Evening star., 1920-01-17
VACANT POSITIONS,
Low PAY, SERIOUS
FOR COAST SURVEY
RecIassifiers Are Told That
Conditions Constitute Pub
lie Emergency.

With 342s per cent of the positions
in the coast and geodetic survey va
cant. conditions which constitute a
public emergency" have arisen, James
w. Mcclure of the survey. represent
ing Supt. f. Lester Jones, told the
joint congressional commission on re-
ella assification of salaries in the District
| today.
In the emergency, the commission
was told. the superintendent of the
survey. with the advice and assistance
of chiefs of the several divisions and
sections. will present to Congress a
special bill providing for the reorgani-
zation Of the bureau, the reclassffca-
ton of it's personnel and the readjust-
ment of their salaries.
Secretary Edward Keating laid the
matter before the reclassification COM
mission at sitting today, and the
commissioners expressed great SYM
pathy with the condition of the sur
vey. which, through Mr.. Mcclure, ex-
with the reclaSsiication commission,
and solicited it's advice and assistance" "
Demand for CartOEraphers.
In the eleven fiscal years, Mr.
Mcclure told the commission, only
four qualified photographers have
been secured. One man was offered a
position with the survey at $1,000 a
year. The Department of Agriculture
offered the man $1,800 a year, and be-
fore either bureau could get him he
was offered $4,000 a year by busi-
ness firm. an offer which he accepted.
Twenty craftsmen who served in
the Army in France landed at New
sion was told. The coast and geo
detic survey called the group on the
telephone, and four vacant places
were rendered them at S1,40O. All
declined.
A training school for apprentice
craftsmen was established in the sur
vey January II. 1918, but this effort
proved utterly Ineffective" Mr.. Nc
Guire declared.
These illustrations were given as
illustrative of the conditions which
the survey today faces and which con-
stitute public emergency.
Conditions of extreme stagnation,
lack of balanced service, imperma-
nence- of personnel recurrent and
finally permanent vacancies. loss of
morale and active disintegration prev
alent in the coast and geodetic sur
vey have been set forth in hearings
on the first deficiency bill for 1920"
the recla assification commission was
told.
1.-The conditions described by the
superintendent have not been relieved
but, on the contrary, are injecting all
UIduCHeS Ol tHe service 10 al lHCTedS-
ing extent. These conditions not only
occasion distress and unrest among
the employees as individuals. but have
come to constitute public emergency.
the continued neglect of which
threatens disastrous consequences to
efficient functioning of the bureau
and impairment of the great and i'm
portant service to the public for
which it was constituted"
Increase Lost in Conference.
Both branches of Congress recog-
nized the necessity of immediate re-
lief it was stated, by allowing salary
increases of 1914 per cent. carried in
the first deficiency bill for 1920, in
lieu of the so per cent requested by
the superintendent. The increase was
lost in conference.
investigations of the joint COM
mission on reclassification of salaries
have fully established the fact that
the employees of this bureau are
among the most poorly paid of all
those possessing similar qualifications
and rendering equivalent services, Z"
declared Mr.. MCGUIRE. Hence no
measure for immediate relief should
be permitted to supersede the re-
classification commissions subsequent
and equitable recommendations.
| Increases calculated merely to raise
| the existing low salaries to the level
of the present inadequate averages
elsewhere would not suffice either to
| retain employees or to maintain the
| parity of the bureau with others. Nor
should any salary scale be proposed
which could in any way invalidate
the findings Of the reclassification
commission"