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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 September 2013
In time of war, there is a tremendous growth in the number of federal employees. This is due both to the establishment of new war agencies and to an expansion in the activities of existing agencies whose work constitutes a part of the war effort. Coincident with the growth of the federal service in war-time is the contraction of the area from which new employees can be selected. Many persons otherwise eligible for government employment either volunteer or are drafted for military service, while others are attracted by the lure of higher salaries in industry. Thus the problem of securing and retaining the services of an adequate and efficient body of government employees becomes in time of war a far more serious one than in time of peace. It is the purpose of this article to describe the principal means which the federal government is using to obtain the additional civilian personnel needed for the present war effort.
1 Total employment as of June 30, 1942, was 2,207,754, an increase of nearly forty-three per cent over the preceding November. For detailed figures, see Monthly Report of Employment, Executive Branch of the Federal Government, issued monthly by the Statistical Division, U. S. Civil Service Commission.
2 The only agencies reporting no defense activities were the American Battle Monuments Commission, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Board of Tax Appeals, Government Printing Office, Mount Rushmore National Memorial Commission, National Capital Park and Planning Commission, National Mediation Board, and Railroad Retirement Board.
3 This statement of policy was prepared by a committee consisting of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, the Director of the Selective Service System, and the Administrative Assistant to the President in charge of the Liaison Office for Personnel Management.
4 Transfer of Employees, Conserving Office Space, Belief in Housing Conditions, and Promotion of Economy and Efficiency, Report of a Sub-Committee of the Committee on Appropriations, Senate Report, 77th Cong., 2nd Sess. (Subcommittee Print), p. 15.
5 Washington Star, Mar. 26, 1942.
6 Investigation of the National Defense Program, Hearings Before a Special Committee Investigating the National Defense Program, Part 10, 77th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 4028.
7 The Special Committee Investigating the National Defense Program created by S. Res. 71, 77th Cong., and commonly known as the Truman Committee.
8 Additional Report of the Special Committee Investigating the National Defense Program, Senate Report No. 480, Part 5, 77th Cong., 2nd Secs., p. 8.
9 Ibid., pp. 8–9.
10 War Production Board, General Administrative Order No. 4, quoted in Investigation of the National Defense Program, Part 10, op. cit., pp. 4253–4254.
11 War Production Board, General Administrative Order No. 5, quoted in ibid., pp. 4257–4258.
12 Interim General Report of the Committee on Military Affairs, House Report No. 2272, 77th Cong., 2nd Sess., p. 259.
13 Additional Report of the Special Committee Investigating the National Defense Program, Senate Report No. 480, Part 8, 77th Cong., 2nd Session, p. 20.
14 See New York Times, June 19, 1942.
15 58th Annual Report, United States Civil Service Commission, 1941, p. 2.
16 Ibid., p. 3. A similar order was issued on March 26, 1917, under which some World War I appointments were made.
17 57th Annual Report, United States Civil Service Commission, 1940, pp. 3–4.
18 58th Annual Report, United States Civil Service Commission, 1941, p. 1.
19 Executive Order No. 9063, Federal Register, Feb. 19, 1942. This order has no counterpart in the World War I period. The Civil Service Commission reported on November 14, 1918, that “notwithstanding the tremendous demand of the government service, the merit system of appointments has been fully maintained in all the older branches.” It added, however, that “some new agencies have been permitted by executive orders to make appointments without reference to the registers of eligibles.” Thirty-fifth Annual Report of the United States Civil Service Commission, 1918, p. II.
20 See U. S. Civil Service Commission, War Service Regulations; also Circular Letter 3608 and Departmental Circular 323. These regulations do not apply to attorney positions, since they are under the jurisdiction of the Board of Legal Examiners.
21 Civil Service Rule VII, Sec. 3, provides in part that “certification for appointment in the departments or independent offices at Washington shall be so made as to maintain, as nearly as the conditions of good administration warrant, the apportionment of appointments among the several States and Territories and the District of Columbia upon the basis of population….”
22 Executive Order No. 8760; Federal Register, May 29, 1941.
23 This is the policy followed during World War I, except that the “freezing” was done by statute. See Feldman, Herman, A Personnel Program for the Federal Civil Service, p. 18.Google Scholar
24 Executive Order No. 8973; Federal Register, Dec. 16, 1942.
25 Executive Order No. 9067; Ibid., Feb. 25, 1942.
26 Budget Bureau, Circular Letter No. 388.
27 These regulations apply also to attorneys, since they have been adopted by the Board of Legal Examiners.
28 Press Release, Office of War Information, Sept. 14, 1942.
29 Fifty-fifth Annual Report of the United States Civil Service Commission, 1938, p. 50.
30 Executive Order No. 8990; Federal Register, Dec. 25, 1941. Appointments were to be made subject to the following conditions: “(1) that such employee was on the rolls of the state employment security agency at the close of business December 31, 1941; (2) that he was previously approved for permanent or probational appointment, or within the six-months' period beginning January 1, 1942, becomes eligible for such appointment under the rules of a state merit system previously approved by the Social Security Board; and (3) that he satisfactorily completes a six-months' probationary period from the date of his induction into the Federal Service.”
31 See Civil Service Rule VIII, Sec. 4.
32 Press Release, Federal Security Agency, Dec. 19, 1941.
33 See Thirty-Sixth Annual Report of the United States Civil Service Commission, 1919, pp. xix–xx.
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