Evening star., 1940-01-06
Civil Service Chiefs
Hold |ckes Guilty Of
A 'Favorite Untruth..
No Bosis for His Claim
Merit Employees Have
Life Tenure, They Soy
By ]. A. FOX.

oVIiSthiS Va AAeSliOl 4ShSo " 40
party to another ull-blossomed con-
troversy today with the three men,
bers of the Civil Service Commits
sion Representative Ramspeck.
Democrat. of Georgia, chairman of
the House Civil Service Committee,
and Samuel H. Ordway, former COM
mission member and now National
Civil Service Reform League presi-
dent All five condemned the cabi-
net officers charge that civil serv-
ice "cliaue" in the Bureau of Mines
was sabotaging his policies.
Secretary Ickes' criticism of the
mines staff followed his explanation
for ousting its director. DR.. John
w. Finch. who, he said. lacked iron
in his blood" and could not control
his subordinates.
Said the commissioners. whose ac-
ton was unusual:
THE Secretary of the Interior.
Harold L. Ickes. in his statement
dealing with certain administrative
situations in the Bureau of Mines
is quoted by the press as stating
that a bureaucratic clique was pro-
tected by civil service regulations
and that any attempts to can
them would necessarily result ir
trials
This statement has no basis in
fact.
In another newspaper account of
the same interview with the press,
the Secretary states that the for
nation of such cliques happens all
the time when people have life
tenure there under civil service.
The allegation that persons un-
der civil service have a life tenure
also has no basis in fact"
Ramspeck Says He's Wrong.
Said Mr.. Ramspeck:
If any civil service employe is
guilty in respect to the policies of a
cabinet officer, there is nothing in
the civil service laws or regulations
to prevent the discharge of such an
employe.
Il am surprised that any cabinet
officer should labor under such a
misconceptions"
Mr.. Ordway sharply took Mr..
Ickes to task for 'unwarranted con-
demnation of civil service
The Civil Eervice Commission
statement, issued in the names Of
the individual commissioners, and
that from Mr.. Ramspeck emphasized
that a cabinet officer who desires to
remove an employe for cause is both
judge and jury" and the commits
sion added that statements to the
contrary can have no other effect
than to discredit unjustifiably the
Federal merit system"
The statement continued:
"All the administrator needs to do
is to set forth in writing his reasons
for desiring to remove an employe,
give the employe copy of these rea-
sons and allow the employe reason
able time for personally answering
the charges in writing. Once the ad-
ministrator has received the en-
ploye's reply, he can terminate the
employees services Immediately.
Civil service rules specifically pro-
vide that no examination of wit
nesses nor any trial or hearing shall
be required, except in the discretion
of the officer making the removal.
Furthermore. if the required pro-
cedure is followed, the employe has
no appeal to the United States Civil
Service Commission unless it is al
legged with proof that the removal
was for political or religious reasons.
ANY administrator who alleges
that it is impossible for him to deal
with an administrative situation in
his own agency because of civil serv-
ice rules or regulations is attempt
ing to explain his own unwillingness
to act by providing the public with
misinformation."
A "Favorite Untruth."
The commission pointed out that
in a report written when Theodore
Roosevelt was member OF that
body, it was described as "one of the
favorite untruths of the spoilsmen"
to allege that examinations asked
by the commission were irrelevant
or impractical, and drew this paral-
lei with current conditions:
I'm recent years, one Of the IA
vorite untruths of the spoilsmen' is
to allege that person who receives
q classified civil-service status re-
mains on the pay roll for life. As
indicated above, the inefhcient en-
ploye can be removed by any id.
(see ICKES, Page A-lo0