Evening star., 1923-05-27


thoroughly as absolutely essential
for the successful administration of
the act for four principal reasons:
"a to secure uniformity of interpre-
tation of the salary schedules in sec
tion 13 Of the act by department
heads. CD to permit of an adequate
review by the board of the actions
Of department heads in making ini-
tial alloca tions, (3) to facilitate an
orderly hearing of criticisms and
complaints prior to the final approval
of the work by the board. and "a to
permit of presenting estimates to
Congress supported by clear. intel
ligible explanations.
How Act Is Violated.
The board, disregarding both the
letter and the spirit of the law, has
issued orders requiring the depart
ments to make the initial ALLEGATIONS
within the District of Columbia, not
in accordance with section 13 of the
act, even without the required class
specifications, but in accordance with
the schedules of tho bureau of ef-
>
schedules do not comply with the
law because: "a They do not contain
an adequate statement of duties and
responsibilities; (2) they do not con-
tain any statement of minimum quail
ifications; CD they do not provide
the titles to be used in the estimates.
Further, these bureau efficiency
schedules are inadequate az a basis
for sound classification for the fol-
lowing reasons: "a They do not
a r. i'm nf hflr 10 x-a
hundreds to be allocated by analogy;
t2) they use single examples of
duties to serve as guide for classi-
flying thousands of positions which
one sentence examples of duties are
too short to be "a real guide. Their
use Jeopardizes the success of the en-
tire classification in the District of
Columbia.
The plan adopted by the board
for the District of Columbia was be-
fore Congress, and was overwhelm-
ingly rejected by the House. 1t had
almost no support in the Senate. 1t
has remained for the board to ap-
tsional sanction. 1t does this by ignor-
ing the mandatory provisions of the
act creating the board.
Charges Discrimination.
THE plan adopted for the field
service is in full compliance with the
law, is based on sound principles of
classification and is fair alike to the
government. the employees and the
taxpayers. The plan adopted for the
District of Columbia. on the other
hand. can only be characterized as
unfair, unscientific and not in accord
ance with the law.
In view of the far-reaching i'm
portance of the classification act of
1923. we sincerely trust that the per-
sonnel board Will reconsider its an
nounced program for the District of
Columbia and adopt procedure
which conforms to the act"
we do not make this protest
hastily or without full considera
ton" said Mr.. Steward last night.
When the plan of reclassitication for
the District of Columbia was first
announced by the personnel classifi-
cation board We realized what would
almost certainly develop. but we
waited until the actual attempt to
apply the boards orders in the ex-
ecutive departments in Washington
| had borne out our belief in the mat
ter. Experience to date in the vari-
Gus bureaus and offices has shown
that the boards orders in this re-
injustice and total failure to
achieve the results sought by the
classification act.
Statement of Duties.
When IL is considered that the
board has undertaken to apply one
scheme of classification TO the field
service and wholly different claSsi-
fication to the District of Columbia
some idea of the impracticability of
the program is Immediately appar-
ent. SO far as the field is concerned,
the board is carrying out the classi-
fication plan which is called for by
the law: for the District of Columbia
the board is attempting to apply the
bureau of efficiency plan which was
overwhelmingly voted down by the
House of Representatives. had almost
no support in the Senate and was not
adopted in the act as finally passed
For the District OF Columbia the act
is specific; the general salary levels
TO be paid for the different grades
in the several services within the Dis
trict of Columbia are established in
the act itself. 1t is further provided
that the board shall prepare and pub
lish an adequate statement defining
the duties and responsibilities in
volved in the classes to be established
within the several grades, the mini
mum qualifications therefor and the
titles TO be given. The board has not
set up these definitions. but has on
the contrary attempted. to apply the
bureau of efficiency salary rates with
out any adequate definition or state
ment of duties and qualifications
1T is obvious that neither the en-
pioyes in the field nor the employees
in the District OF Columbia can be