Young Moses modeled ideal American civil service on the British Oxford-centered system.

Evidence

The last chapter of Moses’ thesis is a plea to his own country to adopt the British system for its own civil service. The chapter is pervaded by contempt for the standards of government service in the United States, where “spoilsmen” and job-hungry politicians lurk everywhere, and “we have been so busy fighting for a full realization of the competitive principle…that the great problems of division, of intellectual qualifications…and attracting the best men into our government departments have been quite neglected,” so that government is staffed by “a very miscellaneous and often ill-educated division of clerks.” Patronage must be eliminated and an upper division created immediately, he said. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 244

Categorization

• XREF: This prefigures the elitism Caro will trace through all of Moses’ career — connects to the book’s thesis about power and class. — connects to: Moses wanted American government run strictly by graduates of Princeton, Harvard, or Yale. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 245; Moses channeled youthful reform idealism into the civil service commission — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 296; Moses began his career in public service with passionate idealism — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 248 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Moses channeled youthful reform idealism into the civil service commission #corroborates (0.85) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 296
• Moses began his career in public service with passionate idealism #corroborates (0.80) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 248
• Moses admired a civil service with a rigidly closed upper class #exemplifies (0.80) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 234
• Civil service detail once fascinated Moses as public-spirited work #corroborates (0.80) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 365