Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-04-05
T He OTHER SIDE
OBJECTIONS TO PROPOSED CLERI.
CAL EXAMINATIONS.
A Department Official Gives the Re
suits Of His Long Experience
in Handling Clerks.

mission to institute q universal system of
promotions Of clerks in the executive de-
partments has naturally aroused much in
terest and discussion among those who are
to be affected" said an official of long and
varied experience with the practical side of
departmental life. There are many reasons
why such a system is desirable, but there
are others why 1t is not, and from a prac-
tical and not an academic standpoint, a
few OF these reasons occur to me.
In the first place, this is a question
which Immediately affects one-third of the
population of Washington, either directly
or indirectly, and 1 will show how it will
affect the business interests Of the city, as
well as the political complexion of Con-
gress in a manner which does not seem to
have occurred to the commission.
First, the sustem has been tried in sew
eraf OF the departments. notably the Post
Office Department, where it was abandoned
because 1t was found to be utterly worth
less as means of proving a clerks actual
merit and for other similar and excellent
reasons.
The Two Systems Compared.
Second, the present system, that of a
discretionary rating of merit by the chief of
division, and concurred in by the chief of
the bureau. is admitted not to be perfect,
cal system as proposed. 1t is possible to
grade the performances of a number OF
ma chimes of like similar capacity, but
1t is a physical impossibility to grade the
performances of a number of human ma
chimes of varying capacity. when engaged
upon different grades and nature of work.
And, should the system which the commits
sion proposes first to inaugurate in its own
office prove there to be a success, it does
not follow that it would prove a success in
mi hI1f har
to the contrary. The work in the
commission may be said to be along one
line. In the departments it is along hum
dreds of lines. In my own bureau there
are forty different kinds of work, and In
the half dozen rooms of my division the
work is so diversified that the institution
of a graded system there would not only be
ludicrouS but farcical. Mark the diStinc-
ton, as it is of the utmost Importance
clerks engaged on strictly one grade or
class of work, addressing envelopes and
nothing else. can be graded with mathe-
NAUTICAL exactneSs. But to have the pro-
posed system of any value at all this too
must be accomplished with the diversified
work, or the whole fabric falls to the
ground and utter decentralization in the
departments would result now as it has be-
fore.
Third. the two easiest accomplished
Things in the world are theoriZing and
moralizing. When a chief Of a division is
thrown up against 100 clerks of varying
well-educated to the Ounce, but not neces-
sary illiterate, he is up against a PROPOSE
ton which sends his theories soaring sky
ward. The great factor of mperfection in
the mathematical system of promotion lies
in the sliding scale, against which the COM
mission nor anyone else cannot combat.
Assuming that the general efficiency, as is
proposed. shall be fixed at 40 per cent.
clerk may be completely stumped at the
proposed yearly examinations, but his
'adaptibility' will be found to be so great
as to be equal to 30 per cent, bringing the
total percentage to seventy which will hold
him. Furthermore, and this may be a true
instance; clerk might fall down on an ex-
animation. as many old clerks surely would
and perhaps after preliminary study vet
their long knowledge of their duties would
perhaps 100. What is the use Of the math-
ematical system, then? None. And no
rules placed around the system can defeat
this sliding scale business either.
Fourth, theorists forget that department
knowledge like that Of the law of medicine
is largely matter of minute and slow alb
sorption by clerks. This knowledge thus
gained by years of work is simply inyalua-
fshed. and the old spoils system returned to,
1T would be found that the departments
could not be run with entirely new men,
and officials would be obliged to retain
these old clerks. Yet general educational
and mathematical examinations would floor
by the hundreds the very men upon whom
the head of the department would be forced
to rely for the proper performance of the
duties Of this department. If it is the in
tention of the commission to weed out the
old clerks under the proposed system Of
mathematical, machine-like examinations,
most of whom have so absorbed their duties
that they know little else and therein lies
their value to the service, the commission
may be assured in advance they will sue
coed. The old clerks, the 'deadwood,' will
be cleaned out like the leaves in the fall
after heavy frost. Any high school grad
uate can give them cards and spades and
beat them hands down.
Opposition From Official Quarters.
Fifth, 1 venture the prophecy here that
the commission will find, when the time
comes, that the heads Of the different de-
partments will bitterly oppose and combat
any innovation as is proposed. This remains
to be seen, and 1 would like my remarks
noted Practical men in charge, and hand
to hand with the work Of their bureaus
will be found to be against any such ire
mendousy sweeping innovation proposed
In my own division, for example, when l
have given periodical orders for more care
on comparatively inconsequential work, the
deSideratum of which was to get it out at
almost any cost because of it's overwhelm-
ing volume the decentralization produced by
the order has invariably caused the work
to fall off from fifteen to twenty-five per
cent in volume, until l finally declined to is
sue the order. The decentralization produced
in our departments among a great body of
clerks who knew that each year they were
liable to fall down upon an examination
and be dismissed would be something that
can only be appreciated by those who have
had charge of clerks. 1t would be terrific.
Clerks now devote their best attention to
their duties they would then devote their
best attention to other matters, including
the cultivation Of their congressional and
senatorial, and other influence, for, if the
commission believes they can eliminate pol
tiles from the question they have reckoned
without their hosts. In fact, it would prac-
tically amount to a revival of the spoiis
system along these lines. Understand that
these clerks do not propose to be ousted
from their positions, perhaps to which they
have given the best years of their lives, be-
cause their percentage happened to be six
ty-nine, as they would then have to go I'M
der the rules, and those who entertain this
view sadly err. Some other means, more
just, more kind and more equitable to all
concerned of removing the deadwood,
should be devised than this. Even if this
be not the intention of the commission, the
effect will be the same-the old clerks
would largely go? But where would they go?
To the Capitol to their member of Con-
gress, or to their senator, already prepared
for the trouble. There would be something
doing in Washington which the city has not
seen in many a year, and would not wish