BOARDS OF REVIEW-EFFICIENCY-RATINGS ADMINISTRATION

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Also, will you give us a statement about the boards of review which I understand you contemplate under title II of the Ramspeck Act? There are going to be three members on each board, are there not?

Mr. BARUCH. Yes, sir. I think there will be about a hundred boards altogether.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. A hundred boards of review in the field?

Mr. BARUCH. Oh, pardon me in the field? I do not know about that. That was a recent statutory directive, in a way, put in section 3 of Public, No. 200, that the Commission and the departments should collaborate in extending the efficiency-rating system, which includes boards of review in the field.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Are there any funds in this request for those boards of review?

Mr. BARUCH. In the field we have estimated, I believe, for 12 positions, amounting to about $40,000, according to my recollection$40,080.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Will you make that clear in this break-down which you are going to furnish?

Mr. BARUCH. We will be glad to give you a complete explanation of that.

(The statement referred to is as follows:)

The allotment we have listed above for efficiency-ratings administration is designed solely and exclusively to permit the Commission to comply with the direction contained in section 3 of Public, No. 200, the salary advancement act of August 1, 1941. This direction states that "the Civil Service Commission and heads of departments are authorized and directed to take such action as will apply the provisions of this section uniformly to all employees occupying positions within the compensation schedules fixed by this act as nearly as is practicable." The additional positions and funds are not designed for the purpose of increasing the staff which is now devoted to the general administration of the efficiency-ratings boards of review authorized and created under section 7 of the Ramspeck Act of November 26, 1940. For the fiscal year 1943, the intention is to continue this part of the activity which is confined to departmental employees with the continuation of the same funds which were authorized for the fiscal year 1942.

REIMBURSEMENT FOR USE OF PRIVATELY OWNED AUTOMOBILES

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. I would like to ask about this new language on page 34, which reads as follows:

The foregoing appropriations for the Civil Service Commission available for travel shall be available for expenses of travel, at not to exceed 3 cents per mile, performed in privately owned automobiles within the limits of their official posts of duty by employees engaged in examinations and investigations of the records of employees in the civil service of the United States and applicants for entrance into the civil service.

That is new language in the bill. What is there to be said about that?

Mr. CUSTER. The Commission's desire, as expressed in that language, is that it have made available to it authority to reimburse employees, certain of its employees, for the use of privately owned automobiles at headquarters, or within the limits of their official stations.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Would that mean that that would be available for travel in privately owned automobiles within the District of Columbia, for instance?

Mr. CUSTER. That would permit that for a certain type of our employees; that is, the employees engaged in examining and investigative work. In other words, only those employees whose duties are necessarily out of the office in connection with "examinations and investigations of the records of employees" and applicants for positions.

USE OF EMERGENCY FUNDS

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Have you had any emergency funds or received any funds during the past fiscal year from the President's emergency fund, or elsewhere?

Mr. FLEMMING. During the present fiscal year, 1942?
Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. The fiscal year 1941 or 1942.
Mr. CUSTER. For this kind of work?

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. For any kind of work.

Mr. FLEMMING. During 1942, no.

Mr. CUSTER. We have no funds granted to us by the President from his emergency funds during the current fiscal year.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Or any other funds except those that have come by direct appropriation?

Mr. CUSTER. No other funds except funds which have been appropriated by the Congress.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Do you anticipate any in 1943?
Mr. CUSTER. We do not.

REIMBURSEMENT. FOR. USE. OF. PRIVATELY OWNED AUTOMOBILES

Mr. FLEMMING. May I refer again to your inquiry relative to the provision respecting the payment of 3 cents per mile for use of privately owned automobiles? The group that we have primarily in mind are our investigators, to reimburse them for travel that takes place in the city in which they are domiciled. We have a study here made for the month of June 1941, showing that those investigators, carrying on their work in the cities in which they were domiciled, spent for car tokens, for which they are reimbursed, the sum of $542.88. If this language had been in our appropriation bill, the cost to the Government would have been $572, or an increase of $30. When you consider the increased efficiency involved in permitting them to drive their own cars as compared with trying to get around by means of public transportation, I think you will agree that it is a worth-while expenditure.

Mr. CUSTER. We think it represents a net saving to the Government.

Mr. FITZPATRICK. I agree with you. It would represent a saving in the time saved by these investigators.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Of course, the committee will want to take that under consideration.

ACTIVITIES UNDER THE HATCH ACT

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. As to the second item, under the Hatch Act, you say you have disposed of 148 cases. I do not want any of the details now, but I would like for the record a table which would list those 148 cases, which would show the character of the cases in each instance, and the result of your investigation, and the action taken, if any.

Mr. CANNON. We will furnish that.

(The statement referred to is as follows:)

Lavic of cuses scneautea Jor trial in fiscal year 1942 under sec. 13 J

Ohio Bureau of Unemployment Com-
pensation.

Georgia Bureau of Unemployment Com
pensation.

Georgia State official.

Member, Board of Appeals, Unemploy

District Supervisor of Old Age Assist

Department of Social Service.

Local housing authority.

County welfare board

Illinois State Highway Department.

135 have been authorized by Commission.

219 of these were started in November 1941 but were continued until Jan. 7, 1942.

NATIONAL DEFENSE ACTIVITIES

DIVISION OF PERSONNEL SUPERVISION AND MANAGEMENT

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Under your national defense item, I note that there is included an increase for the Division of Personnel Supervision and Management, of $24,500. What is the amount that that division has had in the current year and what is contemplated in the requested increase?

Mr. CUSTER. The total, including the amount of that increase, will be 53 employees. That is an increase of about 13 employees.

Mr. FLEMMING. Mr. Wigglesworth, that is largely to take care of carrying on servicing operations in connection with this activity. After all, our total number of employees is moving up close to the 6,000 figure.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. What funds did that division have in this current year and what personnel?

Mr. CUSTER. I do not have those figures at hand, but I will put them in the record.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Please put a statement on that in the record. My impression was that the total force for that division, when we last talked this over, was three principal officials and a force of five clerical employees.

Mr. CUSTER. We had 19 originally.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. I wish you would set forth exactly what the personnel has been in that division, the total funds which they asked for, the additional personnel you are requesting now, its character, and the total amount that that involves.

Mr. CUSTER. Very well. We will give you an analysis of their total growth.

(The statement referred to is as follows:)

Division of Personnel Supervision and Management-Average number of employees reported in "green sheets"

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Why do you need $76,000 additional for temporary employees under this item?

Mr. CUSTER. As we have tried to indicate in our formal justifications, that shows under the appropriation entitled "Salaries and expenses" as a nonrecurring item. That is the first one in our justifications, and that item of $76,000 shows as a decrease there.

Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. But this is under your fourth item, the one I am referring to. Why do you need that increase?

Mr. CUSTER. There is an increase here because of the previous decrease I have just mentioned, since we must employ certain temporary personnel.