140 



National Resowrces Committee 



ministrative branch and the formulation of recom- 

 mendations for change. A list of these reports follows : 



Reports of the Brookings Institution to the Senate Select Com- 

 mittee to Im:cstifjiit(' the Executive Agencies of the Govern- 

 ment (S. Upt. 127D. 75th Cong., 1st sess. 1937) : 



1. Government Financial Agencies. 



2. Expansion in Governmental Activity: Introduction to 

 report. 



3. Government Activities in the Field of Public Supply and 

 Property. 



4. Government Activities in the Field of Mineral Resources 

 and Power. 



5. Financial Administration of the Federal Government. 



6. The Organization of Federal Law Enforcement Activities. 



7. Government Activities in the Field of Public Personnel. 



8. Government Activities in the Field of Public Welfare. 



9. Government Activities in the Promotion of Commerce and 

 Industry. 



10. Government Activities in the Kegulation of Private Bu.si- 

 ness Enterprises. 



11. Government Activities in the Fields of the Public Domain, 

 Agriculture and Wildlife and Aquatic Resources. 



12. Government Activities in the Field of Transportation. 



13. Government Activities in the Field of Library, Informa- 

 tion and Statistical Services. 



14. Government Activities in the field of Public Works and 

 Water Resources. 



Investigations of special aspects. — General investiga- 

 tions of the administrative branch have concerned 

 themselves primarily with the matter of organization 

 from the standpoint of the allocation of activities among 

 the several services and the grouping of these services 

 departmentally for the exercise of central administra- 

 tive direction and control. These general inquirieg 

 have been supplemented by others having for their 

 purpose the examination of particular aspects or 

 branches of administration. Among the most import- 

 ant congressional investigations of this character in 

 recent years are those made by : 



1. The Senate Select Committee on Methods of Business in 

 the Executive Departments, 1887-1889. 



2. Joint Commission on Reclassification of Salaries, 1919-1920. 



3. House and Senate Special Committees on the Budget, 

 1919. 



4. Joint Commission on Printing and Binding, 1905. 



5. Joint Committee to Determine what Employment may 

 be Furnished Federal Prisoners, 1923. 



6. Joint Committee on Fiscal Relations with the District 

 of Columbia, 1922. 



7. Public Buildings Commission, 1916. 



8. Foreign Service Buildings Commission, 1926. 



The Senate Select Committee on Methods of Business 

 in the Executive Departments, pojiularly known as 

 the Cockrill Committee from the name of its chair- 

 man, was created by Senate resolution of March 3, 1887, 

 at a time when complaint was general that many of 

 the administrative services were far behind in the per- 

 formance of their current duties, that much useless 

 paper work was performed, and that the methods em- 



ployed by the administrative services generally, were 

 archaic in the extreme. The committee was appointed 

 to inquire into these complaints and, where found to be 

 justified, to recommend measures for their removal. 

 In point of fact, the committee found that these com- 

 plaints were more than justified. It thus, for example, 

 found : 



That 39 employees, with salaries ranging from $720 to $1,600 

 per annum, were engaged more or less in copying with pen and 

 ink the letter press copies of letters into record books. Cases 

 of employees furnishing proxies or substitutes to perform their 

 work at their salaries or at reduced compensation were found 

 in three of the executive departments. On August 20, 1887, 

 there were in the General Land Oflice a total of 276,670 indi- 

 vidual cases pending and undisposed of, and 14,000 unanswered 

 letters. There were 47,000 claims of soldiers, their widows 

 and orphans, pending for adjustment before the Second 

 Auditor. An engineer ofiicor's reipiest for approval of the 

 employment of two pilots, one for $25 and the other for $150, 

 in its course from the officer through the War Department, its 

 return to that ofiicer and its return again by him to the War 

 Department was handled by officers and clerks 76 times, and, 

 including messenger service 94 times. 



The findings of the committee were transmitted to 

 Congress in two reports, embracing several volumes 

 (S. Kept. 507, 50th Cong., 1st sess., 1888; and S. Kept. 

 3, 51st Cong., 2d sess., 1889). The result of these re- 

 ports and action taken directly with administrative 

 officers was the effecting of exceedingly important 

 reforms in the conduct of the Government's business 

 by the administrative departments and services. 



The Joint Committee on Reclassification of Salaries 

 was created by act of March 1, 1919, to correct another 

 outstanding defect in the administrative system. At 

 the time of its appointment, nothing approaching con- 

 sistancy and equity existed in the administrative serv- 

 ice with respect to the compensation attaclied to differ- 

 ent positions. Employees doing precisely the same 

 work in the same and in different divisions and depart- 

 ments were paid widely divergent rates of compensa- 

 tion and the practice of paying higher wages for work 

 of an inferior character than was paid for the per- 

 formance of duties involving much greater experience, 

 skill, and knowledge, was widespread. To correct this 

 condition of affairs, the Joint Committee was en- 

 trusted with the duty of making a survey of the 

 situation and of working out a scheme of classification 

 of positions and rates of compensation for the civil 

 service at Washington. Its i-eport (H. Doc. 686, 66th 

 Cong. 2d sess., 1920) is an exceedingly able document. 

 In addition to its general consideration of the problem 

 of personnel classification, it sets forth in detail a com- 

 plete scheme of classification of positions in the civil 

 service at Washington, with job specifications and 

 compensation schedules for all positions shown. Tliis 

 report led to the passing of the Classification Act of 



