New-York tribune., 1905-07-18
TRAINING FoR PUBLIC SERVICE.

Speaking of the complaint made in some de-
partments of the government service that the
merit system, while furnishing competent men
for routine work, does not produce administra
tors Of initiative and efficiency, "The Rochester
Post-EXpress" says:
The Civil Service laws have had one good ef-
feet in breaking up the patronage system in
appointments to minor offices and giving some
measure of security Of tenure to good men; but
in the matter Of providing the best material for
official positions IL has been a failure. 1t is
not worth while for bright young men to go to
the trouble Of securing place on eligible lists;
and the consequence is that those with conf
dence in themselves seek some other career than
the public service In this respect the analogy
between our Civil Service and that Of Great
Britain fails. There the class of young men
who can train themselves for the Civil Ser
vice is comparatively small; the positions are
many throughout the empire; the rewards and
responsibilities are great and appointments are
certain; SO that training for the Civil Service is
like training for any other profession.
There is doubtless some truth in these obser-
vations, though we are inclined to think that
the character of the public service has been
greatly improved by the merit system. and that
in spite of some dry rot'' the character of gov
ernment employees is higher under it. Perhaps
the Civil Service does not attract the brightest
young men to the degree that is desirable, but
those whom it does attract compare favorably
with the products of the spoils system. In the
old days the brightest men, young and old, were
not the favorites of the appointing powers. The
broken down relatives and friends of Congress
men, the men and women who coddnt make
good a living in any other calling filed up the
offices. The business of a department or hu-
| reau chief consisted largely in administering
charity on the account of his political partisans.
No doubt the standards of character and ability
in the service could properly be raised, but it
may well be doubted if they were ever as high
under the spOils system The work has grown
SO enormously in the last twenty years that it
would be practically impossible TO accomplish
ii under the old way of selection.
The comparison drawn between conditions
here and in England calls attention to the limi-
tation. not inherent in, but imposed here upon,
the merit system, which deprives us of the class
of men which is the glory of the English Civil
Service Two prejudices, one concerning the
lower and the other the upper end OF the Civil
Service ladder, are responsible for this. First,
we have the notion of the right of the ordinary
man TO hold office and the American habit of
| thinking no special training necessary to do
anything. Then there is the great pressure for
exemptions in the higher places and the unwiIi-
ingness to make them the rewards of efficiency
and initiative. These two prejudices act and
react upon each other If civil servants with
the minimum Of preparation are selected, nat
urally the number of men fit for important
Then, in turn, the tendency to close the door at
the top discourages initiative and tends to make
even the naturally brilliant men hopeless vic
tins of routine. 1t also dscourages bright men
from original entrance to the service with the
idea Of making career. The difficulty is not
with the merit system, but with our attitude
toward IT. Mr. Aleyne Ireland has sharply
cOntrasted the examinations Of men going out
to the Philippines and those for the English
colonial service The English youth are highly
and broadly educated, and go out as cadets to
do the petty routine work as a training in the
full expectation of rising TO high posts 1.-The
examination for the Philippine Civil Service"
says Mr. Ireland except in far as it relates to
languages, does little more than exclude per-
''sons who cannot read and write" and nat
urally this service neither furnishes material to
grow into leadership nor attracts the best men
with promise of adequate rewards
The trouble with our Civil Service IS that both
at home and in the dependencies it is still con-
ditioned largely by the old spoils idea and is
popularity held under obligations to find room for
the failures in other occupations.