service
laws. None of the states of the Union has such a widely extended
classification of its civil service.

With the exception of the positions specifically placed in
the unclassified service by law and of appointments made by the
Philippine Commission, all positions in the Philippine civil service
are classified and must be filled by appointees who have passed civil
service examinations. Neither the governor-general nor the Bureau of
Civil Service can, by the promulgation of civil service rules, or in
any other manner whatever, transfer any position from the classified
to the unclassified service or except from examination any position
in the classified service. Under most of the civil service laws of
the United States the President or the governor of the state has
authority to transfer positions from the non-classified or exempted
class to the competitive classified civil service or _vice versa_,
these powers sometimes leading to manipulation of the civil service
rules for political purposes.

In the Philippines, where emergencies, such as cholera epidemics,
sometimes lead to the employment of large bodies of temporary
employees without examination, when the emergency has passed the
temporary employees have always been discharged; and no employee
has ever received classification without examination on account of
temporary service. This is in marked contrast to the practice in the
United States, where large bodies of employees taken on for temporary
service due to emergencies, such as the war with Spain, are not
infrequently blanketed into the classified service without examination.

In its last annual report the board recommended that a number of
official positions in the unclassified service be placed in the
classified service, and gave as a reason therefor that such action
would "add to the attractiveness of the classified service by
increasing the opportunities therein for promotion to responsible
positions." This recommendation was adopted by providing that all
vacancies in the positions of heads and assistant heads of bureaus or
offices and of superintendents shall be filled by promotion, with or
without examination, in the discretion of the civil governor or proper
head of a department, of persons in the classified civil service,
if competent persons are found therein.

This provision is an important and distinguishing feature of the
Philippine Civil Service Act. The federal civil service has none
compa