(Witnesses: Burch, Moore.) Mr. BURCH. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN (continuing). Wherever expenses of that character are incurred, the vouchers, as I understand you, are submitted at the time of the incurring of the expense, passed through the disbursing department, and approved? Mr. BURCH. Immediately on return. The CHAIRMAN. And then from time to time paid? Is that the practice? Mr. BURCH. Yes, sir; immediately on return. Professor MOORE. Mr. Chairman, I think I can enlighten you just a little there, if you will permit me. The CHAIRMAN. Certainly. Professor MOORE. In regard to the duties of Mr. McCabe, to give you a concrete example: When there is a violation of law, for instance, relating to the Weather Bureau, I investigate it, and usually then ask the solicitor for an opinion whether it will justify us in going ahead and getting evidence to be carried over to the Department of Justice, and on his opinion I start our inspectors to working the case up. Then I turn it over to him, and he gets the case ready for the Department of Justice, to whom it is referred by the Secretary. Then he will assist the Department of Justice, as our representative, in giving further information, and sometimes assists in trying the cases, so that between our Department and the Department of Justice they prosecute the cases. The CHAIRMAN. Then, if I understand you correctly, the solicitor makes the preliminary investigations in case of alleged violations of law? Professor MOORE. Precisely. The CHAIRMAN. That comes within the scope of the Department of Agriculture? Professor MOORE. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. And then, after having made a preliminary examination, which may perhaps involve a trip away from Washington and return Professor MOORE. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. If, after having made it, his judgment is that a condition of facts exist that would justify prosecutions, he turns the matter over to the Department of Justice? Professor MOORE. Precisely. The CHAIRMAN. Does he give to the Department of Justice his legal advice in connection with the construction of law? Professor MOORE. I think not at all, unless requested. The CHAIRMAN. That is a matter for the Department of Justice? Professor MOORE. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. So that practically all that Mr. McCabe has to do is to work out details of this character? Professor MOORE. Yes; and he advises the various bureau chiefs with regard to all points of law. For instance, take the Weather Bureau contracts-we build a great many buildings a year. In connection with the various Weather Bureau stations, something comes up in regard to a contract, some dispute between the contractor and our local official; and I frequently call on Mr. McCabe for advice as to the legal aspect of the case, so as to guide me in my official acts as Chief of the Bureau; and I understand that the other bureau (Witnesses: Moore, Burch, Melvin, Zappone.) chiefs call upon him. He is the legal adviser of the various bureau chiefs; keeping them straight on points of law. The CHAIRMAN. How long have you had a solicitor? Professor MOORE. Three or four years. Mr. BURCH. Three years, I think. We had a man acting in his stead some time ago. Professor MOORE. A sort of a law clerk. Mr. BURCH. That drew contracts and did various duties. The CHAIRMAN. Was it not practicable to get along with a law clerk? Mr. BURCH. It might have been at that time. The CHAIRMAN. I suppose the law clerk received less salary? Professor MOORE. Well, I do not believe he was even a regular graduate in law. Mr. BURCH. He was not a graduate. Professor MOORE. He was not competent for the work. Doctor MELVIN. He was simply fairly well read in law, without being a lawyer. Mr. FLOOD. I do not suppose his salary was very much smaller than this salary, at any rate? Professor MOORE. His salary was $2,000. Mr. ZAPPONE. The salary of the law clerk was $2,000. Mr. FLOOD. This is only $2,500. Mr. ZAPPONE. Yes; Mr. McCabe was made solicitor at $2,500. The CHAIRMAN. I will put this general question: I have an impression that it has become more or less a practice, not necessarily in this Department, but in a great many of the Departments, to change the position that the man occupies, and therefore indirectly increase the salary attached to the position. Is there any practice like that in this Department? I am not intimating that it is not proper or that it is improper. Mr. ZAPPONE. There certainly has not been in this case. Had he remained even as a law clerk he would have been earning $2,500 per annum now. The CHAIRMAN. But is there any general practice of that kind in the Department? Mr. ZAPPONE. No; not in the Department of Agriculture. May I read here the duties of the solicitor as given in the Congressional Directory? The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Mr. ZAPPONE (reading): The solicitor acts as the legal adviser of the Secretary, and has charge of the preparation and supervision of all legal