30 EEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1923. 



present available, it has not been possible, especially since the Natural 

 History Building has been opened on Sundays, to grant the watch- 

 men time off in lieu of Sundays and holidays. This is done in some 

 of the Government departments and every effort is being made to 

 secure the additional funds needed to make watch service in the 

 Museum as attractive as elsewhere. 



Owing to the inability of securing electricians at the price paid 

 in the Museum, this branch of the service also has been seriously 

 handicapped. Of a force of four, there have been two vacancies 

 almost continuously since the death of the foreman in February. 

 With the addition of the care of the Freer Building and a number 

 of electrically-driven models recentl}^ installed in the Arts and In- 

 dustries Building, the need of maintaining a full force is very great. 



The Museum has, however, been fortunate in being able to keep 

 together most of its trained workers on the scientific staff. In a 

 number of instances this has been possible only because of the devo- 

 tion of the persons and their willingness to accept employment in 

 what should be their leisure hours, in order to meet current expenses. 

 This spirit of loyalty and devotion to the Museum is appreciated. 

 The proposed reclassification of Government employees is, therefore, 

 of the utmost concern to the welfare of the Museum. On March 4, 

 1923, Congress passed what is known as the " Classification Act of 

 1923," effective on July 1, 1924. By the act provision is made not 

 only for a more adequate pay schedule for the civilian employees of 

 the Government, but for equal pay for equal service regardless of 

 the department in which the service is rendered. At present much 

 of the discontent among the Government employees generally is 

 caused by the fact that the more recently created bureaus and offices 

 offer salaries much in advance of those prevailing in the older estab- 

 lishments for similar service, and new, inexperienced clerks entering 

 Government employ often receive more than the trained efficient 

 workers in another branch of the service. 



Much preliminary work must be done before the classification act 

 can be put into effect. Mr. W. deC. Ravenel was appointed liaison 

 officer for the Government bureaus under the Institution. Tentative 

 allocations of all the positions under the Institution were made 

 during the latter part of the fiscal year and were submitted to th;; 

 Personnel Classification Board created by the act to care for the 

 matter. 



In several instances the titles of members of the scientific staff were 

 changed during the j^ear to better indicate their positions. The 

 designation of Dr. Walter Hough, who for several years has been in 

 charge of the department of anthropology, was changed on March 1 

 from acting head curator to head curator of that department. On 



