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an entirely new idea for postal savings in the United States, having as its basis the use of a certificate of deposit instead of the expensive and cumbersome pass-book system, under which an individual ledger account must be kept with each depositor at the central office. We have nothing of that sort at all, and in the operation of the system we require only about 15 bookkeepers. The rest of the force is divided among stenographers, typewriters, accountants, and correspondence clerks. We have a wonderfully economical system.

Mr. JOHNSON. You stated a moment ago that practically no clerks had been employed in the post offices throughout the country by reason of the introduction of the Postal Savings System.

Mr. WEED. Yes, sir.

Mr. JOHNSON. Do you mean to tell me that in as large a city as Chicago or New York the force they already had in the post office could take care of the additional business caused by the establishment of this system?

Mr. WEED. In the larger cities a few clerks have been employed. What I meant to call attention to was the fact that while we are operating in practically 13,000 branches the force has been only slightly increased. I have not the figures in mind, but I should say that in the entire United States the force has not been increased more than 25.

OFFICE OF FIRST ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL.

STATEMENT OF MR. ELIPHALET T. BUSHNELL, CHIEF CLERK.

Mr. JOHNSON. On page 253 you ask, first, for an increase in the salary of the First Assistant Postmaster General from $5,000 to $6,000. The chief clerk has stated some of the reasons why the Postmaster General thinks that increase ought to be made. You, speaking for that office, can add any statement you desire.

CHIEF CLERK.

Mr. BUSHNELL. Mr. Chairman, I would like to emphasize the statement made by Mr. Thomson, the chief clerk of the department, with reference to these items. I think it is due the office of First Assistant Postmaster General that the salary be increased and that the salary of the chief clerk be increased also, whether the position is occupied by myself or some one else.

Mr. JOHNSON. You are in the classified service, are you not?

Mr. BUSHNELL. Yes, sir. I think the salary of $2,500 for a chief clerk in that office is hardly commensurate with the duties he has to perform. As Mr. Thomson explained, the designation is misleading and does not correctly indicate the duties. The chief clerk has all of the duties of the First Assistant Postmaster General to perform during his absence and has to assume all of the responsibility. He is the assistant to the head of the bureau rather than what is ordinarily understood as chief clerk.

Mr. JOHNSON. I presume the chief clerks of the other Assistant Postmasters General act in their stead when they are absent?

Mr. BUSHNELL. They are all on the same level in that respect;

yes, sir.

CLERICAL FORCE.

Mr. JOHNSON. You are asking for a slight increase in the pay of clerks in the office?

Mr. BUSHNELL. These items are to take care of the anticipated increase in parcel-post work. That new service will increase the work very materially in two divisions of the First Assistant Postmaster General's Office, namely, the Division of Salaries and Allowances, which has supervision over the rental of quarters for post offices and postal stations and the appointment of all employees in post offices, other than letter carriers, throughout the service, and the Division of City Delivery Service, which has supervision over the city carrier service and the hiring of vehicles, etc., for the delivery of mail in cities.

Mr. JOHNSON. You are also asking for a slight increase, on page 254, in the Division of City Delivery.

Mr. BUSHNELL. That is to take care of the City Delivery Service, which I have just referred to, which will be very materially increased. It is anticipated that the delivery of parcel-post matter in cieies will have o be made largely by wagon service, and it will make a considerable increase in the work of the bureau to take care of that particular service. The estimate for three clerks in each of the two divisions named is exceedingly conservative.

Mr. JOHNSON. Is there any other item in which you are interested? Mr. BUSHNELL. That is all.

OFFICE OF SECOND ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL.

STATEMENT OF MR. JOSEPH STEWART, SECOND ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL.

INCREASE OF SALARIES.

