Page:LewisMeriam-TheProblemOfIndianAdministration.djvu/186

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Personnel Administration
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borrow a pet expression from one superintendent who maintains standards on his reservation and at his boarding school by encouraging those who are doing good work and systematically “romping on” those who are slack.

Members of Family as Employees. The same principles regarding rigid qualifications should apply in hiring the husbands or the wives of Indian Service employees. If the wife of the doctor is a qualified trained nurse, it may be advisable to give her preference in appointment because of local housing conditions, but it is extremely unwise to make local housing conditions the deciding factor and to appoint a doctor’s wife to perform the duties of a hospital nurse despite lack of training. It may be convenient to appoint the wife of the engineer to a position as girls’ matron. The fact that both can be employed may help to offset the fact that each salary in itself is too low to maintain a family, but the wife may have none of the qualities really needed in the position of girls’ matron, Illustrations might be multiplied almost indefinitely, but the principle is obvious. Each position must be filled by a person qualified to fill it; relationship to another employee, like Indian blood, is a matter of secondary concern.

Importance of Character, Personality, and Ability to Get Along with Indians. In establishing the qualifications for entrance into the Service two highly important factors will have to be taken into consideration, despite the probable impossibility of establishing any formal civil service tests for them. They are: (1) Character and personality, and (2) ability to understand Indians and to get along with them.

The most practicable device for testing character and personality is through establishing a real probationary period and requiring a positively favorable report on these essential qualities before a probationary appointment is made permanent. The probationary period for persons in the Indian field service should probably be never less than one year[1] and in cases where reasonable doubt as to adaptability exists it should be possible to extend it for at least

  1. ↑ A probationary appointee can, of course, be dismissed at any time during the probationary period if found unsatisfactory. The question as to its duration relates solely to how long a time shall elapse before the person attains a permanent status.
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