As you no doubt know, the Works Progress Administration was transferred to the Federal Works Agency by section 306 of Reorganization Plan No. I, promulgated by the President pursuant to the Reorganization Act of 1939, and its name was changed to the Work Projects Administration.

All positions established under the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act were to have been placed within the competitive classified service effective February 1, 1939, by Executive Order No. 7916 of June 24, 1938. The classification of these positions, however, was specifically prohibited by Congress by the following proviso contained in the joint resolution of February 4, 1939, making additional appropriations for relief for the fiscal year 1939 (Public Res. No. 1, 76th Cong.): "Provided further, That the provisions of Executive Order numbered 7916, dated June 24, 1938, shall not apply to positions the compensation of which is payable from appropriations contained in the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1938 or from the amount appropriated in this joint resolution, and such appropriations shall not be available for the compensation of the incumbent of any position placed in the competitive classified civil service of the United States after January 10, 1939."

A similar proviso was subsequently renacted in Section 22 of the Emergency Relief Appropriations Act of 1939 (Public Res. No. 24, 76 Cong., June 30, 1939). The effect of the proviso contained in H. R. 960, is, of course, to deny to the President authority to place the positions in question within the classified service. With respect to defining the particular group of positions to which the proviso is applicable, four interpretations are possible:

(1) It may be held to be applicable only to positions in the Work Projects Administration itself.

(2) In addition to the positions mentioned in (1) above, it may be held to be applicable to any position the salary of which is paid from funds allotted by the Work Projects Administrator for the prosecution of projects.

(3) In addition to the positions mentioned in (1) and (2) above, it may be held to be applicable to positions financed from direct appropriations in the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1939 to various agencies specifically for the purpose of defraying administrative expenses incident to carrying out the relief program. Attention is invited in this connection to section 6 of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1939.

(4) In addition to the positions mentioned in (1), (2), and (3) above, it may be held to be applicable to any position the salary of which is paid from funds appropriated in the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1939. The fact that Congress has in both the joint resolution of February 4, 1939, and the joint resolution of June 30, 1939, evidenced an intention that none of the positions financed from the Relief Act shall be placed within the classified service lends support to the view that this last interpretation is the correct one. In any event, the question regarding the precise extent of the proviso will arise only should the President contemplate the issuance of an order pursuant to H. R. 960 classifying positions paid from the relief acts and any doubt as to the correct interpretation of the proviso would unquestionably be resolved by an opinion of the Attorney General at that time.

3. Number of persons in each agency to which this act might be applied. (List in House report.)

4. Could it be applied to any other agencies in addition to those listed in the House report, such as the Farm Credit Administration? If so, which ones and how many employees might be affected in each agency?

As of December 30, 1939, there were 271,711 positions in the executive branch of the Government which were not subject to the competitive provisions of the Civil Service Act and rules. Potentially all these positions could be included in the competitive classified service under title I of H. R. 960, with the exception of "those positions in or connected with the Work Projects Administration."

The total of 271,711 positions included 57,902 administrative positions paid from funds provided by the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1939, and prior years. With respect to the question whether this latter group of positions may be classified, your attention is invited to the answer to question 2 above.

Of the remaining 213,809 positions paid from funds other than those provided by relief acts, 24,100 were in the District of Columbia and 189,709 were outside the District of Columbia. These positions were widely distributed

among nearly all the agencies of the executive branch of the Government. A detailed statement showing the distribution of these positions among the several Government agencies is enclosed. (Statement appears following this letter-page 18. The list on page 5 in the House report to which you refer was not intended to be exhaustive but included only those agencies in which all positions are excepted from the application of the competitive requirements of the Civil Service Act and certain large groups of positions which are similarly excepted in other agencies.

It should be pointed out also that the group of 213,809 positions to which reference has been made includes a large number of positions which the President already has authority to include within the classified service apart from any consideration of H. R. 960, but which have been excepted from competition by the President because it is administratively inexpedient for various reasons to hold examinations for such positions. The positions embraced in this group are principally those set forth specifically in schedules A and B of the civil-service rules.

5. Could this proposal give the President authority to "blanket” under civilservice positions now filled by nomination of the President and confirmation by the Senate?

6. If so, what positions in which agencies are so included?

The only positions in the executive branch of the civil service to which the provisions of H. R. 960 may not be extended are those "positions in or connected with the Work Projects Administration." No other group of positions is excluded from the purview of title I, and positions which are filled by appointment by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate may, therefore, under the bill be included in the classified civil service. There is no provision in the bill, however, which can be construed to change the locus of the appointing power or to deprive the Senate of its right to confirmation with respect to any position or group of positions.

