PUBLIC SERVICE, A CAREER

The selection of a graduate of the University of Wisconsin as the first recipient of the M. Fred Lowcnsicin Fellowship marks the beginning of a plan which may be extended to include a larger number of students if the training proves useful and practicable. Mr. Frase, the winner of the award out of a field of forty candidates, has both an honor and a responsibility be-stowed upon him.

The need for some correlation between the study of the science of politics and its practical application has been felt for a long time. Public service as a career is the United States, has not often attracted men of outstanding ability. In striking contrast stands the efficient bureaucracies composed of well educated men in England, France, and Germany. Too long has the notion been prevalent in this country that politics should be left to the politicians sided by clerks to do their bidding. The fellowship that has just been warded points the way towards the creation of a system which will provide the civil service with men specially trained, for responsible positions. Studying intensively for a year in preparation for some particular branch of public service and then working for another year in the field under the guidance of an expect, the fellowship holder is more adequately prepared to enter the civil service than those who apply for the positions without any training or special ability.

Every year more students of government are becoming interested in preparing for public service as a career. Facilities must be provided to take care of their training. If the Lowenstein Fellowship proves worthwhile similar fellowships must be instituted to encourage men of ability to enter the civil service. In line with this movement eventually must come the creation of a graduate school of Public Service. Harvard would do well to establish such a worthy precedent.