Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-12-03
COMMON-sENsE TESTS.
That Is What the Civil Service Commits
sion Says of Its Examinations.


CRITICISMS or TIE sYsrKM ANswKRED n THEIR
ANNUAL nEPoRT-rHI CHARACTER OF TIE
VARIOUS EXAMINATIONS ExPLAINED-NoRK
MONEY! NEEDED TO EXECUTE THE Law.
The civil service commission has submitted
to the President its annual report and in IL
shows how the system which the law provides
for has been spread to such an extent that
more than one-fourth of the positions under
the government are now protected by it vari-
Gus minor amendments to the law are recon-
mended and an increase IN the commissions
clerical force 10 said to be urgently needed,
because the present force can barely keep the
lists OF elgibles filled. ''There may"
says the report, referring to this con-
dition Of affairs, "be division of
opinion as to whether there should or should
not be civil service law at all, but surely
there can be none a. to its being properly
enforced while ON the statute book and as to
the commissions being given sufficient means
to enforce it Common honesty demands that
while the law exists there be sufficient money
appropriated to carry 1t into effect. Consider
amount that is needed is absolutely insignif-
cant-so insignificant that there can be no
hesitation in granting it on the score Of
economy"
This is followed up by an appeal for an ad-
ditional sum of SlS, 900.
THE CHARACTER OF THE EXAMINATIONS.
Some space is devoted to an argument on the
merit system. ut seems worth while to an
swer," the report says, zone or two Of the &C.
cusations often brought against the merit sys-
tenn by Its opponents. These accusations have
been SO necessarily repeated that many people
have finally come to believe them.
One OF these accusations is that the exami.
nations are Of such character as to favor
"boys fresh from school" at the expense Of
This is simply incorrect. In the last report Of
the commission full tables bearing on the sub
1ect are given. BY these it is shown that nearly
two-thirds Of the applicants for examination
succeed in passing, and that of those passing
about two-fifths are appointed, the figures prov
ing, by the way, that those who have had q
good common schoo. education do about a.
well as those who have graduated from college.
A glance at these tables shows that the average
age OF those passing the examinations for the
ordinary governmental positions, such as clerk,
copylst, letter carrier and the like, ia about
twenty-eight years. In other words, the
examinations for these positions are especially
suited not to school boys, but to men in the
prime OF life, with experience of the world,
who have left school for at least ten years. The
most common accusation, however, is that the
examinations are scholastic" or of an "im-
practicable" character; that, as is often as
serted, the commission does not give practical
tests, but asks questions ''about the sciences"
or, at least, on irrelevant subjects. All such
statements as these are without foundation;
and II those who make them do SO in good faith
1t Is only because they have not taken the
trouble to ascertain the facts. As a matter of
fact, special care is taken to have the examina-
tons as practical in character as possible. and
to test each candidate on precisely those sub
tects demanded by the character of the work
in the branch Of the service to which he is seek
ing admission. The commission strongly OBJ
Jects to irrelevant questions, and surely there
can be no questions more irrelevant to mans
duties as clerk or letter carrier than are in
qulrles as to how he voted at the last election
and how strong his political backing is; and
these are precisely the questions that many Of
the men who thus object to the examinations
as impractical" are in reality DESTROYS of
asking.
TESTS OF VARIOUS KINDS.
Examinations are held for scores of differ
ent places, and for each place appropriate tests
are provided Thus, it is necessary for an as
sistant chemist to know something of chemis-
try, and for an assistant astronomer to know
something OF astronomy; and applicants for
such positions are questioned accordingly. A
would-be stenographer and type writer is ex-
amined in stenography and type writing. But
the great bulk OF applicants-probably over 80
per cent-apply for positions clerk, copylst,
letter carrier and the like, and the examina-
tons for these positions are those by which the
system can best be tested. For each of these
positions there is plain, practical, COM
non-sens examination, such as would appear
to the average intelligence to be best suited to
find out the men who possess in the highest
degree the qualities needed A copyist is ex.
amined ON but four subjects-speiling. pen-
manship, elementary arithmetic and copying
from dictation, from plain copy and from q
rough draft His duties as a copyist make il
necessary for him to spell WE'LL to write good,
legible hand. to solve simple problems in arith-
metic and to make a clear, neat-looking copy
OF first draft OF a letter which is filled
with interlineations and erasures; and ac-
cordingly these four points are the very
ones on which he is examined. A clerks ex-
animation is a little harde., for besides the
subjects he Is required to
some given topic, that he can turn INGRAM
NAUTICAL sentences into good English, that he
knows how to keep accounts, and finally that
he knows something of United States geog-
raphy, government and history. Every ques-
ton, except the last, has direct bearing upon
the duties to which the clerk will be put
as soon as he has been appointed. The
only objection that can possibly be
made is to the questions about the geography
and history of the United States (and no other
questions are asked in history and geography;
but these combined never count for more than
five per cent in the examination, SO that an APP
plicant need not answer them at all, and may
yet attain an average Of IS per cent. More
over, these questions are test of a mans gem
eral intelligence. Every good American citizen
ought to possess a documentary knowledge of
his country's history, geography and govern
ment
MINOR POSITIONS.
Examinations for all the ordinary minor po-
sitions are based upon the two for clerk and
copyist, some of the questions being dropped
and others substituted in each case according
to the character Of the work in the special
place applied for. Thus, letter carrier has
to show good knowledge of the local geogra-
ply of his vicinity-its railway stations, big
buildings, and the like. Or, again,
a railway mail clerk has to show acquaintance
with the railway systems of his state and Sec
ton, and to make it evident that he can read
off a large number of addresses with speed and
accuracy.
Such are fair samples Of the tests applied to
the great majority Of the candidates who come
before the examining boards, and if questions
on the points indicated above are not practical
and pertinent to the duties of the positions
sought for then it would be hard to know what
questions are.
Occasionally some one, in attacking the ex-
aminations as impractical or a. being too Sc
we're and scholastic in character, quotes a oues-
ton asked one class and speaks as IL il was
asked another. For instance, he will speak az
II clerk had been asked questions in geology
or copyist questions in chemistry. If be does
not do this he invents O series Of ouestic ma