Evening star., 1923-12-07
EFFICIENCY BUREAU
METHODS SCORED
Civil Service Reform League
Committee Hits Fer
SonneI Work.


special committee on reclassificatio
made today to the National Civil Serv
ice Reform League. in session at tn
Washington Hotel
The report, signed by Albert Smith
Taught OF Philadelphia, chairman.
and Miss Harlean James and Robert
Belcher. both of this city, contained
a announcement of the bureau OF ef-
ficiency. which. according to the re-
port. was hostile to the work of the
joint congressional Redistribution
commission. Is hostile to the Civil
Service Commission, of which it was
originally a part. and plays con-
sistently in these matters an OBJ
structive part
The report states that with re-
spect to classification, at the earliest
possible date the participation of the
efficiency bureau should be terminal
ed by legislation" congressional
investigation would, the report con-
tinues. convince Congress of the wis
dom Of this particular step"
The splitting up OF responsibility
for such fundamental personnel mat
ters reclassification and efficiency
records, the report goes on, is bound
to retard progress, "if. in fact, any
progress can be made at ali"
Co-operation Urged.
Responsibility properly rests with
the Civil Service Commit sSion. the re-
portsstates. Cooperation with other
agencies. particularly the budget bu-
Ieau. should be close and persistent.
But sound personnel policy for
the government will centralize re-
SponSibility in the commission as the
central employment agency. s.ve the
commission the authority and dignity
n as ND 90 Ia, Il
assuring the development of a greatly
improved personnel system" the re-
port said.
The report stated that the special
committee had met with an Official at
ttude Of obstruction by at least d ma
iority of the personnel clas assification
board which has denied the commit
tee, "as X has other private citizens"
according to the report any access
WhtteSer er to it's official records, in
GLIDING even it's minutes.
See No Progress.
The committee finds that largely
through the influence of the efficiency
bureau. the administration of the re-
classification act has so far followed
lines which promise practically no
progress toward better personnel ad-
ministration for the federal service
and has clearly contravened the plain
intent, If not the actual letter. of the
Law.
GUS harm from the absence of any in
telligent classification of the bewil-
derIng variety of work done by gov
ernment employees. nor is there any
work for salary purposes on the basis
of duties performed. The classified
service today is based on a mere set
OF salary grades. which originated In
the middle of the last century. 1t
bears no relation to present condi-
tions and no relation to duties, quail
tic..tlons and responsibilities. The re-
suit is an intolerable condition OF
salary Inequalities and injustice
ttr ughout the service. dlscon:ent
among employees. al unintelligent and
hence wasteful method OF salary fixa-
ton. both by Congress and the execu-
equally serious handicaps on the
work of the governments sole cen.
trail employment agency, the CiVil
Service Commission"
The report continues:
"A splendid opportunity for con-
structive work was given the person
mel ella ssification board. Information
before the committee satisfies US that
the board has failed to grasp this op-
portunity. Its constitution did not
promise the best results in view OF
the we'll known attitude Of the eff
cheney bureau toward the classifica-
ton problem. and particularly toward
the Civil Service Commission, against
hostile report which had little, If any,
basis in fact.
The record Of the boards work has
been. i'll short. story of conflict be-
tween the efficiency bureau and the
Civil Service Commission. with the
commission insisting on a real clas-
silica ton program, the efficiency bu-
--au upon following its plan, which
Congress refused to enact into law,
and the chairman Of the board. rep
resenting the budget bureau. ulti-
mately siding with the efficiency bu-
reau.
Has Two Main Tasks.
The task Of the board divides it.
self into two main parts; one the
classification Of the service in Wash
ington and the ALLEGATION OF its en-
ployes to the schedules in the act and
the other the preparation by the board
of report to Congress on a reclaSSi-
fication of the field service, using for
the latter, so far as applicable, the
compensation schedules in the act
For the District service the work of
me board is to apply to salaries for
the year beginning July !, 1924.
The board organized soon after
March 1, 1928, but great deal Of
time appears to have been spent in
settling the question Of what the
board was expected to do. From the
outset the representatives of the Civil
Service Commission. with the full sup
port of the commission, has insisted
that the law called for the develop
ment of duties classification based
on accurate data regarding the work
of employees as preliminary to the
ALLEGATION of individual positions and
that the so-called classification Of the
efficiency bureau, taken alone. was
inadequate for this purpose
The position of the efficiency bu-
reau has been the exact opposite and
has gone SO far apparently as to hold
that it's plan was in itself all-suffi-
cient and in compliance with the law.
Were this difference of opinion
perts on a purely technical question.
this committee would not feel called
upon to express an opinion as to the
merits 1t goes, however. much fur
called classification prepared by the
efficiency bureau shows that it is
little more than d mere salary-grad-
Ing scheme. Some eighteen different
salary grades are established Ac-
companying these grades are set
of examples Of the kind of work
which employees receiving specified
These examples number about 800.
There is nowhere an attempt to
set up any classes of positions. no
Of the examples may be seen when
II is recalled that the joint congress
sional commission on reclassitication
found Ii necessary TO set up some
100 different classes. with many
thousands of examples, for the de-
partmental service.
.'The examples printed as part of
the efficiency bureau classification are
descriptive of the positions of en-
ployment in the service. They merely
enumerate about 800 tasks performed
by employees. most OF which cover
pnly a part of a normal days work.
we venture the opinion. In short,
he hyrr Pff1CtPnCy