Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-08
THE WORTH OF CLERKS
Investigation Of the Depart
ment Service Planned.
Mr.. GILLETT'S OBJECT
TO ASCERTAIN THE EFFICIENCY
OF THE FORCE.
Committee Will Take Testimony This
Session, but No Immediate Action
Expected by the House.

An investigation into the departmental
service in. tins city has been planned by
Representative Gillett of Massachusetts,
chairman of the committee on civil service
reform of the House of Representatives.
The object of this investigation - to as
certain the efficiency of the clerical force
of the government and to provide some
| means for disposing Of clerks who 'have
| become inefficient, either because of ex-
treme age or other reasons. Mr.. Gillett
proposes to call before his committee not
only the heads of departments. but chiefs
Of bureaus. in order that testimony may
be obtained concerning the nature Of the
personnel in all branches Of the govern
ment. He will endeavor to learn exactly
how many clerks there are in the depart
ments who are regarded as incompetent
for the work which they paid to per-
FORM whatever the cause of their incom
petence may be. This investigation will
make possible the compiling Of an es.,mate
Of what the government is losing because
Of the employment of clerks whose eff
cheney is below that which would be re-
qured for entrance into the service OF the
government.
No Definite Plan in View.
There is at this time no definite plan
Mr.. Gillett hopes to have his committee
determine after the exact condition of the
government service has been learned. He
hopes to have devised some plan which will
in a marked degree make the service
efficient as possible, and at the same time
to avoid as far as possible incurring hard
ship on faithful employees whose tnefficiency
is the result of old age
1t IS understood that Mr.. Gillett has the
support Of leaders Of the House in carry
ing out his purpose to improve the per
sonnel Of the government service. His
service on the committee on approprfa-
tionS placed him in close touch with
Speaker Cannon and others who are par
ticularly well acquainted with the fiscal
affairs of the government. His plan looks
to some practical result not only in i'm
proving the service, but in obtaining
reduction of expenses of the government.
No Action This Session.
Mr.. Gillett does not expect that his COM
mittee will be able during the present ses-
sion of Congress to do more than ascertain
facts on which the committee can base
some action in the next session. His inves-
tigation is expected to be quite as aggres-
sive as that conducted by Mr.. Dockery
when he was in the House some years ago.
Mr.. Dockery's investigation, however, was
directed more particularly toward an i'm
provement in the methods of transacting
the business of the government, and re-
suited in numerous changes for simplifying
methods of keeping accounts in the Treas
ury Department. Mr.. Gillett will have for
his purpose an Improvement of individual
efficiency of the clerks.
The superannuated.
Mr.. Gillett and others with whom he has
talked about this matter agree that some
thing must be done with superannuated
employees Of the government They believe
that that Is subject that will become
more and more important as the years
pass. There are opponents to the civil PEN
sion idea, and yet whether by civil PEN
sion or some other method to accomplish
the same result 1t Is believed that Congress
will not approve of any plan that will bring
hardship upon body Of faithful employees
who have grown old in the service Not
only is there sympathy for the principle
looking to consideration for men and wo-
men who have good records. but 1t Is recog
nized that many of these men and women
have influential friends in both the House
and Senate. and that unless they are cared
for by the plan to be proposed there will be
little opportunity to get legislation to ac-
complish anything.
who may become inefficient because of old
age is. Of course. in the hands Of admins
trative officers, but the course that has
been taken in the past by officials of the
in the House that the effect of weed ng out
those who have become inefficient has be-
come SO great that 1t can be accomplished
only by legislation providing some plan for
caring for the people who will thus be
thrown out of the service.
Annuities Proposed.
One plan that has been suggested for
caring for superannuated employees Of the
government is to have insurance companies
issue policies carrying annuities to their
holders after certain age. and to have the
government require employees to maintain
such insurance.
Another plan is for a plan to retire en-
as was proposed in a bill introduced in the
Fifty-sxth Congress by Mr.. BoutelI Of IL
linois. This measure orig mated with an
association of government employees having
for it's object a plan for pension:ng all
clerks in the departments here. 1t pro-
vided that per cent of the salary Of every
emplOye in the classified service should be
deducted and deposited in the treasury as a
civil service retirement fund. A complete
plan for retirement had been worked on the
bass of this fund, but the general objec-
ton to civil pension list prevented the
bill from having favorable consideration.
Commissioner Ware to Be Called.
Commissioner Ware of the pension office
will be one of those who will be called be-.
fore the committee by Mr.. Gillett In his
last annual report Mr.. Ware showed that
Of the lila employees of his office 10 were
eighty years of age or older, 20 were from
seventy-five to seventy-nine years. inclu-
sive 81 were from seventy to seventy-four.
14S from sixty-five to sixty-nine. 254 from
sixty to sixty-four. 24S from ffty-flve to
ffty-nine. 1876 from fifty to fifty-four, 191
from forty-fve to forty mine. 223 from forty
to forty -four. 1S0 from thirty-ive to thirty
nine, 81 from thirty to thirty four. nifty
eight from twenty-five to twenty-nine As
from twenty to twenty-four. and 1s under |
twenty years of age. The average age Of
employees OF the office was fifty three years.
This force of employees, however was
shown to be made up largely Of veterans of
the civil war. OF the 10 clerks over eighty |
years of age. were veterans: OF 40 from
seventy-five to seventy-nine. 13 were SOL
diers and civilians: of the clerks over |
hfty-five years OF age, about two-thirds |
soldiers. There were but soldiers under |
hfty-five years Of age.
The Maine to Come North.
Now that the supply ship culgoa has ar |
rived at Colon. It is expected that the bat
tie ship Maine will Immediately start on |
her return to New York, where she Is to
rfafu 10 hor