that comes in after we get enough to pay our share, they are going to apply it on this advancement. That makes us start cold again on the 1st of July without any money; even though the system has produced it the year before, they are applying everything that comes in after April on this prior advancement.

That may short-change us, so to speak, and that is the thing, as I understand it, that the chairman is mentioning-that some language be used to the effect they cannot apply all of this money on the 30th of June that is in excess of the part that bankruptcy has to pay on the old advancement, and thus take all of our money away from us. so to speak, to start out the next year with.

Mr. STEFAN. Suppose you let Mr. Chandler furnish the committee with a short proviso to take care of the General Accounting Office item in this connection.

Mr. COVEY. We will try to work something out.

Mr. STEFAN. And give this committee a copy of the proviso which will take care of that situation, and we will take it under advisement. Mr. COVEY. Yes, sir; I think it ought to be considered.

(The information requested was supplied to the committee.)

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE, UNITED STATES COURTS SALARIES AND EXPENSES

SUMMARY OF REQUIREMENTS

Mr. STEFAN. We will now take up the item "Salaries and expenses, administrative office, United States courts" and will insert page 199 of the justifications in the record at this point.

(The matter above referred to is as follows:)

Statement relating appropriation estimate to current appropriation-Salaries and expenses, administrative office, United States courts

Mr. STEFAN. Will you justify, Mr. Chandler, the additional request of $34,400 for personal services?

Mr. CHANDLER. The addition, I believe, is for various purposes shown on page 199 of the justifications.

Mr. STEFAN. It is not set out in detail on that sheet. Where is the detail?

Mr. CHANDLER. That is shown on pages 204 to 213, where the details are explained.

JUSTIFICATION OF THE ESTIMATES

Mr. STEFAN. We will put those pages in the record at this point. (The matter above referred to is as follows:)

01 Personal services

INCREASES

Additional personnel.-Division of Business Administration: The added responsibilities and duties imposed upon the Administratve Office as the result of recent changes in the statutes respecting the bankruptcy administration, the compensation of United States commissioners and the act providing for the furnishing of forms and supplies to United States commissioners have caused a great expansion in the services affecting principally the Audit and Service Sections of this Division. As a consequence these offices are unable to render the services required of them with the care and dispatch which is necessary and which the responsible nature of the work demands. It is requested, therefore, that some small additions to the staff of these two sections be approved for 1949 to relieve the congestion and strain in the Audit and Service Sections of the Office.

Audit Section: It is requested that there be included in the appropriation for the fiscal year 1949 the amount of $5,290 to permit the employment of two additional CAF-5 clerk (examiner) positions for the Audit Section.

One of these positions will be required to handle the work in connection with the audit of accounts of United States marshals. Pursuant to Public Law 464, Seventy-ninth Congress, approved June 28, 1946, which provided for the appointment of salaried referees, clerks to referees, and payment of traveling and other expenses incident to the conduct of bankruptcy business, 163 referees and 206 clerks were appointed. Beginning with the marshals' accounts for the month of July 1947, there were included, over and above the vouchers theretofore submitted, vouchers presented by referees covering salaries, traveling expenses, communication expenses, publication of notices, and miscellaneous items of office expense. This has resulted in an estimated over-all increase of 20 percent in the time needed to audit these accounts. It is believed that the audit of marshals' accounts can be kept current by the three clerks presently engaged in the examination of this type of account with the assistance of one additional clerk in grade CAF-5.

Furthermore, effective September 1, 1946, pursuant to Public Laws 498 and 582, Seventy-ninth Congress, approved July 10, 1946, and August 1, 1946, respectively, payments of fees to United States commissioners and United States commissioners in Alaska, were made by the disbursing officer for the Administrative Office of the United States Courts subsequent to the examination and certification by the Audit Section and upon the approval of the Director or Assistant Director of the Administrative Office. Prior to September 1, 1946, payments were made upon the final audit conducted by the Claims Division of the General Accounting Office. The change in procedure places the full responsibility for the accuracy of the accounts upon the Audit Section.

It is believed that a force of four examiners and one reviewer is required to maintain an even flow of this type of account. Commissioners, who are wholly on a fee basis, submit approximately 3,700 quarterly accounts each year and inasmuch as this source of revenue is a substantial part of their livelihood, it is imperative that the payments of these accounts be made as expeditiously as possible. The present force assigned to this function consists of three examiners and one reviewer and it is respectfully requested that funds for the other additional examiner be appropriated.

