OBJECTIVES IN CIVIL SfdVICE 
 
 
                                       By 
                                Paul L. Errington 
 
      The accepted purpose of civil service is, in briefl to insure an optimum

 combination of advantages for the public and the public's employees. Civil
service 
 attempts to safeguard the interestsof the public through selection of employees

 on a merit basis and to safeguard in turn the interests of the employees
through 
 provisions concerning salaries, tenure, promotion, etc,, and by protection
against 
 political or other interference or exploitation, 
 
     There naturally is less disagreement with the principles governing civil

 service than with the translation of those principles into practice-©eepecially

 as relates to specific cases where decisions may not always be disinterested,

 Enough confusion results from honest divergence in viewpoint and the complexity

 inherent in big programs, nevertheless, to make the need of criteria for
judging 
 current or proposed systems all' the greater. It does not follow that civil
service 
 is the only, or the best, means of working for the common ends of the public
and 
 its employees, but civil service appears to be as worthy of inquiry by this
Com- 
 mittee as any medium in sight, 
 
                                   Appointments 
     Under civil service, government (including state and local) positions
are 
filled chiefly through examinations. The adequacy of this method of selection
is, 
of course, conditioned by how frequently the examinations are given and by
how 
well they reveal an applicant's qualifications for the respective openings
that 
may existp The latter leads to questions as to the qualifications of the
persons 
preparing and grading the exazinationso Obviously, the more mechanical the
method 
of handling examinations becomes the less suitable it will be for choosing
per= 
sonnel for positions requiring special training or aptitude0 
 
     The examination for Junior Biologist has been singled out for attention
by 
this Committee; it is not only widely given, but the Society of American
Foresters 
has also laid valuable groundwork for us through their study of the corresponding

Junioi Forester examinations, To encourage the use of examinations that are

practical to conduct and at the same time intelligently selective, the Committee

proposes that: 
 
     (1) Examinations should test the applicant's ability to think and express

himself in addition to bringing out his knowledge of isolated facts, and
should, 
to a reasonable extent, reflect technical advances in the fields covered0
Mislead- 
ing or unfair "catch" questions should be avoidedg as should those
to which correct 
answers may be found by random guessing, without either clear thinking or
information0 
 
     (2) While fundamentals should be e.-iphasized in all examinations, no
single 
examination should be expected to demonstrate in full the qualifications
of 
applicants for duties in different, more or less specialized agencies. Optional

questions should permit the applicant to show knowledge of particular fields
rather 
than to aid him in concealing ignorance of things he might justly be required
to 
]mow,