The Washington times., 1934-01-27
MERIT SYSTEM
URGED AS AID.
IN RECOVERY
Brookings Man Declares Plan
Would Speed Progress of
Emergency Program

President Roosevelt's emergency
program will be greatly facilitated
and safeguarded if he viii
strengthen and extend the merit
system, according to Lewis Merriam,
Of the Bookings Institution, In a
talk last night before the Educa-
tional Forum Of the District Fed
Grafton Of Federal Employees at
the Federation's headquarters.
Merriam pointed out that the
Government service is of great
and increasing economic impor-
tance and that its efficiency de.
pendS on its personnel. The
merit system, he contended, was
the best yet devised to select en-
ployeS and is infinitely preferable
to the spoilS system, because un-
der the latter the employees 10y.
atty is primarily not to the Gov.
ernment but to the man who got
him his job, and who may have
put him on the job to serve as
Q listening post, saboteur, or fixer.
Scandals Laid to Politics
The classified Civil Service, he
said, has an enviable reputation
for honesty and integrity, and
scandals generally arise from
politically appointed employees.
Spoils appointees, he said, look
on their jobs as temporary and
feel that they must make hay
while the sun shines.
misconceptions regarding the
Civil Service are numerous, he
said, one Of these being the pop
ular idea that you can't fire a
civil service employe. AS a mat
ter Of fact, he said, nothing is
easier; an administrative officer
has only to prefer written charges
against him, and the employe has
no right except to see the charges
and file a written reply. The
right Of review by the Civil Serv.
ice Commission is sharply cir
cumscribed by limitations which
give 1t power only where re.
movalS are made on religious or
political grounds, or under the
commissions efficiency system.
Tests Check Turnover
Such security as classified en-.
ployeS possess, he said, is due to
the fact that if they are fixed
they must be replaced by other
civil service employees. He added:
Experience has shown that
If the front door of the public
service is faithfully guarded by
an honest and competent Civil
Service Commission, there b
not much occasion for firing be-
cause the commission deter
mines that an emplOye is quail
fled before he is appointed"
CommendS Roosevelt
Most Civil Service workers are
engaged in nonpolicy work, he
said, and in answering the charge
that the Civil Service system is
slow and cumbersome, he said
that it is operated more rapidly
than any other employment sys.
tenn that gives reasonably decent
results. He commended the Pres
ident for placing recently estab-
lished emergency agencies under
a classification system, though
Congress had ignored the need for
one, and added:
"The President recently has
demonstrated his determination
to separate party politics from
Federal administration. His Ad
miniStrati0n is obviously dis
turbed at the scandals and the
rumOr of scandals in the emef.
genCy organizations.
"He means to have his Admin
iStratiOn free from the kind Of
things that have been disclosed
by Senate investigating commit
tees in the past few years. One
Of the greatest safeguards that
the President has is the merit
system. May we not expect him
to strengthen and extend it?"