Evening star., 1921-05-17
CONGRESS BEGINS
REC[ASS|F!CADON
OF j. s. EMPLOYEES
Senate and House Commit
tees Expect to Get Law
Passed at This Session.
SENATOR JONES CALLS
CIVIL SERVICE AT STAKE
Declares Paying for Work Not Re-
ceived Makes Private Snap of
ANY Government Job.

Work on rcclasSticatlon legislation.
covering the ciNil employees of Ia"
government in the District Of Colum-
ha. was begun today at Joint meet
ing Of the civil service committees Of
tn" HouSe and Senate.
II IS the expectation Of proponents
OF reclass ification that at the con-
clusion Of the present hearing bills
Will be prepared and submitted to
both houses and that a law will h.
enacted reclassifNng the government
employees before the close of the pres
ent session of Congress.
The hearings today were opened in
! the Senate Office building by state
m"nt of Senator Sterling Of South
Da kota. chairman of the Senate COM
mittee. and acting chairman OF IN"
Joint committee. senator Jones OF
New Mexico. who served chair
man of the Joint congressional com
mission on reclasSification, which re
ported TO Congress more than a year
ago, was the first witness. He waS
: follow ed by Chairman Martin Nor
rSon Of the Civil Service Commission
! Senator Sterling Urges speed.
! In his opening statement Senator
Sterling traced the work Of the join,
f cong .aSsional reclassification commits
sion and The bills which were drafted
3 following the report of that commits
( sion. He said that the joint commits
! sion had rendered valuable service
+ The necessity of prompt action SO d
! to cure the present inequalities in The
, government service was emphasized
/ by Senator Sterling.
! Senator Jones characterized the
joint commission as pioneers in tn"
aSsification work for the civl
service of the government, and said
that The nreSenf
. would find itself better equipped TO 90
! ahead with this work as d result OF
: the commissions labors.
I AZ to thc Importance of reclasSi-
. hcaii there is no question. said
senator Jones. Il am glad TO see you
take up this work. The civil service
Of the government is at stake. Ii
rests in your hands.
Senator Jones said that in the past
! the Civil Service Commission had
merely seen to it that efficient men
= and women are taken into the civil
/ service. There has been no branch
! Of the government TO see that effici-
of the government TO see that eff
cient service is performed after lilc
| employees are taken into the service
! he said.
! Pleads for Efficiency.
| 1T is most important" said Senator
! Jones, that this be done in the flu
! ture. The way TO get efficient serV-
/ ice IS to remove inequalities of pay
: of the employees. and to bring about
good conditions under which they can
work and to have some method OF
getting rid of those who do not come
| up to the standard set for efficient
/ service.
We want TO see the public service
carried on by efficient employees and
We are willing to pay salaries for
! that kind OF service. We do not want
to pay for efficient work and not get
! 1t. When YOU pay for work you do
! not get you make II private snap
OF a government job. You do the
same if you pay more than is paid
outside the government service for
: similar work
Senator Jones suggested that i,
might be wise to adopt a unit of pay
| rather than To establish the different
salaries IN dollars and cents. and. hav-
ing adopted this unit. to provide for
percentage differences in the various
salaries for the different Jobs If thu
! is done. Congress could advance or
lower the percentage unit, he said
when it desired.
Calls Work Most Vital.
Senator Jones said that his commits
sion had found that under the pres
ent designation there are some = 20n
different kinds of jobs in the service
in the District of Columbia. In con-
clusion he said he did not believe the
more important thing than the re-
classification of the government en-
ployes. He predicted that after the
employees in the District had been
classified the work would be extend
ed to government employees outside
the District.
Mr. Morrison. who told the committee
that the Civil Service Commission. while
interested in the subject of compensa-
ton. primarily is interested in the classi-
ficaton of government work. His con-
illusions were that the Civil Service
Commission be assigned the task Of
Job analysis: that Congress should
settle the question of compensation, and
finally, after Congress has regulated
the matter by legislation, authority
should be given the President to make
such changes in the system from time
to time as might be demanded by the
expansion of the government work.
Morrison Rapx Low Salaries.
Mr. Morrison pointed out that the
commission has a limited interest in
the question of compensation in view
Of the fact that when making announce
ments of competitive examinations il is
sitons to be filled. the qualifications that
must be possessed by applicants and the
salary that goes with the job.
In many instances. he said. salaries
are so low as to make it almost inn
possible for the commission to induce
persons having the necessary qualif-
cations to enter the service. it was
stated by Mr. Morrison that when the
Civil Service Commission was estab-
lished the impression developed that
its work would produce a classihca-
tion of the government service. where
as. as a matter of fact, the commits
sion's authority has not extended this
far.
Senator Sterling suggested at this
point that the term 'reclaSSi fication" .
is a misnomer, and that the effort
now being made to systematic gov
CONTINUED on Page .. Column -