Student Jobs in D. C.

The Pendleton Act of 1883 never did away with spoils practices in the Federal Service; it merely encouraged more discreet abuses. Connections remain highly useful for getting jobs in the government. Although most hired employees must pass Civil Service qualifying tests, good rating alone seldom earn people appointments. This is true of close to 10,000 summer positions available in Washington each year as well as of permanent jobs. Few students who receive appointments as summer interns, clerks, and typists get them solely on the strength of their qualifications.

Petty patronage has, in fact, become almost a regular element of Federal hiring procedures. Political patronage is dispensed chiefly through Senators and Congressmen, with the party in office naturally distributing the bulk of the prizes. Less familiar, bureaucratic nepotism guarantees positions to job-seekers with pull--influential friends in the government. This abuse annually accounts for thousands of summer appointments.

Two months ago the placid routine of patronage hiring abruptly hit a snag. Mrs. Dorothy Davies, a special aide to the President in charge of government programs for summer workers, announced plans for a White House office to process summer job applicants. Administration critics quickly protested that such a central clearinghouse might give preference to Democrats.

The Civil Service Commission, alarmed by reports that political clearance from the White House might be needed for summer jobs, reacted by suspending the authority of the Federal agencies to take on temporary workers. Subsequently the Commission, which had not been consulted on the clearinghouse project, told all agency heads that any political checks for government posts would not be tolerated. At the same time it announced plans to administer competitive exams beginning next year for jobs like student assistantships, which have not previously required civil service ratings. This innovation will not apply to summer appointments in Congressional offices which do not come under civil service.

Although the policy statements made by the Commission stand to improve summer hiring practices, they are propably addressed to an imaginary threat. The clearinghouse Mrs. Davies had in mind would serve mainly to coordinate the summer operations of the dozens of departmental personnel offices in Washington. It would not monopolize or oversee summer hiring, and thus it could not bar appointments on political grounds. Applications for summer jobs would still be submitted directly to the government agencies, which would keep final authority to engage their own employees.

Instead of spawning political patronage, an informal communications system among personal offices might indirectly reduce nepotism in the capital. In the past, if an agency ruled an applicant unqualified or if it had already filled its temporary job quota, it filed his application away and forgot him. Since many government bureaus do not know how many students they can use until April or May, notices of hirings are not distributed until it is too late for unsuccessful applicants to inquire elsewhere. A system to allow personnel officials to refer rejected applicants to one another would enlarge the pool of qualified job prospects for each agency. Appointment opportunities for each student would then be multiplied, and the agencies could afford greater selectivity in placing people in suitable positions. Nepotism made less essential to get jobs, would lose some of its appeal for well-qualified applicants.

Tactics of the Boss Tweed era are out of style in Washington, but patronage still figures in the granting of too many jobs. Several bills, now pending in Congress would set state quotas for summer jobs and prohibit discriminatory hiring practices. These measures, along with continued surveillance by the Civil Service Commission, would help to create in fact the strict employment merit system that passed into law eighty years ago.