Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-04-11
NO CHANGE IN VIEW
!. FOR CLERKS HOURS
Continued from First Page.)

the head of every department has full au-
thorlty under the law to regulate the
service Is this particular.
Mr.. Burleson Keeps Long Hours.
At the Post Office Department it was
stated that since March ; Mr.. Burle-
son himself has worked on an average OF
almost ten hours every day.
One official who has had long expert
ence in the department declared such "A
lengthening OF hours would be a great
mistake. They will not improve the eff
hclency OF the clerks, he declares. nor
get more work in the long run by the
additional hour. This has been proved in
the experience with the additional hall
hour which was added by President
Roosevelts executive order in January.
1904. after Representative Gillette of
Massachusetts, had declared the law was
being violated in not requiring seven full
hours of labor Of the employees i'm the eX-
ecutive departments.
The great need. he said. was of eff
f1clent supervisory employees who would
see that the clerks under them did what
was required of them; that the honest.
by the shirk. Increase the hours he
added, and YOU punish the men who are
already doing the work, but the Shirk
will not suffer. He is an adept in evad-
Ing ruIeS as Well as DUTY.
The great majority of the force today
is fully earning the salaries that are
paid
Time and again. under the act of March
), 1881. or the later act. men and women
too are being required to work overtime
for which no allowance is made in time
or money to them. The clerk with the
pull gets the promotion; the clerk who
has not gets the work, the overtime and
the abuse where there is any abuse
Speaks of Living Conditions.
Another employee raised the point that
living conditions In Washington are based
upon the beginning OF the official day at
10 am. 1T is hard enough to get our
servants around in time with our break
fast to prevent our being late now. II
we have to be at work at 8 o'clock in the
morning the burden will fall upon the
women of our homes, our wives and
mothers
for duty before Z o'clock In the morn
ing, and some of them do not report
until long after o'clock. We have to
stand it, because we have no way to
better ourselves
Still another raised the point OF
health. which he declared an important
home.
THE recent sanitary commissions which
nave examined the departments have
found them far below what they should
be. and some of them actually intol-
erable,' he said. The air in the big de-
partment buildings is foul and the ven-
tilation poor. The general temperature Is
regulated to suit the weakest of the
force.
Fresh air is a rarity. except in the
rooms occupied by the chiefs who car
regulate the windows to suit themselves
and all OF whom are provided with good
ventilators which are denied to the
clerks"
President Andrew w. Mckee Of the
newly formed National Association OF
Civil Service Employees, declared this
morning that the association would take
no part in any movement of the clerks
to combat the extra hour plan. 1t was
pointed out that the objects of the as
| ISOLATION were along another line. Mr.
Mckee said that the efforts of the as
ISOLATION would not even be used to
| obtain increases in salaries for civt
service employees.