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an $1.800 clerk and has increased the output of the work practically three times in the amount of money considered, and I would like, if this committee sees fit, to put him in charge of the working force of the office and call him an expert accountant at a salary of $2.000. Mr. BYRNS. That means a new position?

Mr. PRICE. Yes, sir: a new position.

Mr. BYRNS. Why do you wish to call him an expert accountant?
Mr. PRICE. Well, I do not know that I desire to call him an expert

accountant.

Mr. BYRNS. He will be satisfied if he gets the position?

Mr. PRICE. Yes, sir; you might call him an assistant chief. He is a man who has shown fitness for a position of that sort, and, as you know, my office is very much behind in its work. The volume of work was coming in faster than we could turn it out, but since the first of July it has been going the other way, and we have increased the volume of output a little over 50 per cent, between 50 and 60 per cent by this manner of doing the work.

Mr. BYRNS. How nearly current are you now?

Mr. PRICE. We will be current by September of next year.

Mr. BYRNS. Why couldn't you drop a clerk of class 4, if the committee should see fit to adopt your estimates?

Mr. PRICE. We will be glad to do that, but I wanted to see this man in that work. I do not want to drop one and not get the other place.

Mr. BYRNS. As I understand, then, your object in asking for this position of expert accountant at $2,000 is to promote a clerk of class 4?

Mr. PRICE. Yes, sir. He has been very efficient and has worked overtime mornings and evenings. In four months he has increased the output a little over $10,000,000.

Mr. BYRNS. He has been in charge of that under you?

Mr. PRICE. Yes, sir; under me.

Mr. BYRNS. How long has he been in the service?

Mr. PRICE. About 13 years.

Mr. BYRNS. Are there any details to your office or from your office at the present time?

Mr. PRICE. No, sir.

I would like to ask the committee to make one other change in my estimate, and that is to drop a clerk at $900 and provide for one check assorter at $900.

Mr. BYRNS. Is that simply to make the title conform to the work she is doing.

Mr. PRICE. Yes, sir; to conform to the work she is doing and to conform to the civil-service rulings.

Mr. BYRNS. I mean by that, she has different duties?

Mr. PRICE. She is an expert check assorter. She assorts from five to six thousand checks every seven hours. She is very expert, but we can not promote her and we can not retain her in a $900 clerkship, but she can be retained as a check assorter.

Mr. BYRNS. Why can you not retain her as a $900 clerk?

Mr. PRICE. The Civil Service Commission will not allow us to retain her, because she is not a clerk.

Mr. BYRNS. Because she is not performing clerical services?
Mr. PRICE. Yes, sir.

Mr. BYRNS. You drop the item for rental of mechanical devices and the necessary expenses of their operation?

Mr. PRICE. Yes, sir; I explained that fully last year. I may say to the committee that of that $1,500 we used about $330, and the balance will revert to the Treasury.

Mr. BYRNS. I believe you went into that very fully at the last hearing, and therefore it is not necessary to go into it now.

Mr. STAFFORD. Will you kindly differentiate between a clerk and a check assorter as to the character of work?

Mr. PRICE. We use the clerks on accounts, such as balancing bank statements and assembling accounts and recording work, and a check assorter assorts checks in numerical order.

Mr. STAFFORD. I can understand that they may be engaged in a different character of work, but wherein does the Civil Service Commission, by any ruling or regulation, prevent you from employing a clerk at $900 in that work of check assorting? Why is not that clerical services?

Mr. PRICE. I am afraid I am not sufficiently informed to tell you, but I have this clerk employed, and they informed me I can not retain her except as a check assorter; that they would not keep her as a clerk at $900. I believe it is because she has never passed the firstgrade examination.

Mr. STAFFORD. Then the real reason is that she is not eligible to retain a position at $900 as a clerk?

Mr. PRICE. She has passed her civil-service examination, but she has not passed the clerk status of the civil service.

Mr. STAFFORD. Then the real reason is as I have stated it?

Mr. PRICE. Yes, sir.

Mr. STAFFORD. I thought it was rather peculiar you could not keep a clerk at $900 and have her do the work of check assorting.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1916.

OFFICE OF THE TREASURER.

STATEMENTS OF MR. FRANK J. F. THIEL, DEPUTY ASSISTANT TREASURER, AND MR. WILLARD F. WARNER, CHIEF CLERK.

Mr. BYRNS. Mr. Thiel, you have a number of changes in the estimates for the office of the Treasurer. I notice that the estimates involve a decrease of $10,000 from the appropriation for the current

year.

Mr. THIEL. Practically so-$9,880.

Mr. BYRNS. There are a number of increases in salary, and then you eliminate some positions?

