Mr. STEWART. Mr. Chairman, I also ask permission to insert in the record the blue or control sheets under each appropriation as we come to it. Mr. NORRELL. All right. Now, I am going to ask you a few questions and the other members of the committee will probably want to do so, then we will go into the salary item. NEW POSITIONS REQUESTED How many new positions are you asking for all told? Mr. STEWART. Thirty-five altogether, 29 of which are for the Senate Office Buildings. Mr. NORRELL. My speech a while ago evidently did not have much effect on you. I thought I made a pretty good speech. Mr. STEWART. Mr. Chairman, may I say I did not have the advantage of your speech when I prepared this. WAGE-BOARD EMPLOYEES Mr. NORRELL. You ask for more money each year for the wage-board employees. Of the total of all your employees, how many are wageboard employees in all categories? Mr. STEWART. 873 out of 1,178. Mr. NORRELL. How many new wage-board employees have you put on in the last few months? Mr. STEWART. We have not increased our number at all. Mr. NORRELL. None at all? Mr. STEWART. No, sir; I might emphasize, Mr. Chairman, that of the 35 new positions I am asking for, 29 are for the Senate Office Buildings, normally not considered by this committee. EXTENSION OF EAST FRONT OF CAPITOL Mr. NORRELL. I wonder if you would give us a brief report on the extension of the east front of the Capitol. You can supplement it in any way you see fit for the record. Can you give us a brief report on that? Mr. STEWART. I have no prepared statement on this, Mr. Chairman, so I will give you a brief of it. The extension of the east front, insofar as the exterior masonry and other exterior work are concerned, is scheduled to be completed not later than the 1st of October. Mr. NORRELL. Of this year? Mr. STEWART. Yes, sir. We will start around the 15th of September of this year to build the Capitol inaugural stands. That is a 3- to 312-month job and we must allow an additional month's time for bad weather in view of the season of the year in which the work is to be done. We expect to start that work as stated, about the 15th of September, so that the exterior work on the east front extension must be completed by the 1st of October to permit the inaugural stand work to go ahead. A contract for the interior work on the east front extension is expected to be awarded next month. We want to concentrate immediately on two areas in the interior. One is the main lobby and the other is the entrance corridor from the plaza coming into the Capitol, where the President enters and leaves the building. The entire work in the interior will not be completed until June, a year from now. Does that cover about what you had in mind? Mr. NORRELL. Are your cost estimates going to be about correct when it is all over? Mr. STEWART. We are running remarkably well as far as our estimates are concerned. I do not anticipate needing any additional funds for completion of the work. Mr. NORRELL. Are there any questions regarding these two items that have been mentioned? Mr. KIRWAN. I have none. Mr. Bow. Yes, Mr. Chairman, I have a few. EXTENT OF WAGE-BOARD INCREASES-LAST 5 YEARS Mr. Stewart, I am wondering about these wage-board increases that we find in about every bill. In checking over the wage-board increases, I wish you would correct me if I am wrong on this, but I find in the last 5 years wage-board increases for masons, there has been an increase of 41 percent. Mr. STEWART. That is right, sir, with respect to our employees, computed from the time they were transferred from under the Classification Act to the wage-board system in 1955. The increases include not only wage-board increases established from year to year, but also within-grade promotions provided for under the wage-board system. Mr. Bow. And there have been wage-board increases for air conditioning mechanics in the last 5 years of 54 percent. Mr. STEWART. That is right. Mr. Bow. And wage-board increases for electricians in the last 5 years have been an increase of 48 percent. Mr. STEWART. Yes, sir. Mr. Bow. Wage-board increases for elevator mechanics in the last 5 years have been an increase of 54 percent. Mr. Mr. STEWART. That is right. Mr. Bow. And wage-board increases for carpenters in the last 5 years have amounted to an increase of 60 percent. Mr. STEWART. That is right. Mr. Bow. And wage-board increases for plumbers for the last 5 years have amounted to 60 percent. Mr. STEWART. Yes, sir. Mr. Bow. Wage-board increases for air-conditioning mechanics, junior grade, in the last 5 years have amounted to 52 percent. Mr. STEWART. Yes, sir. Mr. Bow. And wage-board increases for elevator mechanics, junior grade, in the last 5 years have amounted to 52 percent. Mr. STEWART. That is right, sir. Mr. Bow. And for painters, wage board increases in the last 5 years have amounted to 52 percent. Mr. STEWART. Yes, sir. Mr. Bow. And wage board increases for laborers have been an increase of 18 percent in the last 5 years. Mr. STEWART. Yes, sir. Mr. Bow. And wage board increases for other groups of laborers have only been 12 percent in the last 5 years. Mr. STEWART. That is right. Mr. Bow. And wage board increases for charwomen in the last 5 years have amounted to an increase of 18 percent. Mr. STEWART. Yes, sir. The percentages you have mentioned are based on cases from our files, in most instances. Mr. Bow. Apparently, the percentage increases by the wage board have been considerably over and above the increase in cost of living in the last 5 years. Is that correct? Mr. STEWART. I cannot answer that, but I assume that when the wage board survey and studies were made by agencies in the executive branch, the cost-of-living rise was taken into consideration. Mr. Bow. It might have been taken into consideration, but you would not find such an increase in the cost of living in the last 5 years as these wage board increases? Mr. STEWART. Under that system we also Mr. Bow. Please answer my question, and then you can explain your answer. Has there been a cost-of-living increase in the last 5 years comparable in any way to the amount of increases in these wage board increases? Mr. STEWART. I do not have a cost-of-living index. Mr. Bow. Mr. Chairman, at this point I would like to have inserted in the record the cost-of-living indexes for the last 5 years, showing the increase in cost of living. Mr. NORRELL. Without objection, it may be included in the record at this point. (The information follows:) The following information was furnished informally by the Information Unit, Division of Prices and Cost of Living, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor: