Gen. TORNEY. Yes, sir; the same argument. I made the same argument before. Now, in the case of the law clerk, the words "law clerk" do not really give a good definition of this man's duties. I have put the explanation in an amendment herein. In addition to being a law clerk he has charge of the financial arrangements and the disbursements of the office. He has to consider all vouchers, and look up the legal bearings of each voucher in passing upon them, and he is well qualified for this work, because of his knowledge of the law. There are a great many different questions upon which he must pass in the matter of vouchers.

Mr. JOHNSON. Now, you are asking for 24 clerks of class 2. Gen. TORNEY. That is for a class of work in my office which has increased enormously.

Mr. COURTS. This is a reduction.

Mr. JOHNSON. What has become of the other two clerks?

Gen. TORNEY. The other two clerks we must use as translators and as index clerks in the library of the Surgeon General's office, which is an important institution.

Mr. JOHNSON. They are taken out of that class of clerks and provided for here as translators?

Gen. TORNEY. Yes, sir; they must have a knowledge of languages— French, German, Spanish, and even Russian-and we can not get that class of clerks through the Civil Service Commission.

Mr. JOHNSON. You require pretty scholarly men?

Gen. TORNEY. Yes, sir; and men with some knowledge of medicine, in order to do this particular kind of work. They must have a technical knowledge and training which the ordinary clerk obtained through civil-service certification does not possess.

Mr. JOHNSON. How do you get them?

Gen. TORNEY. Some years ago the office was fortunate enough to obtain two clerks, one of whom was familiar with German, French, Spanish, and Italian, and also had a knowledge of Latin and Greek; the other well versed in the Slav languages, and both graduates in medicine. They are now employed as clerks of class 2, and for them positions as "translators were recommended in the estimate now before the committee. Since the preparation of this estimate the principal assistant librarian has died, and the assistant librarian has been promoted; one of the clerks above mentioned will be made assistant librarian, and this will necessitate the procurement of an appointee who is a graduate in medicine and possessing a familiarity with several foreign languages. As new appointments in the department are made to the $900 and $1,000 grades it will be impossible to obtain at such salary a properly qualified person. The library of this office possesses, and is constantly receiving, medical literature from all parts of the world, and employees who understand the languages in which it appears are an absolute necessity in their proper cataloguing and indexing; employees possessing these requisite qualifications should be set apart from the ordinary grade of clerkships, and as a vacancy occurs special examinations held to fill it. The estimate for two "translators" at $1,800 per annum is therefore submitted to enable this office to secure from the Civil Service Commission qualified employees to carry on the great work in which the library is engaged.

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF ORDNANCE.

STATEMENT OF COL. ROGERS BIRNIE, UNITED STATES ARMY, ACTING CHIEF.

DESIGNING WORK.

Mr. JOHNSON. Colonel, you are not asking for any changes, and I presume you are not prepared to reduce your force.

Col. BIRNIE. No, sir.

Mr. JOHNSON. Just tell us why you want us to increase this amount at the bottom of page 153 from $45,000 to $50,000.

Col. BIRNIE. It is because we have in the Office of the Chief of Ordnance in Washington all the designs for the armament, and we require a number of skilled draftsmen to do that work. Two years ago the appropriation was $50,000. It was cut down last year to $45,000, and we have had to send away from the Ordnance Office six draftsmen to meet that reduction. Those draftsmen must be employed for this designing work at other places, so that really we have not been able to reduce the expenses for this designing work, but have been unable to do it where it can best be done. You

understand, sir, this is not an appropriation outright. It is simply authority to use for the designing work a part of the appropriation for the armament of fortifications generally.

Mr. JOHNSON. Yes, sir; I understand that. We have a number of similar items in the bill that authorizes the expenditure of not exceeding so much money out of some other appropriation carried in some other appropriation bill; and always when they ask for a larger authorization we ask why, so as to be able, if the question should be asked on the floor of the House why you spent an additional amount of money under that paragraph, we have to give some reason for it on the floor to satisfy inquiring Members, and we could only find out from you, because we do not know ourselves.

Col. BIRNIE. Well, sir, it is because we have to use this amount of money somewhere, and we want to use it where we have a designing office.

Mr. JOHNSON. In other words, you can use it more advantageously in this office that you can elsewhere, and the work must be done somewhere?

