The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-05-28

Warwick, Chairman Of Person
mel Board, to Set Aside Objec-
ton of Employees Council.

There will be no change in the
present plans for classifying the
Federal employees in the District
of Columbia, Chairman Warwick,
of the Personnel Classification
Board, announced today.
To Make First Grading.
Protests from the Federation of
Federal Employees against the adop.
ton of the bureau of efficiency sys,
tenn of classification, as opposed to
that originally provided for in thu
Sterling-Lehlbach measure, will moi
cause any shift in the policy of the
board.
Chairman Warwick declares the
present aim of the personnel class
fication board is to get a preliminary
grading Of Federal employees in the
District in shape for the presentation
of the departmental estimates to d..
rector Of the Budget Lord on August
l, and intimates that the present
procedure of the board may in the
long run prove experimental and
tentative.
eff it is proved that our present
method of grading and classifying il.
wrong" said Mr.. Warwick, I'VE will
present time mere expression of
opinion as to our methods will not
affect us.
THE issue raised by the Fedora
ton Of Federal Employees Is simply
the old controversy between the
SterlingL ehlbach faction in Con-
gress and the Wood-Smoot faction.
There is nothing new about it. The
law as passed by Congress distinct
ly provided that we should follow
the Bureau of Efficiency system as
far as practicable. 1t would be Il
great waste If we should scrap all
the work done by the bureau in the
past eighteen months under the
Presidents executive order. The
law provides that we must use 1t
unless we find it impossible to do
So
Chairman Warwick says that the
first task Of the board, so far os
the Federal employees in the Dis
trict Of Columbia, are concerned, is
to formulate a grading in time for
the presentation of the estimates to
the Budget Bureau and subsequent
ly to Congress. He says it is not
necessary to classify all of the Fed.
eraI employees individually in adj
vance Of this grading. The Fedora.
ton Of Federal Employees takes the
identically opposite position, declar-
ing that a detailed classification of
employees must precede the grading.
I'VE have more than a year in
which to classify the District en-
ployes." continued Mr.. Warwick. 1--WE
have only a limited time in which
to get our preliminary work ready
for the estimates. The estimates,
provided they are made on the lump
sum basis, will not be affected by
the classification. After we get
through with our present work we
will have until July, 1924, in which
to do a thorough-going classification
job. The board does not take the
fixed position that the present
system is absolutely right and I'M
Changeable, but it will take up that
question later"
The Personnel Classification Board
probably will issue formal state
ment later in reply to the protest
sent by Luther p. Steward, presi-
dent Of the Federation of Federal
Employees, against the present pro-
cedure of the body The classifi-
cation Of the field service. it is ad.
mitted, is being done in accordance
with the provisions of the Lehlbach-
Sterling plan as originally devised.
1t is pointed out that the hoard has
no jurisdiction over the field service
under the present law, but is max
ing survey for the benefit of
Congress in enacting supplementary
legislation.