NOTE. The difference between 125.7 of 1960 and 114.3 of 1955 is 11.4, or an increase of approximately 10 percent. The rule for establishing indexes is based on the average for 1947-49 equals 100. Mr. Bow. The thing that disturbs me is that even with these large increases we have in wage board rates of pay, I have been advised that in some areas where your employees, or the employees we have referred to here under the wage board system, are working side by side with other employees here on Capitol Hill, the other employees, who are under the wages prescribed by the Secretary of Labor, are receiving even considerably higher wages than those we have. Mr. STEWART. That is true, sir. Mr. Bow. How does that come about? Mr. STEWART. The wages on our contract work are set by the Secretary of Labor. Undoubtedly, that reflects the activity and zeal of the organized forces of labor. That probably accounts for the largest percentage of the increases they have. I have with me some of the wage rates that contractors on our work are compelled to pay. The rates I am about to quote were just determined by the Secretary of Labor for the east front extension of the Capitol, interior construction work. First, let us take masons. The rate we have raised our masons to is $2.94, whereas the Department of Labor rate for contract work is. $9.67%. Mr. Bow. It is $3.97, is it not? Mr. STEWART. Yes; you are right, $3.972. Mr. Bow. Although we have had wage board increases in this area. of 41 percent in the last 5 years, nevertheless you are forced to pay one group about $1 an hour more than those who had the wage board increases? Mr. STEWART. That is right, with respect to our employees. Mr. STEED. Does that not arise from the fact that the contract work comes under the Davis-Bacon Act and the wage has to be set by the Secretary of Labor, whereas the wage board operates separately from that! Mr. Bow. I thought the wage board rates were supposed to be based on the law passed by Congress some time ago. I have one other matter I would like to inquire about, if I may. May I do this off the record, Mr. Chairman? Mr. NORRELL. Yes. (Discussion off the record.) Mr. Bow. That is all, Mr. Chairman. Mr. NORRELL. Any further questions? BASIS FOR DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WAGE BOARD AND BACON-DAVIS WAGE RATES Mr. HORAN. Mr. Chairman, the questions Mr. Bow was asking were rather pertinent questions about the different wage rates that are in effect, and I am not clear about that. Mr. STEWART. Maybe I can clarify that. Under the provisions of Public Law 763, 83d Congress, 873 laborers and mechanics on payrolls under the Architect of the Capitol and the Botanic Garden, carried in the annual legislative branch appropriation act, are compensated on a wage board, prevailing-rate basis. Public Law 763 provides that the compensation of such employees shall be fixed and adjusted from time to time as nearly as is consistent with the public interest in accordance with prevailing rates. A general comparative survey of Government and industrial employees' wages in the Washington metropolitan area is conducted annually by the Army, Air Force, Navy, General Services Administration, and other large agencies. Such a survey has recently been completed, resulting in a general increase in wages for such employees. The Architect of the Capitol was notified of the new rates on January 15, 1960, and the new rates were put into effect by him, February 7, 1960. Under the provisions of Public Law 85-872, 85th Congress, approved September 2, 1958, it is mandatory that wage board increases be put into effect not later than the first day of the first pay period which begins on or after the 20th day, excluding Saturdays and Sundays, following the date on which the Architect receives the data collected in the wage survey and necessary for the granting of increases. I think the real key to the wage differential between Davis-Bacon and wage-board rates is the difference in the basis of employment of the laborers and mechanics involved. For instance, our wage-board employees work and are compensated on a full-year basis as permanent employees of the Government. They receive such benefits as annual and sick leave, health benefits, retirement, and group health insurance. Employees for whom wages are prescribed under the DavisBacon Act generally work on construction projects and are paid only on a day-to-day basis for time actually served. So far as I know any fringe benefits to which they are entitled are not comparable to those received by our permanent Government employees. Mr. HORAN. I suppose the wages listed here also take into consideration the permanency of the occupation? Mr. STEWART. That is true. Mr. HORAN. Whereas under the Davis-Bacon Act, especially in the building trades, the wages reflect the temporary nature of the employment? Mr. STEWART. That is right. Mr. HORAN. That is all. INCREASE IN CAPITOL VISITORS Mr. STEED. It seems to me, Mr. Stewart, that recently the visitors to the Capital come in unprecedented numbers. Could you give us any estimate as to how the number of visitors now compare with prior years and what additional problems the increase poses for you? Mr. STEWART. This is my sixth year in office, and my second year in office was the first attempt I made to make some sort of tabulation or survey of the number of persons frequenting the Capitol. I have no knowledge of any other prior survey having been made. The number has increased from an average yearly basis of 15,200 persons per calendar day in 1956, with a high of 22,000 and a low of 12,000 persons, to today where the high is around 30,000 and the low is around 15,000, with an average of about 18,000 a day. Mr. STEED. The use of the buildings is at the highest point this year? Mr. STEWART. Yes, sir. It has been increasing gradually every year. With respect to our elevator service, in 1956 we estimated 32 million persons used all of the elevators in our Capitol Hill buildings, including the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court Building. I estimate this year it will be close to 42 million persons. Mr. STEED. Does this make any substantial imprint in terms of maintenance costs and keeping the buildings clean? Mr. STEWART. Undoubtedly. Mr. STEED. That is all, Mr. Chairman. Mr. STEWART. I might add, Mr. Chairman, on just this one item, we have had to double our cleaning force on Saturdays and Sundays this year. INCREASE IN GOVERNMENTAL COSTS Mr. NORRELL. The reasons for the increase in the legislative budget have been several. First is the law. We have authorized so many |