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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

President Woodrow Wilson Executive Order

Executive order.

     During the continuance of the present war no executive department or other government establishment in Washington shall hereafter give or offer employment, directly or indirectly, conditionally or unconditionally, to any officer or employee in any part of the executive civil service without first obtaining the written consent of the head of the executive department or other government establishment in which such person is then employed, together with the statement that such consent is based upon the conclusion after due consideration that the person can render better service for the Government in the place in which his employment is proposed: Provided, That this shall not be construed as applicable to enlistments or appointments in the military or naval forces of the United States.

     This order is purely a war emergency measure. In their effort to meet the additional burden of war work some of the executive departments and agencies have obtained clerks from other departments by offers of higher salaries. While it is not desired to place any obstruction in the way of deserved promotion, this practice has gone so far as to threaten disorganization in the clerical forces of some of the departments, with consequent loss of efficiency in the operations of the executive departments as a whole.

Woodrow Wilson          

The White House,

     24 November, 1917.

[No. 2762.]

Source Note: Cy, DNA, RG 45, Entry 517B.

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