Evening star., 1922-05-29
President Considers Making
It Effective for 60,000
U. Employees.
ALL DETAILS COMPLETED;
APPROPRIATION AWAITED
Many Becoming Impatient Over
Further Delay as Bonus Issue
Comes Up Again.
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.

President Harding is considering
putting reclassiication Of the nearly
$4,000 federal employees In the Dis
trict Of Columbia into effect July 1.
by executive order. The reclassihca-
tion schedules, necessary to fix up
the pay rolls promptly on that date,
have been actually prepared by the
United States bureau of efficiency, in
cooperation with the administrative
officers In each of the government
establishments. In compliance with
an executive order of President Hard
ing on October "a. 1921.
All that is necessary to establish
the new salaries on July 1 is for
Congress to appropriate the money
necessary to pay them. The amounts
that will be required to do this for
each office of the government have
been ascertained down to the last
dollar. This for the first year will
cost about per cent more than the
present basic salaries plus the $240
bonus, which 1t is proposed to alb
have been receiving 1t for the last
fve years.
Impatient Over Delay.
Because the tariff bill has been oc-
cupying the center of the stage and
probably will continue to do so for
several months, many senators who
are opposed to passing another bonus
bill and still more who are opposed
to the Sterling-Lehlbach bill are i'm
patient over further delay, since it
would junk all the work that has
been done by the bureau of efficiency
and would require the study to be
made all over again by the-Cfvil
Service Commission. This would en-
tail tail an Of ans ao5
take a years time for another lin
restigation.'
The Sterling-Lehlbach bill, carry
ing schedules for reclassif1cation of
House SIX months ago aud ssse .hsen
banging fire in the. Senate while de-
bate drags on over the tariff. In
the meantime there has been no leg
islation to assure the government
$40 bonus for the next hscal year.
which they must have to keep their
homes together. While Chairman
Madden of the House appropriations
committee. House Leader Mondell and
other prominent men in both the
House and Senate have stated posi-
lively that the bonus will be taken
care of in a separate measure II the
reclassification bill does not become
learned that certain members of the
House and Senate have been in con-
ference with q view to having the
bonus cut to $120.
Pressure Brought ON President.
The real friends of the government
employees in both the House and the
Senate are impatient. over the pro-
posed delay, even more than over the
new appropriation that would be re-
auired. Because they believe that
the shortcut is to put through the
reclassification schedules worked out
by the bureau of efficiency and the
administrative officers, pressure Is
being brought to bear on President
Harding to issue an executive order
under which the army Of government
workers would start the new fiscal
year with new statutory salary
schedule carrying substantial In
creases.
These leaders in Congress feel that
this is ap especially appropriate time
of civil employees, because they have
Just passed the adjusted pay bill of
the Army, and If they can have the
pay Of the civil employees adjusted to
take eHeCt July next tney Will De
able to go before the voters this fall
with a much better record than If
they simply pass a bill which will
leave the question so vitality affecting
the names of $4,000 workers from
every state in the Union up in the
air for another year at least, while
more money Is being spent 'investi-
eating a subject that has been in
Vestigated" for years by costly COM
mittees and commissions.
No Further Investigation Needed.
The reclassification schedule pro-
muIgated by the bureau Of efficiency
under President Hardtng's executive
order of October "a, 1921, which is
the same as the schedule in the bill
introduced in the House and Senate,
r. Wood of Indiana and Senator Reed
July 1 without any further investi-
carries the support of all the ad-
ministrative officers Of the govern
ment.
The importance politically Of having
salaries adjusted on July Is felt by
with reclassifying the salaries, the
bureau Of efiici ency and the admins
trative officers Of the government
have worked out a most complete and
effective system for rating the efii-
cheney Of the employees with the idea
of eliminating from the snfvice the