Evening star., 1940-11-20
Ramspeck Merit Bill
Awaits Approval Of :
President Roosevelt
Measure, Passed After
4 Years, Enables 200, 900
Jobs to Be Covered In

The Ramspeck bill ito extend
and broaden" the classifld civil
service is on President Roosevelt's
desk today awaiting his signature,
after having been buffeted in House
and Senate for nearly four years.
Containing compromise on State
quotas for Federal jobs, the con-
ference report was approved in the
Senate without question and in the
House by vote of 206 to l39 after
fight for more than an hour led
by Representative Nichols, Demo-
crat, of Oklahoma with Repub-
lican support.
The bill authorizes the President
to cover into the civil service an es-
timated 100000 present and pro-
posed jobs, with the exception OF
the T. v. A. and the w. P. A., in
more than a score of independent
agencies.
Holders of these jobs who have
given six months satisfactory serv-
ice are to be given non-competitive
examinations. If they fail they
must be dismissed within six
months. It was stated during de-
bate that about 20 per cent are ex-
pected to be thus disqualified, open
ing up positions for that number
on the eligible lists.
Senator Mead, Democrat, of New
York, in charge of the bill in the
Senate, said that this legislation
will result in economical and ef-
ficient administration"
The Civil Service Commission said
1t will be months before the benefits
of this legislation will reach all
Government employees eligible to
receive them.
President Can Fix Salaries.
Exempted besides the T. V. A.
and the w. P. A. jobs are all policy
making" positions filled with the
consent Of the Senate and positions
of assistant district attorneys.
The President is given power to
determine salaries, previously leg
islative function-with the advice
of the Civil Service Commission
except for those in the postal serv-
ice, District of Columbia Board Of
Education. Metropolitan Police and
Fire Departments, United States
Park Police, Coast Guard. Public
Health Service, Coast and Geodetic
Survey, Government Printing Office,
foreign service, customs service,
immigration and naturalization
service and those in recognized
skilled mechanical crafts.
The bill authorizes the President
to extend to the entire field service
the rates of pay now effective in
departmental service here. This
provision will benefit an estimated
100000 Federal workers outside of
Washington, civil service officials
claim. 1t is admitted that it will
take many months and perhaps
years to complete the survey and
bring the benefits to all field posi-
tions.
Boards Of Review.
Boards of review are to be set up
in each Government department to
study efficiency ratings of all en-
ployes. These ratings have been
source of perennial pickering. En-
ployes are now given representation
on the rsview board.
Salary boosts are provided for the
three civil service commissioners,
from $500 to $4,000, while L. A.
Meyer. executive director and chief
examiner, is promoted from $4,000
to $500.
Clerks and secretaries to members
of Congress may obtain classified
civil service status under this
measure, through non-competitive
examination, after four years serv-
ice on Capitol Hill. The transfer
to a job in the administrative de-
partments must be made within
year after their legislative service.
Temporary census workers are not
included in provisions under the bill.
The final draft of the bill eliminat-
ed a Senate proposal that only
fngerprints, not photographs, be re-
quired for civil service applications.
Before finally approving the bill,
the House argued for an hour over
its effect on the quota system, which
allots each State a proportion Of
civil service workers according to
population. When the President
would blanket agencies into civil
service under the Ramspeck meas
ure, employees could obtain civil
service ranking even though the
quotas of their home States were