Evening star., 1922-04-30

government has sustained e.. \ Ia7e
amount of economic waste in the gov.
ernment establishments have resulted
because of the inefficiency of the men
| in charge of the work, and the ineffi-
cheney was due in large part to the fact
! that sufficient salary was not paid to
command an efficient man.
IneMiciency Is Traced
| To Low-Salary Scale.
| One of the best services that can
! be rendered to the government, the
members of the appropriations com
mittee and leaders in both houses of
! Congress. Independent of party af-
| filiations. say, would be scientific
study into the qualifica tions of men
at the head of bureaus and other
| subdivisions of the government serv-
| ice, with a view to determining the
| cause of inefficiency. Representative
Wood says that his own investiga-
tions have convinced him that nine
times out of ten the inefficiency is
due. to the fact that the salary paid
| is not large enough to get a man ef-
| ficiently capable of a complete dis
! charge of the duties of his office
| AS a rule the cheapest man in any
kind of employment is the dearest
| man as far as the results obtained are
! concerned.
Representative Wood is opposed to
the appointment of any new commits
sion to make such an investigation.
| because it would mean a dragging
along of the investigation. disturb
ance in Uncle Sans workshop, and a
great expense. He believes that the
| appropriations committee can handle
| this more properly and expeditiously
! than-a any other agency. because it has
a great deal of the work already done.
The members of the appropriations
committee already are reasonably
well informed regarding the Of
f1cials who are efficient and the rela-
tive adequacy of the salaries they
receive.
Give Invaluable Service
For Meager Compensation.
One feature of the study and reform
proposed will be to weed out the in
consistencies in salaries that are now
being paid. These Inconsistencies are
detriment to the whole service,
| Representative Wood points out, be-
cause the good men cannot help real
izing that there is a very unjust, in
equality in their pay. He points par
ticularly to DR.. Charles d. waIcott,
secretary OF the Smithsonian Institu-
tio;., and DR.. S. W. Stratton, director
of the bureau of staPdards. as types
of men who are giving invaluable
service to the government, men whose
work could not be duplicated. and
who are getting meager salaries.
which are only a fraction of what
they would command in private busi-
ness and endowed institutions.
Many of those who are doing very
valuable work for the government at
relatively low salaries are not appre-
ciated by the public because the
public is not brought in contact with
the work they are doing.
AS an example of what he proposes.
Representative Wood has just intro
duced resolution to increase the
salaries of the Civil Service Com
missioners from $4,000 to $500 "A
year. He explains that the present
salaries were fixed years ago when
the purchasing power of the dollar
| was twice what it is today. But
more important to his mind is the
fact that other commissions have
since been created, whose services
are not half as important and whose
members are receiving twice as much
as the Civil Service Commissioners
Civil Service COmmfssfOn
Illustration of Inequity.
He argues that the Civil Service
Commission should be made up of the
best men in the country, for the
standard of civil service enforcement
can be very largely gauged by the
men at the head of it. In order that
the civil service may be maintained
as it should be the members of the
commission must be men whose integ-
rity and ability is beyond question.
In order to get such men salaries
commensurate with the Importance
of the office should be paid.
Giving point to his argument that
there are now very serious inequali-
ties in salaries. Representative Wood
! points out that the salaries paid to
the members of the Farm Loan Board
are $4,000 a year, while the duties
and requirements are nothing like
as exacting as for Civil Service Com
l.-.,r
members of the Shipping Board receive
$4,000. as do also the members of
the Interstate Commerce Commission.
and there are numerous other in
stances.
The importance Of the service rem
fdered and the individual RESPONSE
bility of the official holding the Office
must be considered.
r-1os