Page:The Wisconsin idea (IA cu31924032449252).pdf/210

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186
THE WISCONSIN IDEA

policy for the private industry to retain old men and women, worn out in office service and hindering quick, efficient results, neither is it good business for the government. Efficiency demands the best and public servants should be as well protected as private servants. Some kind of promotion in every rank of public service should come if public efficiency is to equal that in private service. How ridiculous it is for congress or any state to strive to fix the salaries for the different clerks in different departments by legislative action and yet hold the commissions responsible for the work of these clerks! If a great commission is capable of fixing the rates for gas or electricity, surely it is equally capable of fixing the salaries of a clerk or a stenographer, especially when restricted by a civil service law.

Fundamental to the responsible commission and to all good administration of our laws is a study of the principles of administration. Our young men must be trained for public service as in the European countries. That there is a science of administration has been seemingly unknown to the American public until very recently. How could it be otherwise with the doctrine of the spoils-man as the most important thing in our public life? The sense of duty, permanency and scientific methods in office had to be realized first. This realization was brought about through the education of the people.

Few of us realize to what extent preparations are