a jump from $400 to $600. If we get these other provisions we will be able to promote from $400 to $480. Mr. JOHNSON. Do you desire to say anything further as to the promotion of these clerks? Mr. SCHAEFER. Our records show that we have lost 48 per cent of our force in the last four years, due to these changes, and it is a continual annoyance to us, because we are a technical bureau and these $1,000 men are mostly stenographers, and they get acquainted with our technical terms, and it is very hard for us to duplicate these men. It takes quite a little time to break them in owing to the technical nature of the work. There is one other question, and that is with reference to the fact that something should be done toward allowing these messenger boys to be promoted, as they had the law years ago. There has been a civil-service rule since 1909 which prohibits the promotion of messengers appointed under that rule. We took in these messenger boys out of the nonapportioned service, and these boys can not do anything at all toward their promotion, no matter how capable they are. I lost one of them recently, and one is about to leave now. Mr. JOHNSON. To change the language, as you have suggested, will that enable you to promote them? Mr. SCHAEFER. That will help some; but if the civil-service rule was fixed similar to what it was before they made that ruling, so as to allow these boys to go up into the minor clerkships, they would pass an examination then and would be eligible to go up as high as $900. Now, the only way they can get any promotion is to leave the service. We have two or three in our place who are very capable. Mr. JOHNSON. How old are they now? Mr. SCHAEFER. Eighteen or 20 years old. They can not get anything in the service, and the only thing they can do after they pass the examination is to go on the list and take a chance in the field service. Mr. JOHNSON. There is no difference in the amount asked for in the lump-sum appropriation? Mr. SCHAEFER. No, sir; that remains the same as last year. Mr. JOHNSON. Is there any other item in the bill you are interested in? Mr. SCHAEFER. No, sir; except I would be very glad if we should have these changes made in the bill as submitted in the estimates. It only means an addition of $3,000 in the total annual expenditures if we get the changes we have estimated for, or approximately 5 per cent of the present pay. It is simply an increase of 5 per cent a year. The total number of positions will remain as at present. BUREAU OF ORDNANCE. STATEMENT OF REAR ADMIRAL N. C. TWINING, UNITED STATES NAVY, CHIEF BUREAU OF ORDNANCE. Mr. JOHNSON. Admiral, you are asking for an increase of $500 in the pay of your chief clerk. Why do you ask for that increase? Admiral TWINING. I asked for the same increase last year on account of the nature of the service the chief clerk performs, the importance of his position, and on account of the personality of the inan. I consider, though, that the importance of the position is the chief consideration. Mr. JOHNSON. How long has he been in the service? Admiral TWINING. He has been chief clerk for 14 years, and has been in the Government service for 38 years. Mr. JOHNSON. He has had no increase in salary in 14 years? Admiral TWINING. He had an increase in July, 1899, from $1,800 to $2,000. That was shortly after he became chief clerk. There was a general increase that year of all the chief clerks. Mr. JOHNSON. He was performing the work of chief clerk while he was a clerk of class 4? Admiral TwINING. No, sir. Mr. JOHNSON. He became chief clerk in 1899? Admiral TWINING. In 1898 or 1899 I don't remember the exact date, but about 14 years ago. Mr. JOHNSON. On page 191 you are asking that we omit the words "and at rates of compensation not exceeding those paid hereunder prior to January 1, 1912." You ask that that be omitted from the paragraph, and also ask for a small increase in the amount you are allowed to use. Admiral TWINING. Yes; I think that that wording hampers us a good deal in choosing the people we can employ under this lumpsum appropriation. I do not know what the reasons of Congress were for putting it in. I can only see from my point of view that it has hampered me somewhat in my work, and if a similar provision were put in this year it might cause me some difficulty in getting the class of service I want under this lump-sum appropriation. Mr. JOHNSON. Does that mean that that character of work is higher than it was in 1912? Admiral TWINING. No, sir; the class of work is the same, and I must say I do not foresee any specific reason now for thinking that would hamper me, but I might have occasion to employ a man at a higher rate of pay, as an ordnance engineer or