Mr. THIEL. Yes, sir.

Mr. BYRNS. In other words, vou have created 32 new offices and omitted 45, a net decrease of 13?

Mr. THIEL. That is correct.

INCREASE IN SALARY, ASSISTANT TREASURER AND DEPUTY ASSISTANT TREASURER.

Mr. BYRNS. You ask for an increase in the salary of the Assistant Treasurer and in your own salary as Deputy Assistant Treasurer. Do you want to say anything about that?

Mr. THIEL. Mr. Byrns, I wrote a letter to the Secretary, covering the requested increase for the Assistant Treasurer and myself, and I would like to submit it.

Mr. BYRNS. You want to have it printed in the record?

Mr. THIEL. Yes.

(Said letter follows:)

The SECRETRY OF THE TREASURY.

NOVEMBER 1, 1916.

SIR: For your consideration the following statement is respectfully submitted for an increase in the salaries of the Assistant Treasurer of the United States from $3,600 to $4,500, and of the Deputy Assistant Treasurer from $3,200 to $4,000.

In this connection it may be stated that the volume of work performed in the Treasurer's office is more than three times as great as it was in the year 1900, while the responsibilities entailed and the additional duties imposed have grown correspondingly.

Since the installation, on February 1, 1913, of a system whereby the accounts of disbursing officers are centralized in the Treasurer's office, all Government checks are drawn on the Treasurer, and the Treasury has become a clearing house for their final payment. These checks range in number as high as 58.000 daily, with an aggregate value of nearly $3,000,000,000 per annum.

The volume of cash exclusively handled in this office is now in excess of $7,000,000,000 per annum.

The transactions in Government bonds, of which nearly $740,000,000 in value are at present lodged in the Treasury as security for national-bank notes and Federal reserve notes in circulation, also reach a large yearly total.

The enactment of the postal savings law in 1910 imposed upon the Treasurer the custody of State and municipal bonds held as security for deposits of postal savings funds. Bonds so held have increased in the last two years by more than 100 per cent and now aggregate $134,000,000.

The volume of cash payments from the vaults for the fiscal year 1916 amounted to $1.203.826.871.03 compared with $637,023.036.18 in 1905 and $165,730,856.01 in 1885.

The operations of the Treasury in connection with the Federal Reserve Board and the various Federal reserve banks have also assumed large proportions. Notwithstanding the decided growth in the volume of business transacted as indicated above and the consequent increase in the responsibilities and duties imposed upon the executive heads of the office, there has been a decrease of 50 employees during the past two years on the rolls of the Treasurer's Office, involving salaries amounting to $52.040 per annum. The estimates for the fiscal year 1917-18 contemplate a further reduction of 13 employees with salaries aggregating $10,680. In addition to the foregoing reductions, the services of about 30 employees who were detailed to the Treasurer's Office have been dispensed with. It may, therefore, be assumed that the total savings for the past three years in salaries alone aggregate more than $80,000 per annum. That these economies have not been effected at the expense of efficiency is evidenced by the fact that the work of the office is current in all divisions, the installation of modern business methods combined with the hearty cooperation of employees of all grades having made this accomplishment possible. The salaries of assistant treasurers in charge of subtreasuries range from $4,500 to $8,000 per annum. The operations of the subtreasuries are largely under the direction of the Treasury officials in Washington, and the administrative problems confronting them daily do not compare in any sense with those imposed upon the officials at the seat of Government. Furthermore, the Assistant Treasurer and the Deputy Assistant. Treasurer are frequently called upon to assume charge of subtreasuries in cases of vacancies and also conduct examinations of these offices. In addition to this, for months the Deputy Assistant Treasurer has performed the duties ordinarily assigned to the Assistant Treasurer, and on several occasions he has discharged the duties of both the Treaurer and the Assistant Treasurer at the same time. It would, therefore, seem but reasonable and just that these officials, who are largely concerned with the transaction of the multitudinous executive details of what may be termed the largest banking institution in the world are entitled to the compensations mentioned. The increases if granted, amounting to $1.700 per annum, would still leave a saving of $8.980 in the estimates for this office effective on July 1, 1917.

In this connection there is herewith submitted a copy of your letter of March 10, 1914. addressed to the Speaker of the House (H. Doc. No. 822, 63d Cong.. 2d sess.), in which request is made for an increase of the salary of the Assistant Treasurer from $3,600 to $4,500 per annum. In the opinion of this office, the reasons cited therein for requesting this increase in compensation are well Justified.

Respectfully submitted.