If an Executive order should be issued pursuant to the bill, therefore, including within the classified service positions which the law provides shall be filled by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, the Commission would presumably be required to issue a certificate of eligibles to the President, from which a proposed appointee would be nominated and his name submitted to the Senate for confirmation in much the same manner as appointments of first, second, and third class postmasters are now effected under the act of June 25, 1938 (52 Stat. 1076; 39 U. S. C., Supp. IV, 30, et seq.). The Commission has no recent data regarding the number and location of positions in the executive branch of the service which are filled by appointment by the President and confirmation by the Senate. In 1933, however, there was compiled an exhaustive list of positions then not subject to the Civil Service Act, and rules which was published as Senate Document No. 173, Seventy-second Congress, second session, under the title "Positions Not Under Civil Service." Table I of that compilation is a list of positions to which appointment is made by the President upon confirmation by the Senate, exclusive of postmasters, commissioned officers of the Public Health Service, and positions in the Diplomatic and Consular Services, showing the departments in which such positions are located, the salary and the term of office, Table II of that compilation is a similar list of positions to which appointment is made by the President without confirmation by the Senate.

7. How many positions, and in what agencies, were "blanketed" under civil service by the President's Executive order of June 24, 1938, effective February 1, 1939?

8. How many persons, and in what agencies, have to date been examined and obtained a full civil service status and position in the agencies included in the Executive order of June 24, 1938?

The Commission is now engaged in considering individual cases for noncompetitive classification under Executive Order No. 7916 of June 24, 1938. In view of the large number of such cases, and the flow of work through a number of divisions and sections of the Commission's organization, it is impossible to furnish at this time precise or complete statistics regarding this work. The figures given below, therefore, are as nearly accurate as we are in position to furnish at this time.

To date there have been reported to the Commission 23,342 positions brought into the classified service under the Executive order of June 24, 1938, the incum228128-40-2

bents of which have been recommended for the acquisition of a competitive classified status. The distribution of these positions by agencies is as follows:

The Commission has completed action in the case of 11,046 incumbents of the positions listed above. Of these, 7,908 qualified in the noncompetitive examination required by the order and were accorded a full civil-service status. In the case of 3,138 classification was not allowed because the incumbents did not meet the requirements of the order-that is, they failed to qualify in the noncompetitive examinations; they were not citizens of the United States-failed to meet the physical requirements; they had not had the length of service required by the order, etc. The distribution of the 7,908 cases in which classification was approved among the several Government agencies is as follows: Agency: State Treasury. War.

Number

200

368

362

57

370

25

299

264

27

57

38

3

206

1

2

1

41

5, 421

25

78

15

34

7,908

3, 138

Total disapproved..

Total in which final action has been taken----.

11, 046

9. In bringing the positions affected by the Executive order of June 24, 1938, under the Classification Act, has it been found necessary to reclassify upward and increase the salaries of many of the employees so affected?

10. If so, how many, and in what agencies? Were these upward reclassifications given to employees who were previously earning less than $2,000 per

year? Less than $3,000 per year? More than $3,000 per year? How many persons in each of the above three groups, and in what agencies, have received upward classification and according salary increases to date? What is the total amount of increases for each group in each agency?

11. On the basis of experience obtained to date through upward reclassification of employees affected by the Executive order of June 25, 1938, what do you estimate will be the probable increased cost, if any, to the Government in salary increases by the operation of such upward reclassification of all the employees affected by this order? In other words, what do you estimate will be the increased cost, if any, to the Government to carry out the classification provisions of this Executive order?

These questions are founded on the assumption that the Executive order of June 24, 1938, required the Commission not only to take certain steps incident to bringing positions under the Civil Service Act, but also to classify or reclassify positions in accordance with the salary grades of the Classification Act. However, the Executive order was not of this type. It contained no provisions with reference to salary classifications or with reference to the Classification Act of 1923. It brought certain groups of positions under the Civil Service Act and rules, but did not extend the scope of the Classification Act of 1923. Accordingly, since the Commission was not thereby required to allocate or reallocate positions to salary grades, questions 9, 10, and 11 are not applicable to the order of June 24, 1938.

12. How many positions eligible for inclusion under the Civil Service Act by the blanketing provision of this act are in the apportioned service? The field service?

Your attention is invited to the answer to questions 3 and 4 above. You will note that of the total number of positions which are not now in the competitive classified service, 57,902 are paid from funds appropriated in the Emergency Relief Act of 1939 and prior relief acts. The question whether these positions will be classified under the Civil Service Act pursuant to title I of H. R. 960 will, as pointed out, depend upon the interpretation placed on the phrase "in or connected with the Work Projects Administration." Of the remaining positions which are outside the competitive classified service, 24,100 are in Washington, D. C., and 189,709 are in the field service. This means that if all these positions are classified pursuant to H. R. 960, less than 24,100 will be in the apportioned departmental service.

