius Courts. I desire to make use of these clerks as Special Agents. They should be eligible for appointment direct or by immediate transfer without waiting six months. I need them now, and will be pleased if the Commission will expedite the examination in every possible way.”
On December 29, 1905, the Commission submitted draft of an announcement of an examination for law clerks in the Treasury Department and added: “It is requested that the announcement be returned to this office at your earliest convenience with such suggestions as you may desire to make in regard thereto.”
Suggestions were made January 4, 1906.