Mr. STEWART. Mr. Chairman, I think it is entirely proper for me, considering the position and its duties alone, to say that the salary of the Second Assistant Postmaster General should be increased, and this estimate is a very fair one. The Second Assistant Postmaster General's bureau has jurisdiction, under the direction of the Postmaster General, of all transportation matters for both foreign and domestic mails. He deals with all the railroad companies carrying the mails and the contractors in the cities, and with the mailmessenger service, steamboat service, and the steamship service on the high seas. He deals with foreign nations in matters concerning the International Postal Convention. There are at present about $88,000,000 expended in payment for these services, mostly for the contract service. All these expenditures have to be watched with great care, and the estimates of the office show that in past years they have been handled very economically. It is needless to say that the same service rendered in the business world would command very much higher pay. Now, in regard to the chief clerk, I can with great pleasure indorse what has been said by those who have preceded me. The chief clerk has general charge of the clerical force of the bureau; he observes routine matters before they go to the bureau head, and generally looks over the correspondence before it comes in for signa

ture. He makes suggestions and supervises in a general way the assignment of clerks to the divisions. He acts for the bureau head in the absence of that officer in all respects except to act for the Postmaster General, which, of course, only the Assistant Postmasters General can do. I think $3,000 for his salary is a very conservative estimate.

I would like to call your attention to one particular feature about that, and it is this: The present salary of the chief clerk is lower than the salary of some of the superintendents of divisions in the office and lower than the salary of the division superintendents of the Railway Mail Service in the field. It should not be so, because we ought to have the privilege of selecting for chief clerk one of the best men in the service, and you can not ask a man who occupies a position drawing a higher salary to make a financial sacrifice in taking another assignment. However, we now have in that office a splendid man. They generally come up through the divisions in the department. At present I can not select from all the officers in the field service a chief clerk. My present chief clerk came up through the division of Railway Mail Service and prior to his appointment to his present position held the position of chief clerk in the division of Railway Mail Service.

ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT RAILWAY ADJUSTMENTS.

Mr. JOHNSON. The next item there in which you are asking an increase is for the assistant superintendent of the Division of Railway Adjustments.

Mr. STEWART. The next is for the assistant superintendent in the Division of Railway Adjustments. His duties pertain to the administrative work in the department in connection with the adjustment of pay to railroad companies for carrying the mails. This work is distinguished from the Railway Mail Service, which is the operating end of the carriage of the mails on the trains.

Mr. JOHNSON. This man is in the classified service, is he not?

Mr. STEWART. Yes, sir. The Railway Adjustments Division, as I said, has immediate charge of the adjustment of pay for railroad companies for carrying the mail, the payment of freight for carrying empty mail bags and supplies, and for the arrangement and payment for railroad post-office car service. The aggregate expenditures authorized through that division are about $53,000,000 a year.

SUPERINTENDENT MISCELLANEOUS TRANSPORTATION.

Mr. JOHNSON. Now, you are asking for a new office, a superintendent of the division of miscellaneous transportation. Who has been performing the duties which you propose to place upon this man?

Mr. STEWART. That is a mere change in designation of place.

Mr. JOHNSON. A change of designation and an increase of salary by $500?

Mr. STEWART. Yes, sir. That division handles transportation matters, star routes in Alaska, steamboat service throughout the country, mail messenger service, the screen-wagon service in the larger cities,

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and the pneumatic-tube service in the large cities; and the expenditures authorized through the division are $5,500,000 a year. The duties are unusually varied, and, as you notice, they cover a very large field of activities. He must be a man of technical knowledge, and the salary that has heretofore been carried is very low indeed. It should be raised to $2,500.

CLERICAL FORCE.

Mr. JOHNSON. You are asking for a slight increase in force-for 13 clerks of class 4 and 25 clerks of class 3.

Mr. STEWART. In regard to the clerks of class 4, we are asking for one additional place at $1,800, for an assistant to my chief clerk. He is a man of high qualifications and must know thoroughly the work of the bureau. That, however, is not a new place, but it is to take the place of the $1,400 position which is to be dropped out if this $1,800 place is allowed.

Mr. JOHNSON. I see; you want 1 more class 4 clerk, 1 more class 3 clerk, and 1 less of class 2.

