School for Servants

"A high degree of state control over the social and economic structure of the nation is necessary under the President's plans. So far the President has been handicapped by the lack of trained public servants."

When Franklin Roudybush spoke those words in Washington last week, he was simply echoing a general observation made by countless men and women since March 1933. But short, swart, button-eyed Mr. Roudybush differed from most of the others in that he proposed to do something about it.

Entrance examinations for U. S. Foreign Service do not compare in difficulty with those for Britain's famed Civil Service (in which the candidate may be required to discuss anything from the causes of British hostility to Russia, 1815-1878, to the proposition, "The ballad is not literature"), but they are stiff enough to baffle most bright young Phi Beta Kappas. Cautious candidates commune with Mr. Roudybush for four months before attempting them. Confident candidates take the examinations first, often commune with Mr. Roudybush afterward for a second try. Each year 75 to 100 aspiring diplomats pay $225 apiece for the privilege. His school, now housed in a three-story Georgetown mansion, was founded in an apartment in 1907 by the late Angus MacDonald Crawford with one student. Since then nearly 75% of U. S. career diplomats have "boned" for their examinations with Crawford or Roudybush.

Franklin Roudybush, 29, began teaching at "Crawford's" in 1927, took over the school when Founder Crawford died two years ago. Last year he decided to branch out with the New Deal. On the spot he studied Britain's Civil Service, and a London school which tutors for its examinations. Last week he announced that on Oct. 15 he would open a Washington School of Government Administration, chiefly for would-be public servants.

Undergraduates will spend a year on courses in government, history, economics, law. Degree-holders may take more advanced courses, work independently under a tutor, write a thesis. All students will study their subject at first hand in Government offices, Supreme Court, House & Senate galleries. Tuition: $150 per semester. Upon graduation will come the real work of finding a Government job on merit rather than political pull.

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