through a scholastic training, she has not done it as the deliberate elaboration of a scheme previously conceived and worked out. Each school has been created to meet the wants of a particular service as the needs of that service became prominent enough to demand that some action be taken.

Though the foregoing schools have not been created on a uniform plan, they have many features in common, which permit of their being studied as a whole. Though not correlated into a single system, it is evident that their organization has in many respects been along the same lines, which enables us to select certain features as indicating the policy which has dominated in the creation of all the schools.

The most prominent, and at the same time the most important similarity, is found in the nature of the services which have been selected to be recruited through special Government schools. Without exception they have been such as require a quite special previous preparation on the part of their employés. In the various engineering services of roads and bridges, mines, etc., a considerable knowledge of higher mathematics has been a sine qua non of good services. In others, such as forestry, the manufacture of tobacco and other products, the superintendence of the haras, etc., the duties were of such a nature that the ordinary schools did not, nor was it advisable that they should, attempt to give instruction in the particular branches of knowledge required. In general we may say then that France has found it advisable to organize a special system of instruction in all those services, in which a special, and in general a scientific, training is required of the employés. So completely has this idea been carried out to all services in any way partaking of this nature, that there can be but little doubt that the system has furnished better results than that of recruiting in the ordinary way from among those not having received such special training. Another distinctive feature of the system is the policy of grouping special schools of application around larger and central academies, as with the Polytechnic and National Institute of Agriculture, and giving in these academies all the general instruction required, leaving the professional instruction to the more special schools. This system has many undoubted advantages. For two or three years it gathers together a large number of students at just that age when the students themselves are least fitted to determine what career they are best adapted to undertake. The important point here is that the students on entering do not know what particular service they are going to enter. It is only on graduation that their rank entitles them to a choice. Thus in the preliminary training they are constantly in connection with those preparing for all the services; in a measure they examine the character of each position in order to make a satisfactory choice, and at the end of their studies are much better qualified to select a Government career most advantageous to the Government service.

The third feature which we find common to the whole list of schools is the simultaneous instruction of Government pupils, intended for employment by the State, and free students, or those desiring a similar instruction to that given in the Government schools. There is no one feature which to me seems so happy a conception as this. In many cases it has been found necessary to create a system of instruction for the education of but a comparatively small number of students. The system once organized, little or no extra expense is entailed by allow ing additional pupils to attend the courses. In this way these schools have become important parts in the system of schools for technical education, which France has so perfectly organized. But especially must this practice exert a good effect on the Government pupils themselves. They are then not so isolated from outside influences. The danger of a few students taken apart and subjected to a fixed course of studies, becoming impervious to outside suggestions and dropping into ruts-a danger by no means absent from schools of this class-is largely averted, and the pupils, at least as long as they are pupils, are kept in touch with the outside world. The competition displayed for opportunity to attend these schools as free pupils furnishes us at the same time the best evidence of the high estimation placed on the character of the training there to be obtained.

A final feature common to most of the schools is one which has not been brought out in our consideration of the individual schools. This is that the direction, and in large part the instruction, is in the hands of chief officials of the services to be recruited, who are detailed for this service on account of special aptitude and attainments. The effect is to insure that the instruction given is always exactly of that character which the services require. At the same time this system is not without its dangers. If too closely adhered to, narrow-mindedness, conservatism, and unwillingness to accept improvements coming from outside suggestions may be the result. It is not for a moment desired to convey the impression that such has been the case in the present instance. The writer did not have such opportunities of observation as to warrant him expressing his opinion on this point. As can be supposed, both advocates and opponents of the system of Government service schools were encountered, and this point was mentioned more than once by those not favoring the schools.

In conclusion, the writer must say that he regrets that the school of administration established in 1848 did not have a continuous life to the present time. The history of the School of Political Sciences has shown that there are certainly a number of services coming under the head of administration, to which such a previous training is applicable, such as the positions of consular clerks, diplomatic attachés, certain legal officers, employés of the department of foreign affairs, statistical employés, etc. In these cases their duties admit of clear definition, and the character of the instruction to be given can not be in doubt. In

some respects a school of administration would be the keystone to the whole system, and for us would possess more features of interest than any other one school.

In the foregoing sketch of schools of France preparing for the Government service, though I have made no reference to similar services and conditions in America, I have nevertheless kept constantly in mind the consideration that if studies such as the present are to be of value they must be prepared not as a mere historical inquiry, but as a description of conditions which may be of service to the people in considering kindred questions. The establishment of a scheme of scholastic preparation for the Government service can scarcely be called a live one at the present time. It nevertheless involves questions worthy of careful consideration, and is not altogether neglected by those most interested in educational questions.

As showing the views of at least one of our most prominent educators, I insert the remarks of Prof. Herbert B. Adams, of the Johns Hopkins University, on this subject, as expressed in his History of William and Mary College. He says:

The Government is compelled to patronize institutions of learning from self-interest, for the reputation of its departments and its scientific bureaus, some of which are constantly turning to colleges and universities for special work. The War and Navy Departments have detailed no less than ten men for further scientific training or for the conduct of necessary Government investigations at the Johns Hopkins University. Various members of the university staff have been employed upon special commissions in the interest of the Geological and Coast Surveys, Bureau of Education, etc. This comity between science and the Government ought not only to continue, but to be promoted, especially with reference to political science.

IDEA OF A CIVIL ACADEMY IN WASHINGTON,

While the National Government will continue to seek special service wherever it can best be found, and while its public servants will continue to seek special training wherever they prefer, it is not inexpedient to suggest that the Government might easily secure for the civil service what West Point and Annapolis have so long provided for the Army and Navy, viz, well-trained men for administrative positions requiring expert service. There is in these times as great need of special knowledge in civil science as in military and navy science. A civil academy for the training of representative American youth would be as great a boon to the American people as the Military and Naval Academies have already proved.

