Evening star., 1934-11-14
Dangerous Precedent.

General McCarl's ruling upholding a
rider attached to the last deficiency
bill passed shortly before Congress ad-
journed is to require the dis
charge of some 900 prohibition
agents who have been unable to pass
second civil service examination.
The broader effect is to place in addi-
tional jeopardy the protection of clas-
sified civil service to any and all Gov
ernment employees. What has been
accomplished by the McKellar rider
apparently could be accomplished by
future riders on any appropriation bill,
and the classified civil service employees
of any Government agency could be
required to take new competitive civil
service examinations to hold their jobs.
Under President Roosevelt's re-
organization order of June, 1888, the
old Prohibition Bureau of the De-
partment of Justice was abolished and
its duties were taken over by the
Division of Investigation. With other
things, that order provided that:
All personnel employed in connec-
ton with the work of an abolished
agency or function disposed of shall
be separated from the service of the
United States, except that the head of
any successor agency may re-
appoint any of such personnel re-
quired for the work of the successor
agency without re-examination or loss
of civil service status.
Several hundred prohibition agents
and others, who had already qualified
for their jobs under competitive civil
service, were dropped from the rolls
when the Department of Justice
Prohibition Bureau was abolished
Others were transferred overnight
to the Division of Investigation.
When the prohibition enforcement
work was later transferred to the
Treasury's newly-created Alcohol Tax
Unit of the Bureau of Internal Reve-
nue. many of those dropped were
hired again. Senator McKellar charged
that some of those hired were Re
publicans, Notwithstanding their civil
service status attained through COM
petitive examination. Secretary Nor
genthau vigorously resisted efforts to
turn these civil service appointees out,
insisting that they had not only passed
the civil service examination once, but
had passed the rigorous character ex-
animation to which they submitted
when the prohibition agents were
originally placed under civil service,
and that their experience was of great
value to the Government. In the clos
ing days of Congress the McKellar
amendment was added to the last de-
ficiency bill. 1t forbade payment of
to any employees dropped from the for
mer enforcement agency of the De-
partment of Justice between June 10
and December 81, 1888, and re-em-
ployed by the Treasury, unless they
passed new competitive examination.
Many of them failed to pass the
new examination, and, of course, must
now be dropped from service, as the
legislation requiring the new examina-
tions has been upheld by Mr.. McCarl
This affects not only the employees
who were temporarily out of the serv-
ice pending reappointment in the re-
but also those who were shifted over
night from one enforcement group to
another by reorganization executive
order and who never actually left the
service.
1t might be maintained that if the
employees cannot pass a new civil
service examination they have thus
shown themselves ineligible. But pc
riodic examinations are not required
of classified civil service employees.
Unless it is intended to require annual
civil service examinations of all en-
ployes, the iniquity of singing out one
unit or branch of the service and re-
quiring re-examination of every en-
ploye is obvious. All protection afforded
through the classified civil service sys-
TEN is endangered. BY legislative
caprice or the whetted hunger of the
political spokesman rider could be
attached to any appropriation bill re-
quiring new examinations for employees
in any branch of Government service,
thus providing additional opportuni-
ties for patronage and losing to the
Government many efficient, industri-
Gus and skilled workers.
Incidentally, when the automatic
separation" clause of the Presidents
order was promulgated year and a
half ago, there was much speculation
about its exact meaning and what it
was intended to accomplish. Leaving
aside the question of intent, it must
be said now that its potentialities have