(Witnesses: Howard, Zappone.) The CHAIRMAN. You do not know what the reason for that was? Doctor HOWARD. The Secretary of Agriculture asked for the increase for me, and the Agricultural Committee seemed to be inclined to put it in this way for me. Mr. ZAPPONE. They thought that the Chief of the Bureau of Entomology had deserved such an increase by good work done, but they did not know what the man who might succeed him would do, and they felt that he should first win his spurs. The CHAIRMAN. Have the duties been more onerous since that time? Doctor HOWARD. Not because it was made a bureau, but because we have had more money to expend and more duties to look after. The CHAIRMAN. More duties to discharge? Doctor HOWARD. More duties to discharge. That is on account of the increased appropriations. The CHAIRMAN. What does the increase involve, simply an increase of personnel in your bureau? Doctor HOWARD. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. That really is the principal expenditure in your bureau, the expenditure for personnel. Doctor HOWARD. Very true. The CHAIRMAN. And when you increase the personnel, that merely involves a wider scope on the part of your bureau on account of having more men to cover more ground? Doctor HowARD. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. Were any other salaries increased, incident to the change from a division to a bureau? Doctor HOWARD. Not dependent on the change to a bureau, but salaries have increased almost every year. The CHAIRMAN. Do you mean the salaries of the individual employees have increased every year, or that positions are created with larger salaries attached to them? Doctor HOWARD. The salaries of individual employees. The CHAIRMAN. That simply means promotions? Doctor HOWARD. It simply means promotions, that is all. The CHAIRMAN. Take, for instance, the chief clerk, $1,800. The CHAIRMAN. Did he receive the same sum when he was chief clerk in the division? Doctor HOWARD. I do not recollect the exact date of his increase. He was increased from $1,600 to $1,800 about that time, but I am not sure that it was coincident. The CHAIRMAN. What is the differentiation between a bureau and a division, and why is a bureau distinguished from a division? Doctor HOWARD. Nothing at all, except that it has a more dignified rank among the official institutions. The CHAIRMAN. It is a matter of sentiment rather than substance? Doctor HOWARD. It seems to be, and at the same time I imagine that there is a general feeling that Congress would give larger appropriations to a bureau than it would to a division. The CHAIRMAN. And perhaps, as incidental to that, an increase in compensation? Doctor HOWARD. To the chief. (Witness: Howard.) The CHAIRMAN. For the handling of the larger appropriations and for the chief in the handling of the larger appropriations? Doctor HOWARD. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. So that it really comes down to the fact that the creation of a bureau tends to increase the cost to the Government without increasing efficiency-without necessarily getting any additional returns? Doctor HOWARD. I should hardly agree to that in its entirety. There is a compensating increase in efficiency, perhaps. The CHAIRMAN. Of course if you have larger appropriations under a bureau, it involves larger work. Doctor HOWARD. Exactly so. The CHAIRMAN. But assuming they did not increase your appropriations, if there was a tendency to increase the salaries under the bureau form-you get my proposition? Doctor HOWARD. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. Not applying it to this bureau; but we have found on examination that there were several instances where divisions have been changed into bureaus where that has been the case. Doctor HOWARD. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. What I have been trying to get at is whether the efficiency of the bureau is necessarily promoted by the change. Doctor HOWARD. I should say not necessarily. I think that the same amount of work could be accomplished with the same money under a divisional organization as can be accomplished under the bureau organization; that is, provided the divisional organization were an independent organization reporting to the Secretary, and not through a bureau. The CHAIRMAN. What bureau were you attached to when you were a division? Doctor HOWARD. We were an independent division. The CHAIRMAN. Then you reported right to the Secretary? Doctor HOWARD. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. So that in the instance of yourself, so far as the executive efficiency is concerned, there was no occasion for the change from a division to a bureau? Doctor HOWARD. I think you are right in that. The CHAIRMAN. But is it a fact that while it may not be marked the tendency is to increase the salaries and expenses, without a corresponding increase in results, by the change of the division organization to the bureau organization? Doctor HOWARD. I think not markedly so, except so far as it increases general appropriations and widens the field of investigation, thus producing a general tendency to increased compensation. The CHAIRMAN. Upon what basis do you determine the compensation that men are entitled to receive in these various classes of clerks? Doctor HOWARD. We have very few clerks, Mr. Chairman; relatively few clerks. Most of the men employed are scientific men, and their promotions are based entirely on the efficiency of their work; not entirely on the efficiency of their work, but primarily so. The CHAIRMAN. You have three clerks at $1,000, one clerk at $1,200, and three clerks at $1,400. Doctor HOWARD. The salaries of those clerks are based on their rec (Witness: Howard.) ords of efficiency, and also the length of time of their employment is taken into consideration. The CHAIRMAN. You say "records of efficiency." What do you mean by that? Doctor HOWARD. Every six months, I think it is, records of efficiency are drawn up in my office, and they are estimated by me, and turned into the appointment clerk of the Department, and promotions are based upon those records and upon my own personal impression of the man's efficiency, and after consultation with the committee on promotions I make recommendations. The CHAIRMAN. Those reports are turned in, you say, to the Secretary of Agriculture? Doctor HOWARD. Yes; in the care of the appointment clerk. The CHAIRMAN. You do what, you say? Doctor HOWARD. I make the recommendations for promotions at the end of the year. The CHAIRMAN. And this is based upon the work actually done by these men in the preceding time? Doctor HOWARD. Entirely upon the work actually done in the preceding time. The CHAIRMAN. Are these three classes of clerks, to which I have called your attention, engaged in doing substantially the same class of work? Doctor HOWARD. I believe so; yes. The CHAIRMAN. What is it in its character, stenography and transcribing, or accounting or record making? Doctor HOWARD. Stenographic and accounting, and plain copying, and care of records and miscellaneous work like that, scanning of the agricultural newspapers and selection of topics they know that I would be interested in. The CHAIRMAN. Are they all doing that work? Doctor HOWARD. