SCIENCE 



NEW YORK, OCTOBER 23, 1891. 



GOVEENMENTAL SCIENCE AND THE CIVIL SER- 

 VICE. 



The visitor to Washiugton who has been acquainted with 

 its life and appearance in the past notices many striking 

 changes for the better that have taken place within the last 

 ten years. Perhaps none of these make more lasting impres- 

 sions on him than those which are brought about by the 

 great alterations affecting the official life of the city, which 

 are due to what are generically termed civil service reforms. 

 The dweller in a Washington boarding-house or small hotel 

 — and these are siii generis in the personnel of their inhabit- 

 ants — sees far less of the feverish uncertainty, constant fear 

 of the departmental" headsman, and hesitancy in claiming 

 the possession of one's own soul, than was to be observed a 

 decade ago. To the civil service acts passed by Congress 

 since 1882, the promptness in putting their requirements into 

 force shown by Presidents Cleveland and Harrison, and the 

 eBBciency of the commissioners having this branch of the 

 public service in special charge, is to be attributed the pres- 

 ent condition of this reform — for reform it undoubtedly is. 



In their report for 1889 the commissioners say, "The 

 merit system of making appointments to minor government 

 positions, as contrasted with the patronage system, whereby 

 appointments were made as rewards of personal or political 

 services, is no longer in the merely experimental stage." 

 What was true in 1889 must be doubly so in 1891. It is but 

 fair, then, to point out wherein certain customs and rulings 

 of the commissioners are still unjust to the entire people, 

 and have a pernicious effect on important bi-anches of the 

 public service. The nature of these defects can best be 

 pointed out after quoting further from the report of the com- 

 missioners. They say: "Examinations are held for scores 

 of different places; and for each place appropriate tests are 

 provided. Thus it is necessary for an assistant chemist to 

 know something of chemistry, and for an assistant astrono- 

 mer to know something of astronomy. . . . There is an im- 

 pression abroad that those who take examinations at Wash- 

 ington have some advantage over those who take them else- 

 where. There seem to be some good grounds for it with regard 

 to the special examinations. This is probably due to the fact 

 (bat very many of those wlio are examined here have better 

 opportunities than those living elsewhere for acquiring a 

 knowledge of those technical subjects which are required by 

 the different departments." 



i^s an illustration of how this may work, let me cite the 

 following case. A few weeks ago a position was vacated in 

 one of the divisions of the Agricultural Department, and 

 announcement of the fact that an examination would soon 

 be held for such a vacancy, requiring "a person understand- 

 ing botany, Latin, and Greek," was made in the daily press 

 of the city. This announcement, according to the custom of 

 many local papers ihroughovit the Union, found its way into 

 the home of a trained botanist and linguist in one of our 

 southern States. This he mailed at once to a friend with the 

 request that he would ascertain for him when, where, and 



how the proposed examination was to be held. Imagine this 

 friend's surprise when, on application for this information at 

 the office of the Civil Service Commission, he was informed 

 that the position was already filled, the examination having 

 been held two days before. Yet his correspondent, who 

 lived less than a thousand miles from Washington, had 

 written him at once on receipt of the announcement, and 

 the local weekly paper could not have sooner inserted the in- 

 formation found in the dailies. Further conversation with 

 the officer to whom he was referred at the office of the com- 

 mission, and inquiry at the Department of Agriculture, 

 elicited the following facts. If a vacancy is to be filled, the 

 Civil Service Commission gives ten days notice of the special 

 examination therefor. If a person living outside of Wash- 

 ington wants to be examined for the vacancy he must write 

 to the commissioners, preferring his request, and a special 

 examination will be held for him at some place designated 

 by them, the capital of the State, usually being the place 

 selected. In this particular case the vacancy was undoubtedly 

 creditably filled: though the appointment of the southern 

 resident, who only heard of the vacancy the day that it was 

 filled, would have shed far more lustre on the department, 

 as he outranked in scholarly and scientific attainments most 

 of those with whom he would have thus been brought in con- 

 tact. 



In t!ie ordinary offices, such as those of clerks, copyists, 

 stenographers, pension examiners, railway-mail clerks, letter 

 carriers, etc., the applicants far outnumber the needs of those 

 respective branches of the service, as is shown by the fact 

 that, while in 1887 the entire number of offices under the 

 custody of the commission was 28,000, they were called upon 

 to examine over 20.000 applicants for the vacancies in those 

 ranks. So it is the fact that in these grades the existing 

 rules act admirably and tend to the continual elevation of 

 the public service. But in such positions as those of exam- 

 iners of the Patent Office, and technical and scientific experts 

 in the various departments, the present system is very im- 

 perfect, inasmuch as it is hardly possible that any considera- 

 ble portion of the scientific and technical skill of the country 

 is in Washington seeking a position. Surely a very respect- 

 able majority of such talent must be in cities far removed 

 from the national capital, and any system which practically 

 rules out all the regions not within a few hours' ride of Wash- 

 ington is abortive, and degrading of the general standing of 

 scientific officialdom. 



If such positions as have been indicated are to be filled 

 under the laws governing the Civil Service Commission, 

 then the commissioners should at once put into force rules 

 that would do away with this very evident local favoritism, 

 and which would enable the practical geologist in southern 

 California to compete on fair terms with the recently grad- 

 uated youths from the Columbian and Johns Hopkins Uni- 

 versities. It is quite as practicable that printed announce- 

 ments of such vacancies should be posted in every post office 

 in the country as it is that they should receive the daily 

 weather bulletins. And no examination should be held 

 until the resident of the most remote corner of the West had 

 had ample time to apply to the commission for a special ex- 



