The C i v i l S e r v i c e a n d the U n i v e r s i t y G r a d u a t e

CIVIL service examinations have long recognized college and university

training in the scientific and professional fields. I n order to pass the examina- tions a chemist must know his formulae, a bacteriologist his “bugs”. College and university degrees have become recog- nized prerequisites for these branches of the public service. No one objects, be- cause the consequences of any other policy are too obviously dangerous.

For many generations the public ser- vices of France, Germany, Holland, England, and other countries have made it possible for college and university graduates trained in economics, ad- ministrative law, or in the humanities also to enter the administration and to look toward responsible work. The British administrative class is the best known illustration to American readers.

The United States Civil Service Com- mission, recognizing the new administra- tive responsibilities which have been undertaken by the national government, is seeking to recruit a limited number of well trained college and university graduates of superior native endowment. The plan is to hold an annual examina- tion for the position of junior assistant, a t $1620 per annum. This examina- tion will be open to graduates of col- leges or universities of recognized stand- ing who are less than thirty-five years of age. Appointments may be made

First steps in a career in public administra- tion for college men and women

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from this register to any department, establishment, or agency which desires to use this source of recruits.

No group of positions is reserved for these college graduates and they receive no special favors once in the service. Their future depends entirely upon merit in free competition with others.

An examination of this type was held in October 1934, under the title of junior civil service examiner. Over 7,500 college graduates competed in a very difficult general intelligence-gen- era1 information test. About half of these college graduates were successful, giving the Civil Service Commission a register of approximately 3800 persons, presumably including the best endowed and best equipped college graduates of recent years.

Every state in theunion and the Dis- trict of Columbia is represented on the register. About half the successful com- petitors were less than twenty-five years of age. The number of men competi- tors was about four times as great as the number of women. Over two hundred competitors had received the M.A. degree, and between thirty and forty possessed the Ph.D. degree. The form of examination was intended to give no advantage to any specific sub- ject of higher education, and inspection of the results seems to indicate that a graduate in English, philosophy, or

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mathematics stood as good a chance of success as a graduate in economics, busi- ness administration, or political science.

The examination is not a new one, since similar examinations have been given from time to time as vacancies oc- curred in the examining division of the Civil Service Commission. The present register has, however, been more widely used, and as a bridge between the liberal arts, non-specialized college graduate, and the Washington service, it is per- forming a new function. I t may readily become a means of selecting the limited number of college or university trained men who may be needed for the broader aspects of government work.

The present register was established in November 1934, and has been in force at the time of writing for about eight months. The records indicate that within the course of a year nearly five hundred appointments will be made from the junior civil service examiner register. Further experience will in- dicate whether approximately this num- ber of appointments may be absorbed year after year by the federal service.

The register is maintained both in the customary form and also in “options”, depending upon the major subject pur- sued by the applicant in his college course. Thus there are options in psychology, physics, literature, geog- raphy, and so on through the whole range of the college curriculum. Ap- pointing officers have sometimes made their selections from the top of the gen- eral register, more frequently from the top of a special option.

The most popular options have been, in order, mathematics, economics, Eng- lish, chemistry, political science, history,

physics, and education. Mathematics and economics account for nearly half of the probationary appointments al- ready made.

The departments and commissions which have made most extensive use of this register are the Department of Labor, the Division of Investigation of the Department of Justice, the Civil Service Commission, the Treasury, and Farm Credit Administration. This will indicate the wide range of potential use of this list.

The Civil Service Commission plans to hold this general type of examination every year, under the title of junior as- sistant. The need for men and women who will be successful in a very dif- ficult competition of this sort will never be very great numerically, but it is likely that they will furnish a new ele- ment of substantial value to the civil service of the future. In any event, such an examination offers an oppor- tunity for the ablest college graduates to get a start in some branch of the na- tional administrative service, and thus meets, to a degree, the new spirit of in- terest in the public service which is running high among university men and women in all parts of the country.

Such an examination might well be announced for general utility purposes by those states which have the benefit of the merit system, and in Massachu- setts and New Jersey and perhaps in other states, could be maintained by the state for the use of the cities and counties. This type of register, further- more, is especially well adapted to co- operative management between the state commissions and the United States Civil Service Commission.