Service Section: It is requested that provision for an additional order clerk in grade CAF-4 at $2,394 per annum and a general clerk, grade CAF-3 at $2,168.28 per annum, for the Service Section be included in the appropriation for 1949. This personnel would be assigned to duties in the Procurement Unit of the Service Section. The Procurement Unit at present has a staff of eight persons who are engaged in the preparation of purchase orders for supplies, equipment, and services available under Government contracts and a wide variety of similar items which are not covered by the Government contracts. This unit also handles requests for repairs, maintenance, and rental of office machines and other equipment; edits requisitions, prepares invoices, and supervises the shipment of one-thousand-five-hundred-odd stock items, orders the printing and distribution of court dockets and court forms-both those for special use and those for general distribution. It is their duty to recommend the installation of approved methods of indexing and docketing for the clerks' offices and to assist in the standardization of office procedures. In most instances, when it is necessary to obtain materials which are not included in the general schedule of supplies, considerable searching through catalogs and files is required as well as telephone calls and correspondence with contractors and distributors and court officials.

This unit also prepares specifications and issues bids covering the procurement of articles and services and issues work orders and requisitions to the Govern ment printing plants for the printing required by the judiciary. The grade CAF-4 order clerk would be employed in the necessary research incident to the more complicated orders and the writing of such orders. This employee would also prepare correspondence with officials and contractors in connection with items which are not routine. The general clerk would be used to write the routine purchase orders and assume some of the duties of the printing and binding and invoice clerks. A study of the records of the Procurement Unit reflects a 25-percent increase in the number of purchase orders issued in the fiscal year 1947 over the number issued in previous years. The increase was due partly to the change in status of the United States commissioners as a result of which this Office is charged with the responsibility of providing certain forms and equipment for commissioners, and partly to the over-all increase in the volume of work of the judiciary. The records also show that during the first 2 months of the fiscal year 1948 the number of purchase orders written per month was 26 percent greater than the average monthly work load of the fiscal year 1947. This increase in work load is attributable to the change in status of referees in bankruptcy. Referees in bankruptcy are supplied with substantially the same materials as judges, clerks, and other court officials and it is the duty of the Service Section to meet their needs. From the foregoing it will be seen that the work load of the Procurement Unit has increased 51 percent since the referees in bankruptcy and United States commissioners were added to the officials to be served.

Our records also indicate that during the fiscal year 1945 an average of 463 requisitions per month were received. This number increased to 565 per month during 1946, 605 in 1947, and 714 per month for the first 2 months of 1948. These figures reflect a general increase in the work load since the requisitions referred to covered both contract and noncontract items of supplies and equipment and the full range of printing and binding requests. The present staff of the Procurement Unit was established in 1940, based upon an estimate of the requirements of the judiciary at that time. Inasmuch as this unit, prior to the addition of United States commissioners and referees in bankruptcy, had absorbed as much work as it could handle with its present personnel and still give reasonable expeditious treatment to the requests of the courts, it is respectfully urged that the two additional positions requested be approved.

Division of Probation: The estimates submitted by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts last year included a request for an increase in the appropriation for 1948 to provide for a position of Assistant Chief, Division of Probation, in grades P-5 at $5.905 per annum. The justification for the additional position was presented to the Appropriation Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee in charge of the bill and the need for it was recognized by the committee as indicated by its report on the bill as recommended to the House, in which it is stated: "While the committee realizes that this Office has in the past been rather modest in its requests for additional personnel, it does not feel that the new position of Chief, Division of Business Administration, is justified. Need for additional employees in the Budget and Accounting Section and the Division of Probation is recognized by the committee."

It appears from the statement quoted above that the committee definitely recognized the need for the additional position for the Division of Probation and authorized its creation. However, upon a careful appraisal of the amount appropriated for this office for the fiscal year 1948, it was found that the amount of increase provided would not permit the establishment of this position after provision was made for the other specific items approved by the committee, namely, the statutory salary increases for 1948, the salaries of returning veterans, and an additional employee for the Budget and Accounting Section. The total amount required for these purposes more than equaled the increase allowed and left no funds with which to establish the additional position in the probation office as authorized by the committee.

The office is in real need of the new assistant due to the expanded use by the courts in recent years of probation as a means of treatment of offenders to which it is adapted. This office cannot render the full service to the courts which is necessary with the present staff of only two persons exclusive of the clerical aides. It is earnestly requested, therefore, that the additional funds necessary to establish the position as authorized by the committee last year be provided in the appropriation for 1949.

Division of Bankruptcy: It is requested that there be included in the budget estimates for the fiscal year 1949 for the Bankruptcy Division one additional position in Grade CAF-12 at $5,905 per annum and one stenographer in Grade CAF-4 at $2,394 per annum.

