Employment Tests in the Public Service
| Author | Albert Smith Faught |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271622411300142 |
| Published date | 01 May 1924 |
| Date | 01 May 1924 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
311
EMPLOYMENT
TESTS
IN
THE
PUBLIC
SERVICE
appointed
on
the
score
of
capacity
and
character
alone,
and
that
those
who
reach
the
highest
posts
in
the
service
shall
do
so
by
virtue
of
ability
and
merit.
The
in-
evitable
result
of
any
shortcoming
in
these
matters
will
be
weakness
and
failure.
The
National
Federation
of
Federal
Employes,
at
its
annual
convention
in
1923,
directed
its
executive
council
to
use
its
best
efforts
to
have
brought
under
the
civil
service
the
employes
of
certain
divisions
now
subject
to
other
than
merit
influences.
Post
office
unions
have
on
many
occasions
ranged
themselves
on
the
side
of
the
advocates
of
the
merit
system.
8.
Loss
of
Trained
Technician.
Fi-
nally
the
cost
of
political
control
of
the
personnel
agency
has
to
be
reckoned
in
terms
of
potential
ranges
and
levels
of
administration,
which,
well
within
the
technical
competence
of
the
day,
are
denied
the
American
people
by
reason
of
the
indifference,
ignorance
or
hostil-
ity
of
the
politician
who
sits
in
the
key
position
of
civil
service
commissioner,
and
who
by
his
incompetence
and
shortsightedness
drives
the
highly
trained
technician
out
of
or
away
from
the
public
service.
Of
all
the
losses
to
the
taxpayer
these
perhaps
count
heaviest
in
the
long
run.
They
are
reflected
in
poorly-built
highways,
which crumble
under
modern
traffic
conditions;
in
shoddy
goods
and
worse
than
amateur
service
in
state
institu-
tions,
which
should
operate
solely
on
the
basis
of
public
trustee
for
unfortu-
nate
or
subnormal
members
of
society;
in
high
infant
mortality
rates
and
un-
necessary
suffering
among
those
most
dependent
on
the
public
service;
in
lax
and
fumbling
enforcement
of
the
law
and
in
the
sacrifice
of
the
interests
of
the
state
or
municipality.
It
is
as
un-
necessary
as
it
is
impossible
to
translate
these
losses
into
dollars
and
cents;
but
it
is
as
necessary
now
as
ever
before
to
insist
that
these
losses
are
real
and
preventable.
Employment
Tests
in
the
Public
Service
By
ALBERT
SMITH
FAUGHT
Secretary,
Pennsylvania
Civil
Service
Association
I.
PURPOSE
OF
PRESENT
ARTICLE
NEARLY
every
profession
is
con-
.L~)
fronted
with
certain
fallacies
which
seem
to
be
firmly
lodged
in
the
mind
of
the
general
public.
Medical
men
are
familiar
with
the
deep-rooted
fallacy
that
&dquo;Night
air
is
bad
air,&dquo;
while
the
lawyers
still
find
a
widespread
popular
belief
that &dquo;It
is
necessary
to
leave
an
heir
one
dollar
in
order
to
dis-
inherit
him.&dquo;
In
like
manner
there
is
a
persistent
popular
misunderstanding
of
the
man-
ner
in
which
civil
service
tests
are
conducted
in
this
country.
This
mis-
conception
may
be
traced
to
a
general
ignorance
of
the
subject
or
possibly
to
hearing
repeated
some
fictitious
illus-
tration
of
an
absurd
question
which
Dame
Rumor
has
said
was
asked
some-
time
in
some
civil
service
examination.
The
greater
appreciation
which
so
frequently
comes
with
actual
knowl-
edge
is
illustrated
by
the
comment
of
Dr.
L.
L.
Thurstone
of
the
Bureau
of
Public
Personnel
Administration
in
speaking
on
October
30,
1923,
before
the
American
Management
Associa-
tion :
1
.
1
Quoted
by
permission
from
pamphlet,
"Tests
for
Stenographers,"
Office
Executive
Series
No.
4
of
the
American
Management
Association,
20
Vesey
Street,
New
York
City.
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