Page images
PDF
EPUB

(Witnesses: Burch, Zappone.)

Mr. BURCH. We keep efficiency records.

The CHAIRMAN. Explain in a general way just what an efficiency record is.

Mr. BURCH. An efficiency record is kept by the chiefs of divisions mostly, and they report to the chief of the bureau, and then they make up the records from those reports.

The CHAIRMAN. Take the case of one clerk whom you happen to know about and give us an illustration of the efficiency record in connection with the discharge of his duties, so that we can take that as a sample case and get an idea of the basis upon which these promotions are made.

Mr. BURCH. Well, I think Mr. Zappone has a blank with him and had better answer the question.

Mr. ZAPPONE. I have no blank with me, but remember its contents. The first item is the quality of the work performed by an employee, rated on a scale of 100 per cent.

The CHAIRMAN. What are the elements?

Mr. ZAPPONE. I have given the first. The next is the quantity of work performed by the employee. The next is the attendance, the next is his deportment, then the number of days he has been absent sick, and the number of days that he has been absent on annual leave.

Then there is a separate paragraph asking whether that employee is capable of doing work of a higher intellectual quality or character than that to which assigned. Then in the next and final paragraph the chief of bureau or division is asked to make recommendations in a general way as to his ability and his value to the Department, and as to whether or not he is worthy of promotion, together with any other remarks the chief of the bureau or division may desire to make. These efficiency reports are filed in the office of the appointment clerk, and the board of promotion review-created some years ago by the Secretary, and composed of the chief clerk of the Department, the appointment clerk, and the chief of the bureau or independent division in which the vacancy occurs consults them and makes its recommendation to the Secretary on the ratings therein given and on the quality and quantity of the work turned out by the employee finally selected. When a man is first appointed to a position in the Department it is nearly always to a low grade and it is some time before he becomes experienced in his work. In the work of the Department he naturally, as time elapses, becomes more proficient and therefore more eligible for promotion, so when a vacancy occurs above him he is logically one of the persons eligible for consideration and selection. We seldom ask for a certification from the Civil Service Commission to fill any vacancy except one at the bottom of the list. This puts the new men in the low-grade positions at the bottom of the ladder until vacancies occur, and results in a progressing salary for the employee as he becomes experienced in the work, more efficient, and therefore more valuable to the Department.

The CHAIRMAN. How often are these records made up?

Mr. ZAPPONE. Every six months.

The CHAIRMAN. Do they keep daily tab on the men?

Mr. ZAPPONE. Yes, sir; each chief of bureau or independent division is supposed to know thoroughly the work of the employees un

(Witnesses: Zappone, Moore.)

der him, and a daily record is kept of their sick and annual leaves, and of their efficiency by general observation.

The CHAIRMAN. The men who have charge of these various employees keep right along, every day, a record of their work on these lines that you have suggested?

Mr. ZAPPONE. A daily mental record. They don't keep it in writing.

The CHAIRMAN. When do they reduce the record to writing?
Mr. ZAPPONE. Every six months.

The CHAIRMAN. So that a man does not really get the mathematical result of the work he does, but at the end of six months the heads of the bureaus who have charge over them simply sit down, and on the basis of their recollection, extending over that period of time, make these records relative to the efficiency of the men?

Mr. ZAPPONE. Yes, sir; both as to quality and quantity of work done and as to general ability.

The CHAIRMAN. That does not really result in an absolute record. How can a man carry in his head the efficiency of half a dozen or fifteen or twenty clerks?

Mr. ZAPPONE. I would rather you would put that question to Professor Moore, as he has come in personal contact with that work more than I have.

The CHAIRMAN. We will do that when we get to the professor. That is the way it is done, however?

Mr. ZAPPONE. Yes, sir. You can see how difficult it would be to keep a daily record of the efficiency of each person. Years ago we did have a daily work report in which a man stated over his signature the amount of work performed by him each day and the character of it. But this gave rise to much criticism, not only from the employees, but from the public generally, so it was dispensed with. Mr. FLOOD. Do not these chiefs make a memorandum oftener than once in six months?

