Evening star., 1938-07-30
ELLIOTT REFUSES
TO RECANT RULING
ON CIVIL SERVICE
Must Provide Personnel for
Projects Financed by
P. w. A. Funds.
CONTROLLER IGNORES
PROTEST FROM ICKES
Will Bar Political Appointees in
0ld.Line Agencies Using
Emergency Funds.

Vlu'AlHe Agencies using
Emergency Funds.
BACKGROUND
Patronage has been one OF the
Hpest issues throughout the Roose-
pelt administration. Many of the
Ne,D Deal agencies uere stated
through political Endorsement
rather than ciph serpice eran,ir,a-
ton, and the same hiring policy
Das tolloDed in old-line agencies
Dhere emergency funds ,Dere made
available for employment.
Over the vigorous protest of Secre-
tary OF Interior. Ickes. Acting Con-
troller General Richard N. Elliott has
ruled that civil service personnel must
De used for projects financed by the
Public Works Administration Appro-
priation Act of 1888, unless the agen-
cles getting the allotments are specifi-
cally exempt from civil service law.
The ruling will have the effect of
barring political appointments in old
line agencies where the pay roll is
met by use Of emergency funds-a GUS
tom that has prevailed for five years.
The opinion was expressed informal
~ at the Civil Service Commission
that appointments already made in
contravention OF the Elliott ruling
would not be disturbed The de-
cision, however. will bar future ap-
pointments of the same nature.
Mr.. Elliott's decision, made public
today, was rendered on July 20 and
was a reiteration of an earlier ruling
which had escaped notice.
In appealing from the first ruling,
which was given at the request Of
the Navy Department, Administrator
1ckes told the acting controller gen.
eral his finding was erroneous" and
unnecessary" Mr.. Elliott, however,
refused to recant.
Ickes Asks Reversal.
The ruling to the Navy Depart
ment required that architects and
engineers employed directly In the
prosecution Of public works projects
must come under civil service.
Taking notice Of this, Mr.. Ickes,
asking for . reversal, said the appli-
cation Of such . ruling would have .
very serious effect" on administration
Of the new work-relief act.
1T Is unnecessary for me to empha-
size to you the fact that 1t was the
intent and purpose of the Congress,
in enacting this legislation, that the
projects to be undertaken be COM
menced and prosecuted to completion
as rapidly as possible, in order that
the benefits contemplated by the ex-
penditure Of the funds appropriated,
might be fully realized.
1T is my conviction, and think it
Is evident, that II the procurement Of
services for the prosecution of Fed
eral projects for which such allot-
ments are made must be accomplished
in accordance with the civil service
laws. delay will be experienced in the
procurement of those services to such
an extent that the accomplishment
Of the purposes of the act as I have
pointed them out above will be seri-
ously jeopardized, if not rendered
impossible"
Will Be No Delay.
He amplfied, however, that he was
not questioning the desirability" of
staining the Government civil service
personnel. but was actuated only by
desire to speed up the work.
In tbs connection it was said at the
Civil Service Commission there would
be no delay on this ground. The COM
mission, it was said, could furnish
eligibles as far as its registers went
and, II necessary, then could authorize
the employment of qualified person.
mel on temporary basis
Arrangements, it was said, already
have been made to meet the needs of
the Department of Justice, which is
getting money for prison expansion
program under the Public Works Act,
and the Navy Department, it was
added, where the personnel question
originally was raised, is experiencing
no difficulty.
According to information at the
commission. however, wherever prof.
ect is being constructed by the Gov
ernment itself, both the working and
administrative forces will be under
civil service. On outside projects, su-
pervisory and administrative and in
spection forces will come under civil
service.
Administrator 1ckes based his con-
tention that employment could be out
side of civil service on the phrase
ology OF the old National Recovery Act
of 1888, and successive relief acts.
Mr.. Elliott said. however. that the ex-
emption language of the N. r. A.
could not be construed as appearing
In either the 1887 or 1888 public works
acts