Evening star., 1935-04-23
Ramspeck Plans to Seek
Amendment to Civil
Service Statute.
MARITAL STATUS LAW
AGAIN HIT AT HEARING
Witnesses Before House Commit
tee Declare Rule Sets Up
Barrier to Marriage.
BY ]. A. FOX.

DI Do ~ TOAs
A proposal to amend the civil serv-
ice law to limit original appointments
in Government service to one TO .
family instead Of two, as now pro-
vided, loomed today as a possible de-
velopment Of hearings before the
House Civil Service Committee on the
bill by Representative Celler, Demo-
crat, of New York to repeal the mari
tai status law.
Chairman Ramspeck of the COM
mittee proposes to make such sug-
gestion as a complement to the re-
peal legislation.
The chairman'S statement was made
Informally after a succession of wit
nesses for the third day assailed the
marital status law, and had asserted
that its provisions requiring dismissal
Of either husband or wife In necessary
reductions Of force was producing
grave social consequences, In setting
up barrier to marriage.
Ramspeck said he was against any
law which kept young people from
getting married, but that he thought
the law governing original appoint
ments should be changed. He was
not attempting to bind the committee
nor to forecast what action eventually
would be taken.
He did say, however, he found SEN
timent in Congress against repeal Of
the marital status law and that he
had received many letters from Gov
eminent workers themselves who are
opposed to 1t.
Hearings Near End.
The Celler bill would repeal the law
by amending the civil service act.
Ramspeck said he would conclude
hearings tomorrow.
Todays testimony was largely a
repetition of that which has gone be-
fore. The first witness was E. Claude
Babcock. president of the American
Federation of Government Employees,
who said his organization was def
nitely opposed to the law"
He attacked the law on the ground
first that 1t takes no account of COM
petency-the same point emphasized
earlier In the hearings by Luther C.
Steward, president of the National
Federation of Federal Employees.
Going then into the social conse-
quences, Babcock said the sad cases
Of young people who want to get
married and don't dare is pitiful."
Many Of them," he continued,
"are living together actually; q lot
are overlooking marriage; a lot are
going through with secret marriages"
Blames Law for Divorces.
Mrs. Edwina Avery, president of the
Womens Bar Association of the Dis
trict, who Is an editorial employe in
the Bureau Of Plant Industry, as
serted that the law Gin many cases
has driven husbands and wives apart"
She said that its effect was being felt
by the older employees who could not
get new start, and she added further
that "its influence is being felt through
the States"
1t was while Mrs. Avery was testify
ing that Chairman Ramspeck asked
her If she wouldn't favor amending
the law to cut original appointments
to one IN the family. She refused to
agree. Ramspeck interjected that he
thinks "it'S serious question If we
should not reduce the number Of orig
inal appointments. This one job -to-a-
family principle has recently been in
voked in the emergency agencies by
instructions from the Emergency
Council.
Representative Dunn, Democrat, Of
Mississippi, indicated he believed that
the Ramspeck suggestion was hardly
practical in that it would tend to re-
duce local employment, asserting "our
people don't want to come to WASH
ington for the salaries they pay"
Starnes Disagrees.
"T haven't found it that way" Rep
reSentative Starnes, Democrat, Of Ala
bama, said.
Mrs. Page T. Kirk, a Western High
School teacher, representing q group
Of teachers organizations, also ap-
peared in opposition to the law, be-
cause Of its effect on married teachers.
Mrs. Kirk was victim of its opera
ton, being forced to resign because
her husband also Is Government en-
ploye, and then being brought back
into service because there were no
eligibles on the teachers list to teach
her subject-mechanical drawing.
Despite the fact that Mrs. Kinks
absence from the school was during q
holiday period, Controller General Nc
Carl held that she could not come
back on her former pay basis, and as
q result she suffered material reduc-
ton In salary.
Mrs. Margaret Hopkins worrell,
president Of the American League of
Civil Service, was the final witness.
She said the law had worked some
injustices. She also was critical Of
married women who work and allow
their children to be cared for by serv-
ants.