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Office Memor. dum - UNITED STAT ‘GOVERNMENT ms TO ‘ DATE: May 18, 1955 . t Wh mnon t SUBJECT: QUEST FOR DISCUSSION REGARDING (APPLICANTS FOR GOVERNMENT EMPLOY MENT----- — BY LEWIS M. HOSKINS, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY “ + OF THE AMERICAN E ERIENDS SERVICE Ct COMMITTEE - GENERAL APPLICANT MATTER I saw Mr. Lewis yf hoshangl Cxscotive Secretary of the American Friends Service Committee, and C, Reed“Cary, a member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the: Personnel Committee of the American Friends Servic .Committce, He is also Vice President in charge of Industrial Relations, Leeds and Northrop, 4901 Stanton Avenue, Philadelphia 44, Pennsylvania. ©Mr, Hoskins opened the conversation by pointing ‘out that they are being contacted by five or six Government agencies each week; that they keep an accurate record of the contacts; that he thinks the contacts involve about eight or so individuals. The contacts for the most part deal with conscientious poo objector cases, loyalty cases and applicant investigation cases. He pointed out that for sometime they have followed the policy of checking their personnel records and personally interviewing everyone in the American Friends Service Committee knowiz the subject of the investigation and then preparing a written statement setting forth their estimate of the individual. Hoskins stated that they have become more and more concerned because of their religious scruples about what they are doing; name] passing judgment on integrity, loyalty and such traits of character which are difficull indeed. They are becoming more and more fearful of the propriety of their position in arriving at a conclusion on opinions, ideas and thoughts of their people; that ‘they wizg giving consideration to charging their policy-and-were_in the for mative —— stage of discussing it and they wanted to come to the Bureau to assure us of exactly what their motives were and their reasons with the hope that we would fully understat thejr position. | s oy. I pointed out that in the first instance the Bureau was not concerned » with thoughts, ideas and opinions; that in our investigations we did not seck judgment as such because "who ere we as mortals to sit in judgment on anyone;" that we ~~ were interested primarily in facts; that perhaps in communicating questions when the