408 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIII. No. 1374 



activity as an officer of the council. The 

 council, in a resolution of regret at Mr. 

 Hoover's retirement, voted its appreciation of 

 his leadership during the organization period 

 of the council and his initiation of policies 

 and effort. 



A dinner, arranged in honor of Mr. Hoover 

 by the Engineers Club of Philadelphia, repre- 

 senting more than 4,600 engineers in the 

 Philadelphia District, was the culminating 

 event of the meeting. Guilliaem Aertsen, 

 president of the club, presented Mr. Hoover 

 with a certificate of honorary membership, 

 which read: "The Engineers Club of Phila- 

 delphia, by unanimous vote of its directors, in 

 council, the eleventh day of November, 1919, 

 desiring to express its fullest appreciation of 

 the eminence attained by him in the field of 

 engineering, and his great service to human- 

 ity, hereby confers upon Herbert Hoover hon- 

 orary membership with life tenure of all the 

 rights and privileges thereto belonging." 



The addresses made by Mr. Hoover and 

 Dean Dexter S. Kimball, of Cornell Univer- 

 sity, are printed above. Speeches were also 

 made by Wharton Pepper, Esq., Col. William 

 A. Glasgow and John C. Trautwine, Jr. 



THE CLASSIFICATION AND SALARIES OF 

 GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES 



A BILL providing for reclassification of gov- 

 ernment employees was offered ia the Senate 

 on April 18 by Senator Smoot of Utah. The 

 bill has been drafted by Senator Smoot after 

 a conference with other members of the senate 

 appropriations committee and with efficiency 

 experts of the government. 



The bill provides eighteen grades in the 

 government service, with salaries ranging from 

 $360 to those above $7,500. It is provided that 

 the head of each department and establishment 

 shall, under rules and regulations prescribed 

 by the president, allocate the positions in each 

 department or establishment to grades in ac- 

 cordance with the schedule contained in the 

 bill. 



The head of each department and establish- 

 ment within the salary range of the popular 

 grade will determine the salary to be paid 



each employee by comparing his efSciency 

 with the average efficiency of all employees 

 assigned to tlie same work, or, if no other em- 

 ployees are engaged upon the same or com- 

 parable work, by comparing the efficiency of 

 the employees with the efficiency which reason- 

 ably should be expected. 



The salaries of all employees in each de- 

 partment or establishment fixed in accord- 

 ance with the proposed law shall become 

 effective on the first day of the third month 

 following the date of approval of the act, and 

 no employee shall thereafter be paid a salary 

 exceeding the maximum rate or less than the 

 minimum rate prescribed for the grade to 

 which his position is allocated. 



The upper eight grades are defined as 

 follows : 



Grade II— Salary range, $2,460 to $3,000. The 

 num'ber of classes of employment is eighteen, 

 Tanging from supervision of and laying out of 

 the work of a group dealing with tariff rate ques- 

 tions to the engraving on copper plate of topo- 

 graphic maps or similar work where there is much 

 technical detail, repairing defective and worn 



Grade IS — Salary range, $2,700 to $3,300. The 

 number of classes, seven, ranging from responsi- 

 bility for the accounting work of a small govern- 

 ment accounting lorgaaization to the construction 

 and suggestion of improvements and new designs 

 in instruments of precision, requiring familiarity 

 with practical astronomy. 



Grade IS — Salary range, $3,000 to $3,600. The 

 numiber of classes of employment, eleven, ranging 

 from the supervisor of an entire system of ac- 

 counts in a large office to the administrative con- 

 trol over the clerical forc« of a large independent 

 establishment or a major bureau or division of a 

 department. 



Grade IJf — Salary range, $3,300 to $3,900. 

 Three classes of employment, directing editorial 

 work of a department and being responsible for 

 the conduct of a minor subdivision of a technical, 

 scientific or professional organization, and design- 

 ing and constructing insitruments of precision. 



Grade 15— Salary range, $3,600 to $4,500. The 

 number of classes, ten, ranging from the super- 

 vision and responsibility for accounting work of 

 an organization requiring extensive accounting 

 operations to the responsibility of receiving and 



