CLERKS PAID FROM LUMP-SUM APPROPRIATIONS.

Mr. JOHNSON. In the last legislative bill there is a provision to the effect that people who are paid out of lump-sum appropriations shall not be paid a greater sum than the amounts paid for similar services during the preceding year. Has that embarrassed you any in your expenditures for this year?

Maj. LADUE. Well, it has not embarrassed us so far.

Mr. JOHNSON. Under what conditions would it embarrass you? Maj. LADUE. The question, of course, turns entirely upon the interpretation of the words "similar services." If these words are narrowly interpreted to mean the same service that the individual man performed last year it would, of course, as you see, absolutely bar any further promotion. We have not interpreted it that way and neither has the comptroller. It has been interpreted to permit promotions in the grades, when there are grades established, for the purpose of recognizing efficiency or increased value to the service. The place where it is most likely to worry us is in our field service. Of course the provision in the legislative act does not affect the field service, but the provision in the deficiency act, which is similar to the language in the legislative act, does affect our field service. But under our present interpretation it has not worried us, because we have interpreted it to mean that if anywhere in our field service we are paying draftsmen $1,800 a year, then anywhere else in the field service draftsmen at $1,200 can be promoted. I think that is the intent of the provision, and therefore it has not worried us. The effect of it is to put a limit on the top.

Mr. JOHNSON. Have you had a construction of it from the Comptroller of the Treasury? Have you asked for his interpretation of the law?

Maj. LADUE. We have not for our own departments, but I have seen several interpretations that he has rendered for other departments. You see it puts a limit on the top. All up through the grades we can work very well, but at the top you will find the man who will feel the pinch. If the services of the man at the top entitled him to an increase that we would be glad to give him, he would be barred by this provision.

SECTION 10, RIVERS AND HARBORS ACT.

[See also p. 88.]

Mr. JOHNSON. You are familiar with section 10 of the rivers and harbors act?

Maj. LADUE. For 1912?

Mr. JOHNSON. Yes, sir.

Maj. LADUE. Yes, sir; I am.

Mr. JOHNSON. Where did that originate?

Maj. LADUE. I am unable to say positively where it originated. It was put in by the Senate committee when the rivers and harbors bill was under consideration. I was not present at the hearings on that bill, and I have not read them. I really do not know who is responsible for the provision, but I know that is where it was put in.

BUREAU OF INSULAR AFFAIRS.

STATEMENTS OF COL. CHARLES C. WALCUTT, ASSISTANT CHIEF, AND MAJ. GEORGE H. SHELTON, ASSISTANT CHIEF.

Mr. JOHNSON. I see you have very copious notes in the bill. Col. WALCUTT. Yes, sir; we submitted a memorandum with the estimates. We have an organization of five divisions, with the places of the men in charge filled heretofore by $1,800 clerks. We want to increase their pay to $2,000 a year each and draw them from the $1,800 clerks. We want to increase the number of $1,600 clerks from 3 to 8, the number of $1,400 from 10 to 11, and reduce the $1,200 clerks from 19 to 13, and we wish also to reduce the number of $1,000 clerks from 18 to 15. That makes a reduction of three $1,000 clerks and a reduction of one $660 laborer.

Mr. JOHNSON. Are these reductions made under the direction of the Secretary of War by reason of the requirements in the last legislative bill?

Col. WALCUTT. No, sir; the reduction has not been under that requirement. That makes a reduction of four men. We want to balance the reduction by retaining the older trained men in the service, and we want to increase the pay of the chief clerk.

Mr. JOHNSON. You ask for five chiefs of divisions; how many divisions have you there now?

Col. WALCUTT. We have five.

Mr. JOHNSON. You have clerks of class 4 in charge of the divisions? Col. WALCUTT. Yes, sir.

Mr. JOHNSON. Is the work of this bureau increasing or diminishing? Col. WALCUTT. It is increasing all the time.

Mr. JOHNSON. How many people are employed in the bureau in all, outside of the Army officers?

Col. WALCUTT. There are 74 all told, and 2 vacancies in the messengers and laborers. Under the reorganization there will be 70 people all told. There is a very small proportion of officers in there. There are only 3 officers-the chief and 2 assistant chiefs.

Mr. JOHNSON. Are not Army officers at the head of the divisions? Col. WALCUTT. No, sir. We have a Correspondence Division; a Record Division; a Purchasing, Disbursing, and Accounting Division; a Miscellaneous Division; and a Statistical Division. It is not considered that a greater consolidation can be made and maintain the efficiency of the bureau. The men who are chiefs of divisions, on account of the small number of officers, are called upon to do a great deal of work of a very important nature, and the men now filling these positions are men who have been in the bureau for many years, some of them almost from the beginning. I have a list here showing the number of clerks transferred out of the divisions since the creation of the bureau.

