Evening star., 1946-02-10
Truman Pledges
Support 10 u. 5.
System
President Addresses
Bureau Heads on
Personnel Order

bureau Heads on
Personnel Order
President Truman pledged his ef-
forts yesterday toward a strong,
effective merit system in Govern
ment employment as he addressed
officials and personnel officers of
Federal departments and agencies
on details of his recent executive
order restoring the Government to
a peacetime personnel basis.
approximately 120 chiefs of Gov
ernment agencies and bureaus, cab
met members and civil service Off
cials gathered in the motion picture
room of the White House to hear
Mr.. Truman.
The President evinced keen inter-
est In the problems and activities Of
Government agencies and declared
that as soon as he has the time, he
viii meet with key Federal officials
and discuss the situation at greater
length. He observed, however, that
each week gets "a little more hectic"
than the last.
Text of Address.
The President said:
This is privilege for me.
think 1t is going to make the day
more pleasant for me to get
chance to see the people who ac-
tually make the Government run.
Il have called you together to
direct your attention to the recent
executive order placing the Civil
Service back on peacetime basis.
There are several forward looking
moves in that executive order that
I particularly want to call your at
tention to. 1t Is a decentralization
OF personnel management.
This decentralization, I think.
will be exceedingly helpful in Gre
ating efficiency-a true merit sys-
tenn in the Government. 1t gives
the personnel people in the depart
ments chance to have some say
in the selection of the people who
are to do the work.
Personnel Makes Clock Tick.
Now personnel is what makes
the clock tick. You can take a
very poor law, with an admins
traitor who knows where he is going.
and he will make it work. You
can take the finest arrangement on
paper that you can put together,
and put it in the hands of a poor
administrator. and you might Just
as well back up and not try to
start.
Il am anxious to see an effective
merit system in force. I would like
to see the people in the places
where they can do the most good.
There are all sorts of people in
this world. One may do an excellent
Job in the Veterans Administration
and be a total failure in the Depart
ment Of Agriculture. One may do
an excellent job in the Department
of Commerce and be completely out
OF place in the State, Department.
You can't take a farmer and
put him in Immediately as the
president of the biggest bank in
the world and expect it to operate:
neither can you take the president
of any big bank and put him behind
a plough and expect him to raise .
crop.
Urges Merit System.
THE point I am trying to make
Is that want the personnel people,
and the heads of departments, to
cooperate in establishing a merit
system in the Government that will
work. And we want to put it closer
to you, so that you will have hand
IN the fixing of the standards for
the selection of the people who
are going to work for you. If we
can do that, I think we will have
gone long way toward efficiency
in Government.
The head of a Government de.
partment must know his depart
ment, must be the boss of his de-
partment and must make it work,
and in order to do that he must
have the cooperation of the peo-
pie under him. And to get that CO.
operation, he must know his peo-
pie. That is another one of the
ideas We have in this executive
order which has just been issued.
I will certainly appreciate It
more than I can tell you If you will
take that order and study it, and
then help me to implement that
order so that it will work prac-
tically on the ground.
Depends on People.
Il think it is good order, but IL
is not worth the paper it's written
on If You people don't put it into
effect.
1T has been a privilege to me to
see all of you. wish I could speak
to you, shake hands with each one
of you, and find out Just exactly
what your ideas are. Some of these
days, when the reconversion pro-
gram is completed, maybe 1 will
have an opportunity to do that.
Il have been thinking every week.
that perhaps the next week will not
be quite so hectic as the week lust
passed, but the coming week is al
ways just little more hectic. This
is one place where you never lack
Tor action, and where there is all
ways crisis just around the COR
ner and have to do something
about it. But the next day that
crisis is passed, and it's Just like
yesterdays newspapers. That's the
way we must face those things.
Promises Cooperation.
Nov I am counting on YOU and
your cooperation to make this
peace-time Government of ours lust
as efficient as the wartime Govern
ment was, for the purpose for which
1t was set up.
"You can do it.
And want to say to you that
will give you all the cooperation
that the Office of the President of
the United States is capable of Civ
ing to you.
Thank you very much"
The executive order sets I'M
Boards of Examiners in each agency
to aid in the selection of KEY per-
sonnet in scientific, technical and
professional fields. 1t also grants
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