216 



National Resources Vonvmittee 



I'lie major problem is to provide an environment in 

 which the scientifically minded individual has an in- 

 centive for work and to provide opportunity for rec- 

 ognition and promotion. This is a problem which the 

 Bureau of the Census shares, to a large extent, with 

 most of the other statistical agencies of the Govern- 

 ment. Only in part is it within the Bureau's own 

 control. 



The Bureau cannot alter a situation which makes 

 promotion difficult, especially for a person who has at- 

 tained a salary of about $3,200. If there is no vacancy 

 at a higher position, the common procedure in some 

 agencies is to rewrite the job specifications for the 

 work now being done by an individual whom the 

 agency wishes to promote. There are distinct limita- 

 tions, however, on the number of positions of a given 

 grade which one division can have, and the Civil 

 Service Commission is on the alert for attemjjts to 

 increase salaries by indirection. 



While the problem of increasing the opportunities 

 for promotion of the young men who have entered the 

 Bureau in the present administration is largely outside 

 of the Bureau's control, there are at least two ways, 

 somewhat more within the Bureau's control, by which 

 a career can be made more attractive. These are : 



1. Further development of a critical, scientific atmosphere 

 within the Bureau. 



2. Encouragement of analytical publications, public and 

 private, for which the actual author receives recognition. 



The first will depend largely on the leadership at 

 the top. If the progress which has begun under the 

 present director could continue for a decade or two, a 

 critical, scientific atmosphere might conceivably so per- 

 meate the organization that it might survive subse- 

 quent political vicissitudes. Unfortunately, the scien- 

 tific flame is still so delicate that there is no certainty 

 of its survival. If the next Director of the Census 

 should be chosen because of his party loyalty, without, 

 respect to professional qualifications, and if he is in- 

 different to or ignorant of scientific work, as some 

 former directors have been, it would not take long to 

 undo the progress which has been made. The. higher 

 appointments under the civil service might go, as they 

 have tended to go in the past, to faithful clerks who 

 are rewarded for a lifetime of service in the Bureau. 

 The professionally trained men in junior positions 

 would seek opportunities elsewhere. This eventuality 

 can be forestalled, in part, by establishment of new 

 civil-service job specifications for the key positions, 

 requiring several years of graduate university train- 

 ing in the social sciences. However, an agency cannot 

 write such new specifications until a vacancy occurs, 

 imless the present occupant of the position qualifies 

 thereunder. It would be several years before most of 



the key positions in the Bureau of the Census could be 

 so described. 



The opportunities in the Bureau to encourage 

 analytical publications are discussed in part IV of this 

 Section. Like most Government agencies, the Bureau 

 has not always given prominence to the names of the 

 actual authors of its analytical reports, although a 

 student familiar with government practice in this re- 

 spect can usually trace the authorship if he goes down 

 carefully through the hierarchy of acknowledgments 

 in a letter of transmittal or a foreword. Recent publi- 

 cations indicate a liberalization of this policy. More- 

 over, in some of the divisions, notably Vital Statistics, 

 every encouragement is given to junior personnel to 

 write for scientific journals, using Bureau data, over 

 their own signatures. This is most desirable, if the 

 ambitious young Government social scientist is to secure 

 recognition comparable with that of his colleagues 

 engaged in university research. 



The Permanent Clerical Stafif 



The fact that the retirement age in the Federal 

 service is 70 creates serious problems for an agency 

 like the Bureau of the Census, which has so many 

 tasks calling for mental and manual agility. The re- 

 tirement problem is, of course, beyond the Bureau's 

 control, but this organization hapjDens to suffer in com- 

 parison with newer statistical agencies, which will 

 eventually face the same problem unless they con- 

 tinually expand the size of their staffs.^^ 



Of the clerks and other employees in the lower and 

 middle classifications, say grade 7 and below, it will 

 be seen that a majority are over 45 and one-third are 

 over 55. The facts may be summarized as follows : 



Table 1. — Percentage in given age classes and above, among 

 clerks of grade C. A. F. 7 and below 



It should be noted that the Bureau, in making 

 replacements to the permanent clerical staff in the past 

 5 years, has been able to effect a substantial increase 

 in the number of C. A. F. employees under 30 years 

 of age. On January 1, 1933, there were only 24 under 

 30 years of age. Five years later there were 65. 



The effect of the disproportion of clerks in the older 

 age groups is, of course, to reduce the efficiency in those 



»The age problem in the statistical agencies In the Government is 

 reviewed, in Keneral. in Tlie Keport of the Committee on Ooveriiment 

 Statistics and rcconimend.Ttion made for revision of the retirement pro- 

 visions of clvU service (see pp. 54-05). 



