Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-11-19

volvAd. therefore,, people UNIVERSAL
ly recognize the Importance OF secur-
, ing and retaining the services of the
right maj, and no commercial organl-
cation would consider deprivinS itself
of the pow er to pay larger salary
| than usual in order to obtain tn"
services of tn, right man for a par
F.. iicular line O, work. Therefore. II
| the head of a bureau is authorized TO
| make certain Investigations Whlch re-
quired man OF anuSual talent WAC
could not he obtained for the salary
! fixed by law he woufd lose the oppor-
| tunity of obtaining this mau: wne.e-
as if some elasticity is proviaed the
services of the best man could De Sc
cured.
| SO. ObjeetfOns to Lump Funds:
Statutory salaries present SO many
| difficulties and disadvantages that IN
some bureaus lump funds are int vogue
much more than statutory funds. ana
| in some almost entirely. One OF the
principal objections to lump fun as
/ has been that the various bureaus am
| ena bled to fix salaries without con-
| forming to 4 common scale, and con-
siderable inequalities arise. 1t is true
| that the character and quality of the
| work varies in different cases; and
the salary scales perhaps vary less
! than they appear to do. But it must
be granted that there are differences
for men of the same qualifications and
4
dina ton and Standardization of posi-
| lions and salafie had been carried
| into effect, thG objections to lump
sum salaries Would have been less
| felt.
Another objection to lump funds
has been that Ipen could be trans
| ferred to them at higher salaries thaE
| they are getting on statutory roHs.
This was so strongly felt thar it led
| to legislation forbiddinEth1s. How
! ever, we believe that difficulty arises
primarily from the fact that because
promotions were impossible on stat
| utory funds it was sought to do JUS
| tice to men in the only way posi-
| BILE. Thus the legislation resulted in
either driving men out of the serv-
| ice or depriving them of promotions
: to which they were entitled. 1t may
! be in some cases that men have been
/ promoted who did not deserve it. But
| that can happen under either plan.
Certainly the advantages of a
| iump-sum plan are very great, and if
| its principal disadvantages can be
| eliminated statutory salaries could be
largely or entirely dispensed with. to
the lasting benefi. . the government
service.
| -. A Standardized PersonneI.
| The congressional reclassification
commission is engaged in classifying
all government positions in the Dis
trict Of Columbia and proposes to
make out a system of standardized
| titles with the duties and qualifica-
| tons for each. A range of salaries
for these various positions will pre-
sumably be suggested. If Congress
, adopts the report and fixes the
salaries. it will be setting very definite
restrictions and giving very definite
| instructions to the bureaus in making
i appointments and promotions. If
| funds are provided to the various
bureaus for their work in accordance
with some kind of budget. in which
! the work to be done is described and
the money to be spent is estimated,
/! together with an approximate list of
| positions of various grades that it is
| expected to fill, then the bureaus will
be free to spend the money as efficient
| ly as possible and not be tied up by
fixed numbers of fixed salaries as
under the present statutory system
nor left as free from restrictions as
| to salaries as under the present lump
fund system. The disadvantages of
each plan will largely be done away
with and the best features of each
preserved. 1t will. of course, be
necessary under this plan that the
permanency and stability of statutory
places be secured for the permanent
positions in bureau. It will also
| bC HCCCoSdiy " nave SCIIle SOTI Oh
| effective supervision of promotions.
| such as the Civil Service Commission
| gives to appointments. to see that the
scheme of standardized salaries is fol-
lowed. that exceptions or special cases
are justified, and that the interpreta-
tions of the terms expressing the
duties and qualifications of the
various positions are substantially
uniform in the different bureaus and
departments of the government"
80. Promotions Under the View sys-
| How promotions shall be made un-
der the new system has not yet been
decided. 1t is very important that
they be made according to merit. rap
idly for those who develop rapidly,
slowly for those who progress slowly.
Any system which makes it impos-
isible to promote men and women ac-
licording to merit cannot be SatiSfac-
ltory or right. Automatic promotions
which put all in ore class and offer
no incentive to industry and effort
are of course out of the question. On
the other hand. if there is no auto
matic promotion there should be pro-
jviSion for systematic revision of sal
laries and frequent promotions for all
who deserve them. Some method of
recording the quantity and quality of
twork done and the responsibilities
carried would seem to be necessary
flor all grades of the service. If this
lean be provided and the range of sal
| aries sDecified can be made adequate
and sufficiently flexible in some way
SO that they can be maintained COM
parable with salaries outside the gov
ternment service. it ought to be pos
sible- to maintain a high grade of
personnel and to conduct the govern
ment efficiently on a business basis.
| al. Supervision OF the New System:
/ "The Civil Service Commission. if
lenlarged and strengthen ed. could eff
fectively perform this function of SUI
pervising promotions and transfers as
they now do and see that the stand
I.ardized system of titles and salaries
lis followed. 1t would be desiraol.
Ito have a representative of the Civil
tService Commission permanently de-
btailed to each one of the large bu-
/ reauS to cooperate with the chief
i,clerk or appointment division in mat
| ters of appointments and promotions
\ Other Representatives of the Civil
Service Commission could go about
among the smaller bureaus giving as
sistance where needed and seeing that
here is satisfactory compliance with
] the system established by Congress-
This will give Congress more ade-
iQuate control over salaries and posi-
lions than heretofore, without unduIy
embarrassing the bureaus in carrying
hat IL