ITEMS OF INTEREST April 3, 1909 Issue

ITEMS OF INTEREST

One of the largest competitive examinations ever held under the civil service commission is now in progress, and will continue in all the principal cities of the United States and at Ponce, Porto Rico, and at Honolulu, until April 27. This examination is to establish an eligible list, from which appointments will be made of clerks, stenographers, railway mail clerks, and pressmen; and to various technical positions, such as draftsmen, civil engineers, physicians, trained nurses, teachers, and farmers. More than twenty thousand applications have been received in Washington from people who wish to take these examinations, and about half of the applicants desire appointment as railway mail clerks.

Two methods of taxing commercial billboard advertising, and perhaps checking it and eventually eliminating it altogether, are before the Massachusetts Legislature. One plan provides for an excise tax of ten cents a square foot on all such advertising when displayed for more than seven consecutive days. The other plan proposes to tax billboards and the like as real estate, basing the tax on the advertising value of the bill-boards. The tax would be determined by local special commissions, which also would have authority to regulate and control the display of any or all outdoor advertising as public safety, morals, or decent appearance may require.

A notable decision in favor of the railroads has been handed down by Judge McPherson of the United States District Court in the two-cent fare and maximum freight rates cases, involving eighteen Missouri lines. The railroads contended that the rates fixed by the statutes of the state were not remunerative, but confiscatory, and that the enforcement of the statutes should be enjoined. The state brought proceedings to have them enforced.

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April 3, 1909
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