SEPTEMBER 20, 1918] 
One important step has been taken in rela- 
tion to this matter: it has been definitely laid 
down that candidates for the civil service 
shall, before appointment, be required. to un- 
dergo some test as to their knowledge and 
capacity. To give effect to this decision the 
Civil Service Commission was, by an order 
in council dated May 21, 1855, appointed to 
organize a system of examination; the Com- 
mission continues to be charged to the present 
day with the duty of providing suitable candi- 
dates for the public services. In 1870 the 
principle of open competition was introduced 
for the purpose of filling certain specified situ- 
ations in the civil service, without, however, 
entirely abolishing “ patronage ” appointments. 
Afterwards, in 1876, the clerical establishment 
of the civil service was divided into a higher 
and a lower division; in 1890 the name “ lower 
division” was altered to “second division,” 
and a provision introduced making it possible 
for a “second division” clerk to be promoted 
to a higher divisién clerkship. It is the cler- 
ical establishments of the civil service which 
have alone received attention in the foregoing 
legislation. 
Obviously, it is on the complete success of 
the competitive examination scheme in force 
that the welfare of the civil service, and, 
therefore, the protection of the public interest, 
must depend. It is here that a serious failure 
has occurred; the open competitive scheme has 
not been an entire success; it has been pro- 
ductive of a very unfortunate result. The sys- 
tem of marking adopted in the examination 
favored candidates whose education consisted 
largely in the learning of ancient Greece and 
Rome, and handicapped those whose forte was 
science. 
Furthermore, in practically every case the 
officials who have in recent years received 
“patronage” appointments in the higher divi- 
sion of the civil service are men whose educa- 
tion and training have been identical in char- 
acter with those of civil servants entering the 
service by open competition. In consequence, 
at the present day the highest administrative 
posts in nearly every department are monop- 
SCIENCE 
297 
olized by men whose learning is entirely liter- 
ary. Further, the technical officers—that ‘is, 
those in whose education science has played 
the preponderating réle, and on whose skill and 
knowledge the welfare of many of the public 
services very largely depends—are almost en- 
tirely excluded from a share in the important 
administrative posts; needless to say, much to 
the injury of the public services. 
Could it be shown that a purely classical or 
literary education really tends to develop or to 
produce administrative talent in an individual 
superior to that which can be obtained by 
means of a scientific education and technical 
training, as is sometimes claimed, there might 
indeed be some excuse for the retention of the 
principle of selection adopted; but there is none 
in actual fact. There exists, on the contrary, 
abundant evidence to prove conclusively that 
administrative talent is no exclusive privilege 
or quality of those who have received a purely 
classical or literary education: the names are 
familiar, in wide circles, to high and low, of 
men who have proved themselves capable ad- 
ministrators of the highest order; men, posses- 
sing the capacity of a Cromer or of a Kitch- 
ener, in whose education instruction in science 
also occupied a very prominent place; men 
whose early years were, too, spent in technical 
spheres. 
The opinion has been gaining ground for 
some time past that the administrative system 
of government departments is unsatisfactory. 
The extracts from the reports of the Exchequer 
and Audit Department published from time to 
time, wherein publicity is given to the defects 
in the administrative arrangements in con- 
nection with the public services, have provided, 
in relation to such matters, authentic evidence 
tending to confirm, in the public mind, the un- 
favorable opinions that prevail so widely as to 
the unbusinesslike methods of the civil service 
and the general lack of capacity shown by a 
large majority of its members. Other authen- 
tie evidence is available—some recorded, some 
not; some public property, some not—which 
provides an indication that scientifie knowl- 
edge and technical experience are held in dis- 
repute in many, happily not in all, government 