something of that kind, even if only temporarily, and while I have no desire to increase the pay of the people as a whole, it is a restriction that does operate to my disadvantage, but it has not been serious so far. Mr. JOHNSON. There is a small increase in the amount of that lump-sum appropriation? Admiral TWINING. That is for the purpose of increasing the pay of the electrical expert and draftsman. I asked for the same increase last year for him, but it was not granted. He now receives $7.04 a day, and I would like to increase his pay to $8. Mr. JOHNSON. That is the only purpose of that increased appropriation? Admiral TWINING. Yes, sir. BUREAU OF SUPPLIES AND ACCOUNTS. STATEMENT OF PAYMASTER GEN. T. J. COWIE, CHIEF BUREAU OF SUPPLIES AND ACCOUNTS. REDISTRIBUTION OF CLERKS. Paymaster Gen. CowIE. I have asked for an increase of $10,820 for a redistribution of clerks, most of whom have been in the lower grades for a long time, and I find that each year we lose about one sixth of our clerks. The Bureau of Supplies and Accounts I think is the lowest-paid bureau, and I believe the Navy Department is the lowest-paid department. Mr. BURLESON. Where do they go when you lose them? Paymaster Gen. COWIE. They ask for transfers to the other depart ments. Mr. BURLESON. The other departments are bidding against you? Paymaster Gen. COWIE. Of course, they have higher salaries. The chief bookkeeper is the principal item. I want to increase his pay from $2,000 to $2,400. Mr. BURLESON. Are you behind with your work? Paymaster Gen. CowIE. No, sir; the work is pretty well up at this time. Mr. BURLESON. Your work is current. Are your clerks efficient? Paymaster Gen. CowIE. The clerks are efficient at the present time. Mr. BURLESON. Have you had any of them to resign and quit the Government service since the bill went into effect, on the 24th day of August? Paymaster Gen. CowIE. Yes, sir. Mr. BURLESON. Who resigned and quit the Government service? Paymaster Gen. CowIE. I do not remember their names now, sir; but we have had resignations in our bureau. Mr. BURLESON. Did they slip right back into some other place in the Government service at a higher salary? Paymaster Gen. CowIE. I think some have gone into other Government positions, and others have taken places outside. The trouble is with the lower classes. They come in, and it of course takes the time of other clerks to coach them up and get them in position where they can be serviceable and do better work, and of course that interferes with the work of the bureau. Mr. BURLESON. If they are inefficient, why do you permit the clerk to waste his time? Why don't you dismiss them? Paymaster Gen. CowIE. They are not inefficient; but when a new clerk comes in he must be coached in order to get onto the new work. I prepared a memorandum in regard to this whole matter, which shows it up very briefly, and I will be glad to put that in the hearing. MEMORANDUM. ESTIMATES FOR SALARIES FOR BUREAU OF SUPPLIES AND ACCOUNTS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1914. The work of this bureau ranks second to none in the Government departments as regards importance and difficulty. It is therefore to the advantage of the bureau and the Government to retain its clerks over long periods, as their value is increased by experience. It should also be borne in mind that with a permanent personnel increases in number which will be necessary as the Naval Establishment grows will be minimized. By reason of the fact that the much larger part of the additions to the bureau's clerical force since 1898 has been in the lower grades of pay, which were even at that time proportionately excessive, the numbers of clerks in the lower grades of pay-$840, $900, $1,000, $1,100, and $1,200-are unreasonably out of proportion to the places at higher pay to which these clerks may aspire. This disparity in numbers and rates of pay has operated most disastrously to the bureau, because it can not keep its better clerks in the lower grades, the average loss being more than one-sixth of the entire number of its force every year, thus requiring the constant training of new clerks. In the estimates for 1914 the inequalities in numbers and rates of pay have been remedied as far as possible by rearranging the salaries in such a manner as will provide for a fair degree of promotion throughout the entire roster, so that the bureau can train its clerks and retain them over long periods of time with constant increase in value. The addition to the total of the amount to be appropriated has been increased $10,420 over the appropriation for the fiscal year 1913. The present employees are faithful and hard working, voluntarily performing much overtime work, and