The Washington times., 1937-02-24

Each day The Times publishes pie.
lures Of Government employees well
known to their colleagues, with biOg.
raphical stories concerning them. Fed
eral folk interested in such photos, es.
pecially members of Government Organi-
Eations, should contact the writer in the
editorial room by 5:15 D. m. or phone DI.
1000, branch 210.
# general sentiment Of mem
bers Of the House Civil Service
Committee can be trusted, the
bugaboo of "open competitive ex-
aminations" for Government EN-
ployes in new agencies and emer-
gency units has become an "alSo
ran" There just won't be any
such thing, according to indica-
tions.
Hearings on the Ramspeck bill
to bring emergency folk into Civil
Service status closed yesterday.
During them, however, an over
whelmingly large majority Of wit
nesses urged that non-competl'
tive tests be given emergency EN-
ployes, and the few who stuck
BY Chairman Ramspeck'S original
idea of competitive testing eX
pressed the sentiment that ex'
perience on the job should be
credited heavily in examining
those who now hold the jobs.
Announcing that the House
committee will meet next week
to discuss the bill, after teSti-
mony given at the hearings has
been printed, Representative
Ramspeck said yesterday that he
is dubious that the committee
will report out the measure in
its present form. He said:
"The committee will prob
ably agree that we just can't
have competitive tests, in view
of the testimony that has been
given here"
Should the competitive feature
be retained in the bill after all,
however, it is fairly certain that
the committee will find some way
to provide liberal credit to those
now holding Unclassified jobs.
Testimony that "the best test Of
a man is watching him while he
is on the job" has weighed
heavily.
Mrs. Kate Richards O'Hare, a
militant lady who represents the
American Commonwealth Fedora
ton and had the Justice Depart
ment's agents shopping after her
during the World War because she
is a pacifist, gave the Civil Service
Committee and its audience a
genuine chuckle while testifying
yesterday.
Mrs. O'Hare was quite peeved
over the manner in which admin
istrators appointed through pa
tronage had allegedly ruined So
cial efforts in her home State, Cali
fornia, and cited the case of the
transient camps which California
attempted to carry out before it
became necessary to set UP the
''bum blockade" and turn back
vagrants at the State line.
One WPA camp, she said, was
put in charge of an ancient spin
ster Of about 80 years of age," add
ing to the committee:
Gentlemen, this woman was
physically decrepit. And she had
had absolutely no experience In
handling hObOes!"
Kenneth VipOnd, Civil Service
Commission budget officer, was
called back to the witness stand
as the final session began. Vipond,
usually meek in nature, surprised
the audience with a vigorous
declaration that a person who COM
mitted a crime two decades ago
and had enjoyed a good record
since should have nothing held
against him in taking an examina-
ton to enter the Government
service. He was opposed in this
opinion by Representative Moser,
of Pennsylvania, who held that
persons with an absolutely clear
record should receive preference,
but Vipond doggedly held to his
view.
The Alabama legislative delega-
ton and Alabama State Society
were the guests of the Interior De-
partment last night as an un-
usually interesting lecture and mo-
tion picture program were pre-
sented at the departmental audi
torium, between the Labor and
I. C. C. buildings.
DR.. Walter B. Jones, State
geologist of Alabama, gave a talk
regarding the archaeological and
anthropological research at Mound
vile, Ala, accompanying a sound
motion picture depicting the 30
odd prehistoric mounds which oc-
cupy the outskirts of the city. In
cluded in the presentation were
three one-reel movies showing the
Federal Governments cooperation
with Alabama in conserving the
States natural resources, plus de-
velopment of the Alabama State
parks.
Moundville's mounds were dis
covered about so years ago, when