Evening star., 1922-12-04
REC[ASS|FY|NG ACT
ASKED BY DR.. WORK
Postmaster General Points
to Irregularities in Pay
Among Employees.

Passage by Congress of some re-
| classification bill or appropriations
based on the classification of the serv-
ice made under the provisions of the
Presidents executive order of Octo-
Der "a. 1921. is urged by Postmaster
General Work in his annual report.
made public today.
| Under the existing conditions en-
ployes in the Post Office Department.
for comparable work. are paid less
money than those In any other gov
ernment department. with the result
that employees are constantly seek
fling transfers to other department.
at higher salaries, and. as 1t is the
policy of the department not to in
terpose any objections to transfers.
high grade employees. who have spent
years in the service and become
| valuable to the department are on
| tinually leaving to better themselves"
declared DIR. Work. He continued:
Inequality Of Pay.
! ut may also be stated that en-
ployes are not only seeking trans
fers- to other government depart
ments. but to the field service of
the Post once Department. whic:i
was reclassiffed June S. 1920. There
are at the present time officials in
the Post Once Department who re-
| cetve less money than their sub
| ordinates in the field. While the low
est paid clerks and carriers in the
held service begin work without ex-
| perlence at $1,000 per year and ad-
| vance automatically slO0 per year
| until they reach a salary of $500.
| and while unskilled laborers in the
f1eld begin without experience at
$1.360 and go automatically to sl.450
| it Is lamentable fact that men and
women Of mature years. both white
and black. and many having families
to support, are now doing work in
the department equally onerous and
requiring equal intelligence at $72O
per year. The latter have no auto
| matte promotions and often work five
as $1,000 per year.
The entire scale of salaries in the
department. from the lowest TO the
highest paid. is lower than the field
service in substantially the same
the fact that the cost Of living n a'io io
Washington is high. much higher in
fact than in the field. this disparity of
compensation discloses an injustice
demanding speedy relief 1t is not
only an injustice to the workers
themselves. but il is a detriment to
the government. since it prevents the
department from securing the best
talent.
There are over 100000 employees in
the field whose work Is supervised
and managed through the depart
ment. On principle the department
should pay better salaries than the
| field so that the avenue of promotion
would be open. attracting the best for
the more responsible work of the de-
pdrtment.
Higher Salaries in Field.
The general superintendent of
| railway mail service in the depart
| ment receives salary of $4,000 a
dents in the field service under his
Jurisdiction receive a salary of 81. 200
! year The chief post ONCE inspec-
tor receives salary of $4,000 year.
while the inspectors in charge under
his jurisdiction receive $4,000. CHIEF
! clerks in the railway mail service re.
cetve $4,000. assistant chief clerks.
$500: clerks in charge Of sections in
chief clerks Offices receive $500. and
chief clerks at division headauarters
Of post Office inspectors receive s2.sOo
per annum. while chief clerks TO the
four assistants postmaster general
receive but s2.5OO plus the bonus; and
superintendents of divisions in the
department receive as low as $4,000
IN some cases. Railway postal clerks.
who were included in the postal serv-
! ice Redistribution act. now receive
| salaries ranging from. 81 500 for grade
| 1. to $500 for grade s. and the en-
! trance compensation for clerks at
division headquarters Of inspectors
| is 500. while the entrance salary for
| the department IS 1000, with a maxi.
mum of $500 and an annual bonus
I-of S240. The Importance and neces-
sity Of legislation to adjust the de-
partmental service will therefore be
see4."
J. Addition to p. O. Asked.
Postmaster General Work recon-
mends the erection Of an addition to
the rear part of the Washington city
post Office building. on the ground
already available and owned by the
government. to take care of the re-
Quirements of the post office, post
Office garage. terminal railway post
supplies.
THE erection of an archives build
ing in the city of Washington is a
real necessity to the Post ONCE De-
partment." the report states. "and it
necessary legislation for its early
construction and completion be en-
acted by Congress"
DIR. Work suggests that the per-
sonnel now appropriated for in stat
utory positions could be handled more
effectively il the department had a
lump-sum appropriation, under which,
under such circumstances, readjust-
ments in salaries could be made more
consistently that at the present time,
when no promotions can be made
until vacancies occur.
Emeiency Ratings.
"The system Of efficiency ratings
which prevails in the Post Office De-
partment was first inausurated pur-
suant to the act of August 23, 1912,
but Congress never appropriated suf-
ficient money to effectively admin
lister the system" Postmaster General
Works report declares.
The report shows that the postal
service effected a reduction of 500
571, 1886 In the annual deficit stated as
for the preceding year.
The average per capita expenditure
for postage during the year was
$3.s2. according to the report.
SOCIAL CLUB MEETS.
Installation Of officers Of the Social