Evening star., 1933-07-02
STANDARDS BUREAU
DROPS MUCH WORK
FurIoughing of $50 Employees
Causes Stringent CurtaiI-
ment of Activity.

The work of practically every de-
partment at the Bureau of Standards
has been stringently curtailed as q
result of the indefinite furloughing OF
$50 employees.
, The division of building and housing
and the so-called commercial standards
group. including the divisions of SIM
| plified practices specifications and trade
| standards, have been reduced to merely
a contact basis" only the chief of each
, division and his secretary being re-
tanned This was done. according to
| Dr. Lyman J. Briggs. director of the
bureau. lin order to make an orderly
| transition Of the work to some outside
agency. if possible DR.. Briggs said
| that much Of the work Of these divi-
sions would be taken over by the Amer
| lean Standards Association, a national
association Of industrialists and others
| for the promotion of standardization
There is thus the possibility that many
OF the furloughed employees will be eble
| to find jobs outside the Government
and continue the same sort of work
Among the other activities discon-
tinued were the semi-factory scale ex-
periments on the production Of levlulose
a variety of sugar, from Jerusalem arti-
| chokes, and work on Photographic
emulsions.
All work on radio aids to air naviga-
ton, testing of aircraft engines, and
studies of lighting of airways and land
ing fields have been discontinued tenn
porarily and those engaged upon II
given furloughS. There is considerable
hope, DR.. Briggs said yesterday, that
i this work may be resumed by the aero
| nautics branch Of the Department of
Commerce. 1t has been supported in
the past with funds transferred from
this branch
There is at least a possibility, DR.
Briggs explained that at least 200 OF
the $50 furloughed employees may be
called back in few weeks because OF
the application for funds from the
public works appropriation to make pos
Sible the testing of materials used by
the Government on the public works
program Unless there Is some rad
ical departure from ordinary practice
this will throw upon the Bureau OF
Standards the greatest burden in its
history.
The present practice is to make all
Government purchases according tc
specifications. the Bureau of Standards
testing the product to make sure that
fications. This makes possible the pur-
chase Of materials at greatly reduced
prices, which more than Offset the eX-
ponses of testing and at the same time
insures high quality Of material. 9th
erWise. in order to protect itself against
inferior material, it would be neceS-
sary for the Government to purchase
trade-marked products at high prices
D,,uL
Partly because of this possibility the
employees were furloughed, so that they
simply could be recalled without fur
ther formality II the pubic WORKS funds
are obtained This represents the best
hope of many Of these workers Of OBJ
tanning immediate employment.
Dr. Briggs also said he had asked
for public works funds for recondition-
ing Of the buildings at the Bureau OF
Standards. Most of these are about 80
years old. and little has been done to
them since they were erected. The pip
ing is badly rusted. and this has been
responsible for some serious Interrupt
tions to work recently.
With its reduced personnel the bu-
reau already is feeling severely the
pressure of new Government activities.
A large number of saws intended for
the Civilian Conservation Corps are
awaiting tests, and other material is
coming in.
Even If the public works program Is
conducted with minimum of ma
terials testing essential to protect the
Government against fraud. DR.. Briggs
said. it will involve almost double the
amount of work of this kind carried
on here in recent years.