Evening star., 1954-09-24
Presidents Policy Statement
Welcomed by Merit Officials

Merit officials said today they
were hopeful that a strong
statement of policy by Presi-
dent Eisenhower yesterday on
civil service joos in Government
will end any political clearance
requirement for merit positions.
Gen. Eisenhower issued his
policy statement to agency and
department heads declaring that
Government civil service Jobs
should be free from political in
nuences.
James Watson, executive di-
rector of the non-partisan Ma
tional Civil Service League, said
his organization was very hope
full" that the policy statement
will result in all agencies adher-
ing to merit principles"
Required Clearance.
''There have been few
agencies which have been re-
quiring political clearance for
civil service jobs. Mr.. Watson
said. "We called this to the at
tention of the President.
I'VE are very hopeful that the
Presidents statement of policy
will do some good and end these
practices.
"On the whole, we feel that the
administrations policy on civil
service has been good, but the
situation has been spoiled by a
relatively few top officials who
evidently have not shared the
Presidents views"
The Presidents statement fol-
lowed a letter sent to the Civil
Service Commission chairman,
Philip Young, several weeks ago
in which the President assured
Mr.. Young of his strong support
of all steps taken to protect the
merit system
Text of Statement.
The full text of the statement
follows:
The success of the admins
tration's program depends on
people. Therefore, the people
who are appointed by the ad-
ministration must be the, best
qualified people we can find for
the job.
1--WE must recruit people for
several categories of positions
Excepted positions - mean
ing those which are not filled
through Civil Service procedures
because they are excepted from
the application of Civil Service
laws. rules and regulations. These
positions include those excepted
by statute, by executive order
and by the Civil Service COM
mission under Schedules A, 3
and c. Although these positions
are excepted from the applica-
ton of the Civil Service laws,
they were specifically made SUBJ
ject to the Veterans Preference
Act. With due consideration
given to veterans preference,
the head of a department or
agency has complete freedom of
selection in filling them.
Competitive Positions.
competitive positions mean
Ing those under the competitive
Civil Service System. These po-
sitions must be filled through
the procedures prescribed by the
Civil Service laws, rules and
regulations and the Veterans
Preference Act. Under these laws
political clearance cannot be one
of the tests applied in filling
these positions.
Under some circumstances
the Civil Service Commission
authorizes departments and
agencies to do direct recruiting.
Direct recruiting by the depart
ments and agencies occurs most
frequently when Cd an occupa- /
tional category is in short supply
and not enough persons file ap-
plications to meet current needs,
or (2) it is uneconomical for the
commission to announce an ex-
animation and establish a regis
ter. The latter is true in the
case of some temporary jobs,
jobs that are hard to fill be-
cause of location and few-of-a-
kind jobs.
Direct recruiting for posi-
tions in the competitive civil
service can be carried on only
after authorization by the Civil
Service Commission and its
boards of examiners. Direct re-
cruiting authority is issued for
specific positions either to a
single agency through the is
suance of a Form 303 or to all |
agencies through the issuance |
of a general recruiting authority.
when authority for direct re- |