nearly all of them are underpaid. For several years Congress has been urged to provide for a chief bookkeeper at $2,400 per annum. The Navy Department is the only Government department which has a centralized accounting division, in which are kept all the financial books of the department. To this division every financial transaction must be reported, whether it be an authorization by a chief of bureau or by the department, to expend money in operating expenses, on repairs to ships or buildings, or in capital outlay; an allotment for the liquidation of authorizations, or an actual expenditure of money in conformity with an authorization or an allotment. The accounts of every appropriation and activity under the Naval Establishment are kept in this division, no matter to what bureau or organization they pertain. All financial information furnished the various bureaus relative to the status of appropriations comes from the accounting division. Every year from the records of this division the financial report of the Navy Department. aggregating annually hundreds of millions of dollars, is compiled and published for the information of Congress. This report is believed to be the only one published by any department which gives the costs of all activities in great detail and the transactions affecting every appropriation of the department. Nearly any financial information required by anyone upon naval subjects may be secured from this financial report. Its value has been more fully realized in the work of compiling the mass of information required by the President's Commission on Economy and Efficiency during the past two years. Such a vast variety of figures, aggregating hundreds of millions of dollars, pertaining to a widely diversified field of activities, arranged into a coordinate whole, has required the services of experts of the highest standing; and to inaugurate the systems evolved and keep them going so that accurate information can be furnished promptly has required the best efforts of a master mind. The Comptroller of the Treasury, the Treasury Committee on Audit, and the Auditor for the Navy Department claim that the naval accounts are the most intricate and perplexing of Government accounts. The chief bookkeeper, who is in direct charge of this work, must necessarily be, and is, an expert accountant. No business firm having anything like the aggregate expenditures of the Navy to account for pays its head accountant as small a stipend as that received by this efficient underpaid employee, who has been engaged in this work for over 19 years. A further anomaly in this case is that two clerks in the division receive the same rate of pay-$2,000. The bureau can not expect to retain the services of this man indefinitely unless some provision is made for an increase of pay as evidence of appreciation of his ability and faithful and efficient performance of his arduous duties. It can be unqualifiedly stated that his loss to the service would result in serious embarrassment to the bureau, as, owing to frequent changes in employees, there is no other employee qualified to perform the duties of chief bookkeeper. The situation with regard to messenger boys in this bureau, while of less importance, is irksome to the bureau and unfair to the boys, who are deprived of opportunity for promotion out of the grade of messenger boy by Executive order, because of the fact that in this grade the bureau has at present four boys at the following rates of pay: One at $600, three at $400. The place at $600 is held by a very able and satisfactory boy who will undoubtedly remain indefinitely, and the three boys at $400 are thus entirely cut off from any possibility of promotion except by transfer to other bureaus which are better provided with places at $600. There is, therefore, a constant procession of messenger boys passing through the bureau, where they are merely trained for service in other bureaus. Provision has accordingly been made in the estimates for three at $600, one at $400, thus adding $400 to the amount to be appropriated for salaries of messenger boys. One clerk, at $2,000, detailed to Bureau of Supplies and Accounts from Bureau of Equipment. One clerk, at $1,600, detailed to Bureau of Supplies and Accounts from Bureau of Yards and Docks. One clerk, at $1,200, detailed to Bureau of Supplies and Accounts from Secretary's Office. No clerks below a fair standard of efficiency. Comparative statement of leave and overtime work of employees of the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts. 1910, 99 employees: NOTE.-The figures for 1912 are estimated for the whole of the calendar year, based on the records for the 10 months which have elapsed. |