The West Point and Annapolis idea of educating representative young men from political districts is already abroad in nearly every State in the American Union. A combination of this idea with the merit system in appointment is frequently made by Congressmen in the institution of a competitive examination to discover whom they shall appoint as cadets. The joint system has long been established in the State of New York, the center of political gravity in these United States. The system should be taken up by the present administration, which sprang from New York and which represents the New York idea in administrative reform. The West Point plan of taking student appointees from Congressional districts, and the Cornell University plan of student appointment for merit, should be transplanted together to the city of Washington. From each of the three hundred and twenty'Circular of Information No. 1, 1887, of the United States Bureau of Education.

five Congressional districts there should be appointed by the respective Congressmen, upon competitive examination held by the State or leading university, or by some other impartial examining board, one student of the grade of bachelor of arts, to enjoy Government tuition in Washington for two years at a civil academy, as hereafter described, with an allowance of $600 a year for necessary expenses, as is now done for cadets at West Point and Annapolis. As at these two Government academies, so in the civil academy, if properly constituted, undoubtedly a large proportion of the appointees would be "found deficient;" many would resign for professional reasons or from dissatisfaction with the civil service, but a choice remnant would surely be saved to the State; the fittest would survive. Even if all returned to their own homes after two years' public training, the cause. of good citizenship would be greatly promoted.

Men thus educated would prove of great service to the Bureau of Labor or to the Bureau of Statistics. They would be capable of doing much of the special work now required in the taking or elaboration of the United States census. At present special economic or statistical work is sometimes done by men selected upon political recommendation and not always thoroughly fitted for the task required.

That this idea is in the air of Washington and is not deemed impracticable by practical politicians, is seen in the recent remark of Mr. Trenholm, Comptroller of the Currency, who is reported to have said: "It is my intention to take young men from various parts of the country and give them a preliminary training in this office; fit them for bank examiners, and then appoint them. By this arrangement I think I will be able to have in these positions men who have excellent qualifications for their duties, and thus make a most efficient force of bank examiners. Besides, it will be the best kind of civil service reform."1

The system might be applied also to the training of picked young men for the consular, diplomatic, and other branches of the public service which require special knowledge. European Governments foster their civil and diplomatic services by systematic training in connection with Government offices and schools of administration. The practice is already beginuing to evolve in connection with the State Department and the training of consular clerks. It might easily be extended in connection with other departments and the various scientific bureaus.

The Government commission for the civil service academy or Government college should not be appointed in the interest of party, but of scientific politics and good administration. It should be as trustworthy as the three commissioners for the government of the District of Columbia, and it should work in perfect harmony with the administrative offices of the Government.

"The Civil Service Commission and the heads of bureaus." Baltimore Ameriican, January 16, 1887.

2 The consular clerk system was inaugurated by act of Congress approved June 20, 1864 (see 15 Statutes at Large, p. 139; Revised Statutes, sections 1704 and 1705). Consular clerks, not exceeding thirteen in number at any one time, are appointed by the President. They are assigned to such consulates as the President shall direct. At present they are assigned to the consulates at Havana, Paris, Rome, Kanagawa, Bordeaux, Turin, Liverpool, Berlin, London, Cairo, Chemnitz, and Honolulu. Before appointment it must be satisfactorily shown to the Secretary of State, after examination and report by an examining board, that the applicant is qualified for the duties to which he may be assigned. A consular clerk can not be removed, except by cause stated in writing, which must be submitted to Congress at the session first following such removal. Consular clerks hold office during good behavior. They usually receive instructions at the Department of State before going to their posts. The idea underlying this system is that of training young men for consular positions of the higher grade. One consular clerk, not now in the service, was promoted to a consulship; many of them have been made vice-consuls, and some of the present incumbents fill the vice-consular office in addition to the consular clerkship.

These considerations are of great importance. To one not living at Washington a realization of the amount of purely business work requiring the highest degree of special and technical instruction is impossible.

An inspection of the great range of duties now performed by the central government reveals a great many services requiring the most special description of training, the possession or nonpossession of which determines whether it will be well or badly performed. The mention of but a few of the scientific bureaus, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Geological Survey, the Bureau of Ethnology, the Nautical Almanac Department, the scientific bureaus of the Department of Agriculture, and such services as the diplomatic and consular serv ices, the corps of examiners of patents, etc., will, to some extent, illustrate the varied and special information required. It is in such positions as these that improvement might be looked for through the creation of special schools. Each year the necessity for specialization in knowledge becomes greater. In this the administration of government is no exception. The necessity for expert knowledge in the service of the Government becomes yearly greater. Personal aptitude is without doubt the first condition for success in any profession, but natural aptitude has need of special instruction in order that it may obtain its fullest development. In the Government service, as in every occupation, there must always be a difference between employés chosen at hazard and those specially trained for the performance of the duties which they are called upon to discharge.

The determination of the desirability of special training must be made for each service on its own merits. It is safe to say that an effective school of administration can only be obtained through the designation of a few services, the recruiting of which should be solely through the school of administration to be established. Then, from time to time, as the system develops, additional services can be put under the same régime. What services should and what should not be so treated can only be decided by the practical administrative heads of the departments, and not by outside educators, however much they may here give the subject attention.

The experience of a foreign nation whose system is as complete as that of France can not but be of service to us in considering these questions as relating to our own Government.

CIVIL SERVICE REQUIREMENTS IN PRUSSIA.

INTRODUCTORY.

It has been thought that the value of this report will be enhanced by subjoining to the account of schools for recruiting the civil service in France, a condensed statement of the extent and character of the scholastic requirements for admission to the civil branches of the public vices of the Prussian Kingdom. Though the conditions for admis