the redemption and destruction of certain circulating notes in such cases, &c.]

SEC. 8. That national banks now organized or hereafter organized, having a capital of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, or less, shall not be required to keep on deposit or deposit with the Treasurer of the United States United States bonds in excess of one-fourth of their capital stock as security for their circulating notes; but such banks shall keep on deposit or deposit with the Treasurer of the United States the amount of bonds as herein required. And such of those banks having on deposit bonds in excess of that amount are authorized to reduce their circulation by the deposit of lawful money as provided by law; Provided, That the amount of such circulating notes shall not in any case exceed ninety per centum of the par value of the bonds deposited as herein provided: Provided further, That the national banks which shall hereafter make deposits of lawful money for the retirement in full of their circulation shall at the time of their deposit be assessed for the cost of transporting and redeeming their notes then outstanding, a sum equal to the average cost of the redemption of national-bank notes during the preceding year, and shall thereupon pay such assessment. And all national banks which have heretofore made or shall hereafter make deposits of lawful money for the reduction of their circulation shall be assessed and shall pay an assessment in the manner specified in section three of the act approved June twentieth, eighteen hundred and seventyfour, for the cost of transporting and redeeming their notes redeemed from such deposits subsequently to June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-one.

SEC. 9. That any national banking association now organized, or hereafter organized, desiring to withdraw its circulating notes, upon a deposit of lawful money with the Treasurer of the United States, as provided in section four of the act of June twentieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, entitled "An act fixing the amount of United States notes, providing for a redistribution of national-bank currency, and for other purposes," or as provided in this act, is authorized to deposit lawful money and withdraw

a proportionate amount of the bonds held as security for its circulating notes in the order of such deposits; and no national bank which makes any deposit of lawful money in order to withdraw its circulating notes shall be entitled to receive any increase of its circulation for the period of six months from the time it made such deposit of lawful money for the purpose aforesaid : Provided, That not more than three millions of dollars of lawful money shall be deposited during any calendar month for this purpose: And provided further, That the provisions of this section shall not apply to bonds called for redemption by the Secretary of the Treasury, nor to the withdrawal of circulating notes in consequence thereof.

SEC. 10. That upon a deposit of bonds as described by sections fifty-one hundred and fifty-nine and fifty-one hundred and sixty, except as modified by section four of . . . [the act of June 20, 1874]. . ., and as modified by section eight, of this act, the association making the same shall be entitled to receive from the Comptroller of the Currency circulating notes of different denominations, in blank, registered and countersigned as provided by law, equal in amount to ninety per centum of the current market value, not exceeding par, of the United States bonds so transferred and delivered, and at no time shall the total amount of such notes issued to any such association exceed ninety per centum of the amount at such time actually paid in of its capital stock; and the provisions of sections fifty-one hundred and seventy-one and fifty-one hundred and seventy-six of the Revised Statutes are hereby repealed.

SEC. 11. That the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to receive at the Treasury any bonds of the United States bearing three and a half per centum interest, and to issue in exchange therefor an equal amount of registered bonds of the United States of the denominations of fifty, one hundred, five hundred, one thousand, and ten thousand dollars, of such form as he may prescribe, bearing interest at the rate of three per centum per annum, payable quarterly at the Treasury of the United States. Such bonds shall be exempt from all taxation by or under State

authority, and be payable at the pleasure of the United States: Provided, That the bonds herein authorized shall not be called in and paid so long as any bonds of the United States heretofore issued bearing a higher rate of interest than three per centum, and which shall be redeemable at the pleasure of the United States, shall be outstanding and uncalled. The last of the said bonds originally issued under this act, and their substitutes, shall be first called in, and this order of payment shall be followed until all shall have been paid.

SEC. 12. That the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to receive deposits of gold coin with the Treasurer or assistant treasurers of the United States, in sums not less than twenty dollars, and to issue certificates therefor in denominations of not less than twenty dollars each, corresponding with the denominations of United States notes. The coin deposited for or representing the certificates of deposits shall be retained in the Treasury for the payment of the same on demand. Said certificates shall be receivable for customs, taxes, and all public dues, and when so received may be reissued; and such certificates, as also silver certificates, when held by any national-banking association, shall be counted as part of its lawful reserve; and no nationalbanking association shall be a member of any clearing-house in which such certificates shall not be receivable in the settlement of clearing-house balances: Provided, That the Secretary of the Treasury shall suspend the issue of such gold certificates whenever the amount of gold coin and gold bullion in the Treasury reserved for the redemption of United States notes falls below one hundred millions of dollars; and the provisions of section fifty-two hundred and seven of the Revised Statutes shall be applicable to the certificates herein authorized and directed to be issued.