As you no doubt know, there are a large number of positions in Washington, D. C., which are not in the apportioned departmental service because they are in local field offices for the District of Columbia. Examples of such positions are those in the city post office in Washington, the Washington Navy Yard, etc. In addition, there are a number of positions in Washington, D. C., which are specifically excluded from the apportionment by section 3 of rule VII (quoted in the answer to question 1 above). Examples of such positions are apprentice, electric lineman, electric wireman, engraver, gardener, telephone operator, and all mechanical-trades positions. If the 24,100 positions in the District of Columbia financed by regularly appropriated funds are all brought within the competitive classified service, it is estimated that not more than 15,000 will be in the apportioned departmental service.

13. On the basis of experience obtained to date by the classification of employees affected by the Executive order of June 24, 1938 (or other sources of experience), what do you estimate would be the total increased cost, if any, to the Government of classification of employees, assuming that the President would blanket into civil service and under the Classification Act all positions now exempt by statute? (The House report states that there are between 200,000 and 300,000 such positions and employees).

Classification of positions under the Civil Service Act as provided for in title I of H. R. 960, would not have the effect of increasing or decreasing the pay of any incumbent employees. As indicated above, probably somewhat less than 200,000 positions will be affected.

Title II, however, which relates to the compensation schedules and rates of pay under the compensation Classification Act of 1923, as amended, may affect upward of 320,000 positions. The terms of title II are such that the applications of these compensation schedules by Executive order will no doubt extend over a period of years, depending upon the rate at which the commission under the appropriations granted it can make the necessary reports to the President, and the rate at which the President would promulgate the effectuating Executive orders. The President would have before him the cost, of course, for each proposed extension before issuing the Executive order to

put the extension into effect. After all extensions have been made to cover the 320,000 positions referred to, the increased compensation cost is estimated at about $14,000,000 annually. This increase is due principally to the fact that salaries in these positions were fixed under Executive Order No. 6746, of June 21, 1934, the salary ranges of which are lower than the salary ranges of corresponding grades of the Classification Act of 1923.

14. What would be the additional administrative cost to the Commission and other agencies required to participate in bringing these positions and employees under civil service as permitted by this bill?

With respect to the placing of positions in the classified service under the Civil Service Act and the noncompetitive examination and classification of incumbents, you will appreciate, of course, that it is difficult to make any estimate of the cost with precision because of the number of factors involved, some of which are intangible. The Commission believes, however, that the cost to other administrative agencies will be negligible since such agencies would incur only the initial expense of the clerical work incident to the presentation of the cases of individual employees to the Commission for noncompetitive examination and classification. Offsetting this cost, however, will be the future economies effected in the recruiting of personnel for such agencies, since this work will devolve largely upon the Commission.

So far as the Commission is concerned, the administrative costs of the bill will arise chiefly in two ways:

(1) The initial cost incident to the classification and noncompetitive examination of the incumbents of positions.

(2) The increased cost which will be more or less continuing, resulting from the expansion of the competitive classified service. Under this head will fall the increased cost of holding competitive examinations for vacancies which may occur in these positions in the future, maintenance of additional service records, maintenance of retirement records, etc.

Whereas there are in round numbers some 270,000 positions which may be placed in the competitive classified service pursuant to H. R. 960, it is extremely doubtful that all such positions would be thus included. There are a large number of low-salaried, part-time, intermittent, and temporary positions to which it would be administratively impracticable to extend the competitive examination procedure. We estimate, therefore, that probably somewhat less than 200,000 positions will be placed in the competitive classified service by the President pursuant to the bill.

As a result of a survey conducted some time ago, covering a large volume of cases, the Commission estimated that the total cost of the entire noncompetitive classification procedure in one case, including the clerical work, the maintenance of records, the cost of holding examinations, rating papers, etc., but exclusive of the cost of investigations, is $1.42 per person per examination. Using this figure as a basis, the initial administrative cost to the Commission of holding noncompetitive examinations and according a classified status to the incumbents of 200,000 positions would be approximately $284,000. On the basis of our present experience, it is estimated that of the 200,000 cases, personal investigation will be required in approximately 3,626 cases because of criminal records disclosed through the fingerprinting process. The estimated cost of these investigations and the resulting review and recording will involve an expenditure of approximately $116,500, bringing the total initial administrative cost to the Commission of completing 200,000 cases to $400,500.

As pointed out above, there would be in addition the more or less continuing cost of holding a larger number of competitive examinations to fill vacancies in the positions classified under H. R. 960, the maintenance of service records, the maintenance of retirement records, etc. While any estimate of this increased cost would be purely conjectural, it may be pointed out that the increase would be proportionately much less than the increase in the number of classified positions since the competitive examinations which the Commission already holds for a large number of positions produce more than sufficient eligibles to supply the Government's needs. The Commission also already maintains service records for a large percentage of the positions which may be included in the classified service under H. R. 960.

From a long-range point of view, moreover, these increased costs would be an investment and not an expense, since they will be offset by the increased efficiency of the public service which will result from the application of the principles of the merit system.

So far as the administrative costs incident to title II of H. R. 960 are concerned, it may be pointed out that the administrative machinery necessary for extending