Evening star., 1943-06-18

mands that have ~
come from David Lawrence.
spokesmen of the administration
arguing that industry must convert
to wartime use, that manpower must
be drained from every nonessential
industry and that the public must
make sacrifices, the major fact re-
mains that the Government itself
has done = poor job of conversion"
from peacetime habits.
1t Is commonplace that Wash
fnston is congested and that i'm
portant war work Is impeded by the
dineulties Of getting personnel.
Hiring has continued at a rapid
pace and the influx Of clerical work.
ers to Washington has tied up
nearly every cubic foot OF living
space, jammed the hotels and apart
ment houses and the eating places
all because the administration has
bungled its personnel problem.
AooquAtS AutnOTHy.
There are, Of course, governmental
agencies for the handling of per-
sonnel. There is also plenty of
authority given the President by
Congress to transfer persons, elm
mate bureaus or consolidate govern
mental activities. But there has
been a strange inertia about get
ting Government to convert to war
time needs and to eliminate nom
essential work.
The reason perhaps is that bureau
chiefs and department heads do not
like to eliminate personnel. Persons
with vested right in a job feel
they have life tenure. This is
more often heard in Government
circles than elsewhere. Yet private
industry has been ruthlessly treated.
A simple order from q war board
will put a business on the rocks.
The employees are forced out with
out the slightest concern about their
future-the assumption is that they
will find jobs In the greatly expand
ing war industries.
But when the subject Of Govern
ment wartime conversion first was
broached more than two years ago,
the idea was advanced that it WASH t
necessary to drop Federal employees
but to give them the wartime jobs.
Fears arose that old employees might
lose their Civil Service status: This
could have been corrected by an
executive order overnight.
Had some system been used to
convert from peacetime to wartime
inside the Government, there would
have been little need for the big
inflow of new workers. The whole
governmental personnel should have
been classified and put In a pool
and the necessary war activities
should have had first call on the
various classes Of employees.
Waste, Inefficiency Result.
Now Washington finds itself with
an unprecedented number of new
employees and with almost as big a
number of peacetime employees doing
the usual peacetime jobs. Not only
Is this waste of public money at a
time when the Government is ap-
peatng to the people to buy War
bonds and pay high taxes, but 1t
actually acts as retarding force in
the attainment of efficiency in the
war agencies. This is entirely apart
from the acute shortages of ONCE
spaee which have become the night
mare Of operating executives in the
wartime agencies.
An Investigation OF the space sit
ustion would disclose that there is
q constant reshufling and moving
around Of important ofiices and
that little is being done to acquire
the space from the non-essential
activities Congress now has the
responsibility of meeting the issue
and, evidently in response to public
demand, there is a general slashing
OF appropriations not only of peace
time, but OF wartime agencies.
Way to Get Results.
It's about the only way that re-
suits will be gotten. 1t is most un-
fortunate that the reduction of en-
ployes has to be forced in this man
ner, but it's the only means of get