Evening star., 1928-01-15
Result Of Setting a Standard.

A noise that sounds like howl issues
from the Office of the prohibition COM
missioner over the failure Of prohibition
agents to pass the mental tests designed
| by the Civil Service Commission to
carry out the act OF Congress placing
such officers in the classified service Of
the Government OF the two thousand
incumbents who took the examination
some seventy-five per cent have
''fiunked" OF the thirteen thousand
applicants for the two thousand jobs
available, sixty-five per cent have failed.
leaving about four thousand. five hun
dred and fifty men mentally capable in
the opinion of the Civil Service Com
mission of being prohibition officers.
These. however. must still pass oral and
character tests before they car! he certi-
| fed for service. so there is still 20 be
some cutting down before the first list
of eligibleS is finally drawn. Commits
sioner Doran feels that the prolibiuon
service will be depleted If these eXani-
nations are final and tnat he will lose
men who are fitted for .heir duties de-
spite apparent discrepancies in their
mental equipment. Contrariwise, he
does not feel that those who success
fully pass the examinations ere made
eficient officers thereby. And even
though the final tests may produce a
numerical surplus Of men certified for
the service. geographical apportionment
! may work to supply some districts with
a full quota while other districts will
60 begging. indication of such a state
of affairs is hinted at by DR.. Doran in
the Carolina district. where only one
OF the thirty agents stationed there was
able to pass the mental test, and that
one person in the commissioners opin-
ion is no great shakes as prohibition
officer.
An honest effort to purge the prohibi-
ton service of unfit personnel and to
lift 1t out of politics led Congress to
pass the law putting prohibition en-
forcement under the civil service. The
tremendous pressure brought to bear on
administrative officers in the selection
of their subordinates is only too welt
known. and the resulting evils have fur
nished the vets with some OF Their
heaviest ammunition In assaulting the
law, while the drys have regarded con-
ditions with real alarm. That the re-
quirements of the civil service would
cut great swathes in the ranks Of pro-
hibition agents might have been an
ticipated in the first place. That q
wholesale reorganization OF personnel
would result might have been expected.
Both. however. should do more good
than harm. The mental tests prepared
by the Civil Service Commission may be
strict. But in this connection it Is un-
derstood that they were submitted for
approval to the prohibition ofiicials be-
fore they we're used.
Oficials in charge Of prohibition may
be confronted with a temporary let
down and some disruption In the ranks
If the civil service examinations serve
as a drastic weeding-out process. Al
the same time there LIS logic In the ar
gument that failure to pass mental
test does not necessarily prove an ap-
plicant incapable OF efncient perform
ance OF his duties. But as long as Con-
gress has decreed that there must be a
standard for this work, individual cases
cannot be considered. That is the sad
part about any examination. There Is
more cause for satisfaction over the fact
that standards are high than for regret
that they are not low enough 10 suit
the intellectual qualifications OF the
ma aiority.