The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1916-12-07
EFFICIENCY BASIS
FOR ADVANCEMENT
Uncle Sam Now Rates His Clerks
and Aims to Pay Each One
What He Is Worth.
OLD SYSTEM INTO DISCARD
New Bureau Which Makes Little
Noise But Produces Results Rev.
olutlonixinq Conditions In
Department OFFICES.

Tucked away on the third floor back
Of rented building in Washington Is
Uncle Sans bureau Of efficiency. An
proclaims It's occupancy Of space In the
building, Not many outside the gov
eminent have heard Of 1t, for 1t is u
young bureau, little over three years
old. Another reason for Its inconspicu-
BUSINESS In the public eye Is the way 1t
advertlses. Since its organization 1t
has spent about $40 all told, for print
ing reports, To help put the United
States government Ga q business basis
Is it's purpose, an eminently practical
one, which it goes at in an emlnently
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, a
punch card" system of totaling checks
and balances was introduced In this
office. 1t was a 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
card, each hole meaning 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 $4,000
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
put their wits to work to find q way
out. Thiel suggested that they call in
Herbert ID. Brown, who was chief of
the new bureau of efficiency. Brown
needed their Macedonian cry and went
to work. After a few weeks investiga-
ton, planning and conferences the eff
cheney men and the treasurers men
were able to work out plan. As a
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 n,ip p ,In 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
is promoted or denoted. If he is IA
shirker and does not do fair quantity
and quality of work his rating is likely
to be cut There is no guesswork
about the rating. which is worked out
by new kind of efficiency algebra"
in the two departments go over the
work of each man thoroughly to re-
valuate it, and report to their chiefs.
The bureau has prepared some inter
eSting charts, derived from data on
government clerks ages, wages and
work, before the introduction of this
system and after. The graph line OF
raising wages for the clerks under the
old system shows that it was tedious
process then, although the quality and
amount of work rose rapidly in the
early years of their connection with
the government. When they had been
connected with department for
many years and their work was be-
ginning to deteriorate. their wages be-
gan to rise.
AS it is now, however, compare
tive chart shows their salaries are
raised much more rapidly at first. and
are more in accord with their worth to-
the government. "We are making abil-
ity and not length of tenure the test
of salary" Chief Brown declared.
This is work which is much needed.
The young man should have "a chance
to advance in government work as in
every other"
Congress evidently has been pleased
with the results obtained by the bu-
reau, for last session it ordered all
clerks in all executive departments in
the District of Columbia be put under
the efficiency rating" plan.