Evening star., 1923-03-05
Gen. Lord, Chairman of
!, Board, Holds Conference
to Outline Procedure.
MASS OF DETAIL MUST
BE SIFTED AND FILED
Reclassifcation in District Com.
plete, But 100000 Others
Must Be Graded. -,
BY WILA r. KENNEDY.

WV HeS><Sary % carry into erect
the reclassificatiop of more than q
quarter of a million human beings
employed by the United States gov.
eminent, both as to employment and
statutory salary, as provided by act
OF Congress in the closing rush hours.
was started today.
Brig. Gen. H. NJ. Lord budget of.
ficer Of the government, who is chair
man OF the special board provided to
work out the Redistribution and car
ry 1t into effect on July. l, 1924, called
the board together toby for organ
ization and conference O.. the program
70 De followed. The other members
OF the board are George r wales.
representing the Civil Service Con,9
mission. and Herbert d. Brown. rem
re- reesenting the United States bureau
or efficiency.
Magnitude of Work.
1t was made clear todav that +b.
iIIaeIItuoe OF the work to be done un-
uer personal supervision of this hoard
usstoIe the new law can he carried INTO
oues oeSt Is greater than members Of Con-
SIress. government officials or the pub
tion Of S cohcep-
The reclassiicatfon la~ covers NOT
the the eo~ernu aDout $1,000 persons employed by
also approximately 2O0.OOO persons
Ss.a.tereo all over continental United
Cre,,s alu tne lnsular possessions.
~. .,acation was expressed today
that the classification required unSIer
the law is the same as was issmed
oy the United States bureau of an.
Ciency under the eXecutiye ordar ~
ftopea sifcatian "a. !. 1921, so that the reclas-
aIion is already made as far as
tne District of Columbia is concerted
Work for District Done.
In fact, the reclassifcation for
eminent workers in the District couId
nave gone into effect without anX
troubie On July l next The daiay
20 20 tuly l. 1924. was ordered because
against allowing the classification ~
JOBS and advanced salaries TO tau.
enect In the National Capital until ~
could also be applied simultaneously
service. Az 'he Heio
The grades and salaries were all
worked out for the District so that
congress could see at a glance lust
erai!.t, "nai II meant here: The figures were
would be-s2,500,OO0 more thai the
present salaries plus the s240 botus-
SO that the appropriation could easily
nave peen made to carry out reclsssf-
fication here
faced the task not only of passinS
upon the classification of Jobs and
liking of salaries as recommended nv
the bureau of efficiency, pursuant to
the executive order. for $4,000 en-
ployes in the District, but also the
overwhelming task of getting infor-
nation on which to base reclassifi.
cation of Jobs and salaries for ZOO
600 government employees scattered all
over the country.
Work Complicated.
One thing that complicates the
work very much is that living condi-
tions vary greatly. For example, in
the agricultural service the cost of
housing. food, etc, fuctuates with
localities. and is much less than here
too, a complication arises in that the
government furnishes such items az
light, heat, quarters and commissary
privileges to some employees.
So, there are many differences be-
tween the field service and service
here in the District. 1t Is not a ques-
tion of making one schedule that will .
cover all services, but OF making va
rious schedules that will cover the
peculiarities of the different services,
taking into account what the govern
ment already furnishes. For example, =.
in the Indian service the government
frequently and even generally fur
nishes shelter and food, or at least
The new reclassification board faces
the problem of fixing a salary, say of
$1,000 for certain work in the District
of Columbia which would not fit the
same work in Muskogee, Okla, or in
New York city.
Meet Again Tomorrow.
The reclassification board will meet
again tomorrow morning with Gen.
Lord and set the wheels going. It
Is hoped at that meeting to complete
the program of work and actually
start gathering the data on which to
base reclassification of the field
service.
The task is at least three times az
large as the work already done OF
trict. The bureau Of efficiency, In
actually appraising, allocattng ana
tabulating $1,000 jobs in Washington
during the last year. employed twen-
ty persons regularly
While here in the District. II there
was any question about the descrip-
tion Of any Job. information could
be gotten over the telephone. this
will not be 50 easy with respect to
from Nome, Alaska, to tho Philip
pines.
May VISIT States.
So the question has arisen whether
the work can be done here in Wash.
ington or whether the reclassthcation
board will have to send out its agents
into every state. The probabilities
are that mon will have to be sent out
to cover the states by services Of the
government. Hero again is empha-
sized the magnitude OF the task. for
there are 220 headQuarter Offices In
washington. although there are only
some fifty major services, such e
customs, internal revenue, fofAbtYy.
Interstate Commerce Commission and
Indian service
The law which set this reclassihca-
ton board to work failed TO provide
any funds with which to carry on the
work, 80 that tho working force must
come by temporary detail from tho
budget bureau, the United States bu-
reau of efficiency, the Civil Service
Commission and from the various