Show j OU may look for new moves Y you Yin in the next Congress to protect the United States Civil Service Commission in administering the civil service law strictly on a merit basis without regard to politics insofar as career employees of the Federal Government are con con- The City of Washington and its environs spreading over into Maryland and Virginia are up in arms against the edicts of the Eisenhower administration The first act of the administration a reduction in force of of federal employees was a blow at not only the federal employees but to business business business busi busi- ness in the Washington metropolitan tan area generally As a result for the fir first t time in more than 15 years there are for rent signs and for sale signs up and down Washington Washing Washing- almost every street in hi ton and in the towns of Alexandria and Arlington Virginia and in Silver Spring Bethesda Chevy Chase and Hyattsville and arld other o nearby towns in Maryland Merchants Merchants Merchants Mer Mer- chants have suffered a severe blowIn blow result In hi a loss of business as a However the second blow came when the President vetoed a general general general gen gen- eral pay raise bill passed by the Congress on the theoretical accompanying tax ground that no increase had been made by the Congress to offset the employee increase The Federal em- em pay hardly recovered from pl had the smart of this set-back set when went an entirely new pro procedure into effect which if carried out outI wreck the entire procedure of may the Civil Service Commission the emanating from I This action White House sets up the can National Committee as the agency to fill federal patronage passing by-passing the Civil Service Com- Com i mission In other words the Civil Service Commission is to be berun berun berun run on a nonpartisan partisan basis so long as all job applicants are Republicans Re- Re publicans and the merit system is to be the sole criterion for ajob a ajob ajob job so long as the applicants have havea a suitable GOP endorsement The new personnel procurement procedure will affect every civil I to bottom service grade from top I not only in Washington but throughout the country and will apply to all such agencies as the Tennessee Valley Authority and Administration Adminis the Foreign Operations and other independent government goy gov gOY agencies from which political po patronage is barred by order sent out to statute The governmental officials on WhiteHouse White WhiteHouse WhiteHouse top House stationery makes the GOP I national committee the major recruiting recruiting re re- for the federal agency I federal agencies service directs mat U t to report job vacancies to iu LV mm I committee and to make sure that I these agencies do not by any inadvertence inadvertence inadvertence in advertence revert to the merit the agencies tomake to tomake tomake system orders make weekly and monthly reports to the GOP national Committee vacancies are on Oft how their job being filled As a matter of fact however the Administration persists persists persists per per- in hi making unctuous promises while to protect the civil service wrecking its principles in practice President Eisenhower in hi a recent defended the action ac ac- action news conference the program tion on the grounds is merely to procure the best possible possible pos pOI the federal federal federal fed fed- sible men men and women women for eral service |