SELECTIVE BIRTH-RATE 169 



in the numbers of candidates from a maximum of about 

 250 to about 1 80 in recent years, but this decrease is 

 assigned at present by the Commissioners to a better 

 knowledge of the standard likely to succeed. Candidates 

 whose chances are hopeless now very seldom compete. 

 But every year, as scholarships increase and our 

 educational ladder becomes easier of access, the net of 

 the well-paid Civil Service is cast wider. Hence we 

 should expect this particular career, served pre-eminently 

 as it is by our fast-developing system of competitive 

 examination, to be the last to show a decrease in the 

 number or examinational quality of its candidates for 

 admission. Whether promise, as tested at entrance by 

 examination, corresponds with performance, as tested 

 by the results of public service in after life, would 

 be an interesting and not an impossible subject of 

 study. 



But while the Civil Service still attracts sufficient 

 numbers who can pass its examinational doors with 

 credit, there are signs in the higher ranks of employ- 

 ment generally that the demand for competent men is 

 greater than the supply. It is impossible to watch the 

 passage from the University into the world of each 

 year's crop of graduates, without seeing more and more 

 that men of character, ability, and good manners find 

 posts waiting for them almost before their necessary 

 period of training is completed. A family in which 

 these qualities are. hereditary need fear no difficulty in 

 securing careers for their children. 



Not only do the entries into certain professions 

 show signs of a decreasing supply of competent 

 men, but certain phenomena noticed in the public 



