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The article focuses on the merit principle. For almost two decades before the early 1960s, the U.S. seemed proud of its advanced civil service concepts and processes. The authors were so confident that various reform commissions' calls for structural change were largely ignored. In the last dozen years, strong and growing protests against civil service have been raised from many sides: minority groups impatient with tests they do not pass, courts calling for test validity, unions demanding changes and a voice in decision making, even former supporters who question whether the practices do really obtain the best people or provide proper incentives. Criticism is severe and serious, and civil service administrators have become defensive. These criticisms fall into two basic categories. First, there an those who claim that civil service has moved too far in the direction of employee protectionism, which interferes with demands for better management and higher productivity. Second, it is argued that formerly sacred methods no longer permit adequate response to changing manpower requirements.