Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1916-12-22
BY BASIS
ANCEaENT
y Rates His Clerks
Pay Each One
y Is Worth.
INTO DISCARD
~ 3 = Which Makes Little
t1ojuu } Dduees Results Rev.
o1o1 ~ lno Conditions In
DeQnsfnent Offices.

Tucked away on the third floor back
Of a rented building In Washington Is
Uncle Sans bureau Of efficiency. An
incOnspicuOus sign on the ground floor
proclaims it's occupancy Of space in the
building. Not many outside the gov
ernment have heard of 1t, for 1t Is a
young bureau, little over three years
old. Another reason for its incOnspicu-
BUSINESS in the public eye is the way 1t
advertises. Since it's organization it
has spent about $40, all told, for print
ing reports. To help put the United
States government on business basis
is its purpose, an eminently practical
one, which it goes at in an eminently
practical way.
One of the first things the bureau
had to do was to help work reason out
of chaos in the Office of the treasurer
Of the United States. Just before the
present administration came In, q
"punch card" system Of totaling checks
and balances was introduced in this
Office. 1t was very pretty thing to
look at, but was not practicable. The
bOOkkeeper, who had been accustomed
to posting an item from check direct,
where it was marked in ink, had to
puzzle his brain over lot Of holes in
a card, each hole meaning a different
number. This plan took so much longer
time that the treasurer's Office was
showed under. Men had to be called
from all of the subtreasuries to help
keep up to date, and even then $50, ,0OO,-
600 in checks piled up unentered on the
desks.
Effect 100000 Saving.
This was the situation that met John
Burke, the new treasurer, coming from
far-off North Dakota, in April, 1915. He
and Deputy Assistant Treasurer Thiel
put their wits to work to find a way
out. Thiel suggested that they call In
Herbert d. Brown, who was chief Of
the new bureau of ezhciency. Brown
needed their Macedonian cry and went
to work. After a few weeks investiga-
ton, planning and conferences the effi-
cheney men and the treasurer's men
were able to work out a plan. As q
result Of this the back accounts were
cleaned up, the punch card" thrown
into the discard and in a few weeks the
subtreasury men went back to their
posts. The system Is now worked so
that the treasurer's Office can do its
work with about eighty less clerks, and
an annual saving Of about 100000 In
this one place alone has been effected
This is an example of the way the
new bureau does its business. So far
1t has had control over the treasury
and post Office departments more than
the others. A large part Of its work
has been putting the clerks in these
departments on an efficiency basis
Each clerk in these two departments
has an efficiency rating" BY this he
Ii promoted or denoted. If he Is q
shirker and does not do fair quantity
and quality of work his rating is likely
to be cut. There is no guessworh
about the rating, which is worked out
by a new kind of efficiency algebra
devised by the bureau. Investigator
in the two departments 60 over the
work Of each man thoroughly to re
valuate it, and report to their chiefs.
Old System Unfair to Clerks.
The bureau has prepared some inter
esting charts, derived from data or
government clerks ages, wages ant
work, before the introduction Of thi!
system and after. The graph line oi
raising wages for the clerks under tnl
old system shows that it was a tediou.
process then, although the quality ant
amount of work rose rapidly In thu
early years of their connection will
the government. When they had beer
connected with a department fOl
many years and their work was be
ginning to deteriorate, their wages be
gan to rise.
AS it Is now, however, a compare
| tive chart shows their salaries arr
raised much more rapidly at first, ant
are more in accord with their worth t.
the government. "We are making abil
ity and not length of tenure the tes
of salary" Chief Brown declared
"This Is a work which is much needed
The young man should have a chance
to advance in government work as II
every other"
Congress evidently has been pleaset
| -, hxv tho hr
reau, for last session it ordered al
clerks in all executive departments II
the District of Columbia be put unde
the efficiency rating" plan. Thi
means that some 24,0OO gOvernmen
clerks will be put on a merit basis o
pay and promotion.
Ten Months Of American Shipbuiidins
| Tho hureAu of navigation, depart