EFFICIENCY OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE.

MAY 8, 1916.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed.

Mr. O'SHAUNESSY, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following

REPORT.

[To accompany H. R. 204.]

The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 204) to promote the efficiency of the Public Health Service, having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it pass.

The bill has the approval of the Treasury Department, as will appear by the letter attached and which is made a part of this report.

PURPOSE OF THE BILL.

The general purpose of the bill is (1) to remove a disparity between the compensation received by officers attached to regular stations at which quarters belonging to the United States are provided and that received by officers on duty in places where no such quarters are provided; (2) to adjust the pay of officers serving beyond the continental limits of the United States or on sea duty; (3) to increase the limits of allowance for baggage and personal effects to an officer in changing stations; (4) to fix the method of appointment and define the term of office of the Surgeon General; (5) to provide for the promotion of assistant surgeons after three years of commissioned service and after satisfactory examination; (6) to authorize the commissioning of the three chiefs of division now in the Hygienic Laboratory and the appointing as professors in the Public Health Service of five research workers skilled in matters pertaining to the conservation and improvement of the public health.

ANALYSIS OF THE BILL.

The commutation of quarters for officers of the Public Health. Service was fixed by the regulations of 1897, prior to any law on the subject, and these regulations were enacted into law by section 2 of the act of July 1, 1902.

Commissioned officers of the Public Health Service are by law subjected to military duty in time of war. In addition, then, to being exposed to the same hazard of military duty as the commissioned medical officers of the Army and Navy, they are constantly subjected to the more serious risks of epidemic duty in time of peace. The commutation of quarters now received by officers of the Public Health Service is considerably less than that received by officers of similar grades in other Government services, as is shown by the following tables:

Comparative table of commutation of quarters for medical officers of the Public Health Service, United States Army, and United States Navy.

Officers of the United States Army and of the United States Navy, when not occupying quarters, are allowed approximately $2.50 per month a room for fuel and light. This allowance is not made to officers of the Public Health Service.

Commutation of quarters for commissioned officers of the United States Revenue-Cutter

Officers of the United States Revenue-Cutter Service when not occupying quarters are allowed approximately $2.50 per month a room for fuel and light. This allowance is not made to officers of the Public Health Service.

The amount of commutation now allowed in lieu of quarters to officers of the Public Health Service is less than is the actual rental value of the quarters provided by the service where such quarters are provided at all. Thus there is effected a discrimination in emoluments against officers not attached to stations at which there are quarters. The especially onerous and hazardous duties associated with field investigations and the control of epidemics are usually performed by officers not provided with Government quarters. Officers who have become qualified for and who much of their time are on such impor

tant duty should not, as a consequence, be subjected to what amounts to a reduction in pay.

There is now no provision in law for commutation of quarters for the grades of Surgeon General, Assistant Surgeon General, or senior surgeon. The Surgeon General receives no commutation of quarters, officers in the grade of Assistant Surgeon General receive the commutation of quarters authorized for their respective commissioned grades, and officers in the grade of senior surgeon receive the same commutation of quarters which they received before their promotion from the grade of surgeon.

Section 1 of the bill contemplates a correction of the existing discrepancies respecting quarters for officers of the service. As a basis for this correction the commutation now drawn by Army and Navy officers of like grades has been selected.

The contemplated additional 10 per cent of salary and increase for foreign service is for the purpose of partially offsetting the material reduction in foreign allowances effected by the rearrangement of rates for commutation of quarters provided by the bill.

The additional 10 per cent of salary and increase for sea duty is in lieu of commutation of quarters which officers do not receive while on such duty, and this is the usual allowance for sea duty in the other Government services.

The maximum allowance for baggage and personal effects to an officer in changing stations, as stipulated in the bill, is the same as that now provided by law for officers of the Army, Navy, and RevenueCutter Service.

Section 2 provides for appointment of the Surgeon General from among officers in the grade of senior surgeon or surgeon, and thus assures the appointment of an experienced officer to the position.

This section also provides for the promotion of assistant surgeons to the grade of passed assistant surgeon after commissioned service of three years instead of four years, and thus affords an additional inducement for men to enter and remain in the service. This is the course pursued in other Government services.

The commissioning of the three chiefs of divisions now in the Hygienic Laboratory involves no increased expenditure, but is purely administrative in character. These chiefs of divisions are not now required to be commissioned, and this provision will give them a fixed status and tend to retain them in the service.

The commissioning of five skilled research workers as professors in the Public Health Service, in addition to the Chiefs of the Divisions of Zoology, Pharmacology, and Chemistry in the Hygienic Laboratory, is particularly important because of the additional force of men of this type needed to carry out the broad functions given the service by the act of August 14, 1912.

COST OF PROPOSED MEASURE.

The enactment of the bill (H. R. 204) will entail an increase in expenditures of about $53,000 per annum, as is shown by the following table:

Itemized statement of cost of proposed measure.

1 To be fixed by Secretary of Treasury, estimated to cost $2.50 per month per room.
2 Foreign.

Director of Hygienic Laboratory: receives pay and allowance of a senior surgeon.
4 Decrease.
Revenue cutter, sea duty.

EFFECT OF PROPOSED MEASURE.

The provisions in this bill appear just and reasonable. Their enactment unquestionably will tend to induce, desirable men to enter the service and to induce highly qualified men to remain in the service, and thus promote the rate of growth and development of the Public Health Service, whose operations are of vital importance to the country.

The CHAIRMAN,

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY,
Washington, January 18, 1916.

Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce,

House of Representatives.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 21st ultimo inclosing copy of bill H. R. 204, "To promote the efficiency of the Public Health Service," and asking for the views of this department concerning the bill.

It is evidently the purpose of the bill to correct the disparity in allowances for certain grades of officers in the Public Health Service, and to regulate the status of the chiefs of divisions in the Hygienic Laboratory.

Section 1 of this bill mal es provision for the commutation of quarters, fuel, lights, and baggage allowance which the act approved August 14, 1912, failed to do.

Section 2 of the bill provides that vacancies in the grade of Surgeon General shall be filled by appointment from among the commissioned medical officers not lower in grade than surgeon. This does not prevent the reappointment of an efficient in

cumbent of office for a further term of service, but in case of his failure to be reappointed, provides that he shall be made an Assistant Surgeon General, thus making available the services of a valuable and experienced officer in that grade.

At present assistant surgeons are promoted to the grade of passed assistant surgeons at the expiration of four years. The increased duties imposed on the Public Health Service demand men of greater age and experience, and it is extremely desirable to retain the best men possible after their efficiency has been proved by the careful physical and mental examinations.

Section 3 of the bill provides that the chiefs of the divisions of zoology, pharmacology, and chemistry in the Hygienic Laboratory shall be commissioned as such, and that they shall be entitled to leaves of absence as now provided by law for the commissioned officers of the Public Health Service. This section further provides that five additional professors shall be appointed in the Public Health Service with special qualifications in sanitary engineering, epidemiology, pathology, bacteriology, housing, or other matters that relate to the propagation and spread of disease. In this way experienced men will be obtained to carry on work of a highly technical character which the Public Health Service is expected to perform in accordance with existing law.

The provisions of bill H. R. 204 receive the approval of the department and its passage is respectfully recommended.

Respectfully,

W. G. McADOO,

Secretary.