Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1948-07-13

The three Joseph founs'
agencies would retain their enti-
ties, somewhat like the Army, Navy
and Air Force Departments in the
National Defense Establishment
but they would be combined in a
single department under a top-pol-
icy cabinet officer.
Incidentally, this would not in
terfere with considerable sentiment
in the Hoover Commission to re-
organize the Civil Service Commits
sion under a single administrator
instead of the three commissioners
as at present. This is similar to the
plan advocated by Chairman LANCER
Of the Senate Civil Service Com
mittee, details OF which were dis
closed in this column last week.
The one drawback to the proposed
plan for a Department of Admins.
tration is Congress reluctance ir
the past to give up its jurisdiction
over the General Accounting Office
which is one of the strongest arms
of the legislative branch of the
Government. Whether it would
change it's attitude if the Hoover
Commission recommended it re.
mains to be seen.
Even if the GAO were not in.
Guided in the proposed new depart
ment, the Civil Service Commission
and the Budget Bureau still coulo
become the nucleus OF the pro-
posed new setup.
STYMIED-Gov. Dewey has beer
thwarted in at least several in
stances in his desire to use the pro-
fessional stats. of the various COM
mittees of Congress to dig up cam
paign material for him.
Last week, Mr.. Dewey sent two
lieutenants to Washington to con-
tact the staff experts Of every
House and Senate Committee. They
were John E.. Burton, New YORK
State budget director, and Mr.. Bur.
tons administrative assistant, Ha
C. Greene.
The two men set up shop at the
Mayf1ower Hotel and invited tue va
rious staff members to call or
them.
In several instances, the stat
members refused to give the Dewey
men the data for which they asked
These staff members offered to give
them all their committees docu'
ments and to explain the contents
but they baked at giving up secret
information that could be usec
against the Democrats in the Cam
paign.
Their reason, was that the Con.
/ gressional Reorganization Act set ur
the professional committee jobs or
a nonpartisan basis. OF course
there are political considerations In
volved in the appointments, espe.
cially in the top committees. Blu,
professional staff members feel they
are serving not only the Repub'
lican members of the committee
they are employed with, but also
the Democratic members.
That's why several of them re.
fused to disclose certain conIluelilla
committee information. Their stane
eventually may be reversed by the
chairmen of their committees, bul
until they are specifically instructed
to turn over the documents, they
will not give them to the Dewey
forces.
RAISED EYEBROWS Many
Government officials around town
are expressing considerable surprise
over the speech made last night be-
fore the Democratic convention by
Civil Service Commissioned Frances
Perkins.
It's the first time that any OF
them can remember that civil
service commissioner has actively
participated in political campaign
Although the appointments of civil
service commissioners are usually
political ones, it has always been
traditional that the commissioners
do not actively engage in political
activities once they get the job.
| Miss Perkins two colleagues, DEM