550 ROSA: REORGANIZED CIVIL SERVICE 



ing suggestions are made after very careful study and conference 

 with many experienced administrators as well as with others 

 who look at the matter from other points of view. 



13. INITIAL COMPENSATION AND RESTRICTION ON PROMOTION 



Section 7 of the bill provides in paragraph (a) that "upon ap- 

 pointment to a position in a class, an employee shall be paid at 

 the minimum rate prescribed for such class." 



It is a well established custom to appoint men receiving high 

 rank in competitive examinations to positions at higher salaries 

 than are given to those who get middle or low grades in the 

 same examination. These grades depend in part on the formal 

 examination (when such is held) and in part on the training and 

 experience of the men as shown in their papers. For example, 

 an examination may be held for associate physicist or chemist 

 at salaries ranging from $2000 to $2700 (according to present 

 salary scales), and a considerable number of men may pass the 

 examination with grades ranging from, say, 95 down to 70 per 

 cent. Several of the highest may be offered the maximum sal- 

 ary, and others $2400, $2200 or $2000. Finally, when all posi- 

 tions of associate physicist are filled, there may be some men 

 at the lower end of the register who are glad to accept a position 

 as assistant physicist at $1800, hoping to get an early promotion 

 to associate physicist at $2000 or more, for which they have 

 qualified. The new proposal is to make a very radical departure 

 in practice and to group all new appointees together and give 

 them the lowest salary in the class, in this case $2000. More- 

 over, it is provided that men cannot be promoted oftener than 

 once a year. It would, therefore, require several years for a 

 man to get up to the $2700 for which he was qualified upon 

 entering. The result, of course, would be that the better men 

 who deserved more than the minimum salary would refuse the 

 position, and less competent men would be appointed at the 

 lowest salary. The only way the $2700 men could be obtained 

 would be to grade them higher than would otherwise be neces- 

 sary, and rate them as physicists at $3000 and so pay them more 

 than they deserve in comparison with others, or induce them to 