Mr. STEWART. That is right. Now, the additional $1,800 place we are asking for is not the one I have just been referring to, but the additional one is to provide for an assistant to the superintendent of the division of miscellaneous transportation. That is the division I was speaking about just a few moments ago as being such an important branch of the service. At present there is a clerk who is acting as the assistant, and because of the fact that we have so many places at a low salary we are unable to pay him a suitable compensation. We want to promote him to $1,800. Then, we are asking for 1 clerk of grade 3, which is in effect a transfer from the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General's Office. In the redistribution of the work when the star-route service went over to the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General's office, there were transferred to that office all the clerks that I did not have an immediate need for, but because I had to retain the steamboat service, and particularly the Alaska service I afterward found that I had to have this man back. Now, in class 2 we are dropping one $1,400 place in lieu of one $1,800 place which we are asking for the assistant to my chief clerk. In class 1 we are asking for one additional $1,200 clerk, and that is on account of the anticipated work resulting from the parcel post. We also ask for 3 of class D at $900 each, and that is to take care of the parcel-post work in the division of miscellaneous transportation and the division of railway adjustments.

Mr. JOHNSON. On page 255 you ask for one class 4 clerk, but that is simply a promotion.

Mr. STEWART. That is a promotion for the statistician of that division. He now receives $1,600, and I believe he should receive $1,800. We are asking that you give us an additional $1,800 place and drop out the $1,600 place. It is merely a promotion. Of course, if we do not get the $1,800 place we must have the $1,600 place. Then, there are two places in class 1 additional, which we are asking for in the Railway Mail Service, and these two clerks are to take care of the parcel-post work in the Division of Railway Mail Service.

OFFICE OF THE THIRD ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL.

STATEMENT OF MR. JAMES J. BRITT, THIRD ASSISTANT POSTMASTER GENERAL.

Mr. JOHNSON. Do you desire to make any statement in regard to the first two items which have been dwelt upon by those who have preceded you? It is requested that the salary of the Third Assistant Postmaster General be increased from $5,000 to $6,000, and that the salary of the chief clerk be increased from $2,500 to $3,000.

INCREASE OF SALARIES.

Mr. BRITT. As to the first, I think a salary of $6,000 should be fixed for the office of Third Assistant Postmaster General. I speak for the office and not for myself as an incumbent. It is a difficult and responsible post, requiring full time and hard work, with many large problems to solve and difficult questions to deal with. Anyone competent to fill it can earn more than the present salary at private employment. As to the position of chief clerk, I want to reenforce what the other officials have said by saying that too much importance can not be attached to the question of an increase of the salary from $2,500 to $3,000. The person who fills this position must know thoroughly the work of the entire bureau; must have good managerial and executive ability; must have education and experience, and be able to take the place of his chief; must receive and dispose of people having business with the bureau, and deal with large questions. I think the salary of $2,500 is entirely inadequate and that it should be $3,000, or more.

SUPERINTENDENT OF DIVISION OF STAMPS.

Mr. JOHNSON. You are asking that the superintendent of stamps have his salary increased from $2,750 to $3,000.

Mr. BRITT. Yes, sir. The position of Superintendent of the Division of Stamps is a responsible one, having to deal with the supervision and management of articles of considerable value and of great importance to the service and to the public; that is, the manufacture, issuance, distribution, and keeping account of the various denominations of stamps, stamped envelopes, newspaper wrappers, postal cards, and other stamped paper made by the department and distributed to the public. The character of the work and the responsibility attached to the place should command a salary of $3,000, and I hope it will be allowed.

ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT.

Mr. JOHNSON. The next item is an assistant superintendent, at $2,000. Is that a new office, or is that some one you propose to promote out of the Division of Money Orders?

Mr. BRITT. As to that position, the Postmaster General believes, and in this I concur, that there should be a consolidation of the Division of Redemption and that of the Division of Stamps, and the

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