New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-01-04

By rHos. WENTWORTH HreorSsoS.

Ii may be remembered that in the latter paI
OF the year 1868, when the Government ha
determined on the policy of organizing colore
regiments. 1t was decided to select the officer
oy competitive examination. The command
ers OF the earlier colored regiments. who ha
previously obtained their line officers by som
imperfect of personal selection, awaite,
with deep interest the result Of the new ex
pertinent. For ore, hoped good deal frou
1T, though not without misgivings-these being
founded on q good deal of personal expert
ence in examining schools and teachers. Ba
the general public had no such doubts. Tn,
new plan was heralded with enthusiasm in the
newspapers, and even the editors most opposed
to the enlistment of the negroes were rejoiceC
at the prospect of their being so we'll com
handed 1t was proclaimed, without hesita
ton, that under the competitive system the
officers of these regiments would far supass the
volunteer officers generally, and perhaps even
the regular service itself Under auspices thus
fattering the new method was tried What
were it's results
| think can assert, without fear of contra
.diction from those who had opportunity of
making the comparison, that the experiment
resulted in general disappointment. So far as
| could judge, in my own and other regiments,
the new class Of officers were not in the slight.
III
| were to make a comparison, should pro-
nounce them. on an average, inferior. While
apt to be stronger in the less important quail
fications-tactics and the Army Regulations
they were apt to show less personal energy and
executive capacity, these being qualities which
could hardly be tested by an examining board.
Yet these are the qualities which a COM
handing officer chiefly needs in his subordin-
ates. He would rather have first class mate
rial, aud train it himself. than second rate
material better trained. Now it turned out
that the system of personal recommendation
was apt to give better material. If | said to
regimental commander, Recommend to me
really good sergeant for promotion" the
chances were that should get good material,
at least. But, il | sent to an examining board,
l was not so sure of this the young man
might merely turn ont good scholar, not
good officer. OF course there were great risks
IN both ways; but | made up my mind that
the risk oil fayoritism or deception in the pro
cess OF personal selection was less evil, on
the whole, than the necessarily imperfect meth
DDS OF an examining board. Indeed, think,
if the alternative had been permitted, that
should rather have gone into any good regi-
ment and picked out my men by the eye and
ear Tor promotion, after watching them on drill
or parade, than have had them chosen for me,
without any voice of my own, by an examining
board.
For an examining board whether in mill.
tary or academic life, has but two methods to
choose between. Ii can for one method, apply
a perfectly strict written examination, the
merit of which is its impartiality and it's de-
merit that 1t is perfectly scholastic, and tests
only the capacity of examining. Now, there
are young men who have such natural powers
of application and OF memory that they can
prepare themselves in few weeks time to
undergo written examination for major
seneraiship, or secretaryship of state Their
examination passed, you must appoint them
or be false to your principles. Yet they NAV
not have single quality of personal character
that Its them for any important post
ms Is so obvious that you say: 1--WE will
not rely merely Oh the written examination, but
on their personal appearance, on oral cues
tionlng, on their recommendations and record"
All but then you sacrifice the whole principle
OF strict aud impartial examination, and in
trodsce the other method | have called Der
sonal selection. You simply transfer the re-
sponsibillty of this selection from somebody
who Is intensely interested in making a right
choice (e g., the regiment commander to a
BOARD who are only remotely interested At
any rate, the members of the board are human.
Liable to prejudice, to persuasion, to bribery.
If you please; and if they once began to let
the element of personal liking or disEking
lntuence their interrogations, there are no
limits to the injustice they may do / am con-
hdent that, were | chairman of an examining
board, whether for civil or military appoint-
ment, could so arrange and distribute the
oral questions az to select or defeat lust whom
L pleased In nine cases out of ten, and that
without openly violating any propriety.
The result of these observations, therefore
is that written examinations have the ipevi,
table defect of being too scholastic, while oral
examinations open the door to Just as MUCK
unfairness as any other mode of selection
Add why this Is not just as true of civil as of
military service L am unable to perceive. No
doubt the evils of merely scholastic examina-
alton are relatively less in civil Office but they
are very great there, since the Government.
like every other employer, needs energetic and
efficient men, rather than merely well ught
men. On the other hand, the evils of oral ex-
animation would be even greater in the civil
service than in the military, because the coa
petition would be greater.
Quis costOdes custodietr This seems IN mo
a question not sufficiently considered MANY
people seem to think that a work which is ne
cessarily cOrrupting if done by President or a
Congressman will lose all elements of corrup
ton when done by something called a board.
do not see this. L know that, at least, one
such board for examining officers of colored
regiments had for It's President man whose
name afterward became q byword for frauds
upon the soldiers. If man is Dishonest as
member of Congress, be certainly will not be
made honest by being member of commits
sion.
For one, l should like to see some civil SER
vice reform that would save our congressman
the responsibility OF appointments. But an.
pointments must be made and cannot quite
share this popular faith in competitive exami-
nations. No one has yet pointed out anv third
method which shall avoid the unfairness of oral
examinations and the mere scholasticism of
the written method. Certainly no merchant
would appoint ms clerks by either. Matthew
Arnold says " Schools of the Continent, page
lO4:) have borne part in the examinations
for the English civil service, and | can truly
say that the candidates to whom [ gave the
highest marks were, almost without exception.
the candidates l would not have appointed.
They were crammed men, not formed men, -
Froude says [" Short Studies" H. 1851 that
the experiment OF competitive examinations
has been tried among Asiatics in China for a
thousand years, and has produced the weakest
and most corrupt government which the world
has ever seen y and points out OH, 237) that
it has not been established in England ''as a
thing good in ITSELF but " as an expedient To
rescue some parts of the service from jobbery. ~
III we, in our turn, are to try it, we had better
do it with expectations as moderate as these
undertaking it as an experiment, not proclaim.
ing 1t as panacea
"A Boston workman, who says he has little
sympathy with the foolish twaddle sometimes
said and written about workingmen's rights