Evening star., 1914-04-10
AUDITOR KRAM LAUDED
BY HOUSE MEMBERS
Criticisms of His Bureau System
Declared to Be Not
Justified.
Defense Provokes Adverse Comment
on Piece Method Adopted by
the Official.
Defense Provokes Adverse Comment

strong defense of Charles kram,
auditor for the Post Office Department
was made on the floor of the House
yesterday afternoon by Representative
Byrns of Tennessee and by Representa-
tive Cox of Indiana in reply to critl-
cisms of the office on the day previous
by Representatives Nolan and Bryan OF
Washington. Mr.. Cox in taking up Mr.
kram's defense. said:
HE was appointed during republi-
can administration. and for the good OF
this country and for the good of the de-
partment- it will be hard to supplant
him by a democrat.
Mr.. Cox said that while he was chair
man of the committee on expenditures
in the Treasury Department employees
came to the committee room with all
manner of complaints against Mr.. Kram.
asking for an investigation.
~ went down there to see for myself.
said Mr.. Cox, Il went through the de-
partment. i could not see at any time
any cruelty on the part of Mr.. kram
as against any employees. Part OF the
time I was with Mr.. Kram and part of
the time he was not present. II is the
first time in the history of my career
since I have been Il member of Congress
that l ever heard of an emplore of the
government being overworked.
Praises Bureau Organization.
Mr. Cox said that Mr. kram's bureau is
the best organized in the government,
and then he described the daily business
life of government clerks as he saw it.
Go down to the pension bureau and
see them hanging over the baiustrades
by the score. See them standing around
reading newspapers. Go down to the
War Department and see the halls and
the great corridors in the building lit
nothing. Go to the office of the Secre-
tary of State, go to all the great depart
ments of the government and find. if you
can, any employees that are actually over
worked.
Mr.. Kram has inaugurated a system
that ought to control in this country,
which requires a full days work for a
full days pay. AS d result of Mr.. kram's 9
installation of piecework. the Postmaster
General has been able to furlough sew
out provisions in this bill that would
reduce the employees of the government so
that the old man back home with the
hoe can have his burdens lessened?''
Mr.. Buchanan Replies.
What Mr.. Cox had said reused the ire
of Representative Buchanan of Illinois.
who stopped the proceedings by roll
calf He said:
II am not going to let such rotten
statements go as have been made by the
gentlemen from Indiana
They are not rotten statements; they
are facts. and l stand by them,' re-
torted Mr.. Cox.
After the roll call Representative Byrns
of Tennessee. a member of the appropria-
tions committee, said in defense of Mr.
Kram:
..In 1910 the office of the auditor for
the Post Office Department cost the peo-
pie of this country Ss;5,6so. In this bill
there is proposed the sum of S710.S2l. a
reduction of more than IA per cent in the
face of an increase in cost of the postal
service of more than IS per cent. That is
a record of which Mr.. Kram has reason
to feel proud
'It has been said he runs sweatshop.
The facts are that Mr.. kram has issued
an order in which he prohibits an en-
ploye from asserting more than a certain
number of cards. and there are employees
in his office who are able to start at Q
o'clock in the morning and get through
with the work they are allowed to per-
form before o'clock in the afternoon.
Results in Better Pay, He Says.
There is not an employe in his office
today who is not drawing more money
under this piece rate basis than he or
she was drawing under the salary basis,
with the exception of7siN. They not only
receive more compensation, but they
work one or two and in some cases three
hours less than formerly.
Later on in the debate Representative
Buchanan, one of the union labor rep
resentatives. declared his enmity to all
pieceWork systems
He called Mr.. kram's system one of the
-,.xt.~ ha try said or
many of the employees are afraid to speak
of the system in vogue there. and asked
Congress on behalf of the laboring people
to stamp with disapproval any such sys-
tenn as Mr.. Kram has inaugurated.
Representative Mann said that the criu-
cisms against Mr.. Kram were unpro-
voked and unnecessary. Representative
Murdock of Kansas spoke against piece