CHAPTER IX.

COMPARATIVE POLITICAL ECONOMY.

Its Utility. The Civil Service Systems of England, Canada, British India, Germany, France, Sweden, Norway, and China.

A SHORT account of the civil service laws and customs of a few representative nations is a fitting conclusion to this book. Comparative political economy, past as well as present, is a useful and instructive study. It ought to be made a distinct branch of study in all governments, for it is full of information and promise. Like comparative anatomy (and pathology also, for nations suffer with diseases as it were), it reveals new sources of light. It is as broad as the earth itself, and as various as the divisions and subdivisions of men. If the combined wisdom of the world does not at least approximate perfection, what will ?* The bigot and the narrow-minded man only will reject useful laws or regulations because they were originated in England, France, China, or India. The time may come when it will be said of the United States of 1888, "They had only the fragment of a government, for they either rejected or were ignorant of the wisdom of other nations." What would be thought of a nation that rejected the telegraph because it had its origin in another nation? Washington's recommendation, which was approved by Jefferson, of the establishment of a National Univer

* Let us avail ourselves of the wisdom and experience of former ages. Let us aggregate the knowledge of every nation.-J. Vining. Comparison is the essence of every science.-Thos. H. Huxley For facts about the civil service systems of the British Colonies, Saxony, Bavaria, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Austria. Russia. Turkey, Egypt. Persia, Japan, Mexico, Cuba, Hayti, Venezuela. Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, &c., see 11th Rept. U. S. C. S. Com,

178

HISTORY OF ENGLISH EXAMINATIONS.

sity for "the education of our youth in the science of government" was certainly a wise one.

The English civil service law is much like our own; but it contains provisions that ours does not, namely. Preliminary examinations are held for the purpose of weeding out those who are "too stupid or ignorant to have a chance on a competitive trial." Pensions are granted, provided the official has served ten yearsone sixtieth of the original salary being allowed for ten years of service, and an additional sixtieth for each succeeding year till the fortieth, when the increase stops. Pecuniary embarrassment, caused by an officeholder's imprudence, forfeits "that honorable position in the service which is necessary to give him a claim to promotion or increase of salary from length of service." There is a "movable clerical force of all work," that goes "from department to department, as convenience. may require." These salutary regulations are worthy of imitation.

Mr. Dorman B. Eaton says that promotion examinations for the customs service were begun in England by Lord Liverpool in 1820; that non-competitive examinations were begun by Lord Melbourne between 1834 and 1841, but that "the decisive part of the contest between patronage and open competition was between 1845 and 1855, though the victors did not take possession of the whole field until 1870." Lord Mel bourne favored competitive examinations, but they were thought to be "too great an innovation to begin at once." The order for the competitive system of examination was issued on May 21, 1855.

In Canada an act was passed in 1882 providing for non-competitive civil service examinations. It was amended in 1883, '84, '85, '86, '88, and '89. The examinations are (1) preliminary, for lower grade offices ;

THE PRACTICAL REQUIREMENTS IN CANADA. 179

(2) qualifying, for clerkships and higher grade offices; (3) promotion, for those already in the service. These examinations are held once a year, the two former in November, the last in May. The examinations are held simultaneously throughout the Dominion, and are conducted by subexaminers. The written papers are transmitted to the Board of Examiners at Ottawa, where they are examined and valued. The successful candidates in the preliminary and qualifying examinations receive certificates and have their names printed in the Official Gazette. Candidates who pass the preliminary examination, have the option of taking the qualifying one also. The examinations embrace the elementary branches of education, but candidates are permitted to take certain prescribed optional subjects. These are translating English into French and French into English, book-keeping, short-hand, type-writing, and 'précis' writing. The last consists in condensing the salient points of reports, &c., into about a fourth of the printed matter. For the inside service, that is, for those employed in the different departments at Ottawa (the capital), there is an additional allowance of $50 per annum for every additional optional subject, not exceeding four, in which a candidate may pass. In most cases an annual increase of salary is allowed, but it cannot exceed the prescribed limit of the respective classes. Having reached this limit, it remains stationary until the candidate is promoted to a higher class. When a vacancy occurs in a class next above the one in which an employé is serving, he may, on passing the promotion examination, be promoted to it. He thus reaps the advantage of a double increase of salary-(1) by promotion; (2) by annual increase. Examinations are held in either the English or French language, at the option of the candidate. Thirty per cent.