Mr. JOHNSON. Who are on detail from that office? How many people are actually there?

Col. WALCUTT. Everybody is there. Gen. McIntyre is away temporarily.

Mr. JOHNSON. And these vacancies that have occurred have not been filled?

Col. WALCUTT. There are only two vacancies--one messenger and one laborer.

Mr. JOHNSON. Well, you contemplate reducing the force on the 1st of July by four men?

Col. WALCUTT. No reduction is contemplated by the bureau except as indicated in its estimate for next year.

Mr. JOHNSON. Will you turn anybody off?

Col. WALCUTT. In case of reduction we will see if we can transfer them into other bureaus where their services can be utilized, if sufficient vacancies are not created by resignations.

Mr. JOHNSON. You are asking for the promotion of several men. Now, is it proposed to promote men already in the bureau or men from the outside?

Col. WALCUTT. It is proposed to promote men now in the bureau. Mr. JOHNSON. How long has it been since these men have had any increase?

Col. WALCUTT. Woodson has been at $1,800 since July 22, 1902; Richmond has been at $1,800 since April 24, 1905; Bard has been at $1,800 since July 4, 1904; Randolph has been at $1,800 since 1905; and Ruan, who is in charge of the Purchasing, Disbursing, and Accounting Division, had an increase in 1910, but he has been in the bureau for over 10 years. Now, that division has charge of the purchasing of all supplies in the United States for the insular possessions, and many valuable securities are deposited in it. The chief is the actual custodian of some of these securities that are deposited here, and is in control of others, wherever they may be.

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

Col. WALCUTT. No, sir; only in the Bureau of Insular Affairs. I want to say this, in reference to the chief clerk: He has to have close oversight of all these different divisions, and the present incumbent has that. The idea of this whole reorganization is to try and prevent the constant loss of experienced clerks by increasing the pay of some of these chiefs of divisions and by promoting some of these others from $1,400 to $1,600. We are trying to prevent the loss of some of our valuable clerks.

Mr. JOHNSON. How long has the present chief clerk been there? Col. WALCUTT. Since 1903.

Mr. JOHNSON. How long has it been since he has had a promotion? Col. WALCUTT. He was made chief clerk in 1912. This is his record: In 1904 his salary was $1,400, in 1905 it was $1,600, in 1906 it was $1,800, and in 1912 it was $2,000.

Maj. SHELTON. If I may be permitted, I might say that he acted as chief clerk for a considerable period of time before that during the illness of the former chief clerk.

Mr. JOHNSON. Well, you are not going to change the men. They will be the same men

Col. WALCUTT (interposing). I do not think these men in the higher positions will all leave them; but casualties may happen at any time, and our experience has shown that the present opportunities for advancement in the bureau are so limited that we lose constantly many of the clerks just as they become valuable. The reduction we propose can not be made, in my opinion, unless we can be assured of retaining more experienced men. I will show you

this list of clerks who have left the bureau during the last 10 years. There are 115 names there.

The list is as follows:

List of persons who have left the Bureau of Insular Affairs since its creation, to better themselves.

List of persons who have left the Bureau of Insular Affairs since its creation, to better themselves-Continued.

H. L. Leslie..

T. W. Wakeman.

R. K. Meade.

W. T. Bensen..

B. J. Wiar.

Henry Simpson..

H. W. White..

E. H. Kimbell..

O. A. Wise..

T. J. McKinnon.

Henry Mitchell.
P. C. Gaskill..
D. C. Fithian..

C. F. Wilson..

O. E. Foulk.

J. G. Willier..

A. L. W. Renaud..

M. Isaacson..

M. Drew Carrel.

Bert Thomas.

H. C. Clark.

A. M. Pope..

S. F. Kittredge.

S. O. Wright.. A. A. Brewer. W. H. Mitchell.

STATEMENT OF BRIG. GEN. ALBERT L. MILLS, CHIEF DIVISION OF MILITIA AFFAIRS.

Mr. JOHNSON. General, you are interested in this item on page 157 of the bill, Division of Militia Affairs. I see that you have very extensive notes.

Gen. MILLS. Yes, sir; we have tried to make them very full.

Mr. JOHNSON. Do you desire to add anything to your statement as printed in the bill?

Gen. MILLS. I do not know that I do, unless there is something that is not clear to you. I would like to emphasize one point: That while there is an increase here of $6,740 over what is authorized for the present year, it does not carry an increased appropriation, because the expenses of the office come out of the $2,000,000 that is appropriated under section 1661 of the Revised Statutes. The increase