Moses proposed reducing every government job to weighed mathematical grades

Evidence

The proposal was of a purity, a strength and a scope that was almost more religious than governmental. The system was to be completely new, Moses said. All traces of the old must be washed away. And it must be all-embracing. All government service, he said, could be divided into sixteen categories: executive, legislative, judicial, professional, subprofessional, educational, investigational, inspectional, clerical, custodial, street cleaning, fire, police, institutional, skilled trades and labor. Each category could be divided into specific jobs—custodial, for example, into caretakers, janitors, watchmen, storekeepers and bridge tenders. Each job could be scientifically analyzed to show its “functions” and “responsibilities.” Each function and responsibility—and there were dozens of them for most jobs—could be given a precise mathematical weight corresponding to its importance in the over-all job. And the success of the employee in each function and responsibility could be given a precise mathematical grade. These grades would, added together according to weight and combined in service records for each employee, “furnish conclusions expressed in arithmetical…terms” and these conclusions and these alone should be “used as a basis for salary increase and promotion.” — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 320

Categorization

• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Moses’ standardization would cut 10,000 paychecks to base level — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 338; Moses’ merit system threatened the careers of decades of loyal patronage workers — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 336; Moses believed human personality and judgment could be reduced to exact numbers

Broader Connections

• Moses believed human personality and judgment could be reduced to exact numbers #exemplifies (1.00)