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National Resources Committee 



It is the judgment of the writer that defenders of 

 tiie present system would have a good case in main- 

 taining that the "spoils system" permits the selection 

 and retention of a rather high average quality of tem- 

 porary census employees. Even if they were better 

 tlian employees selected by any other system, however, 

 a strong argument could be urged against it. The 

 argument, which has already been foreshadowed in 

 part I, may be reduced to its simplest terms, as fol- 

 lows: 



The historic conception of the Bureau as a patron- 

 age agenc}' requires the dismissal of the Director with 

 each change of party administration and often encour- 

 ages the appointment of a new man whose first qual- 

 ifications are those of a miniatui'e postmaster general. 

 Some Directors of the Census, lacking professional sta- 

 tistical training or census experience, have had little 

 interest in aspects of the work other than the polit- 

 ical. They have let many of the key civil service posi- 

 tions go to older clerks in the Bureau without a scien- 

 tific interest, and have discouraged rather than en- 

 couraged the corporal's guard of social scientists in 

 the Bureau who have been jealous for the Bureau's 

 scientific prestige. Occasionally, an exception will 

 occur, and a Director like the present incumbent, who 

 has established a lifelong reputation as a Bureau of 

 the Census official, will be appointed. But the tra- 

 ditions and the system are such that the progress which 

 is being recorded under the present Director could 

 quickly be brought to an end, if his successor should 

 be a man lacking his deep affection for the Bureau 

 and his courage in working for its improvement. 



Technical Instruction Within the Bureau 



Tlie Bureau has developed, out of long experience, 

 expeditious methods of mass instruction of editors, 

 coders, and clerks who are recruited at the time of spe- 

 cial censuses. Mention also has been made of the 

 school of instruction for area supervisors for the cen- 

 sus of agriculture and census of business. In March 

 1935, a formal G-weeks' course in elementary statistics 

 and computation was announced, any permanent or 

 temporary employee of the Bureau to be eligible to 

 enter. An attendance of about 35 was expected. To 

 everybody's astonishment the enrollment was 680. The 

 course was given, in sections and relays. Arrange- 

 ments were worked out with American University to 

 offer coui'ses for university credit within the Bureau. 

 Courses have been given in elementary statistics, prin- 

 ciples of statistical research, advanced statistics, eco- 

 nomic geography, correspondence, and accountancy. 

 They were tauglit by Bureau experts. Three members 

 of the Bureau staff, Dr. Reed, Mr. Short, and Dr. 

 Dedrick, also teach courses at American University. 



and another, Mr. Fitzgerald, teaches at Columbus 

 University. Tlie writer knows of no instance in which 

 a member has obtained leave of absence to teach in a 

 university outside of Washington. 



Recently the Bureau has given encouragement to 

 graduate students who wish to acquire some practical 

 statistical experience in the Bureau. Some of these 

 students have themselves made valuable contributions 

 w hile working in the Bureau. Two students, Shryock 

 and Durand, in 1935, designed and carried out most of 

 the research work out of which developed the new 

 methods adopted by the Bureau of making post-censal 

 estimates of population. Shryock was a Social Science 

 Research Council predoctoral fellow. There are six 

 graduate students at work in the Bureau at the present 

 time. 



Summary and Conclusions 



This section of the report has reviewed some of the 

 major problems faced by the Bureau of the Census in 

 connection with persomiel. The present administra- 

 tion of the Bureau, it was shown, has made notable 

 progress in its progi'am of rebuilding. The process is 

 necessarily slow, and could be jeopardized by such a 

 change in administration as that to which the Bureau 

 of the Census, through long tradition, is susceptible. 



As to key persomiel, the Bureau is bringing in, as 

 rapidly as possible, men with a professional graduate 

 training in the social sciences. Difficulties in the way 

 are (1) the infrequency with which vacancies occur and 

 the necessity of preserving the civil service status of 

 incumbents, and (2) the scarcity of men with the nec- 

 essary combination of professional training and ad- 

 ministrative aptitude who will accept the compara- 

 tively low^ salaries available. These difficulties are 

 common to all Government statistical agencies. They 

 are magnified in the case of the Bureau, however, be- 

 cause of the absence of a strong will for scientific im- 

 provement in some previous administrations. 



With respect to junior professional personnel, the 

 problem is not so much that of getting the men as of 

 keeping a sufficient number of the better men. En- 

 trance salaries are relatively high, but opportunities 

 for promotion are limited beyond the lower Professional 

 and Scientific grades. Insofar as the slow promotion 

 system of the Government is responsible, this problem 

 is outside of the Bureau's control. The Bureau is now- 

 trying, however, to create a more attractive scientific 

 environment, in general, and to encourage the younger 

 social scientists by giving more credit to the actual au- 

 thors of analytical studies made within the Bureau. 



The major problem with the permanent clerical 

 staff is that of age. This is a problem largely beyond 

 the Bureau's control, but it is perhaps more serious in 