Col. BIRNIE. Yes, sir.

Mr. JOHNSON. Is there any other item in the bill you are interested in?

Col. BIRNIE. No, sir; nothing, I believe, that affects this bill.

SALARIES PAID FROM LUMP APPROPRIATIONS.

[See also p. 338.]

There is a provision in the last bill that no higher rate shall be paid for personal services than was current in the previous year, and that affects us in this way: The practice has been-and, it seems to me, the only good one-that our employees, our mechanics, must be paid current wages in the vicinity. Whenever the men ask for an increase in wages we make a careful inquiry throughout the vicinity of all manufacturing establishments and find what the current rates of

wages are for similar work. A law fixing the rates of pay at those current at a certain time will operate against any increase in case there should be an increase in the wages of mechanics in the neighborhood.

Mr. JOHNSON. Let me ask you this question: Are the wages in manufacturing establishments in the vicinity of the arsenals higher this year than last year, or higher to an extent that would necessitate you raising the pay of your men?

Col. BIRNIE. We have no immediate demand. I am only making a general statement about the consequences of such legislation.

Mr. JOHNSON. You do not construe the law to mean that no man who is doing piecework can be advanced in pay, do you?

Col. BIRNIE. The law says that no higher rates shall be paid for personal services than was paid for similar services during the preceding year.

Mr. JOHNSON. But that does not mean that a man working at $600 a year this year should necessarily be held down to $600 next year for piecework, because there may have been somebody working at $1,000 a year last year, and if he becomes equally skilled as the $1,000 man, he might take his place. Is not that true?

Col. BIRNIE. That is true; but we have established rates of pay for different classes of mechanics.

Mr. JOHNSON. What suggestion have you to make? We have no desire to cripple the service in any way, and I do not believe the provision would apply in any way to an appropriation like this. We were simply trying to prevent an abuse that was growing up in some of the departments of the Government of taking men, for instance, from the statutory roll at $1,800 per year and transferring them to a lump-sum roll at $2,700 a year.

Col. BIRNIE. I understand. I think the legislation was intended to cover clerks, and I have recommended to the Secretary of War the making of a provision that would not affect the wages of mechanics and similar persons employed at the arsenals.

Mr. JOHNSON. We will be very glad if you will send up what you have on the subject, and I will submit it to the committee when we come to make up the bill.

Col. BIRNIE. Of course I only mention it in this connection because it appears in this bill, and also it appears in the deficiency bill for last year. No mechanics or other employees of that nature are paid from this bill, but only clerks, so that it does not affect this bill directly.

Mr. JOHNSON. Is there any other item in which you are interested? Col. BIRNIE. I understand that you wish me to send a proposed amendment covering this matter.

Mr. JOHNSON. I will be very glad to have it and will submit it to the committee when we come to make up the bill. I will explain to them what you say about it.

Hon. JOSEPH T. JOHNSON,

NOVEMBER 22, 1912.

Chairman Subcommittee Having in Charge the Legislative, Executive, and
Judicial Bill, Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives,
Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Referring to my hearing before the Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations of the House having in charge the legislative, executive, and judicial bill, this morning, and to your request to submit a

proposed amendment to section 3 of the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act approved August 23, 1912, in connection with that hearing, I have the honor to submit the following:

Section 3 of the act referred to, and more particularly section 7 of the act approved August 26, 1912, making appropriations to supply deficiencies for the fiscal year 1912, forbid the payment of ar ate of compensation for personal services above that paid for the same or similar services during the fiscal year 1912. It is suggested, therefore, that the following provision be made in some act which will cover the point in question:

66

Provided, That the provisions of this act shall not apply to mechanics, artisans, their helpers and assistants, laborers, or any other employees whose duties are of similar character and required in carrying on the various manufacturing or constructing operations of the Government."

It has been the established rule of the Ordnance Department in fixing the wages to be paid to mechanics and artisans to pay the same wage that is paid in the vicinity of any given ordnance establishment for the like character of work. This rule is quite essential and necessary in order to retain in the employ of the Government high-class workmen of the various kinds and classes. Section 7 of the act of August 26, 1912, above referred to, operates to prevent this department from increasing the wage of a class of mechanics or laborers should, at any time, the wages paid for similar work in the vicinity of the ordnance establishment concerned be increased. This would materially hamper the operations of this department, as it would be difficult to retain employees at a rate of pay which might be materially less than that which obtains outside of the Government service.