180

MR. THORBURN FAVORS COMPETITIVE TESTS.

of the marks allowed for each branch of study and fifty per cent. of the aggregate number of marks given to all the subjects must be attained. That is, if there are eight subjects taken, there must be 400 marks made. There is a probationary period of six months, both for original and promotion appointments. The respective ages at and between which all ordinary appointments to the inside service are made are 15, 18, and 35 years— 15 for places below that of a third-class clerk; in other cases 18. Deputy Heads of Departments, officers, and employés, whose appointments are of a permanent character, can only be removed from office by authority of the Governor in Council. Employés guilty of misconduct or neglect of duty are suspended without pay till such time as the suspension is removed. There is an attendance book in which all employés, under Deputy Heads, are required to record their names every morning, or at such other times as may be required by the Governor in Council.

In a letter dated Ottawa, Canada, September 9, 1887, J. Thorburn, LL.D., Chairman of the Board of Examiners, to whom I am indebted for the foregoing facts in regard to the Canadian civil service system, says:

Dear Sir: The civil service examinations in Canada differ in some important respects from those in Great Britain and in the United States. With us they are only qualifying, not necessarily, when passed, leading to appointments; whereas with you and in England, with a few specified exceptions, they are competitive. In this respect, I am satisfied, you have the advantage of us, for, as is now generally admitted, the more fully the political element is eliminated from them, the better it is for the public service.

Our government has not hitherto seen its way to adopt a competitive system. It retains the power of selecting any candidate who has passed the examination test, irrespective of his standing as compared with that of others, and the result therefore naturally follows that

DRAWBACKS OF CANADIAN CIVIL SERVICE. 181

as soon as an applicant for office finds that he has "passed the Rubicon," he sets to work at once to bring all the pressure, political, social, or religious, that he can obtain to bear upon the different Ministers of the Crown, and it will generally be found that the weakest and least deserving of the candidates. conscious of their deficiencies, are those that make the most strenuous and persistent efforts to secure political backing.

Another serious drawback to our qualifying system of examination is to be found in the fact that out of the large number of candidates who every year reach the standard required by the examiners, probably not more than one in twenty has the least prospect of appointment. In course of time therefore we shall have a large army of disappointed aspirants, each one of whom thinks he has some special claim upon the government, waiting for something to turn up, instead of betaking themselves to other avocations of life.

You will see from the copy of the rules and regulations sent to you that we have a promotion examination for those already in the service. This has given rise to considerable opposition, especially on the part of those who have been a long time in the service. The experience, however, of the Deputy Heads has been largely in its favor. It exercises a wholesome and steadying influence on the younger members of the service when they know that they have to earn their promotion, instead of relying for it upon the interest and solicitations of influential friends. I find that in England they have a modified form of promotion examinations. These are held at the request of the heads of the several departments for the purpose of selecting those who are fittest for promotion or reward, but they are not necessarily required by law.

In reply to your question as to the extent of the reform in Her Majesty's dominions, I answer that the system of examination for public offices is in operation in India, New South Wales, Victoria,* South Australia, New Zealand, and Jamaica, and so far as I know, it is found to work satisfactorily. Respectfully yours,

J. THORBURN.

*Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, Bart.. says ("Problems of Greater Britain," London, 1890, p. 121): "The Victorian Civil Service Commission has met with success, and on the rare occasions when members of Parliament have hinted at a desire to revert to their old practices, the voice of the community has at once drowned the whisper of such a suggestion. The civil service, which was at one time a by-word, is now a credit to the Colony, and nothing can exceed the average capacity, industry, and trustworthiness of its public servants."