Mr. ZAPPONE. Possibly they do, but I think as a general rule it is a mental note made by the chief of division or his chief clerk in examining the work of each employee, in comparing it with the quantity and quality of the work turned out by other employees, and in distributing new work.

Mr. SAMUEL. Would it operate against a man if he takes his sick leave?

Mr. ZAPPONE. That is taken into consideration, and his marking is correspondingly reduced.

Mr. FLOOD. They do not reduce him for taking a leave which the Government allows him, do they?

Mr. ZAPPONE. His rating is only affected by sick leave.
Mr. FLOOD. In taking thirty days' leave?

Mr. ZAPPONE. If he takes a sick leave in addition to annual leave

it reduces his attendance marking of 100 to possibly 98 or 95. annual leave does not count against him.

His

Mr. SAMUEL. If a man does not take an annual leave he does not

get credit for it, does he?

Professor MOORE. No; his rating is not increased.

The CHAIRMAN. Are these records of efficiency open to inspection of the men themselves?

(Witnesses: Zappone, Burch.)

Mr. ZAPPONE. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Explain to us, as briefly as you can, what these clerks of class 1 do-the nature of their duties, the kind of work they perform.

Mr. BURCH. As I said before, many do the same kind of work as those receiving higher salaries and are competent to do it if there is a place for them.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, please look at the list and pick out the name of some man whom you happen to personally know.

Mr. BURCH. I know all of them.

The CHAIRMAN. I will take one at random. Tell me what Thomas J. Ray does, the kind of work he performs at the Department, and what sort of service he renders, so that we can get an idea of what he does for the Government for that sum of money.

Mr. BURCH. He handles the mail of the Department, and has been there for about forty years. I think he is the oldest man in the Department now, the oldest having died a short time ago. He brings the mail at half past 8 in the morning, and he is constantly going between the Department and the post-office after the regular mail and the registered matter. He is on duty Sundays and holidays; never takes any leave of absence. I do not think he has been absent from the Department over fifteen days in thirty years.

The CHAIRMAN. Does he do all of that kind of work for the office? Mr. BURCH. Altogether; handles the mail.

The CHAIRMAN. He is able to do everything of that kind that the Department needs?

Mr. BURCH. No.

The CHAIRMAN. Does he have helpers?

Mr. BURCH. He handles all the personal mail, the letter mail, but we have mail wagons that carry 2 tons at a time, and we have to have two men who go with that besides Mr. Ray.

The CHAIRMAN. That is printed matter?

Mr. BURCH. Yes, sir; we send out tons of it.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Ray handles the letter and personal mail? Mr. BURCH. Yes, sir; and he has been for some thirty-odd years. The CHAIRMAN. Has he had any increase in his salary?

Mr. BURCH. Not since I have been there.

The CHAIRMAN. I suppose that happens to be a peculiar place where efficiency does not increase very much with age, because there is just so much mail to handle anyway?

Mr. BURCH. I will say that he could not be more efficient than he is. The CHAIRMAN. That is, he could not do any more, and you could not tolerate him if he did less?

What about these clerks that receive $1,000 and under? They are not in a numbered class. Do they come under the general classification that you gave?

Mr. BURCH. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Let me pick one out at random. Do you know them all personally?

Mr. BURCH. I think so.

The CHAIRMAN. What sort of work, for instance, does Mr. Hines do?

Mr. BURCH. He is our postmaster and distributes the mail.

(Witnesses: Burch, Zappone.)

The CHAIRMAN. Is he connected with Mr. Ray?

Mr. BURCH. Mr. Ray carries the mail to and from the office. Mr. Hines is the postmaster who puts up the mail and distributes it, and he is another faithful man who never takes any leave and is not often sick. He comes on duty about 8 o'clock in the morning and has our mail ready for distribution when we get there at 9.

The CHAIRMAN. How often is the mail distributed in the Department?

Mr. BURCH. Four or five times a day.

Mr. SAMUEL. This is a case where the postmaster gets $720 and the mail carrier $1,200.

Mr. BURCH. I will say that the postmaster is worth more money, but we could not give it to him before. He has recently been promoted to $1,000.

Mr. FLOOD. He is still postmaster?

Mr. BURCH. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Doing the same work?

