Evening star., 1948-11-23

"'eos NSeVere unemploymnt among
raoio ar'lss pecially singing groups, such
contract Nent Is most important.
OF course has been no ru,ing that
musicians hot laugh at a comedians
jokes. We apr lite the fact that it ,s some
tin'es heeosS"' twist the facts to make
sooo stofy. perhaps your editorial is
symoo'c I" soiing that has caused Cor
Shouio cauSe' u1rrent soul searching" by
American ne"spTnen. Mr.. Harold Ickes
recently poihsea that great majority of
oaiiy eoi'oilai pappported the losing cam
oioate lof IiesAtn 1882, 1886. 1910, 1s44-
nltIihs an az 0ord for failure of leader
sup III i'1o' o1btedly one reason why
american vo'efs follow the editorial ad-
wee oi 'i'eir he"SFs is that they consider
eiioee p"peis iaseSiranted that an editor
iiaS 'iie iish' " an occasional fact to
pioouee JoAe' n'' not be wise-maybe
just ohce-'h d iaoo sstion to turn the twist
80 'hat the iu''lo' 'uore evenly distributed?
A. FRANK REEL,
Natiohal ASsistan xecutive Secretary.
AFRA, New YorkAsy
Eoitors hoIe' editorial referred to
news ospaIches y, Arthur Godfrey as
warning MS orcnestSot to laugh, lest they
become artiSts WIZ the meaning of an
AFRA ruling
:
Civil ServEunct;ons
% the Editor Of The Star:
Your editorial of Ndher "a entitled .De-
cehIraiiAeo IGN troubles me, and l
am sure you you'd wsto correct some in
formation in itwhich is in accordance with
the actualities. In sue matter vol would
have to 90 on the alSumh that tho informa.
ton given to you iscorre,ut in this instance
you nave not Deen ofrecadvised.
ihe PROPOSAL 10 i"hiring functions"
of the Civil ServiceComn,on is . m,sr.nr.-
sentation because tie comLio, docs mt now
hire" The commission 1n,n.. ann,icants
invited by open alnouncent The .l,o,hl.s
are then certified ! the aerv and it !. tn.
agency having thf vacancs mich does The
hiring. BY sayhgthat the omission hires
for the Governn nen would gith. impression
that there is moe ientralizath than sctu.llv
exists.
Also, your edprll says tina DEMONSTRATION
of all personnel recruitment an,,r,no .ct,v,.
ties in Washingbl tended to ct. mon.
power bottleneckF This too is i,rr.ct Th.
commission has b0 decentrali1 all .,opo
in the field ofices,f the common Each
OF the l3 regions o;he Civil Ser,, Commis-
sion attends to futions by VIII tho d..
GENERALIZATION alreas is in operatit.nd has
been doing for ms years beforehe war
About the only reaitment proceAg that
takes place in Washston is for the shins-
ton area alone.
Also, to describe ii proposal as "deatra,.
ization" Is grossly sd seriously incorlt he.
cause the commisseis already fully dectraI-
lied. The proposala to delegate rathehan
TO decentralize-to aegate functions othe
commission to oths agencies-to the \rv
agencies which haveae vacancies.
The very heart Off system established
the civil service legision is the seperationl
the examining funcn from the appointil
function. This sounoasis is also adhered
In the State and mulApal civil service mer
systems. Another itent the heart of the mer
system Is the open competitive featur
Both these fundaments are eminentIy whole
some and sound. StateAnts that direct agenc
recruitment yields bettspersonnel are almo.
completely false and areptivated by nefariol
crony hiring incllnationsI1e proposed remed
is worse than the diseaseJAMES SHANNON
Editors note: In e news story Of
Herbert HooverS civil vice recommended
tions and in the edltoribaSed thereon, the
phrase hiring tunctlon was used loosely
to cover the process ofersonnel selection
and examination. MrhannOn correctly
points out that the apnting power rests
with departments headsbt with the Civil
Service Commission. Afor decentraliza-
ton, that is the term us by the commits
sion in its annual report 1946 to describe
its program for delegats recruiting and
examining powers to tflseveral depart
ments and agencies.