Evening star., 1952-11-09

assurance OF JOO security 1TCIIl
President-elect Eisenhower's early
assertion that rumors that Re-
publican victory would bring &
Civil Service housecleaning were
bunk"
If, however, Congress slaps or
horizontal cuts by the simple ex-
|pedient of withholding funds, the
pinch would be felt in exact pro-
portion to the amounts involved
Under such circumstances, civil
service should stand as q protec-
ton, so far as those jobs which
are retained are concerned. Eva
sion Of merit system employment
regulations however, Is easily pos
sible, If those in charge choose to
take such a course, as was demon
strated in 1888.
Taber Reyives Question.
Every statement made by Gen
Eisenhower before his election
however. stressed that while po-
litical policymakers in the top
brackets would be replaced, the
efficient workers on lower levels
had nothing to fear. In Augusta,
yesterday. when the personnel
question was raised. associates of
Gen. Eisenhower said he had
nothing to add to these assur-
anceS.
The issue had been revived Fri
day. when Representative Taber,
Republican, New York. who will
head the Appropriations Com
mittee in the new Congress. said
his group would aim at economies,
and that "a lot of jobs" were ex-
pected tc go by the boards.
About a tenth of the Federal
personnel is in Washington, and
around 95 per cent Of the jobs are
civil service.
The initial economies" of the
Roosevelt administration 20 years
ago. brought something more than
5000 dismissals.
The first big change in any
administration-and that goes
whether the political complication
is different or not-is in the cabi-
net. The nine top men who sur
round the new President will have
a large ssy in the appointment of
their inime ediate aSsiStantS-Who
are policy makers. incidentally
but here, too, a President can, and
no doubt does. dictate choices.
Presidential Staf May Go Soon.
Below the policy-makers, there
often are large blocs Of places
also outside OF civil service. which
can be distributed as patronage
Then comes the rank-and- file
ments through examination.
workers who won-their appoint
The early exodus Of the Cabinet
may be expected to be parallclec
by that of the immediate presi-
Dental stah-perhaps q dozer
in number. AS the Executive
Office now is constituted, there
are also several branches whose
top men serve at the pleasure ol
the White House. This includes
such groups as Budget Bureau
Council of Economic Advisers
National Security Resources Board
Central Intelligence Agency. ano
the actual administrative chiefs
|of the National Security Council
Both the Security Resources Boarc
and the National Security Coun-
Gil are made up Of ex-ofiicio men,
bers representing other units OF
the Executive Branch of the Gov
ernment. The head Of the Central
Intelligence Agency is Gen. Eisen-
hower'S wartime chief-of-staff
Gen. Walter Bedell Smith.
Any turnover in the regulatory
commissions will be slow. Mem
bers Of such agencies as Federal
Power. Federal Trade. Interstate
Commerce and Federal Communi-
cations Commissions, serve stag
gered terms Of five or seven years
BY law, they are required to main
tain a bipartisan make up. with
the Administration generally hav-
ing control in an odd-numbered
Set-up. The President can desig-