The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-08-14
CIVIL SERVICE EXPERIMENT. sgeR .R

future performance or their uu.leS. L io
law of Congress- proviS1ng Tor the
Twelfth census required the director 10
put each applicant for clerlcai posi-
ton through such an examination dA
would determine his fitness for the ser
| vice. Mr.. Merriam says ne hao ioiis
thought that the civil service comnls
sioners were not going about tneir uu-
| ties in the right way; that they CAV
/. examinations which did not determlh@
| the qualifications of the applicant lol
| the particular work in when ne Wouiu
be employed. So he determined TO eA
anime his census clerks tnoroushis y
| but only in such branches as mao rel
erence to the duties which they Wouiu
be called upon to perform, such as cohi-
mon arithmetic. English ana seoera-
lphy. In arithmetic nothing was taken
ND save addition, multiplication ana
percentage, as these were all that the
clerk would be required to use. IN
English and geography the require
ments were almost primary in charac-
ter, as also were certain questions with
respect to historical information
| Some rather curious results are re-
ported by Mr.. Merriam. He gave eN-
Examinations to 1886 applicants, OF whoHa
only $3.50 gained more than the required
rs per cent 1t would seem that the
examination must have been very thor
ough to have east out more than "A per
cent of the total applicants, or else the
application came from low educa-
tional grade, for it is the record that
only about q per cent of those exams
med by the regular civil service COM
missioners meet with failure. HoweV-
er, Mr. Merriam denies that his bureau
invited a lower grade of scholarship
than does the regular commission. His
idea is that his examinations struck the
weak spot in the whole of American
scholarship: that their elementary ma
ture caused more failures than would
the advanced and intricate examina-
lions of the regular commission. And
here undoubtedly the director is touch
ing upon a great public error, for it is
generally admitted that under our
school system children are hurried into
the higher branches before they have
laid good primary foundation. He no
doubt found many of his applicants
puzzling over an example In common
fractions who probably could work out
problem in geometry with ease and
facility.
The greatest per cent of failures came
from Boston. where, says Mr. Merriam,
''one would expect the classical at
mosphere to be so charged with learn
ing that very large proportion of the
candidates could pass the simple re-
Quirements of the census office" Only
46 per cent of the Boston applicants
could pass. while at Topeka, Kas,
where the highest record in the whole
country was made the per cent was
more than IS. Omaha was a close sec
ond with rs per cent, and then came
Cincinnati with so per cent Chicago
with "a per cent and San Francisco
with AZ per cent. Kansas should feel
gratified that, so far as this educational
test is concerned, she leads the whole
country.
Mr.. Merriam notes that many almost
unbelievably ignorant persons took the
examinations. He holds, however that
his experience in this regard differs in
nc respect from that of the regular
commission. Of the ludicrous answers
returned by some of the candidates he
gives us many examples few of
which we note:
Lincoln was a great general and
distinguished himself in the war of
1917"
Abraham Lincoln was a personal
friend of the colored race, and was one
of the original signers of the Declara-
ton of Independence"
Abraham Lincoln was born in Ini-
nois. where he worked from early morn
till dewey eve as a farmers lad until
he became President
Al one Of the examinations the appii-
csnts were asked to tell something of
Jefferson Davis, and here are two of
TIE answers:
Mr.. Davis was President of the
| United States and wrote the Declara-
ton of Independence"
Davis was a famous general of the
| war of 1872"
One young lady. evidently not much
of politician, when asked who Will
liam Cullen Bryant was, answered:
| William Cullen Bryant was the Dem
ocratic candidate for President silver
| advocate and resident of Nebraska, =
| Another unfortunate, whose knowl-
edge of geography was poor, said that
the best way to reach the Atlantic ocean
| by water from Chicago was in a boat
Another suggested. in answer to the
same question: Go by rail to New
| YORK, take boat and get there. Still
another said that John d. Long was
assistant secretary of the Cuban
war"
young lady, who was no doubt an
ardent admirer of her jcountry's great
ness, displayed her small acquaintance
with its fundamental law when asked
to tell something about the Constitu-
ton. She said:
I'VE have the best government on
earth and the constitution can't be
amended
/. On young mans papers were the
| following question and answer:
Why were the mass of slaves held
south of the Potomac river before the
WARP Because Africa is a hot coun-
try"
But the point of Mr. Merriam's ar
ticle. which appears in the Saturday
Evening Post, is that sport should not
be made of the ignorant and unfortu-
nate He urges number of reforms in
| the civil service which are suggested
by his own experience in organizing
/ ha bur- SIav IT,