Statement on the Committee to Study Civil Service Principles for Professional, Scientific and Technical Positions.

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT announced today that upon the advice and with the approval of a majority of the Civil Service Commission he had modified Executive Order No. 7916 of June 24, 1938, in order to provide additional time in which the Commission might reach agreement with the executive agencies of the Government on the scope of certain positions to be affected by such orders.

It is estimated that the new Order will affect less than 10 per cent of the positions to be brought under Civil Service on February 1,1939, by Executive Order No. 7916. The remaining 90 per cent or more will be brought in the Civil Service on that date under the terms of the Original Order. Final determination as to precisely which administrative and technical positions will be temporarily removed from the operation of Executive Order No. 7916 is to be made by the Civil Service Commission in accordance with the new Order. It is contemplated that those comparatively few positions as to which Executive Order No. 7916 is postponed for the time being will be brought into Civil Service as soon as the committee works out adequate methods for the selection and promotion of the personnel for such positions.

At the same time, he announced, through the new Executive Order, the appointment of a committee of seven outstanding advocates of Civil Service reform and the improvement of Government personnel, to make a thorough study, in conjunction with the Civil Service Commission, of the best way of applying Civil Service principles to the professional, scientific and certain administrative and other technical positions in Government service.

The members of the committee are:

Mr. Justice Stanley Reed of the Supreme Court, Chairman;

Mr. Justice Felix Frankfurter of the Supreme Court;

Attorney General Frank Murphy;

William H. McReynolds, Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury;

Mr. Leonard White;

General Robert E. Wood;

Mr. Gano Dunn.

All of the members of the committee have long advocated the improvement of the Civil Service or have had wide experience with the selection of personnel for professional, scientific, or commercial positions. . . .

In taking this action, the President called attention to Section 2 of the Order of June 24 which directed the heads of all departments and independent establishments, including corporations owned or controlled by the Government, to "certify to the Civil Service Commission for transmission by it with its recommendations to the President the positions in their respective departments or agencies which in their opinion should be excepted" from the provisions of the Order as policy determining or for other reasons. The President said that the recommendations and certification called for have been received, but that the burden of preparing for the covering-in of other positions had not given the Civil Service Commission and the executive agencies concerned sufficient time to study and reach agreement on their respective recommendations.

The committee selected by the President will study the many diverse problems presented in the recruitment and promotion of professional, administrative and other technical personnel for the various Government departments and agencies. The President believes that such a study will result in an informed and wise extension of the merit system and the application of higher standards in the selection and promotion of such Government personnel.