F. J. F. THIEL, Deputy Assistant Treasurer.

Mr. THIEL. I will say, in connection with the work of the Treasurer's Office, that it has increased very considerably in the last few years, in fact, since 1900 our business has increased practically 300 per cent, and the work of the Assistant Treasurer and the Deputy Assistant Treasurer has increased correspondingly. The multitudinous details in connection with the office have imposed considerable pressure upon both officials and we think it is a reasonable request. in view of the responsibilities entailed. Notwithstanding those increases we are, as stated before, showing a net reduction of $9,880 in the estimates. I would like to say that in our postal savings section alone the work has increased nearly 100 per cent in the last year. The law of May 18, this year, provided that the amount that might be deposited at interest by one person should be increased from $500 to $1,000 and that $1,000 additional might be deposited without interest. These provisions greatly increased the work in the Division of Banks, Loans, and Postal Savings. We had, for instance, on deposit in the office in June, 1913, $63,000,000 in bonds as security for postal savings deposits and in October, 1916, that amount had increased to $134,000,000. In our redemption division they are handling a volume of business 100 per cent greater than it was a year ago. Then again, the salaries of the assistant treasurers in charge of subtreasuries range from $4,500 to $8,000, as you know, and yet the duties of the assistant treasurers are not nearly so onerous as are the duties of the officials in Washington; they are under the direction of the officials at the seat of Government. We therefore believe the requests submitted are just and reasonable.

Mr. BYRNS. You have already filed that letter?

Mr. THIEL. Yes, sir.

Mr. BYRNS. I suppose it goes into detail in addition to what you have stated?

Mr. THIEL. Yes, sir.

Mr. BYRNS. It will be given very careful consideration by the committee. Was there anything else you wanted to say on that particular matter?

Mr. THIEL. Nothing, Mr. Byrns.

Mr. BYRNS. Now, Mr. Thiel, I wish you would make a statement as to your rearrangement of these estimates.

Mr. THIEL. Mr. Warner will give you the details of that.

COUNTERS.

Mr. BYRNS. State for the benefit of the committee why those changes are thought necessary.

Mr. WARNER. Previous to 1916 it was impossible to promote a counter who had never gained a clerical status from $900 upward

on account of the ruling by the Civil Service Commission that money counters on the nonapportioned roll could not be appointed to clerical positions which are on the apportioned roll. When vacancies occur in the clerical positions at $900, $1,000, and $1,100, it is now necessary to promote employees who now have or have had a clerical status, whereas the efficiency records show that some of the employees having counters' status deserve promotion first. An employee who has a clerical status may hold a position on either the clerical roll, apportioned, or the counter roll, nonapportioned, whereas the employee who has a counter's status can only hold a position on a nonapportioned roll. Clerks do not lose their clerical status when transferred to a money counter's position. Under the present system we have to jump counters from $1,000 to $1,200, whereas we would like to make promotions by the hundred-dollar grade.

Mr. THEL. That furnishes us with more elasticity and also enables us to make promotions where they are most deserved. For instance, we might not be able to make a promotion of an expert counter from $900 to $1,000 when a vacancy occurred, as the vacancy might be in the clerical grade.

Mr. WARNER. Another reason is that if we make a promotion of a clerk at $900 we have to stop there, whereas if we have a counter's grade we can go all the way down to $600. It also enables us to make promotions all along the line; there is no additional cost and it will work to the advantage of the office. The change has been allowed heretofore to a limited extent.

Mr. BYRNS. The only real reason for this is the one suggested by Mr. Thiel, that it gives you more elasticity?

Mr. WARNER. Yes, sir.

Mr. THIEL. And we can promote more deserving ones.

As it is

under present conditions there may be a counter who is very deserving of promotion and there may be a vacancy in the clerical grade, but we can not promote a counter to that vacancy, we must promote some clerk.

Mr. STAFFORD. 'Are the counters under civil service?

Mr. WARNER. Yes; with a limit of $1200, and they can not go beyond that; they do not have a clerical status.

MESSENGER BOYS.

Mr. BYRNS. Why is it that you ask for two more messenger boys? Mr. WARNER. We do not ask for more messenger boys; we ask to be permitted to drop two laborers, and then instead of having these heavy men we can get boys cheaper and it will enable us to keep our good boys. We lose our good boys because we can not give them a promotion. The Supervising Architect's Office and the Auditor for the Post Office Department have messenger boys at $480, and we lose our good boys to them and elsewhere.

Mr. THIEL. It is a great handicap to our office by not being able to take care of these messenger boys; they are limited to $360 a year. We had one there 21 years of age and he was getting $30 a month. Now, after they have been there for a certain length of time they become valuable to us: they become familiar with the routine of the office, but we can not give them any further recognition. If we had a grade of $480 we would be enabled to recognize them to a certain

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