Mr. BURCH. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. How could he accomplish any more? Still I suppose the mail might increase.

Mr. BURCH. The mail is increasing all the time. He has been filling a place that heretofore paid $1.000 or $1,200 a year, but he was not in a position so that he could be put into that class because he was taken in as a laborer and was recently covered in by act of Congress.

The CHAIRMAN. What did he first do when he went into the Department as laborer?

Mr. BURCH. I don't know.

Mr. CHAIRMAN. How long has he been postmaster?

Mr. BURCH. Four years, I think.

Mr. FLOOD. Was he carried on the books as a laborer during that time?

Mr. BURCH. Yes.

Mr. FLOOD. As long as he received $720 he was a laborer?

Mr. BURCH. Yes, sir.

Mr. SAMUEL. Do you have any clerks in the $720, the $1,000, the $1,200, or the $1,400 class doing the same work?

Mr. BURCH. Well, I can not say that we have clerks doing exactly the same work. The work is different all the way around.

Mr. SAMUEL. You do not have two men sitting at the same desk, doing the same work, with one man receiving $720 a year and the other $1,000 a year?

Mr. BURCH. Yes; I think there are some in that position.

Mr. FLOOD. The lowest clerks get $720 a year?

Mr. BURCH. Yes; I think some of them get $600.

Mr. FLOOD. I see laborers receive $600.

Mr. ZAPPONE. You refer to copyists, do you not, Colonel Burch? Their work is somewhat similar in character, but I suppose you mean that the quality and quantity vary with the individual. These low-salaried clerks are principally copyists and should be so regarded.

Mr. BURCH. They might do the same kind of work, but one having

(Witnesses: Burch, Zappone.)

been longer in the service than the other would receive promotion first.

The CHAIRMAN. How long has the gentleman that carries the mail-of course we are not criticising him-how long has he been carrying this mail back and forth from the Agricultural Department to the post-office at the rate of $1,200 a year?

Mr. BURCH. Well, I couldn't tell you. He has been getting $1,200 ever since I have been there, and that is twelve or fourteen years. The CHAIRMAN. Now, as to Mr. Hines. Has he been getting $720 during the whole time as postmaster?

Mr. BURCH. Six hundred dollars first, and promoted to $720.
The CHAIRMAN. How long has he had $720?

Mr. BURCH. A year or two, I think.

The CHAIRMAN. And now he has been promoted to $1.000 a year doing the same work?

Mr. BURCH. The same work.

The CHAIRMAN. Are we to understand that the mail has increased at that rate of percentage?

Mr. BURCH. That office had heretofore paid $1,000 or $1,200. This man has not been receiving justice. It has not been particularly the Department's fault. He was not in a position in which he could be promoted to $1,000 or $1,200 until recently.

The CHAIRMAN. Simply because there were not clerks enough? He was doing this work, and he has been doing it right along all the while. You did not have any other clerk acting as postmaster, but you have had other clerks there who had been in longer?

Mr. BURCH. He is a very efficient man in the position he occupies, and we would have given him more salary if we could. The President recently made an order making his case an exception so he could be promoted.

Mr. FLOOD. He was carried on the books as a skilled laborer, but he was doing the work of postmaster?

Mr. BURCH. Yes. In order to promote him the President was asked to make an order, which he did.

The CHAIRMAN. Can not you give me an illustration of some clerk that is now doing the same work that he has been doing for the last four or five years and who has been promoted from one grade to another. so I can get at the details and the real basis of the promotion. Of course I know nothing about these clerks themselves, so I can not select one for example.

Mr. BURCH. Now, there is Mr. Frickey, my assistant. He was first in the Bureau of Animal Industry at $1.200, and then promoted to $1,400, and when I took him into my office I promoted him to $1,600.

The CHAIRMAN. What I wanted you to give, if you can, is the name of some man on the roll who now does exactly the same work that the postmaster is doing and has been doing for the last three or four years, but has received promotion from one grade to another.

Mr. ZAPPONE. There have been very few promotions made on the roll of the Secretary's office, now under discussion; the case of Wyatt, from clerk of class 1 to class 3, is one.

Mr. BURCH. He is in Mr. Bennett's room, and recommended by

« PreviousContinue »