Catoctin clarion., 1918-11-21

traordinary Emergency Demands
Telephone and Telegraph Get Ap.
pointees by First Train to Capital.
In the capital Of the United States
the largest employment agency In the
world has been running at top speed
since April 8, 1917, keeping the govern
ment supplied with civilian war work.
erS; over the entrance to the siX-stOry
building. Is small wooden sign read.
ing. United States Civil Service Com.
mission"
The commission came into being in
1883 as a check on the "spolls SYSTEM"
through which government jobs had be-
come currency for paying political
debts. In the first year of Its exist
ence 1924 employees Of the govern
ment We're classified, or brought with.
in the jurisdiction Of the civi! service
law. Everyone who was working for
the government In position coming
under the new law was covered into
the classified service without exaulna.
tiOn. To have forced an examination
on those already In the departments, 1t
would first have been necessary to
slaughter congress almost to man.
Legislators often fay 1t now, but nearly
always merely for effect on dlsappOint
ed "home folks who have failed to
land In Uncle Sans official family.
Nine hundred different registers for
all sorts of positions are maintained
Take the case Of clerks as illustrative
Of the way appointments are made.
The applicant undergoes the prescribed
examination before the nearest local
board of civil service examiners, of
which there are atSut 5000 scattered
throughout the country. Then his name
Is entered on Register card" togeth.
er with a general summary of the infor.
nation contained In his application and
his examination papers.
Red Tape Is Cut.
Now, suppose an official In charge of
bureau needs Il number Of clerks. A
written request Is sent to the civil serv.
ice commission setting forth the mum.
Der and sex desired and salary to be
paid. This request goes to the certl.
fication section, where clerk selects
the names of the highest eligibles. Ger.
tificates are forwarded to the bureau
head, who sends a form letter to each
of the persons named, offering appoint.
ment. When the vacancies are filed,
back goes the certificate to the civil
service commission with report indi
eating those who accepted, those who
declined, and those who failed to re.
spond.
Since the outbreak of war, however,
In cases of emergency-and nearly nll
of the thousands of war department
appointments come under the head of
emergency-this somewhat lengthy
process Is cut short. 1t Is a case of
"shoot first and ask questions after
ward"
For instance, Captain Kidd of the
Quartermaster's department may want
half dozen typists. He takes up his
telephone, asks for Main 75, (Civil
Service) and gets a clerk in the certi-
flcation section. The clerk goes
through the same process as before in
selecting eliglbles and then sends tele-
grams ordering them to report at once.
The typists catch the first train to
Washington and are employed. Here
Is one government bureau where red
tape gets no chance to give aid and
comfort to the enemy In crisis.
War Record Is Good.
Some Of the requests for employees
since the country went to war are
large. 1t Is not considered eXtraordi-
nary to get single call from the war
or treasury department for 1000 clerks.
In one week not long ago the names
Of 2,40O clerks We're furnished the war
department. That departments chief
clerk called up one evening just be-
fore closing time and asked for 300
male stenographers as soon as possi-
BILE. At nine o'clock next morning 29O
male stenographers were lined up out
side his door, with others arriving.
Something like year ago, tho bureau
Of war risk insurance started with
three people on Its staff. Today it has
a salary list of about $4,000 and prac-
tically all the employees were furnish
ed from civil service lists.
There is considerable discussion re-
garding the prospects for taking pity
on the war workers who have come
to Washington, and covering them in-
to the service as was done after the
Spanish war. without requiring them
to pass an examination. But the fact
Is that those war workers of 1893
were temporary appointees, not fur
nished by the civil war commission.
In this war, with the exception of the
food and fuel administrations and the
council Of national defense, which have
themselves been considered temporary
organizations, all appointments have
been made from the commissions reg
listers, and If there are no names on
the registers the appOintees are given
only temporary status until they
have passed an examination. Whether
the latter are to be covered into the
service or not, is an open question.
The commissions war record Is one
that 1t can be proud Of.