Evening star., 1921-05-17

, federal field services. This will require
great deal Of investigation and a con-
! bic period Of time.
; In recognition of these practical diff
| cuitcs the Wood-Smoot bill temporarily
| excludes the employees OF the District of
| Columbia and all field services from the
! application OF the system.
! Immediate enactment of reclassifica ton
] legislation was urged by Mr. Brown. IF
! there is to he any legislation along the
] lines of reciasSifCation of government en-
ployes." he said. the chances fer it are
! better now than some weeks hence. We
I ought to do it now.
Outlines NO0d->moot Plan.
Mr.. Brown outlined al i,ugth the
I WoodSmoot rrcla sSification plan, and
submitted himself to questioning from
/ the bureau chiefs and other supervisory
! officials of the government. who crowd
: ed the auditorium.
The speaker stressed the fact that the
! Redistribution plan sponsored by Sem
ator Smoot. Represe ntativc Wood and
himself would make the classification OF
| government employees hy executive or
| der after the basic law was passed,
| rather than by the inclusion Of hard
and-faSt ClaSS!ficatioES in "A law itself.
Questioned by col w. B. Greeley OF
the forest service. presIden. OF the
Federal Club; Or. f.. r. Rosa of the h,l-
reau of standards and others. Mr.. Brown
minated tha; employees must look for
ward to several years before they might
get the full benefits of rpclaSSi tication
under the bill. He said there would be
no duplication of functions between the
Civil Service Commission and the hu-
reau of efficiency. which latter. under
the Wood -SmOot bill, is given the en-
forcement of the law. He said that the
committee on appropriations was al
ready committed TO the increased cost of
the BILL which he estimated would he
bout 1900. 600 over the present salaries.
plus the bonus
President TO Make the Rules.
The Wood -Smoot bill Mr.. Brown said.
would require the President to make
the necessary rules and regulations to
carry the system in effect .It places
upon the bureau of efficiency the duty
of aiding the President. as ne may re-
quest. in drafting these rules and regu-
latons and in enforcing them. 1t re-
quires the bureau of efficiency also to
make an annual report to the President
describing the operations OF the sys-
TEN in the various branches Of the ser.-
ice"
The speaker said that bonus legis-
lation would be repealed only so far
as it relates 10 employees classified
under the proposed system. Taking
up the question of salary schedules,
the speaker pointed out that the
Wood-Smoot schedule is based upon
the assumption that 1T would be flu
tile to expect Congress. in consider
ing appropriation Legislation. to BE-
governed by complicated classifca-
tion of 500 printed pages" thus re-
fcrring to the schedules of the old
recla ssification commission.
Mr.. Brown featured certain distinc-
tions between the Wood -Smoot sched-
ule and the other reclassificati"n
schedules now before congress.
Notes Absence OF Titles.
"One of these is the absence of
titles" declared Mr.. Brown. The !
us" of titles in Il reclassifcation plan
can be justified only where the titles |
employed accurately denote the char |
acter Of the work done. No one would (
contend that this is the case with re-
gard TO titles in the government
service.
1T is certainly not the case in
many departments and establish ;
mentS. Almost every one knows of |
instances within his own personal OBJ
servation where government employees |
are performing work entirely foreign /,
to the titles which they hold. l have !
been repeatedly asked to state the !
grade to which such and such a per |
son would be allocated under the !
Wood -Smoot bill I am always forced !;
to say in answer to such inquiries |
that it is impossible to state wher.. !
the ALLEGATION would be until the !;
work done be analysed and conpared !
with other jobs of the same general +;
class
ALLEGATIONS can never be made by |
ute and the use of titles in a r.-
schedule would serve
only TO confuse the ailoca ton Of posj
tons. Titles have their uses Of
course. And I hope that no one will
mIsunderstan me to advocate the
abandonment Of titles in the govern
nnent service. say merely tha, ,
titles are not in any sense an aid to
reciassifcation."
Bill Gives Wide Latitude
Under the system proposed the au-
give to administrative officers wide