Sincerely, yours,

R. BIRNIE,
Colonel, Ordnance Department,
Acting Chief of Ordnance.

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS.

STATEMENT OF MAJ. WILLIAM B. LADUE, FROM THE OFFICE OF CHIEF OF ENGINEERS.

Mr. JOHNSON. Major, your item is on page 154 of the bill. We will be glad to have you make any statement that you desire to make, if the notes are not as full as you would like them to be, in regard to these increases on page 154.

Maj. LADUE. The notes express briefly the reasons for the proposed increases. They are, first, a recommendation that the salary of the chief clerk be raised from $2.000 to $2,500, and, second, a recommendation for an increase of three in the clerical force.

Mr. JOHNSON. Is there anything else?

Maj. LADUE. As to the chief clerk, I would simply add to the notes that our present chief clerk has been in our office for 45 years. He has devoted his life to the service, and his present pay has been unchanged for about 25 years. He is a man of tact and courtesy and is an efficient and able man, thoroughly devoted to the interests of the service. He has a good deal of responsibility placed upon him. He is in charge of the general office administration.

Mr. JOHNSON. Do you mean to say that he has been a clerk there for 25 years without having any increase in pay?

Maj. LADUE. He has not been chief clerk all of that time, but he had the same salary before he was promoted to the position of chief clerk.

Mr. JOHNSON. But you mean to say that he has had no increase in 25 years?

Maj. LADUE. It is a condition that is not uncommon in our service. NOTE. Upon examining the office records it is found that the above statement with regard to the salary of the present chief clerk is not correct, his

salary having been unchanged for 12 years instead of 25 years as stated. An increase of $200 per annum made 121⁄2 years ago (July 1, 1900) was, however, the only increase in his salary since July 1, 1874, a period of 38 years. The salary of the position of chief clerk has been unchanged since July 1, 1871, a period of over 41 years, during which time there have been two incumbents of the position, the first serving from July 1, 1871, until his death on July 10, 1901, and the present incumbent serving from July 15, 1901, to the present date. Mr. JOHNSON. The purpose is to promote somebody in increasing these clerks of class 3?

Maj. LADUE. We need an additional force to carry on our work. Our work has increased right along. An analysis of the figures showing the papers that go through the office, the increase in the number of the appropriations, as well as in the amounts of the appropriations, and in the expenditures, with the annual river and harbor bill and the general increase in all public work handled by our office, shows that this increase has been continuous, and it shows no signs of decreasing. It rather shows signs of increasing steadily. This means, of course, more work in our office in the handling of projects, plans, and estimates, looking after the execution of work, replying to inquiries, recording papers, taking care of the accounts, the examination of papers, and the preparation of financial statements, and so on. So that we have been really requiring an additional clerical force for some time. We need more men. We have recommended increases in the medium grades with the idea, of course, if the increase is allowed, that the vacancies created will be filled by the promotion of clerks in the lower grades.

Mr. JOHNSON. How many clerks in all are provided in the legislative bill for your office?

Maj. LADUE. Seventy-two in the present bill. The bill carries 83, of whom 11 are messengers, assistant messengers, and laborers, making 72 clerks.

CLERKS UNDER AUTHORIZATION OF RIVER AND HARBOR BILL.

Mr. JOHNSON. How many clerks have you under the authorization of the river and harbor bill in addition to those provided for in the legislative bill?

Maj. LADUE. Last year we carried 1 chief of division and 10 clerks under that authority.

Mr. JOHNSON. You have reference, I think, to the section that authorizes the expenditure of not exceeding $42,000. I mean what clerical services you have employed under the rivers and harbors act of 1912?

Maj. LADUE. None. We have not done anything under that.

Mr. JOHNSON. I am glad to hear that, because we may not always give you what you ask, but we do try to provide for all clerical services in the District of Columbia in this bill so that we can keep a record of it.

Maj. LADUE. Yes, sir.

Mr. JOHNSON. Now, do you desire any change in the section authorizing the employment of skilled draftsmen, civil engineers, etc., the expenditure not to exceed $42,000?

Maj. LADUE. No, sir; we are asking for no change in that. We would like that to be the same.