SEC. 13. [Penalty for falsely certifying checks.]

SEC. 14. That Congress may at any time amend, alter, or repeal this act and the acts of which this is amendatory.

APPROVED, July 12, 1882.

In his annual message of December 5, 1870, President Grant urged the attention of Congress to "a reform in the civil service of the country." In accordance with this recommendation, the sundry civil appropriation act of March 3, 1871, authorized the President to prescribe regulations for admission to the civil service. A civil service commission was appointed, and for two years appropriations were made for its support. The continuance of the appropriations was urged by Grant, and again by President Hayes in his annual messages of 1879 and 1880, but without inducing congressional action. The assassination of President Garfield called public attention forcibly to the evils of the existing system of appointment and removal, and the annual message of President Arthur, December 6, 1881, brought the subject of civil service reform strongly before Congress. A bill "to regulate and improve the civil service" was introduced in the Senate, December 6, 1881, by George H. Pendleton of Ohio, and on January 11, 1882, was referred, together with a bill "to prevent extortion from persons in the public service, and bribery and coercion by such persons," to the Committee on the Civil Service and Retrenchment. The bill was reported with amendments March 29, the committee report to accompany it not being submitted until May 15. The session closed without further action. The Pendleton bill was taken up December II and formed the principal subject of debate until the 27th, when, with various amendments, it passed the Senate by a vote of 38 to 5, 33 not voting. The bill was reported in the House without amendment January 4, 1883, read three times and passed, the final vote being 155 to 46, 88 not voting.

REFERENCES. Text in U.S. Statutes at Large, XXII, 403-407. For the proceedings see the House and Senate Journals, 47th Cong., 1st and 2d Sess., and the Cong. Record. Pendleton's report of May 15 is Senate Report 576. The annual reports of the Civil Service Commission are the primary authorities on the operation of the act; see also the Proceedings of the National Civil Service Reform League. The pamphlet and periodical literature is extensive. On the earlier history of the movement see House Report 47, 40th Cong., 2d Sess. (Jenckes's report); Senate Exec. Doc. 10, 42d Cong., 2d Sess., and Senate Exec. Doc. 53 (same in House Exec. Doc. 221), 43d Cong., 1st Sess. (commission reports); Senate Report 289, 44th Cong., 1st Sess. (Boutwell's report); House Exec. Doc. 1, Part 1, 46th Cong., 2d Sess. (Eaton's report); House Exec. Doc. 1, Part 8, ibid., and House Exec. Doc. 94, 46th Cong., 3d Sess. (New York regulations); Senate Report 872, 46th Cong., 3d Sess. (Pendleton's report). See also Senate Report 2373, 50th Cong., 1st Sess.

An act to regulate and improve the civil service of the United States.

Be it enacted. That the President is authorized to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, three persons, not more than two of whom shall be adherents of the same party, as Civil Service Commissioners, and said three commissioners shall constitute the United States Civil Service Commission. Said commissioners shall hold no other official place under the United States.

The President may remove any commissioner; and any vacancy in the position of commissioner shall be so filled by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, as to conform to said conditions for the first selection of commissioners.

SEC. 2. That it shall be the duty of said commissioners: FIRST. To aid the President, as he may request, in preparing suitable rules for carrying this act into effect, and when said rules shall have been promulgated it shall be the duty of all officers of the United States in the departments and offices to which any such rules may relate to aid, in all proper ways, in carrying said rules, and any modifications thereof, into effect.

SECOND. And, among other things, said rules shall provide and declare, as nearly as the conditions of good administration will warrant, as follows:

First, for open, competitive examinations for testing the fitness of applicants for the public service now classified or to be classified hereunder. Such examinations shall be practical in their character, and so far as may be shall relate to those matters which will fairly test the relative capacity and fitness of the persons examined to discharge the duties of the service into which they seek to be appointed.

Second, that all the offices, places, and employments so arranged or to be arranged in classes shall be filled by selections according to grade from among those graded highest as the results of such competitive examinations.

Third, appointments to the public service aforesaid in the de