The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-06

stated that the appointment of these ca
diets was made as a political experiment by
Representatives who wished to force an
issue Mr. Benjamin says that the first
. OF the three cadets appointed was found
deficient in mathematics and French, after
a year at the Academy, and resigned. This
| is not precisely true. The cadet resigned,
1t is true but he had been nearly two
| years at the Academy, and during that
| time had become convinced that he would
| never be allowed 10 graduate. Moreover,
| he had been the object of number OF per-
| sonal attacks, one of which came near end
| ing his life, and concluded that he might
| as well give up the idea of going on.
| He has since held positions under the
| Government which required about as much
| knowledge of mathematics as he would
| have needed to graduate from Annapolis,
| and 1t was generally understood at
the time, by unprejuCiced people, that
! his failure TO finish the course was due
| to the persecution to which he was sub
! iected. There Is, of course, a question
| as TO the efficiency of colored officer
| in practical work. since he would have to
| contend with many difficulties which 9TH
| ers do not encounter; but there really
seems no reason why the matter should
! not be left to the actual test of life on a
| man without resorting to such
petty methods as Misrepresentation and
| persecution during life at the Academy.
The book is full of anecdotes of one
/ sort or another, and those which have
been given are fair examples. There is a
| full description of Annapolis as it is to-
| day, and one chapter explains
to. the would be naval cadet
the requisite qualifications for
entering the Academy. There are nu-
merous illustrations, among them por-
traits of Chauvenet, the mathematician; ;
II. II. Lockwood; Worth Bagley in foot
ball costume, and various other men who
have at one time or another been con-
nected with the Academy. New York:
G. p. Putnams Sons.)
Training for the Civil Service.
Colonial Civil Service is small
book by A. Lawrence Lowell, con-
tanning an account of the East
India College at Haileybury, by H.
Morse Stephens of Cornell University. 1t
cannot fail to be of absorbing interest to
many readers in America. 1t is one of the
best works on this subject which can be
found in any library, and will be particu-
larly valuable TO the student of current
events at the present time.
The author discusses the selection and
training of colonial officials in England,
Holland, and France, giving the history OF
country, the principles on which 1t is es-
tablished. and its condition at the present
time. There is also chapter on the need
of a good civil service training school
for the United States, and the
difference between our needs and
those of England in this respect Then
follows Professor Stephens history of Hal
leybury. which occupies about a third of
the book, and is not by any means the
least interesting part Of it. Professor Ste
phens is especially well qualified to write
on this subject, since he received his own
early education in that college, was an I'M
dergraduate of Balliol from 1877 to 1850,
and taught the history of India for two
years at Cambridge, to the selected candi-
dates for the Indian civil service. Mr..
Lowell has come to the conclusion, based
on a thorough study of Hsileybury meth
DDS, that the only practical plan for the
United States TO adopt is a college not un-
like Haileybury.
There is an immense amount of inter-
esting information in this book, and 1t is
of a kind that most Americans need very
badly. Few people in this country have
any idea of the absolute need of trained.
competent, and most carefully selected men
for civil service in colonies. especially
those in Asiatic countries. The policy of
laissez faire will not do in this II would
be impracticahe TO consider fully all the
chapters in this book, since all are impor-
tant; 1t will therefore be necessary to no.
tice only the part of it which deals with
the need Of training for American civil
ians in the colonies.
Mr.. Lowells statement of the case is
clear and business-like. He points out,
first, the fact that the ordinary eompeti-
tive examination in force here will net do
for civil service in the Orient because
men must be especially trained for ruling
Asiatics. He then states that although IL
is unsafe TO copy foreign political methods
exactly, good will result from a careful
study OF them, and selection of such as
will meet our own neeGs. He explains
that in the English civil service these
principles hold; the men selected for ~Ich
service have a high general education.
then some special preparation for the work.
not necessarily very elaborate. and then
an active apprenticeship in the place wher,
their work is to be.
He then goes on to say that any COM
petitive examination based upon the sub
jects of a university education would not
be suited to American needs or habits of
thought, because, first, a university de-
gree in this country is apt to mean a
dozen different things, from a Harvard
diploma to an education little beyond that
OF a country academy, and second re-
striction of such offices to college J. en-
would shut out many men eminently fitted
by practical experience for administration
and initiative, but without any education
beyond that of the common schools. 1t is
plain. therefore, that selection cannot be
made wholly from the college graduates
Of the present day, nor, in future. from
the same class of men, since this would
recruit the civilian almost wholly from
the well-to-do classes. In England this
would be regarded as a matter of course;
in America it would be considered a step
in the direction of class privilege.
Therefore Mr.. Lowell advocates the es-
tablishment of a special college in which
can be educated for this work any boy
rich or poor. who shows special fitness for
higher education He would place it on
the same footing as West Point and AZ
napolis, so far as its relation to the peo-
pie is concerned, but would make its re
quirements something like those of Hal
leybury. Cheltenham, the United Services
College, or like sciUOi6 iG England He
also suggests that consuls could be
trained in this same college, and the idea
is not bad one. Anything that Will
improve the quality of our Consular Ser
vice is much to be desired. New York:
The Macmillan Company s1.5G.}
Minor Fiction.
"The Son of the Wolf" by Jack London
marks the advent of new romance writer