Word: meritable
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...shocking proposition put forward by you that the price for the reforms brought about by the merit system "is too high" cannot be supported by the facts. The statement that "no civil service ever cooperates efficiently with a Government dedicated to cutting expenses" not only is a gratuitous smear of tens of thousands of loyal, devoted American citizens in the federal service, but also is factually wide of the mark. Moreover, Congress controls the purse strings. The Administration at the top policy level recommends a budget based upon its policies and services rendered to the people...
...Government services grew more important and more complex, protests arose against the quality of public employees produced by the patronage system. After 20 years of agitation, the Pendleton Act of 1883 established a merit system of appointment for some Government employees. Steadily, but very slowly, the merit system spread within the U.S. Government. Its next sensational gain was made under Theodore Roosevelt, but even at the end of his Administration, little more than 60% of federal civilian employees had civil-service protection. Herbert Hoover extended it further until at the end of his term about 80% of employees were covered...
Nobody wants to end or to impair the merit system, without which modern government could not be conducted. But the merit system was never advocated or defended as an influence (mostly negative) on policymaking or a brake upon change. What Eisenhower's aides are seeking is enough leverage over the permanent establishment to restore to the responsible officials the power to carry out their policies. All reforms have their price, and the price now exacted by the merit system is too high. The price can be reduced without damage to the essentials of the career service...
...Schedule A men are actually policymakers. Over the years, Schedule A has also become a catchall for people who do not fit into the regular civil-service merit system, e.g., Coast Guard lamplighters, Hindi interpreters...
...thereby won the U.S. Legion of Merit and the Order of the British Empire...