Evening star., 1933-11-06

This official explained that recently
an order went through P. w. A. direct
ing that division chiefs could let their
employees make up" for overtime with
time of. But, he said, the rush Of
work has been so great that practically
none Of this time of has been taken.
Few have even asked for 1t.
The speed which has been the cry
Of the entire Recovery Administration
has been the cause Of the overtime
work. All Of the special agencies set
up IN connection with the Recovery
Administration have been under fire
from small Industrial employers who
have come to Washington to discuss
codes for industry.
Governments Example.
'Why," they say, edo we have to put
our employees on IS or 40 hours a week
when the Government doesn't practice
what it breaches and works its en-
ployes from 10 to IL hours day. day
in and day out?"
The answer of the officials of the
emergency agencies is that I'VE have
just so much work to do and so many
people who know how to do it. II we
put on more people indiscriminately,
we'll just complicate matters and jum-
BILE up the whole works.
The r. F. c., Oldest of the emergency
organizations, Is getting nearer to nor
NAL than any Of the rest. A constant
expansion of the staff has brought the
overtime work down to O minimum,
but there are still some double-shift
stenographers. and clerks throughout
the organization are so loaded with
work that they are putting in long
~ a. Al I-A
The Home Loan Bank Board is faced
with the same problem as the Public
Works Administration. There is a pub
lie clamor for speed in getting out home
loans to save homes from foreclosure.
The vast amount of work can be
handled by just SO many people, and
the man who has the particular job
cannot leave while the clamor for speed
continues, until the job Is done.
Over in the Agricultural Adjustment
Administration and the Farm Credit
Administration the same condition ex-
lists, with the added clamor of hard
pinched farmers for their checks under
the various Government plans of re-
duced production.
The pressure under which the N. r.
A. has been working is well known. The
staff has been expanded and expanded.
and still Is not able to keep up with
the vast amount of work that continues
to pile up.
But by the first of the year officials
of most of these agencies expect the
peak Of the work to be reached, and
for general Stacking on OF the pres
sure to begin.
Only 81 Hired In Month.
At N. r. A. headquarters only 81 new
employees have been added during the
past month. Most Of these, 1t was ex-
planned, are technical assistants who
were transferred from temporary rolls
to permanent rolls. So far as additional
etenographcrs and clerks are concerned,
only about 81 have been added IN the
lsss MOST ST Sssai 8 lie oysrtins At N n 4. has
fAflen on the higher ups OF the adj
ministration Members Of the legal
staff, deputy administrators and their
assistants busy In drafting codes have
been kept on duty at irregular hours,
and it has been necessary, they contend,
to have stenographers and typists to
assist them.
In the mimeograph room, the ma
chimes are kept going virtually day and
night, and two shifts have been assigned
to get out the mass Of work required
In preparing matter both for the press
and for distribution to industry.
At the Agricultural Adjustment Ad-
ministratiop three shifts are assigned to
some departments, working from 8 am
to PM, 4 pm to IL midnight. and
from midnight to am. Most OF these
are in the filing and statistical sections.
In spite Of this arrangement, there Is
- nl~
but executives and their
assistants have made an effort to rotate
late work, even night work, so as not to
overwork some employees while others
escape with just the required routine.
In all these Offices the necessity for
speed and the accumulation of a huge
mass OF work to be done are given as
reasons for the overtime. No elaborate
plan OF expansion, however, is being
considered IN view Of the temporary ma
ture OF most Of the emergency work.