TO EXTEND THE CLASSIFIED CIVIL SERVICE TO POSITIONS IN EMERGENCY AGENCIES AND EXCEPTED POSITIONS IN OLDER BRANCHES OF THE GOVERNMENT THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1937 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D. C. The committee this day met at 10:30 a. m., Hon. Robert Ramspeck (chairman) presiding, for further consideration of H. R. 2700. The CHAIRMAN. I am interested in a matter before the Committee on the Judiciary this morning; therefore, I will ask Mr. Randolph to preside and that I be excused. I shall return as soon as practicable. STATEMENT OF FRED B. LINTON, THE UNITED STATES JUNIOR CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Mr. RANDOLPH. The committee will please come to order. I believe that Mr. Fred B. Linton, representing the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce, would like to get away a little earlier than, perhaps, others who want to testify; therefore, let us hear him now. Mr. LINTON. The United States Junior Chamber of Commerce is an organization composed of 60,000 business and professional men between 18 and 35 years of age in 350 cities and towns throughout the country. It is financed entirely by dues from members, and all policies are determined by its duly elected officers and directors. From the minutes of the board of directors' meeting held in Omaha, Nebr., October 11, 12, and 13, 1935, the following excerpt is 1 of 11 definite principles that were adopted which summarized resolutions of previous national conventions. These declarations of principles were reaffirmed at the national convention at Memphis, Tenn., in June 1936 and again at the board of directors' meeting at St. Louis, Mo., in October 1936. The following is a quotation from the declaration of principles: The United States Junior Chamber of Commerce, representing the organized voice of America's young businessmen, stands for the following definite principles. The fourth declaration is: Economy in Government; introduction of improved methods of carrying out governmental functions; elimination of overlapping of governmental subdivisions; decentralization of administration of Federal activities. 101 At a national convention held at Memphis, Tenn., in June 1936, attended by 1,500 delegates, the following resolution was unanimously adopted: Your committee is sincerely convinced that the observance of high standards in the personnel programs of local, State, and Federal Government is considered by the junior chamber members (1) as a matter of deep concern to our progress as a Nation and a people; (2) directly affects the present and future opportunities of young business and professional men; and (3) proves to be a subject of increasing interest to the young men of America. With these three important considerations in mind, it was proposed to the convention that a national committee on public service standards be established by the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce to serve two purposes: (1) Serve as a national clearing house for local junior chambers of available information on the development of sound public personnel practices; and (2) develop from the viewpoint of the young businessman a program of high public service standards. This committee was organized, and Dr. Henry Reining was appointed as chairman. I am appearing for him. Of course this national action was a reflection of the sentiment of local organizations throughout the country. For example, the Nebraska State president, Gerald Jay Hallstead, as head of his organization, writes: To me it seems that the basic principle upon which the Junior Chamber of Commerce movement is organized implies not only support and cooperation in any movement which has for its ultimate objective the improvement of selfgovernment and its functions; not only should we cooperate and support but rather we should take an active and militant part in the waging of any campaign to bring about such general results. Another example is a typical resolution adopted by unanimous vote of a local organization. This is a resolution of the Newark, N. J., Junior Chamber of Commerce. Whereas government in the United States has been too long known for its addiction to the "spoils system"; Whereas economic and social changes of great depth have caused cumbersome overlapping and duplicating additions to our Federal Government; Whereas it is desirable to place the administrative management of our Government upon a level of efficiency long desired, and Whereas it is highly desirable to extend the merit system to include all positions in the executive branch of the Government except those of policydetermining character; therefore be it Hereby resolved, That the members of the Newark Junior Chamber of Commerce record their general endorsement of the proposal recently set before the people of this Nation to overhaul the machinery of our Federal Government, especially noteworthy of commendation and support being the sections on career service and departmental reorganization; and be it Further resolved, That the Secretary be instructed to send copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, to the two United States Senators from New Jersey, to the Congressmen from the three districts which include Essex County, and to the chairman of the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce Committee on Career Service in Government. These are only two examples of the type of sentiment that exists in the local organizations throughout the country. They have not only expressed these thoughts but have acted upon them. Most of them have committees that are actively working upon the problem. These efforts are coordinated on a national scale by the national committee head, by Dr. Reining, who is national chairman of the public service standards committee of the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce. Throughout the country during Civil Service Week talks before organization meetings, radio addresses, and essay contests were sponsored by the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce. The committee is cooperating and working with such groups as the National Civil Service Reform League, the National League of Women Voters, the National Federation of Women's Clubs, American Federation of Government Employees, National Federation of Federal Employees, as well as professional organizations within the field of governmental personnel such as the Civil Service Assembly and the City Managers' Association. The responsible young men of the country are vitally interested in efficient personnel in Government and feel that the most important item of personnel reform needed is the extension of civil service to all positions in Government service, with the exception of those of a policy-determining nature. Mrs. JENCKES. After hearing the gentleman's statement, there is not any doubt as to where the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce stands. Mr. TEIGAN. I do not know whether the questions I have to ask have anything to do with this matter, but I should like to know whether the Junior Chamber of Commerce has any connection with the United States Chamber of Commerce. Mr. LINTON. No, sir. Mr. TEIGAN. It has no connection with the United States Chamber of