Evening star., 1939-01-15
Capital SideIights
By Will P. Kennedy

The United States Government-in
Uncle Sans workshop-is giving picked
graduates from the leading colleges and
universities an opportunity to get first
hand training on the inside in how the
Federal machinery operates, and in an
other Federal industrial plant young ap-
prentices are taught the graphic arts
in the Government Printing Office For
students especially interested in the
Federal Government, the National In
stitute of Public Affairs has for the past
three years made arrangements under
which 40 to so "internes" have been
placed in Federal bureaus They are all
college graduates, most of them with
high academic degrees. carefully selected
by competition. They get no pay from
the Government nor the institute. and
neither assumes any obligation of en-
ployment after the training period The
old fetish of no one being allowed to
work for the Government without pay,
which resulted in hundreds of "dollar-a-
year-men" during the World War days,
is circumvented through a ruling from
the Attorney General. Most of these
"internes' are Phi Beta Kappa men.
They are nominated by their college
faculties and in many cases they are
granted fellowships with a cash allow
ance of $3.50 to $1,000. Quite extensive
reports are required on their records for
interest in public affairs and what they
intend to do. The three principal
requisites are: l. not just being glamour
boys: 2, not just bright in book learning;
3, aptitude for administration In other
words, they must have been leaders in
college life. Then they are personally
interviewed in all parts of the country.
Their period of interneships corresponds
from September to June. After that
many of them 60 back to college for
postgraduate studies. Many of them
are now in the Public Administration
Training School at Harvard, one at Rad
cliff, some at the University of Mime
sofa, etc. Most of them, however, take
civil service examinations and enter the
departmental or field service of the
Government. One has become chief of
the classification division of the Los
Angeles County Civil Service Commits
sion, and very few 60 into private busi-
ness They are assigned as 'internes"
in As Federal agencies, including most
of the departments and independent Of
fees. They come from most of the i'm
portant colleges and universities-Har-
ward, Minnesota, Syracuse, Princeton.
Williams, Illinois, Dickinson, in Ohio,
and many others. Each week round
table conferences are arranged by the
institute in which high officials of the
Government. Senators, leaders in indus
try or in labor organizations participate.
Senator Bennet Champ Clark of Mis-
souri, has put into the Congressional
Record a study of the Federal budget
which shows that a succession of men
would require 5000 years just to count
the expected 1910 debt at the rate of
counting one dollar every second, eight
hours day-including Sundays and
llOllQdyS-lOI CcIltuI1cS. II one man
started on the job it wouldn't be finished
till about 1000 AID, and the last dollar
would be counted by his great GOO times
repeated grandson.
X X X
Miss Matilda. Copper of Goshen, Va,
has just been honored by having in
serted in the Congressional Record her
essay on Matthew Fontaine Maury,
which had won her State prize in a
contest conducted by the United Daugh-
ters of the Confederacy. Senator Harry
F. Byrd of Virginia secured from his
Senate colleagues permission to accord
Miss Copper this distinction. Maury was
a patron saint and the last to give up
hope for "the Lost Cause" He is famous
for many exploits-and for his most
notable book, "The Physical Geography
of the Sea-" used as textbook in some
Of the naval schools Of Europe.