New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-06-10

THERE once was time in this big town
when man who wanted to get on the
n police force had only to stand sufficient
IL high with his ward boss. There also was
time. perhaps antedating the first, when po-
liceman who wanted to be a sergeant-or
roundsman, as they called them in those days
could become one in a manner now referred TO
in the Police Department in blushing under
tones. He could pay his way along-pay his
way to a sergeantcy, lieutenantcy, and per-
haps even higher.
In those times a man who wanted to be
,oundsman produced $500 or S40O or maybe
500 or $1,000 all depending upon with whom
he was deaing-and promptly was promoted to
The next rank. Sometimes later, after the men
in power had banked the money or spent 1t, the
luckless aspirant found himself reduced "for
the GOOD of the service" to the rank he filled be
fore he made the first payment, and, like as
not, sent down to Queens to see that Mrs Null
cahv's children's goat didn't annoy Mrs
Nurphy's children's goat. Room had to be made
for other promotions.
lust what he deserved, no doubt; neverthe-
less a trife hard on the feelings saying nothing
of the pocketbook But that, it may be stated
without too much display of civic pride, was
long, long time ago.
To. be a sergeant nowadays, policeman not
only has to 20 to school in theory and practice
years on end, but has to have, when the time
TO try for the ng-hoped-for step-up comes, all
sorts of letters of commentator and things
before he is even permitted to take an exam
ination-a civil service examination, if you
please-for promotion.
A civil service examination, any one who has
ever passed through one will tell you, is
weirdly wonderful invention of a super-mind
designed to keep every man just step below
where he rightfully ought to be. The questions
are prepared by men and women who devote
all of their time to sitting about and thinking
up impossible ones, covering conditions that
one would never, never meet in job three
times as important, and can seldom be an
swered satisfactorily, especially if the papers
are graded by the people who devise the ques-
tons Fortunately, they are not.
Civil service examiners are odd people. They
admit it themselves. They have to be. If they
weren't, not even they could find logical ex-
cuse for some of the things they have to do
to hold their own jobs. Take the man who
has to prepare the questions for test Of can
didates for the post of ifeguard in a munich
pal bath, for instance. 1t might be imagined
that he sits down with his thoughts and en-
orgies with a scheme for requiring candidates
to swim half mile and rescue man hired
for an hour to pretend he is drowning and
anxious to get away with it. That ought to
he satisfactory. But will it do? 1t will not.
The chief examiner or his first assistant looks
over the test stunts and sadly shakes his head.
They may represent proficiency of sort, but
not civil service proficiency. The chief leaves
in the original stunts and adds few from
the depths of his experience. When he gets
through the luckless candidate for certificate
as an expert swimmer must not only be able
to swim the half mile and rescue the anxious