papers to which the Department is a party, and of all communications to the Department of Justice and to the various officers thereof, including United States attorneys. He examines and approves, in advance of issue, all orders and regulations promulgated by the Secretary under statutory authority. He represents the Department in all legal proceedings arising under the laws intrusted to the Department for execution, and prosecutes applications for patents by employees of the Department. His duties are performed under the immediate supervision of the Secretary. A great many of our employees get out patents on apparatus pertaining to scientific subjects, many of them being most useful to the Department. The CHAIRMAN. And for whose benefit do they get them out? (Witnesses: Zappone, Burch.) Mr. ZAPPONE. They must get them out for the benefit of the Government, in accordance with the instructions of the Secretary, which are as follows: UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington, D. C., May 8, 1905. To the Officers and Employees of the Department of Agriculture: Hereafter when any employee of the Department makes any new and useful discovery or invention of any machine, device, or process connected with the work of the Department, through the expenditure of Government time and Government money, you are directed to cause a patent to be applied for on the said discovery or invention, through the law officer of the Department. The patent will be taken out in the name of the inventor, without any expense to him, and will allow to any citizen of the United States the use of the patented article or process without payments of royalty. All employees of this Department are prohibited from patenting any device or process or discovery connected with the work of the Department except in the manner above described. JAMES WILSON, Secretary of Agriculture. The CHAIRMAN. What was that you read from in regard to the duties of the solicitor? Mr. ZAPPONE. I read from the Congressional Directory, the part prescribing the duties of the various officials of the different departments; those who are secretaries, chiefs of bureaus, chief clerks, etc. The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Mr. ZAPPONE. The solicitor is attached to the Secretary's office and works under the Secretary's personal direction. He investigates all the legal questions that arise, and when he finds that a matter requires action by the Department of Justice, he submits all the facts in the case to the Secretary of Agriculture for reference to the Department of Justice for further action; he then assists in the classification of the evidence, and upon request in the trial of the cases. The CHAIRMAN. Yes; that was the statement of Professor Moore. Mr. ZAPPONE. He calls no witnesses nor does he prosecute any case through the courts, except when requested by the Department of Justice. That is all done by the Department of Justice. The CHAIRMAN. He simply makes the preliminary investigation? Mr. ZAPPONE. He makes the preliminary investigation. The CHAIRMAN. Now, we have here Mr. Jasper Wilson and Mr. Reese, one of whom is private secretary to the Secretary of Agriculture and the other is stenographer and executive clerk to the Secretary of Agriculture. Mr. BURCH. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. One at a salary of $2,500 a year and the other at a salary of $2,000 a year. Will you explain to the committee briefly what the duties of the two men are? Mr. BURCH. The private secretary to the Secretary is the one who looks after his personal affairs, has charge of the anteroom, or the room next to the Secretary, introduces people to the Secretary, holds them in check when there are many in the anteroom to see the Secretary, and performs various other duties that the Secretary may direct. The CHAIRMAN. How about the stenographer and executive clerk? Mr. BURCH. He is his stenographer and takes all of his dictation. The CHAIRMAN. Does he do anything else except take dictation? (Witnesses: Burch, Zappone, Moore.) Mr. BURCH. Oh, yes; of course he writes communications for the signature of the Secretary, and looks over his mail, and performs various other duties of that character. The CHAIRMAN. Then he is really simply a stenographer?` The CHAIRMAN. Yes; a stenographer and typewriter. Mr. ZAPPONE. Mr. Chairman, may I interrupt there, with Colonel Burch's permission? Mr. Reese is more than a stenographer. He not only indicates action to many of the different bureaus and divisions on important papers, action that is suggested by the Secretary or by the Secretary's policy, but oftentimes he initiates, directs, or suggests action. He is a most valuable executive man in addition to being a stenographer. You might almost say that he is an adviser relieving the Secretary of much routine work. He reports all hearings held by the Secretary in carrying out the meat, pure-food, and other laws. The CHAIRMAN. Does the private secretary do any of that kind of work? Mr. ZAPPONE. The private secretary does some of