Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-06-01
Certified Brains
for Civil Service
Ry Frederic ]. Haskin

washington, d. c., May 2S.-Use of
mental tests in Civil Service examinations
is now seriously considered by the Govern
ment. In future the would-be Government
clerk may have to prove his mental alert
ness by coping with such propositions as
If flea is bigger than n dog pass on to
the next question; if it is not, turn over
this sheet and put three crosses IN the
upper left hand corner"
This sort of thing has achieved great
popularity with many employers OF labor,
and testimonials as to its success are heard
ON every hand. Business men who exude
efficiency scarcely inquire of prospec-
tive clerk If she can spell or manipulate
typewriter. Instead the astute psycholo-
gist fixes his eye on the applicant and
notes that she has the marcel wave OF the
instructive typist and the eyebrow OF a
lcvcl-hcaded personality.
Suppose you say the alphabet rapidly
backwards, leaving out q, he suggests.
"Thank you. Report for work Monday
The Government does not contemplate
such complete trust in science as this
In all probability, the mental alcrtness test
would comprise only ten per cent OF one
hundred points in any examination. stu,
the fact that the nations biggest and most
conservative labor concern is trying out
such tests at all will give them added I'M
portance in the eyes of many people.
The success of the army with its m
rvliigence tests was what led the 0ivil
Service Commissioners to feel that pos
siblc credit might be given IN Slvll Ser.
vice examinations for intelligence rs well
as schoolbook knowledge. As an expert
mcnt. 100 employees of the Postotilce
Department have been singled out ana
nut through n series of tricks designed 10
measure their Judgment and menta'
agility. The ratings on their papers COM
pared with records Of their ability while IN
The Government service will show the
commissioners to what extent clerical
efficiency in the Government IS dependent
on the qualities which may be thus tested.
TESTS ARE PRACTICAL.
Tho growing tendency is to mako
examinations for government positions
rs practical as possible, Once an appli-
cant for clerkship was required TO
demonstrate his knowledge of geography,
history. and civil government, as well rs
arithmetic. spelling and composition,
The idea was that a government employe
should have ut least good common school
education, so that he would be credit
ia the nation, and be eligible to rise TO
the heights of the service, even though
he might start rs punch clerk.
In practice, however, the punch clerk
rarely attained position in which he
would have been embarrassed by not
knowing where the Winooks river is. and
finally American history, geography,
and government, were quietly dropped
from most of the tests Geography IS
ven in postal examinations, but there
II has a practical place, for postmaster
and his assistant need to he familiar
with the United States map.
Arithmetic still plays an important
part in all clerical tests and Is for many
applicants the most difficult subject
The demand that clerk he able 20 solve
problems in which cube roots and decImals
are woven into complicated little stories
about grocers' bills, watered stock, and
other appropriate subjects Is not at first
glance clear to the uninitiated, and has
caused some caustic comment.
The Civil Service Commission explains
its attitude toward arithmetic by saying
that ability to Use figures Is test of
logical mind. In other words, arithmetic
j. included in the examinations, not SO
much because the clerk will ever need
II though be may-but AS a sort OF old
fashioned psychology test. Granting that
skill at solving problems Is an indication
al mental precision, 1t may he argued
that many a valuable clerk IN private
employ is 50 constituted that his brain
swims at the sight of figures. To which
again the Civil Service Commission an
swers that the government IS an enormous
organization, and must pick its employees
wholesale by standards which give the
| est results IN the majority Of eases
SYSTEM SORTS WELL.
Bv its examination system, the com
mission saws. at least ninety-fve people
ont OF one hundred are properly classified
as to ability. The other FIVE NAV be of too
nervous a temperament to do themselves
Justice in q competitive test, but they are
only exceptions, and with 10000 appoint
mcnts to be made every year the COM
mission has no time TO sort the genIuses
out of the list OF failures. Possibly the
psychology tests viii enable some of the
exceptions to prove their mental superior
Nv.
The commission seems justified in its
claim that the Government employment
business Is too unwieldly to be managed
except bv the most rigid rules. The photo
graph demanded Of every person who
takes a Government examination, for
instance, IS a bit of so-called red tape,
which would be ridiculous IN small bus
mess organization, but 1t Is a necessary
formalitv in the Government A decade or
so ago. candidates for Government posi-
lions would sometimes induce friends, who
were better prepared than they were, to
impersonate them at the examinations.
Even when member of q city council
and a state senator and their two &C
completes were jailed for attempting it,
the practice continued with disturbing
frequency. Use Of pictures put a stop to
II at once.
Preparation and correction Of tests
for several hundred kinds of positions,
ranging from crop expert to messenger
: boy. keeps seventy five people busy at
the Federal Job headquarters. Besides
these regular employees, university pro-
fcssors and Government officials assist
in planning some of the technical qulzzes
Practically all of the thousands of
people who swarm in and out Of the Govern
ment buildings at Washington. and the
larger part of those who serve Uncle Sam
in the field captured their jobs under the
merit system. In some cases long writ
ten ordeal lasting two or three days was
required: IN Others only the candidates
statements as to his experience, training
a,I ,.b1cicaI condition