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. They are all doing the same kind of work? The CHAIRMAN. And you differentiate between the classes by reason of the fact that the twelve hundred-dollar man is able to accomplish more results to the Government and is entitled to more compensation than the thousand-dollar man? Doctor HoWARD. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. You say the length of time of service of a man is a factor? Doctor HOWARD. It is taken into account in connection with the efficiency. The CHAIRMAN. What is the effect of that factor? Doctor HOWARD. If you have two men of equal efficiency and one has been in the service a longer time that fact is entitled to some weight. The CHAIRMAN. Then you would give the man of the longer service preference? The CHAIRMAN. But is that length of service the determining and controlling factor? (Witness: Howard.) Doctor HOWARD. Not unless the grade of efficiency is the same. Doctor HowARD. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. With that exception, when you have men standing parallel so far as their efficiency is concerned, one with a longer term of service than the other, you would give the preference to the man with the longer term of service? Doctor HOWARD. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. But with that exception is it a determining factor? Doctor HOWARD. Not in my recommendations; no, sir. take anything else into consideration. The CHAIRMAN. Are any men who are employed in your bureau or under your direction in any other Government employment? Doctor HOWARD. I know of no cases. In fact, I am sure there are none. The CHAIRMAN. Have there ever been? Doctor HOWARD. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. I mean, of course, since your connection with the Bureau? Doctor HowARD. You mean in a salaried office? The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Doctor HOWARD. There are a number of men who have honorary positions as custodians in the National Museum. The CHAIRMAN. No; I mean drawing salaries, large or small, from any other department of the Government. Doctor HOWARD. No. The CHAIRMAN. Are there men on your roll engaged in private employment that results in compensation to them? Doctor HowARD. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. To what extent? Doctor HOWARD. Take myself, for example. I am the permanent secretary of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and I draw a salary. There is another gentleman, Mr. Clifton, who also draws a salary for similar service. That work is done at night, but in no way interferes with the work of the Bureau. The CHAIRMAN. Where does that association hold its meetings? Doctor HOWARD. Last winter it met in New Orleans, the year before that in Philadelphia, and the year before that in St. Louis. The CHAIRMAN. With the exception of attending those meetings, do those positions involve your being absent from Washington at all? Doctor HOWARD. No, sir; not at all. The CHAIRMAN. And that, I suppose, is only about a week or two during the year? Doctor HOWARD. About a week during the year, and practically all of the scientific men in the Department also attend these meetings as members of the association. The CHAIRMAN. You mean in the various bureaus? Doctor HOWARD. Yes; in the various bureaus of the Agricultural Department and in most of the scientific departments of the Gov ernment. The CHAIRMAN. So that the attendance upon those meetings is not peculiar to yourself and to your assistants? Doctor HOWARD. No. (Witness: Howard.) The CHAIRMAN. With that exception, are there any men in your bureau who have outside employment? Doctor HOWARD. No; none who have definite outside employment; but permission has been given by the Secretary of Agriculture in two cases for men to write books, provided it should not interfere with their Bureau duty. The CHAIRMAN. Are all these men in your bureau, either in Washington or out, necessarily employed all the time during office hours in the performance of official duties? Doctor HOWARD. If I understand the question right; yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. What I mean is, have you enough work to keep the men on your roll regularly and continuously employed? Doctor HOWARD. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. And do they render the same relative units of work? That is, do they do the same relative units of work in your employment and bureau as men in similar occupations do for people outside; that is, do you get as much results? Doctor HOWARD. I am not able to compare the results of the clerks with those of clerks in business establishments, because I know nothing about business establishments; but as to the scientific men, I think the quantity of work that they do, the units of work, would range higher, because they are all of them enthusiastic about their work, and they do not confine themselves to any hours whatever. The CHAIRMAN. Do you have any difficulty in getting all the men you need for the various branches of your service? Doctor HOWARD. Some difficulty. The CHAIRMAN. In what particular? Doctor HOWARD. The men must be educated scientific men, and it is only within the last few years that the colleges have been training men in the precise way we would like to have them trained. The CHAIRMAN. That is, do I understand that the colleges have not included in their curricula the classes of studies which are necessary to develop the kind of men you want? Doctor HOWARD. The agricultural colleges have included those studies in their curricula, but have not trained the men in the right way. Their professors have not understood the needs of the Government, and the result is that they have trained the men more or less theoretically; whereas we want our men to have practical training while they are still in college, so as to make them more efficient. The CHAIRMAN. Your work involves specializing on particular lines; is that right? Doctor HowARD. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. And until recently you have found that the colleges have not appreciated that, and have not been supplying those needs? Doctor HOWARD. That is right. The CHAIRMAN. Are you getting into a position now where you are eliminating those difficulties? Doctor HOWARD. I think so; yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. With the exception of those scientists of whom you speak, who are of course unusual men and a little out of the ordinary, do you have any trouble in getting employees for your department? |