The Civil Service was instituted to 

 replace the demoralizing "Spoils Sys- 

 tem" bv an orderlv merit system of 

 recruiting efficient personnel for Gov- 

 ernment service. It has been largely 

 successful in eliminating the "spoils- 

 men"; and any modifications designed 

 to improve present methods of recruit- 

 ing and protecting personnel must 

 not imperil the defense now afforded 

 against political influence and favor- 

 itism in making appointments. The 

 keystone of the merit system is com- 

 petition open to all qualified appli- 

 cants for a position; but the Civil 

 Service has been severely criticized 

 because of the slow and cumbersome 

 machinery necessary to insure this 

 competition. The general suggestions 

 offered here are designed to meet the 

 more serious of these criticisms with- 

 out undermining the essentials of the 

 merit system. The precise form of 

 changes needed in present Civil Serv- 

 ice procedures deserves study by a 

 special committee of governmental, 

 university, and industrial scientists 

 and representatives of the Civil Ser\ - 

 ice Commission. 



a. Entrance Requirements for 

 Scientific Service 



The standards for entrance into 

 scientific and professional positions in 

 the Government should be approxi- 

 mately those maintained for compara- 

 ble posts in universities and indus- 

 tries. Civil Service positions are sub- 

 jected to continuous political pressure 

 to relax entrance requirements; and 

 recently the educational requirements 

 for a number of scientific classifica- 

 tions have been removed. This opens 

 the way to possible appointments by 

 personal favoritism and political pref- 

 erence. Action should be taken im- 

 mediately to re-establish the require- 

 ment of a university or college degree 

 for entrance into all scientific and 



professional services. Exceptions in 

 especially meritorious cases should be 

 granted only upon recommendation 

 of qualified scientists. 



In many types of Government em- 

 ployment, standards are not lowered 

 by granting military preference to 

 candidates who have served in the 

 armed forces, although, strictly speak- 

 ing, such preference is a departure 

 from the merit system. In scientific 

 and technical services, however, in- 

 dividuals unable to qualify without 

 special preference are not really bene- 

 fited by appointment to positions 

 for which they are unqualified; and 

 when such appointments are made, 

 the work inevitably suffers. Any 

 lowering of entrance requirements, 

 whether for civilians or v^eterans, is 

 distinctly harmful to the scientific 

 services of Government. 



b. Recruitment of Scientific 

 Personnel 



The methods of recruiting for gov- 

 ernmental service presupposes a sup- 

 ply of able applicants for every posi- 

 tion to be filled. However, in the 

 years immediately preceding the pres- 

 ent war there was a shortage of able 

 young scientists. This shortage is 

 likely to be even more acute after the 

 war, because of the interruption of 

 training programs. 



Government scientific bureaus are 

 under a severe handicap in compet- 

 ing with industrial laboratories which 

 employ college seniors bv the use of 

 the personal interview followed by 

 prompt appointment. This handicap 

 should be offset as much as possible 

 without jeopardizing the fundamen- 

 tal objectives of Civil Service. It 

 should be permissible for representa- 

 tives of Government agencies to in- 

 terview students and to persuade the 

 more able ones to apply for employ- 

 ment. The months of delay between 



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