Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1947-04-21
| 500 in Offices Here
May Be Dismissed.
Figure Conservative
By Joseph Young

Interior Department officials
said today that the Al per cent
cut in their 1913 appropriations
request will mean the dismissal
of between 10000 and $4,000 OF
their $4,000 employees.
The officials said about $500 en-
ployes in Washington would prob
ably get the AK, with the rest of the
dismissals coming in various field
Offices.
The 10000 to $4,000 dismissal esti-
mate was described by top Interior
officials as conservative. Hardest
hit will be employees in the Reclama
ton Bureau, Indian Office, Bureau
of Land Management and the Bu-
reau of Mines.
Interior employees in Washington
number apps. In addition there are
about 1000 transferred employees in
Chicago who are due to return here
when space conditions permit, II
the Chicago employees are included,
it will mean that the departmental
force here will lose about 1000
workers.
Here is preliminary Interior
estimate of now some of their
Washington employees will fare if
the House Appropriations Commit
tee bill is allowed to stand:
Approximately 33 per cent of the
employees in the Office of the Secre-
tary and the Bureau of Reclamation
will lose their jobs.
This percentage also will hold
true in the Bureau of Land Manage
ment and the Bureau of Mines, it
was said. The Oil and Gas Dvi-
sion here, which only has Al work
ers, will be wiped out except for one
or two employees Another small
bureau here. the Division of Geogra-
ply, which employees so workers,
also will be wiped out.
The 80 per cent personnel cut in
the major Interior bureaus here will
hold true generally in it's field Offices
throughout the country. it was said
However, the personnel cuts aren't
expected to be quite as high in the
Fish and Wild Life Service and the
Geological Survey.
Thousands to Get Annual Leaves.
The department started mapping
plans today to send thousands of its
employees on annual leaves. This
Will be done to avoid having to pay
these workers in cash for unused
annual leaves. The mass annual
leaves are expected to start almost
Immediately.
Interior officials are pinning their
hopes on the Senate to restore at
least part of the cut made by the
House Appropriations Committee
They do not expect the House to re-
bun the committee since a Western
bloc repeatedly opposed to drastic
cuts is only small numerical mi
nority in Congress of the total
House membership.
They feel, however, that the
chances of more liberal Senate &C
ton are more promising since the
Senate Appropriations Subcommit-
tee that will hold hearings on In
teriors 1948 appropriations request
is composed largely of Westerners
1t is the Western areas that will suf-
fer most heavily in the curtailment
OF reclamation and other programs
Simplified Ratings Urged.
One of the highlights of the House
committees hearings on the Int
rior Department bill was the ad-
vocacy Of simplified Federal eff
cheney ratings system by DR.. R. R
Savers, director of the Bureau of
Mines.
Terming the present system a
morale breaker" DR.. Savers said
I'VE need only two grades, either
satisfactory or unsatisfactory.
The present system, which has
been sharply criticized by many
Government workers. grades Federal
employees as unsatisfactory, fair
good, very good and excellent.
DR.. Savers said his proposal would
eliminate lot of work and many
reactions that are damaging to the
morale of the organization.