Commerce? Mr. LINTON. None, except to this extent: The Junior Chamber of Commerce has an age limit of from 18 to 35, and it runs along the same line as the senior organization. There is a committee in the Junior Chamber of Commerce and there is a committee in the senior Chamber of Commerce, and those two committees meet about once a year to bring up any matters that have come before both organizations, but so far as any interworking, any financial arrangement or anything like those is concerned, there is absolutely no connection. Mr. TEIGAN. Therefore, the view of your organization might be altogether at variance with the views of the senior organization. Mr. LINTON. That is very true. Our views do differ on many subjects. Mr. TEIGAN. In this matter I take it that the junior chamber of commerce is also interested in the security of employees; is that right? That is to say, your organization favors civil service, not merely to provide greater efficiency in governmental agencies but also to make the workers secure in their positions; is that right? Mr. LINTON. You mean in governmental work; the Government workers? Mr. TEIGAN. Yes. Mr. LINTON. We are not exactly in line with the thought of making an inefficient Government worker. Mr. TEIGAN. That is not what I mean. Civil service undoubtedly operates to provide greater security for those now in positions, does it not? Mr. LINTON. Yes. Mr. TEIGAN. And therefore you favor civil service, in addition to the fact that it would improve or increase the efficiency in the work. Mr. LINTON. Exactly. In line with that I may say that this is only part of our program concerning civil service, and we made this statement with particular reference to the pending bill. We feel that several reforms can be profitably made within the present set-up, namely, so far as making promotions, and so forth, are concerned. Mr. RANDOLPH. How many members has the junior chamber of commerce? Mr. LINTON. It has approximately 60,000-between 56,000 and 60,000. Mr. RANDOLPH. In your statement you said that you favor decentralization of governmental agencies. How could that be accomplished, in your opinion? Mr. LINTON. I shall have to hedge on that to this extent-we favor that in principle, but up to this time we have not set up a definite program that we can back. Mr. RANDOLPH. If there are no further questions, and the witness has nothing further to tell us, let us thank him for his statement and hear the next witness. STATEMENT OF W. W. RICHARDSON, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE Mr. RANDOLPH. The next witness to be heard is Mr. W. W. Richardson, Chief of Personnel of the General Accounting Office. Mr. Richardson, have you any prepared statement? Mr. RICHARDSON. No; I might volunteer that in connection with section 3 of H. R. 2700 we believe that it should be amended to read that these emergency employees be given such noncompetitive examinations as the Civil Service Commission may prescribe in order to determine their fitness for retention in the service. Mr. MOSER. Why? Mr. RICHARDSON. There are several reasons. The main reason is that we have these employees who have been in those agencies anywhere from 6 months to 3 years; they have been trained at considerable expense to the Government, and to turn them out would undoubtedly mean a loss of experience. In open competition, no doubt, most of the ones now in these emergency agencies would pass an examination, but they probably would not pass with high enough marks in competition with others throughout this country, and therefore they could not be retained on the competitive basis. I have not any figures on that, but it is my judgment there would be a very negligible percentage compared to the whole, possibly 15 percent or 20 percent. Mrs. JENCKES. As I understand, you believe that an employee is trained in a division according to the needs of the particular division, and when the employee comes in open competition with one who is better educated he does not stand a very good chance when dealing with subjects that do not pertain to the position he is holding. Mr. RICHARDSON. That is right. Many of these employees in these temporary agencies would not be so well equipped as outsiders to pass a competitive examination. It reduces itself to a question of practical experience versus theoretical experience. Mr. CURLEY. These employees who have been in these emergency agencies from 60 days to 3 or 4 years would not be able to compete successfully with young men and young women just fresh from college. Mr. RICHARDSON. That is right. Mr. CURLEY. Many of those in the civil service would not be able to compete educationally with these young men and young women just coming out of college. Mr. RICHARDSON. That is right. We would have to train those outsiders and bring them up to a point of real efficiency. It may be that some who would come in would outshine those that are in now even on the jobs to be performed. Mr. MOSER. From your statement it is deducible that you favor those of lower intellectual capacity rather than those of higher intellectual capacity, the former having had experience, and you think that would justify their retention? Mr. RICHARDSON. No; I do not say that. I think there should be such an examination prescribed as would weed out the inefficient. Mr. MOSER. You said "as the Civil Service Commission shall require." To what extent would you influence the scope of the examination to be applied? Mr. RICHARDSON. I do not believe we should influence it at all. Let us take the work of a comptometer operator who has a rating of, say, 91 percent. I have a case like that in mind. Let us say that he has passed the machine test and the clerical test prescribed by the Civil Service Commission, which you will find are of high grade. Let us say he has been on the job 2 or 3 years, but under the competitive Civil Service Commission he would be required to compete with everybody throughout the country. Mr. MOSER. You have told us that the individual had passed an examination with a grade of 91 percent. Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes. Mr. MOSER. Then I do not see why he would have to compete again. Mr. RICHARDSON. If in an open competitive examination somebody should make 94 or 96, we should have to slide the man who is in out, if he was not reached for certification, and bring somebody else in. Mr. RANDOLPH. I think the committee is in agreement on that question. Mr. MOSER. I had not thought that anybody with a classified status need fear the loss of his position simply because he might be employed in an emergency agency. Mr. RICHARDSON. As I understand, we have to consider whether a particular individual has such a status that he can be immediately appointed to a position in the departmental or the field service under existing rules. If he does not have that, he has not a classified status. His name would appear on the eligible list, but until he is appointed and comes into the service, he does not have a civilservice status. Mr. MOSER. What are they under now? Mr. RICHARDSON. Under a civil-service status. Mr. MOSER. Are they under a civil-service status when employed in emergency agencies, if they passed the examination? Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes. |