The Washington times., 1923-11-16
BLOW HIT.
new PAY
LISTS
Redistribution Troubles Now
Likely to Be Fought Out
in Congress.

Charges and counter-charges,
and confusion bordering upon
chaos, tangle the classification
situation.
The internal discord in the Per-
sonnet Board, which has been re-
peatedly outlined in The Wash
ington Times, no longer Is masked
or under cover; it is out in the
open now, and threatens the
speedy disruption Of the board as
at present organized.
Questions Employees Ask.
The questions fhe Federal EN-.
ployes would like to have answered
are:
Has the preponderant weight of
the board swung finally to the
Wood Brown Smoot plan Of re-
classification as opposed to the
Sterling Lehlback plan?
Is General Lord. director of the
Budget Bureau, responsible for the
scrapping of the pay schedules for
the field service worked out by the
/, board and the substitution Of a
grading system?
VIII there be any reclassification
affecting the fiscal year 1924-25, 50
far as the salaries are concerned?
The latter inquiry IL based upon
the idea generally prevailing
among all Federal workers-that
~rSfI1
the District of Columbia employees
unless the field service Is taken
care Of also.
It now seems definitely deter
mined that there will be no proper
revision Of salaries for the field
service at the coming session Of
Congress. The Personnel Board is
holding in allegiance I'LL the work it
has done for the new classification
Of field service workers.
District Situation Indefinite.
The situation relating to the
District of Columbia, particularly in
relation to the class specifications
required under the classification
law to be written, and upon which
pay was to be based, remains more
or less indefinite.
| The board already has announced
the increases of salary TO be given
the District workers under tentative
| aIlocations that were made through
out the summer months.
There has never been any nquivo-
| cation about the statement that the
ALLEGATIONS were tentative, Ind that
class specifications of the Sterling
Lehlbach type would be written.
The law requires that they should
be written; but the pay schedules
for the next year, provided they are
adopted by Congress, which now ap-
pears doubtful, already have been
made public and the ceallocations,
according to officials, will not affect
them very much.
The story in the background Of
the personnel boards action with
| reference to the field service 'IrOb-
ably will be disclosed when the
congressional storm over recSassf.
ficatton breaks next month.
Board Faces Sharp Fire.
Federal employees, both in the
field and in the District, are certain
TO force an acrimonious debate in
opposition to the boards work dur
ing the past nine months; the per-
sonnet board, now apparently domi-
mated by the Bureau of Efficiency,
Will be under sharp fire.
| With the Budget Bureau anxious
to retire from the board and with
the almost unanimous opposition OF
the Federal workers themselves, the
whole structure of Redistribution as
at present built probably will fall to
the ground.
With Senator Sterling of South
Dakota retiring as chairman Of the
Senate Civil Service Committee, the
prospect of constructive legislation
in the coming Congress is doubtful.
1t seems probable that Senator
Nicholson of Colorado will be his sue
| cessor.
Sterling was strong advocate OF
a thorough-going Reconsideration, but
Nicholson's attitude is doubtful. The
entire situation growing out Of the
split within the personnel board,
which has been raging for months
and has now reached virtually the
breaking point, seems to put reclassi-
fication of the sort desired by the
Federal workers far off into the fu-
ture.