it; yes, sir. His duties, however, are confined more exclusively to confidential work and the receiving of the many committees and individuals calling upon the Secretary, particularly at the present time, in regard to the pure-food and drug law and the meat-inspection law. There is a constant stream of people passing into the Secretary's office all day, many of whom can be deflected from the Secretary, their business being such that it can be transacted with the chiefs of the different bureaus and divisions. The private secretary to the Secretary must have experience and extensive knowledge of the entire workings of the Department in order not only to answer the inquiries of the Secretary, but to relieve him of that great pressure resulting from the visits of employees of the Department and of outsiders. The CHAIRMAN. Returning to Mr. Reese. Your suggestion is that he has to have more than stenographic ability; that is, he has to be a man of high capacity? Mr. ZAPPONE. Yes; he must be both a stenographer and an executive clerk to the Secretary. The heads of all Departments have such officials to assist them. The CHAIRMAN. What do you understand that a good, fair, stenographer, I will say, is able to earn or receive in ordinary private employment? Mr. ZAPPONE. In ordinary private employment? The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Mr. ZAPPONE. You can get them at all prices, sir; from $600 a year up, according to their ability. Mr. FLOOD. This man takes the Secretary's dictation, does he? Mr. ZAPPONE. He does. In the case of stenographers receiving about $600, usually that is all they are worth. They can only do the most ordinary amanuensis work, and very poor work at that. Professor MOORE. This man is capable of reporting a convention. The CHAIRMAN. Oh, I am not criticising this man at all; but as we go through, I shall want to inquire in relation to these matters. Of course I want to know as we go along through, as a rule, whether the employees of this Department are receiving as much as men of (Witnesses: Burch, Moore, Zappone.) equal caliber and capacity would be likely to receive in private employment. Mr. FLOOD. He certainly receives too much for a stenographer. Mr. BURCH. But he is really an executive officer. The Secretary indicates to him just the outline of a letter and he prepares it. He is a man of ability. All the Secretary has to do is to indicate his wishes. Mr. FLOOD. He does not have to dictate the letter? Mr. BURCH. He does not have to dictate the letter at all. He answers more than half the correspondence, I should judge, without having anything more than just an indication of what the Secretary desires. Professor MoORE. I have frequently been acting secretary, Mr. Chairman; and this man is, I have found, an unusually valuable man in the office. As Colonel Burch says, I can give him a paper with a word or two and he will know what action is necessary, and will get the letter ready for signature. Then, in the case of the many hundreds of papers coming daily to the Secretary's desk, to be signed by the Secretary, it is difficult for him to read them all. This man runs all through them, and if there is anything there that the Secretary ought to see before he signs it, he calls his attention to it. As he is so well informed in regard to the work of the Department he is something more than a mere secretary. I used to sign, day after day, several hundred papers, simply because I knew that this man, Mr. Reese, had gone through them, and if there was anything wrong with them I knew that he would bring it to my attention. I simply did not have time to read them. Mr. SAMUEL. That is an established salary? Mr. BURCH. A statutory salary. The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Well, I do not understand that the salaries are statutory, except as they are fixed in the appropriation bill from time to time. Mr. SAMUEL. Yes; but that makes them, for the time being, statutory. The CHAIRMAN. How long has that salary stood at $2,000, in that instance? Mr. ZAPPONE. I think during the past three years, sir. May I add just another remark? The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Mr. ZAPPONE. It is a little irrelevant, and is something that for the present is confidential, that perhaps I should not disclose. I am a member of one of the subcommittees of the Keep Commission, the committee on personnel, and this very matter of comparison of the salaries received in the Government service with those paid in the commercial world has been a subject of considerable discussion and consideration by that committee. Stating the results in a general way, I will say that it was found that the lower-salaried positions, such as watchmen, messengers, and charwomen, were paid more in the Government service than in the commercial world, but the positions of responsibility and trust and positions of a supervisory character requiring executive ability were all underpaid by the Government-that is, paid less under the Government than in the commercial world. |