Evening star., 1925-01-27
WHOLESALE SLASH
|NFEDERAL FORCES
NOT COOLIDGE AIM
Presidents Economy Plea In
tended to Eliminate Ex-
cess of Workers.
AFFECTS ALL BRANCHES
OF SERVICE IN NATION
With Salaries Largest Item of Ex-
pense, Executive Sees Need for
Watch Over Pay Roll.

HTeSlueNI tOOnQBe TeCOnlnleNud-
tion for d further reduction in the
personnel of Federal employees, in a
speech delivered by him last night
before the business organization of
the Government, does not mean that
he intends to bring about ruthless
discharges in order to show that there
there have been a certain number of
reductions made.
This was an interpretati ton placed
upon the Presidents remarks by 4
spokesman for him at the White
House today. 1t was explained fur
ther that the Presidents reference
was to be taken as a general sugges-
tion that there must be frequently
made by heads of departments a sur
Ney of the working force to deter
mine whether or not it is possible to
make reductions
No Wholesale Dismissals.
1t was said that the President did
not intend his remarks to be taken as
immediate command TO make whole
sale dismissals, but more as a re-
minder to departmental heads espe-
cially to again look over their rosters
and see if IL is not likely that they
have surplus help.
1t was stated further by this presi-
Dental spokesman that the Presi-
dents remarks were not intended to
be taken to mean only those clerks
employed in the District, but for the
Federal force throughout the United
States. Nor did he mean his remarks
to be taken as a new idea on his
part. 1t was said that he had made
similar statements regarding reduc-
tion of the Federal force before,
when he was discussing reduction OF
Governmental expenses, inasmuch as he
realizes that the Government person
mel is the largest item of expense.
Reductions Since Armistice.
The President is known to be
pleased with the fact that at least
100, 900 persons have been dropped
from the rolls since the armistice
and realizes that when the extra
ordinarily large temporary force of
the adjutant generals department
now engaged in working on the ad-
justed compensation law completes
fits work, 1t can be dispensed with,
but he feels sure that careful
scrutiny on the part Of the various
departmental heads will make 1t
possible to eliminate considerable
surplus help without any fear of
impairing the efficiency of the
Government
The President is represented as be-
ing of the opinion that frequent re-
minder such as he made in his speech
last night will serve a good purpose.
He believes that there should be sur
veys made by the departments fre-
Quently, to see If it is not possible for
them to cooperate with him in the
desire to economize in governmental
expense. His opinion on reduction
in the Government force was taken
by those close to him to be more of
a suggestion to departmental heads.
than a warning that a specific plan
for wholesale dismissals Is being
worked out by the President. 1t was
stated that he has no such plan, and
that he has no idea of making such
a plan. 1t is matter to be dealt
with by each department individually.
Valued as "AdmonitIOn."
The Presidents speech last night
was viewed generally il the Govern
ment departments today as "a gen
eral admonition" to department and
bureau heads that reductions in the
force must be made by elimination
of duplication and overlapping and
cutting out of unnecessary work.
There has been no arbitrary scheme
of looping a certain percentage of
persons off the Government pay roll
suggested, nor has such a scheme the
support of members of the cabinet.
Reductions in force will be accom-
plished not by the elimination of en-
tire bureaus or by the elimination of
important Government work, but by
cutting down the entire administra-
tive personnel, preventing duplica-
tion of work here, letting out en-
ployes there whose work can be
hv of
tightening of the entire admins
trative machinery of the Government
with regard to personnel required.
Secretary of Commerce Hoover said
today he had no indication of just
what form the proposed reduction
would take. declaring that he re-
garded the reference by the President
TO cutting down Of the Federal pay
roll as "a general admonition."
Interior Department Cuts.
Secretary of the Interior Work, un-
der whose administration, both as
Postmaster General and as Secretary
of the Interior, marked reductions in
force have been made and are still
continuing, eliminating only yester-
day in the retirement of II employees
in the General Land Office, viewed
the proneuncement of the President
as indicating the administration de-
sire to weed out unnecessary en-
ployeS rather than to cut out i'm
portant work.
Secretary Work declared the fault
of the present unwieldy Government
personnel lies not with the employees
hut with the system. He regarded
much of the present overstaffing of
the Government departments as still
a direct outgrowth of the war and
laid some of the blame at the door
of ambitious bureau chiefs who
naturally want expansion of their
bureaus.
Mr., Work made it plain that the
employees of the Government them
selves are not responsible for the
condition that still exists, notwith-
standing a retrenchment program
that has been in effect since the date
of the armistice. He pointed to the
drastic reductions already made in
the Interior Department under his
dictatorship, beginning practically at
the time he was transferred from the
Post Office Department to the Interior
Department. Reductions in force
have been made in the Reclamation
Service, the Pension Bureau and the
General Land Office.
Among the first dismissals expected
Toln \