Page:What to do for Uncle Sam; a first book of citizenship (IA whattodoforuncle00bail).pdf/204

200 working for Uncle Sam in Washington alone. He has other thousands doing his business in a host of countries and out of the way places. Every year there are thousands and thousands of other men and women appointed at good salaries to help carry on the Government’s ever growing work.

How does Uncle Sam choose these workers?

He believes in a test that you don’t like at all. Uncle Sam holds examinations for his helpers. The first thing the Government asks the young man or young woman who wishes a Government position is, "What did you learn in school?" Going to school and passing the school examinations successfully is what Uncle Sam wants you to do to-day that you may be ready to help him to-morrow.

Arithmetic isn’t the study that is your choice for the day’s recitation in school or for home work in the evening, perhaps; but Uncle Sam has surprises waiting for the boy who becomes expert in it, and goes on to other branches of mathematics. Because of it he may send you out to the wide plains of the West to survey Government lands, he may put you on a ship as captain, for guiding a vessel through the waters is a matter of understanding charts and figures. He may put you in charge of an accounting office at Washington, or send you to a foreign country to carry out some