Evening star., 1937-04-11

latlon now proposed is the one that is
written into the Tennessee Valley Au-
thority, which does away with civil
service, but bans political preferment.
This appears in number of meas
ures to create authorities" for water
way development from one end of the
country to the other and for ma
tionalizing coal mines.
A throwback to the old soil-con
servation act, which automatically
conferred civil service status on 10000
workers after they had been employed
without examination, is in evidence
in Senate bill to create the Federal
Contract and Surety Commission to
establish uniform requirements affect
ing Government contracts. This would
be set up sans restriction and then
brought under civil service by July l.,
1898.
A carload of farm bills carry blanket
exemption and provide for a pay scale
as near as practicable" to that in the
classification act.
Reclamation projects opened job
vistas, although Reclamati ton Service,
in Interior is under civil service and
the camel's nose is in evidence in
two measures for the Post Office De-
partment, where regular employ
ment is almost exclusively civil
service. One of these, which has
passed the House, would allow special
delivery messengers with five years
service to take on-competitive tests
for substitute clerk-carrier and other
positions; another, simply introduced,
proposes to establish checking accounts
in postal savings, to be administered
by non-civil service staffs
Additional proposals of the same sort
include:
Federal licensing commission to
regulate interstate business.
National Unemployment and relief
commission.
Unemployment and occupational
census.
Commission to lay the groundwork
for setting up a territorial form of
government in the District OF Colum-
bia.
Commission to investigate losses suf-
fered by certain persons as the result
Of taking land for military purposes.
Ex-oficio commission to survey the
possibilities OF establishing a hall of
fame.
United States board Of award to
confer medals for meritorious service
of various sorts
Transcontinental super highway
commission.
Commissions to study the feasibility
of establishing national monuments in
the territory occupied by the Spanish
colonial missions in the Southwest and
for erecting G. A. r. memorial.
And on and on.
New Employment Registers.
And all Of this despite the fact that
the Civil Service Commission will, by
July l, have spent about S2,500,000 for
setting up new employment registers
in three years, and in 1886 alone held
1,100 different types of test to meet
the expanding needs of government.
In the same period hundreds OF thou
sands Of applicants have been exam
ined, and while passing grades gener-
ally have been made by better than
an average Of so per cent, appoint
ments have fallen far below this figure.
Right now-in classes where the de-
mand Is heaviest-commission regis
ters show available for employment
25,575 junior typists, 9,747 junior
stenographers, 9,o63 senior typists,
1880 senior stenographers and 400
card punch operators.
Meanwhile the percentage of civil
service and non-civil service employ
ment in the Government hangs around
the 60-40 average Of the last three
years, as compared to the 1920 ratio
Of the pre-New Deal era. Actually,
the percentage is 62-38, according to
the Civil Service Commission report
for December 81, which showed SIS
238 classified employees and 3l5,8l5
outside the pale. As compared to
June 80 last, this was an increase
Of 1858 classified and a decrease Of
9,677 non-classified. Many of these
non-civil service employees are, Of
course, those on subsistence wages, but
there are thousands, even In old-hne
establishments, getting the regular pay
scale.
The lons gesture Of note toward