The establishment of the salaried system for referees in bankruptcy and for the supporting personnel of referees' offices has brought about a heavy burden of administrative work in the Bankruptcy Division which did not previously exist. It is now necessary for the division to examine and approve quarterly several hundred authorizations for the expenditure of appropriated funds for the salaries of clerks, traveling expenses, communications, office rent, publication expenses in connection with the advertisement of first meetings of creditors and other meetings in pending cases, and for other operating expenses of bankruptcy courts. In order to pass intelligently on these matters and to hold expenditures within the limits of available funds the division must be constantly intormed as to local requirements, the current volume and types of cases being filed and of the locations at which the more important cases are filed in the judicial districts. The volume of work in the Bankruptcy Division requires the chief of the division to have a skilled assistant of sound judgment upon whom he can rely for the handling of these important administrative matters, and they will fall to the incumbent of the position of organizer and methods examiner.

Section 37b (1) of the Referees' Salary Act also requires that both local and general surveys of bankruptcy administration shall be made from time to time when authorized by the Judicial Conference of Senior Circuit Judges for the purpose of determining whether changes are needed in the system of refeferees created by the act and what such changes should be. These surveys shall take into account the areas and populations to be served by each referee, the available transportation and communication facilities, the types and amounts of bankruptcy business and where such business is centered. The recommendations of the district judges, referees, bar associations, trade associations and other interested parties shall be considered. It will be one of the principal duties of the organization and methods examiner to plan and make these surveys and to make personal studies of these problems in the various district courts in order to gather the necessary data upon which the Director may base is recommendations to the Judicial Conference respecting changes in the system. It is not possible for the chief of the division and his assistant to handle all of the work of this nature that has to be done.

The position of stenographer, CAF-4, requested is needed to augment the present stenographic staff of the Division. At present, there are two stenographers, one for the chief of the division in grade CAF-4 and one for the assistant hief in grade CAF-3. The third stenographer requested herein will take the dictation of the organization and methods examiner relative to the administrative work of the Division and will prepare survev reports and assist generally with the overflow stenographic work of the Division.

Statutory within-grade salary advancements.-The amount of $8,900 is requested for 1949 to provide for the cost in that year of within-grade increases n salaries authorized by law. The estimated cost of promotions in 1949 repreents only slightly more than 2 percent of the amount requested for personal ervices in that year and is considered to be the minimum amount necessary or that purpose.

69335-48-9

Regular pay in excess of 52-week base. It is estimated that the cost of one extra day's pay occurring in 1949 will be about $1,450 for which provision is requested in the appropriation for that year.

Under the provisions of the statute (5 U. S. C. 944) and in accordance with the directive of the Appropriations Committee of the House of Representatives in its report on the supplemental appropriation bill, 1948, earnings for all workdays in a year are required to be charged to the fiscal year in which they fall. The fiscal year 1949 will have 1 day in excess of the basic 52 workweeks for which salaries must be paid.

INCREASES REQUESTED FOR 1949

Mr. CHANDLER. If I might say in a word, the increases to which you have referred are summarized on page 199, and of that amount of $34,300, $24,050 is for additional personnel; $8,900 is for increases in salaries which come up in every salary appropriation; and $1,450 is for the extra day. Then there is $1,500 for impersonal expenses of the office, such as supplies and things of that kind, which is accounted for largely by the increase in prices, which is the same thing that occurs in relation to the expenses for the courts.

I should like to say, Mr. Chairman, that last year you were good enough to permit me to give some account of the added functions of the administrative office. I would add that I do not want to have an extravagant office. I think I have shown that from the very beginning. But at the present time the work which the office is doing is above the reasonable power of our staff to handle, and we ask for the increases which are set out and explained in detail because we really need them.

NUMBER OF PERSONNEL

Mr. STEFAN. Now I am going to ask you this question: How many people have you working for you in your Office now?

Mr. CHANDLER. One hundred and eight.

Mr. STEFAN. How many did you have when you started? What year was that?

Mr. CHANDLER. I started in 1939.

Mr. STEFAN. I think it was in the 1938 fiscal year that we set up your Office.

Mr. CHANDLER. I only know I came on the 1st of December 1939. Mr. STEFAN. How many did you have in 1939?

Mr. CHANDLER. When I started, Mr. Chairman, I started with myself and Mr. Whitehurst, who was appointed before me. I started with two. But we have had approximately 100 dating from back before the war. And the reason we are asking for an increase is that in these later years we have had added the responsibility for the administration of the referee system, the court reporter system, and many additional duties in reference to United States Commissioners that have been cast upon us.

LEGISLATION AFFECTING SCOPE OF FUNCTIONS OF OFFICE

Mr. STEFAN. Are all the appropriations under which you are working now, in all categories, authorized by law?

Mr. CHANDLER. As far as I know, they are, every one-and we had a check made.