The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1906-06-21

Since the publication OF the report
of the Civil Service Commission upon
the work of the "old Clerks" in the
Government Departments, employees
over Is years old are feeling little
freer from the harrassing dread OF
dismissal because of age-limit. This
report has been compiled at the
request of the President. 1t was but
natural that the aggressive Roosevelt,
with his known interest in anything
affecting the efficiency of the work of
the government, should interest him.
self in this matter. Much has been
said and printed on the number and
efficiency of aged employees in the
departments, and at the request, it is
said, of an organization of the clerks
themselves who were striving to frame
feasible plan of retirement on an
allowance provided for by an assess
ment on salaries, he has had prepared
several compilations.
The Appropriation Committee
sought to compile its own data last
winter, and ended by attaching a
rider to its bill which provided for the
dropping from the roll of clerks over
seventy and reducing the pay of those
over sixty-five years old. Great was
the excitement among the old clerks
and most of the others approaching
the age limit. The dissatisfaction
over this "rider'' was sufficiently
strong to have 1t dropped from the
bill.
1t was during this Juror that the
President brought relief by his letter
to the Civil Service Commission
directing it to obtain from all the
departments fullest data as to all
employees sixty-6ve years old and
over, not only as to numbers employed
in Washington, but as to the quantity
and quality of the work performed by
each, the method of entering the
service, length of service, salary, and
whether veterans or civilians.
Among the things reported are the
following:
| CHARACTER OF THE WORK.
1t is learned that 70 veterans and 38
civilians are engaged in work OF an
executive character; SO veterans and
SO civilians in professional, technical
or scientific work; 438 veterans and 329
civilians in clerical duties; 80 veterans
and 121 civilians in work OF
mechanical nature; 228 veterans and
SO civilians in work of subclerical
character, while 16 veterans and 40
civilians are employed as unskilled
laborers.
| Efficiency was determined by
quantity, marked in tenths, with ten
tenths to represent the amount per-
formed by thoroughly competent
clerk, and by quality, graded as poor,
fair, average, good and excellent.
The showing in efficiency will tend to
mitigate the impression that the
government work is suffering severely
at the hands of aged incompetents.
The work of 80 is rated as poor, Of
PSI as fair, OF 229 as average, of 6S2 as
good, and 374 as excellent. As to the
amount OF work performed, 10 are
rated as accomplishing nothing, 2 as
doing one-tenth of the amount
acquired; 5, two-tenths; 6, three-tenths;
20, four-tenths; 124, ive-tenths; 161.
six-tenths; 236, seven-tenths; 357,
eight-tenths; 275 nine-tenths; 421 are
given as performing ten-tenths, or all
the work to be expected of the most
efficient employee. When combina-
tons are made ofquantity and quality
OF work performed, it is found that 27O
employees accomplish all the work
assigned them in an excellent manner,
222 do work of a "good" grade and
eight-tenths of the amount required,
and so on, through all the different
combinations OF quantity and quality.