The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1936-07-03
u. S.PERS0NNEL
NEARS WAR
FIGURE
BY J. EARLE MOSER

crept to within 1000 of the total
number here on Armistice Day,
1918, according to Civil Service
Commission figures released to-
day.
A net gain Of 1874 was re-
corded between the end Of April
and the end Of May, the District
of Columbia total rising from
-115,073 to 1851. On November
II, 1918, the high water mark for
ali time in Washington'S Federal
personnel, the total was 117,760.
Similar gains were recorded in
the service as a whole, the May
total of 817,856 civilian employees
in the executive branch including
an increase Of 7,438 over previous
figures.
At the commission it was ex-
planned that the recent gains were
largely because Of the bonus pay
ment work, Treasury Department
and the Veterans Administration
taking on large numbers Of tenn
-porary clerks for this purpose. In
the field, increases were recorded
by the Engineer and QuartermaS-
ter Corps Of the War Department
in connection with routine sum-
.mer season gains that occur every
year.
Most Of the gains were recorded
in the regular agencies of the Gov
eminent. while the so-called new"
agencies, units set up by the New
Deal that are expected eventually
to become permanent, showed a
drop in personnel both in Wash
-ington and the field. Home Own
erS Loan Corporation and the
Works Progress Administration
showed large reductions during
the month, although WPA had a
net gain it its Washington staff,
and the net drop among new
CLOUDS in the District was 46. In
the field it was So.
:. A summary Of Civil Service fig
ures since September, 1885, re-
.vealed that the new agencies that
may be made permanent have
steadily reduced personnel, month
by month, in the District. The
September total Of 15,117 had
shrunk to but 12,704 in May, the
report showed.
'" Government units administer
ing relief also showed loss Of 853
workers throughout the country
but increased by 80 in Washing
ton, their number in the District
reaching a new high of 1887 in
May, against but 18,483 during
the preceding month. They have
increased by small margins each
month, according to past figures,
and have aided in Washington's
steady advance toward the war
time peak.
BASED on "past performances"
or the rate at which personnel
has grown in Washington since
the advent Of the New Deal, it is
held likely that the District has
already broken its all-time record,
which is no bad news to Washing
ton business.
Baseball Cruise
Employees of the General Ac-
counting Office have planned a
moonlight cruise down the Pc
tomac for Monday, July 20, on the
steamer Potomac. The cruise will
begin at 8:45 p. M, and large
attendance from the various G.
A. o. building is hoped for by the
arrangements committee, as pro-
'ceedS of the affair will go toward
the G. A. o. baseball team in the
Herald Government League.
Shenandoah Park
According to reports from Char
1ottesville, Va; the entire town
intends to turn out today when
President Roosevelt formally
opens Shenandoah National Park
with an address at 10 a. m. from
Monticello, mountain-top home Of
Thomas jefferson. Among high
officials to be present will be
James A. Farley, Harry H. Wood
ing, Assistant Secretary of State;
james Morris, Assistant Attorney
General; Edward F. McGrady,
Assistant Secretary Of Labor; j.
M. johnson, Assistant Secretary
of Commerce, and Stephen B. Glib
bons, Assistant Secretary of the
Treasury. Senators Carter Glass
and Harry F. Byrd will also at
tend, as will seven Virginia Repre-
sentativeS.
Miss Blanche C. Hewlett, Of the
Tariff Commission, has contribut-
ed the following poem, entitled
1.-The Shenandoah Park" as an
appropriate description of the
vicinity:
Spring is here! A symphony is heard,
The music of the tree. and flower and
The orchestra, a brook with rocky bed,
Some ironwood horns, a fern the fiddle
head.
The oboe, trumpet, flute and clarinets.
Are with the reeds and moss and vio-
let's.
The wind. harpist who is world-re-
nowned,
Makes wood and dell with melody re-
sound;
win prlar harp, anoIner instrument
Whose lyric notes to symr hony are
blent
Accompanies a thrush's matin lay.
"A solo that precedes the break of day.
The poem has been published
in several anthologies.
Odds and Ends
Civil Service has installed a
new dial system. and everyone
is finding his old interoffice di-