Relation of tlm Fedeixd Govei-nm&td to Research 



ample, gave courses during 193G-37 to 800 rangers and 

 9,000 guai'ds. The Bureau of the Census trained 650 

 persons in editing, reviewing, and coding. The Farm 

 Credit Administration trained 750 appraisers. 



In contrast with the methods of recruiting subpro- 

 fessional employees in governmental service and in 

 sharp contrast with the metliods of recruiting the per- 

 somiel of the Army and the Navy is the fact that the 

 research workers for govermnental agencies are largely 

 drawn directly from the colleges, universities, and 

 technical schools. It is also important to note that 

 there is a great difference between the ways in which 

 the Government secures graduates from these institu- 

 tions and the methods of industry and of the universi- 

 ties in recruiting their persomiel. Each year leading 

 industrial establishments send to the institutions of 

 higher education representatives who have personal 

 conferences with the most promising seniors. Not in- 

 fi-equently those who conduct these conferences are 

 major officers of the industrial concerns which they 

 represent. The universities themselves have, of course, 

 a great advantage in competition for the best graduates 

 because instructoi-s know from their intimate contacts 

 with students who are the most promising among 

 them. 



In the face of such effective competition, the Gov- 

 ernment is at a disadvantage because in most cases 

 it waits for the candidate to take the initiative in seek- 

 ing employment. Not only so, but, when a college 

 graduate seeks employment in the Government, he must 

 ovei-come many discouraging obstacles directly trace- 

 able to the cumbersomeness of the civil service system. 

 It is undoubtedly true that the safeguards of the civil 

 service are necessary to protect the Government 

 against the pressures of spoils politics. However, it 

 seems clear that certain remedies might be applied to 

 the present situation to correct evils which are weU 

 known to those who are responsible for recruiting 

 research personnel. 



Testimony as to the difficulties itt securing properly 

 qualified research worhers. — Two statements submitted 

 to the Science Committee by governmental agencies 

 may be quoted. One of these is from a bureau chief 

 in the field of the natural sciences, the other from a 

 director of research in the field of the social sciences. 



Except in a few ways, we have had little difiBculty in recent 

 years in obtaining qualified personnel through the civil service 

 when such qualified personnel existed and desired to work for 

 the Bureau. The most important difficulty inheres in the gross 

 fallacy that anyone earning a rating of 70 is good enough for 

 Government employment. This seems to carry forward from 

 the system of grading that is followed throughout our educa- 

 tional s.vstem. A rating of 70 means mediocrity, and yet a 

 restricted list of eligibles, a few declinations from the top, and 

 preferences of one kind or another from the bottom, frequently 



11 



necessitate either appointing an individual with a low rating 

 or leaving the position open. The ('ivil service procedures 

 should be modified so as to reject a much larger proportion of 

 applicants than at present is the ca.so. The system is particu- 

 larly obnoxious in its current administration in that lists of 

 eligibles when established are continued unduly long. Tims. 

 when the one, two, or three outstanding folks have been picked 

 from a list of eligibles or have declined appointment, the reg- 

 ister remains active under present practice, and one must elect 

 either to take the less capable or leave the position vacant, 

 even though other capable people might be included in a new- 

 list. If the Federal Government wishes really high-grade per- 

 sonnel, the passing grade sliould lie raised from 70 to SO, or 

 even 85, or a much stricter grading shuuJd lie followi'd to give 

 an equivalent result. 



There still is too much of a tendency on the part of the Civil 

 Service Commission in classification, to require a showing of 

 administrative responsibility among scientific personnel for 

 higher ratings. This is less serious than it formerly was, but 

 still exists. 



Another difficulty is encountered in the classification of em- 

 ployees. It has been difficult to get the Civil Service ( 'ommission 

 to recognize that administrative officers for research divisions 

 cannot be evaluated solely by the amount of funds for the 

 expenditure of which they are responsible. Some employees in 

 these positions may make themselves invaluable by their ini- 

 tiative in learning what the work is all about, thereby saving 

 their superior research officers the necessity of making a viist 

 number of decisions. Others, restricting their interests to the 

 mere business operations as such, do not save their superiors' 

 time for more important activities. The funds expended for 

 such administrators' salaries are part of our research appro- 

 priations and their effective expenditure justifies salaries that 

 wUl retain the really superior individuals here as much as in 

 the research itself. This difference is one that cannot be eval- 

 uated on the basis of the size of the division either as to per- 

 sonnel, money exjjended, or cooperative relations involved, and 

 yet it has been peculiarly hard to get the Civil Service Com- 

 mission to recognize this situation. 



The shortage of experienced and competent research per- 

 sonnel has been acute in recent years, both for governmental 

 and pi-ivate work. Junior personnel with academic training 

 and inherent ability, but with little or no practical experience, 

 is obtainable through the exercise of reasonable diligence. 

 Analytical personnel of senior grade, trained in the social 

 sciences and familiar with the new techniques of social re- 

 search, has been exceedingly difficult to secure, however^ and 

 in some fields first-class men are almost unobtainable. 



This shortage appears to be due largely to a very rapid 

 growth in demand for such analysts in recent years ; to the 

 recent development of new research techniques requiring spe- 

 cialized skills for which there was slight previous demand ; 

 and to the absence of adequate provision for the proper train- 

 ing of personnel, either in the universities or in governmental 

 agencies. 



The sharp increase in demand for research personnel in 

 recent years is too obvious to require comment. New research 

 techniques are required to meet the rapid growth of large- 

 scale statistical research in the social sciences. This type of 

 research was by no means unknown to the social sciences prior 

 to the World War, but the post-war development has been 

 startlingly rapid, and many persons trained in earlier years are 

 as yet unfamiliar with the problems which it presents or the 

 methods which it employs. 



