Evening star., 1939-03-31
Social Security Board
Officials Called in
Civil Service Probe
Charge Of Professionalism
At Expense Of Merit
Roised at Quiz
BY GARRETT d. HORNER.


were called before a special Senate
committee investigating charges Of
favoritism in the Government serv-
ice today to answer complaints of
discrimination against veteran civil
service employees in favor of pro-
fessional experts"
Some of the complaints were aired
at a public hearing late yesterday,
following suspension of an inquiry
into the status of an officials niece
employed as stenoWapher in the
Justice Department under what
Committee Chairman Ellender as
serted appeared to be violation Of
the civil service rules.
G. E. Luban, a World War veteran
with 13 years Government service
to his credit, told the committee he
was denoted last year from CAF-11
to CAF-10 ranking after his new
boss, Benjamin Beecher, chief of the
field supervision section of Social
Security Old-Age Insurance Bureau,
had told a fellow employe:
"You civil service men are not
worth damn, and professionals are
going to run this place, with the
civil service people working for the
experts"
Fears "Something Rotten"
Declaring that Mr.. Luban's demo-
ton and other complaints indicated
something rotten" Senator Ellen
der said he would call Mr.. Beecher
and others concerned for testimony
to get to the bottom" of the situa-
ton at public hearing scheduled for
ppm. today in room 357 of the Sem
ate Office Building.
Il think that those who have
chosen Government work as their
life work should be given an op-
portunity to get ahead" Senator
Ellender asserted. "and when any
body tries to hold them back to push
somebody else ahead that's where I
draw the line
II want to see promotions of Fed
eral employees on real merit basis,
and if they are not done that way
we might as we'll go back to the old
spoils system"
Open Testimony Invited.
Emphasizing that the current in
vestigation was designed to build
basis for corrective legislation, Sen
ator Ellender urged that Federal
workers with knowledge of any bad
conditions offer their testimony
without any fear of reprisals but
added that I'm not going to stand"
for taking up the committees time
with mere personal grudges."
The hearing yesterday brought
out that Miss Maragret Stanley,
attractive blond niece of Special AS
sistant Attorney General William
Stanley, was appointed to a steno-
graphic job in the Justice Depart
ments tax division two years ago
for special work in connection with
q case on which she had worked
previously in private law Office.
Miss Stanley said she had fln-
ished that special work and now
was assigned as stenographer to two
attorneys in the division, with a
$500 annual salary. e.
John Hill. Justice Department ap-
pointments clerk. and Howard P.
Locke, an attorney and personnel
officer in the tax division, explained
that Miss Stanley was retained
without civil service status because
the rules permitted each Assistant
Attorney General to have one non-
civil service private secretary or con-
fidential clerk, and that she held
that excepted position in the Office
of Assistant Attorney General James
w. Morris.
Thinks Rule Twisted"
Senator Ellender pointed out that
she was not doing the confidential
work of the excepted position and
asked Mr.. Hill if he thought it was
right to twist the rule around this
way
Mr.. Hill declined to venture an
opinion, asserting that it was the
Assistant Attorney Generals prerog-
ative to recommend the appoint
ment as it was handled and that
Miss Stanley was considered to be
occupying the excepted position.
well, if the rule is not being
violated I can't understand the Eng
lish language in which it is written"
Senator Ellender asserted, adding
that if he found anybody had vio-
lated the rule he would report them
to the Civil Service Commission for
reprimand.
Don't you think that whoever
is responsible for having Miss STAN
ley in there ought to be punished
for violating the civil service rules?"
he asked Mr.. Locke, who replied,
II am not able to answer that"
Miss Bertha Lonergan. 81, ,620-a-
year stenographer in the tax division
after 81 years Government service,
said she believed she had been dis
eliminated against in favor of Miss
Stanley and "other younger and
prettier girls who have come in since
we old war horses" She described
herself as a war horse because
she started working for the Gov
ernment during the World War.
Says Reassignment Asked.
do with a reduced efficiency rating
Mr.. Locke insisted that Miss
stanley's employment had nothing to
for Miss Lonergan, testifying that
seven different attorneys to whom
Miss Lonergan had been assigned
as stenographer had complained of
he work and asked that she be re-
assigned.
Miss Lonergan contended, how
ever, that she was a competent Ste
nographer and said that getting
ahead in the Government service
appeared "in some cases to be not
what you know, but who you know"
After indicating that he would go
further into the Justice Depart
ment situation later, Senator Ellen
der called nearly a dozen Social
Security Board employees and off,
cials to sit around table with him
informally for discussion of griev-
AnceS in that agency.