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MONTHLY LETTER OF THE BUREAU OF ENTOMoLdcy © oO EY EO 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Ju 15 932 % — 
U. & bosaumens of Agricalture 


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Activities for April 
(Not for Publication) 

GENERAL ITEMS 
THE WHY OF CIVIL SERVICE 

SO many questions have arisen with regard to seasonal field ap- 
pointments during the present year that it seems in order to present 
briefly the situation now existing, the conditions leading up to it, 
ena*the prospects for tne future. 
The present situation can not very well be explained without a 
brief glance at the past. Until the last two or three years the Bureau 
enjoyed a very wide freedom in its selection of employees for seasonal 
work. Under the general head of "Field Assistant" it was possible to 
employ men for periods ranging from one to eight or nine months and as-— 
Sign them to jobs ranging all the way from practically unskilled labor 
to tasks requiring a very high degree of specialized knowledge and 
technical training. This was, of course, an ideal situation from the 
standpoint of the Bureau, and particularly to its representative in 
the field. He was able to select men whom he was satisfied could carry 
on the work most efficiently and, with the minimum of red tape, secure 
. their appointment and retain their services throughout his active sea- 
son. 
From the standpoint of the Civil Service Commission, however, the 
situation was not so satisfactory. The function of the Civil Service 
Commission is to secure properly qualified candidates for positions in 
all branches of the Government service and to see that these candidates 
are placed in suitable jobs after they have definitely established their 
fitness through appropriate examinations. Our practice of appointing 
field assistants was, of course, not in line with the regular Civil Serv- 
ice policy, since it asked the Commission to tacitly admit by approv— 
ing appointments that the men recommended were the best qualified candi- 
dates available when, a. a matter of fact, the Commission had no means of 
establishing this fact other than by simply accepting the statement of 
&@ man whose knowledge of the whole available field was necessarily lim- 
ited. As a result of this we found during the two past seasons increas~ 
ing difficulty in securing the Commission's approval of appointments 
for field assistants. In many cases it was necessary to submit recom- 
mendations repeatedly before favorable action couid be secured and in 
some cases approval was definitely withheld and the Bureau was required 
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