Evening star., 1938-04-08
All About Civil Service
Columnist Asks Why Merit Protection Was Removed
and Only Power Provisions Retained in Reform Bill.

Now. obviously. II these requirements
had been retained in the bill ther,
could be no objection to the abolition
| Of bi-partisan board, for there would
be . guarantee Of the existence In its
place Of . non partisan administrator.
But the proposed legislation does away
with the bipartisan board without
providing the slightest guarantee that
the new. sole administrator shall be
non-partisan. The President is in
| structed, to be sure, to select the ad-
ministrator without regard to political
afiliations and by reason OF special
qualifications and to remove him only
for inefnciency, neglect of duty or mall
feasance in Office. But in contrast to
the recommendations OF the commit
tee, no procedure Is laid down which
would guarantee that appointments
would be made purely on merit.
No Check Remains.
Thus, the restrictions originally pro-
posed. requiring the President to make
this important appointment on the
merit principle under Civil Service
laws themselves, are dropped COM
pletely, while the original bipartisan
check is gone
Mr.. Lippman says that the Civil
Service Commission Is not a quasi-leg-
islative body; that the Civil Service
rules have been traditionally promul-
gated and amended by the President:
that since 1883 1t has been he who has
made the rules. The second part OF
this statement is certainly true. And
therefore there is all the more reason
why there should be . check against
the Civil Service Commission becoming
. partisan political administration.
Under the bill the administrator is
authorized, among other things, to
plan. establish, supervise and CO.
ordinate employe training programs
and similar activities of the various
branches Of government. and make
available to such agencies any en-
ploye training facilities at his disposal
and assist in the installation of
personnel standards, practices or pol.
icies for any agency Of the Govern
ment"
An administrator and board. there
fore. subject to no guarantee that it
shall be non-political. can decide what
constitutes the equipment of a civil
servant. There is nothing in this bill
to prevent them from requiring that
all candidates pass an examination in
the New Deal philosophy.
Open Way to Single State.
AN- fN1 tvHN
suggests that it might be possible for
such 4 board to demand Of all can
didates for public Office under the
civil service something OF the same
sort Of requirement that was put into
the T. v. A. Act to govern its admin
istrators-namely. that they shall be
persons who profess faith in the
feasibility and wisdom of this chap
ter" After all. the administrative
requirements in the single party states
require that all shall profess faith in
the feasibility and wisdom of the
leaders policies. And one way to
make q single-party state is to create
a single-party bureaucracy.
Not only did the original recon-
mendations OF the committee provide
that the administrator should be Sc
lected on . competitive basis under
the merit system. but it proposed that
lay board Of seven members should
be set up as - watchdog Of the merit
system
1t pointed out that the commission
is now oblisss; Doth to administer and
to appraise and criticize its own ad-
ministration. These functions are
basically Incompatible An effective
appraisal, critical and constructive,
must be entirely detached from execu-
ton"
And it suggested that mo person
should be eligible for membership if,
at any time within five years preceding
the date Of his appointment. he has
been . member or officer of any local,
State or national political party COM
mittee, or has held or been q candi-
date for any elective public ONCE"
Another object Of the proposed