iples of the merit system to the new territories,
the responsibility for whose government the results of this war had
thrown upon the United States, was realized. By the acts providing for
civil government in Porto Rico (April 12th, 1900) and Hawaii (April
30th, 1900), the provisions of the Civil Service Act and Rules were
applied to those islands. Under this legislation the classification
applies to all positions which are analogous to positions in the Federal
service, those which correspond to positions in the municipal and state
governments being considered as local in character, and not included in
the classification.

On the 19th of September 1900 the United States Philippine Commission
passed an act "for the establishment and maintenance of an efficient and
honest civil service in the Philippine Islands." This act, in its
general features, is based upon the national civil service law, but
includes also a number of the stronger points to be found in the state
and municipal law mentioned above. Among these are the power given the
civil service board to administer oaths, summon witnesses, and require
the production of official records; and the power to stop payment of
salaries to persons illegally appointed. Promotions are determined by
competitive examinations, and are made throughout the service, as there
are no excepted positions. A just right of preference in local
appointments is given to natives. The president of the Philippine
commission in introducing this bill said: "The purpose of the United
States government ... in these islands is to secure for the Filipino
people as honest and as efficient a government as may be possible.... It
is the hope of the commission to make it possible for one entering the
lowest ranks to reach the highest, under a tenure based solely upon
merit." Judging by past experience it is believed that this law is well
adapted to accomplish the purpose above stated.

For fuller information upon the details of the present workings of the
merit system in the Federal service, recourse should be had to the
publications of the U.S. Civil Service Commission, which are to be
found in the public libraries in all the principal cities in the
United States, or which may be had free of charge upon application to
the commission. The _Manual of Examinations_, published semi-annually,
gives full information as to the character of the examinations held by
the commission, together with th