Evening star., 1934-06-08
Lewis Merriam of Brookings
Institution Completes Re.
port on Procedure.
COMMISSION PLACED
IN BAD LIGHT, HE SAYS
Describes as Farce Procedure
in Filling First, Second and
Third Glass Posts.

A bitter attack on the methods OF
selecting postmasters in first, second
and third class Offices, under which
these appointments ostensibly depend
upon civil service examination while
actually they are dependent upon
political preferment, is made by
Lewis Merriam of the Brookings In
stitution in a report to the Civil
Service Commission.
Mr.. Merriam and two officials Of the
commission, S. Lawson Meyer and
ISmar Baruch, chief Of the personnel
division, have just completed study
of commission procedure, with view
may be made there, and Meriam's
criticism was embodied in a section
Of the report he himself prepared.
Must Take Examination.
Under the present system the So
called presidential postmasters under
go examination by the Civil Service
Commission, but the Postmaster Gen
eral selects the appointee, who is SUBJ
ject to confirmation by the Senate.
Whereas in regular civil service pro-
cedure one of the highest three per-
sons taking an examination gets the
job, this does not apply to postmas-
ters, and the Postmaster General is
allowed to call for additional certifi-
cation from the commission until the
name of the person desired to have
the appointment is reached.
Merriam described this arrangement
as a farce" and said it gives the
general public a misconception of the
commissions functions and thereby
tends to discredit it. He adds that
the President would do well to get
the so-called examination out of the
commission until all postmasters are
put under an actual merit system.
Plan Urged by Commission.
The principle for which Merriam
argues has been urged by the Civil
Service Commission for years, and
last July it was announced that
President Roosevelt had asked Post
master General Farley to prepare
bill that would bring all postmasters
into competitive classified service. At
present, only the holders of fourth
class Offices have regular civil service
status.
The study of commission procedure
conducted by the three-man body
made several recommendations for
changes in administration, but divided
on three points.
Merriam proposed that the present
Board of Appeals and Review, COM
posed of three members. be made a
division with single head; he also
proposed that certification and ex-
animation be split and that a division
of certiflcation be set up, and that
the editorial and research division be
abolished and its work spread about
the Offices
These principles have in the past
been followed by the commission, and
were abandoned, and the two commits
sion aides who participated in The in
quiry opposed their restoration.
Urges Personnel Officer.
Merriam also proposes that the COM
mission add a personnel officer and
that the examiner have an assistant.
The commission brought Merriam
into its inquiry as it had previously
done on another study because it was
desired to have the opinion of an out
slider. His report lauds the commission
as body and sees no waste of funds
in its administration.
Going into the subject of presiden-
tial postmasters' examinations, at
which his attack was leveled. he said:
I'm my opinion, nothing has done
more to injure the standing of the
Civil Service Commission with the
country than the part the commits
sion has to play in giving examina-
tions for presidential postmasters.
Many people do not appreciate that
the methods of examining for presi-
Dental postmasters under the series
OF presidential executive orders Is en-
tirely different from the methods Of
the Civil Service Commission in deal
ing with positions which are classi-
fed in accordance with the civil
service act, or that If the existing
presidential postmasters' positions
were by law brought under the civil
service act, the methods of the COM
mission would be entirely different"