ROSA: REORGANIZED CIVIL SERVICE 551 



take $700 less than they deserve and wait several years to get 

 up to what they should receive at the start. Either alternative 

 is bad. The only fair and businesslike method is to do what 

 has long been done, namely, to give men on entering salaries 

 that are as nearly just and equitable as it is possible with lim- 

 ited information to do, and if subsequently they are found to 

 have been rated too high or too low to remedy the error at an 

 early date. The same principles apply to clerical positions, to 

 the skilled trades, and the other classes of positions. 



If men develop rapidly and deserve promotion more frequently 

 than the average they should receive it. By refusing to grant it 

 we not only do them an injustice, but we frequently drive them 

 out of the service and so do the government an injustice. More- 

 over, we discourage the ablest men by such a method and put 

 a premium on mediocrity. A system which requires the appoint- 

 ment of men and women of widely different merit at the same 

 salary, and refuses to recognize adequately exceptional ability 

 or achievement, cannot be a success in the government service 

 any more than it would be in private employment. Testimony 

 on this point is unanimous and to impose such a system upon the 

 executive departments would be a long step backwards. 



14. REPORTING OF EFFICIENCY RATINGS 



It is doubtful whether the provision of Section 8 (b) that effi- 

 ciency "ratings for each class be open to inspection dining regu- 

 lar office hours by any employees of such class" is a wise one. 

 It is like the marking system of school days, but goes further 

 and would permit busybodies to go to the office and get the marks 

 of all the men and women of a given class and make any use of 

 them they see fit. The theory of the provision is that if the ratings 

 are perfectly just the administrative officer can have no objec- 

 tion to their being made known; moreover, the employees wish 

 to know if they have been given the credit they deserve. If 

 they are not just and impartial, a complaint may be filed and 

 the matter be investigated. Unfortunately the rating of human 

 beings by other human beings is not a measurement of precision, 

 and if it were, the persons being rated would not agree with one 



