I have been impressed for some time with the fact that democracy, if it is to succeed, must be willing to secure and retain in positions of marked governmental responsibility men of the highest ability, qualification, and experience. Many positions in the Government service involving the supervision of vast enterprises now have attached to them inadequate salaries. The Government is constantly losing men of the sort I have in mind and is compelled to satisfy itself with replacements of men who, in the judgment of executive officers, may not be thoroughly qualified for the tasks assigned to them. In this department I think the compensation attached to the position of chief of bureau should be increased. The minimum should not be lower than $5,000 per annum and the maximum might well be placed at $7,500. and should certainly not be less than $6,500. At present the salaries of chiefs of bureaus, with one exception, range from $3,500 to $5,000 per annum. The latter figure is less than that now paid by many educational institutions to professors doing no administrative work or to deans of departments, including deans of departments in the agricultural colleges. You realize. I am sure, what tremendous tasks such bureaus as those of Plant Industry, Animal Industry, Markets, Farm Management, Chemistry, Weather, Public Roads, the Forest Service, the Solicitor's Office, and others have in hand. When we consider the scope of their work and the responsibilities attaching to the position of chief, the present compensation seems singularly small. I shall simply give a few illustrations of the magnitude of the tasks involved. Take, for instance, the Forest Service. The chief of that service has under his jurisdiction all the national forests, embracing about 155,000,000 acres of land. The forests have in them one-fifth of the standing timber and involve timber sale operations on a great scale. They support approximately 11,000,000 animals grazing under special permit, giving rise to many important and difficult problems and touching the interests of many thousands of stockmen. Furthermore, the forests contain about 30 per cent of the water power of the Nation and 42 per cent of the water power of the West, and there is invested in water-power projects in or in connection with the forests something over $300,000,000. There are also vast responsibilities involved in the various special uses that are made of the forests, as well as in fire protection and reforestation. All told, the Chief of the Forest Service has under his direction approximately 3,000 employees. Similar facts obtain with reference to each of the other bureaus. The Bureau of Animal Industry, for example, is charged with the administration of many important laws, such as the meat-inspection act, the 28-hour act, and the animal quarantine acts, the direction of the forces engaged in eradicating such important animal diseases as hog cholera, Texas fever (cattle tick), scabies, tuberculosis, and the like, the promotion of better live-stock methods, and the betterment of the live-stock industry of the Nation as a whole. There are approximately 5,000 employees in this bureau. The solicitor has many responsibilities. He now has under his direction about 45 lawyers and is the principal legal officer of the department in respect to the administration of about 35 important laws, including the Federal aid road act, the grain and cotton standards acts, the warehouse act, the food and drugs act, the meat-inspection act, the animal quarantine laws, the Weeks forestry act, and the laws relating to the national forests. He also advises administrative officers regarding all the rules and regulations of the department, prepares, for submission to the Department of Justice, cases arising under the various statutes intrusted to the department for administration, and cooperates with the United States attorneys in their prosecution. I am also strongly of the opinion that the present limitation of $4,500 on the compensation that may be paid to scientific and technical employees should be increased. We are called upon to secure the services of some of the most highly trained experts in the Nation, many of whom are sought by industrial enterprises, and it has become increasingly difficult to secure and retain men with the requisite qualifications whose services are necessary in order efficiently to do the Government's business. While I realize that the Government can not compete with industry in the matter of salaries, still I think that further leeway should be permitted. I sincerely trust that this matter may receive the most earnest consideration of the commission. I recognize that the chiefs of bureaus in other departments are involved, but, as a matter of fact, some of them now receive larger compensation than similar officers in this department. Very truly, yours, D. F. HOUSTON, Secretary. Mr. HARRISON. I have merely attempted to give the committee a general idea of the estimates and of what they contain. Of course, the chiefs of the bureaus and other officers of the department will appear before you and give the details. and give the details. Prof. Marvin, Chief of the Weather Bureau, is here, and, with your permission, will present the estimates of the Weather Bureau which appear on page 25. We will defer until later the estimates of the Office of Secretary and the Office of Farm Management. I may add, in accordance with the suggestion of the chairman, that I have suggested to the chiefs of the bureaus and others of the department that they prepare brief statements setting forth just what they wish to say about the various items in the estimates, and I believe most of them have done so. We are hoping that they will be given the opportunity to make a connected statement about each item. That, also, is in accordance with the suggestion of the chairman. Mr. RUBEY. Have the various departments made their annual reports? Mr. HARRISON. Yes, sir. We have 25 complete sets here this morning, and also 25 copies of the Secretary's annual report. They are available here and can be secured by the members of the committee. I would also like to insert in the record a brief summary of the estimates which I have had prepared. (The statement referred to follows:) Estimates, 1921, United States Department of Agriculture. Increase. Appropriations. Apparent. Actual. Statutory salaries (not including $1,673,540 transferred to new lump-fund item for $33, 899, 761 41, 953, 483 8,053, 722 37,528, 102 13, 628,341 As $41,509 of the increase for rent in the District of Columbia is transferred from the sundry civil act, and the increase of $79,720 for the enforcement of the cotton-futures act merely replaces, in part, certain funds available during the current fiscal year under the wheat price guaranty act, the net increase is $3,507,112. Furthermore, the item of $1,000,000 for fighting and preventing forest fires (an increase of $850,000 over the present appropriation), the item of $1,000,000 for combating the foot-and-mouth disease, and the item of $20,000 for the eradication of the pink boll worm of cotton are merely insurance funds and will be used only in case of necessity. It is estimated that the receipts from the various activities of the department, including timber sales, grazing privileges, water-power permits, and the like, will amount during the fiscal year 1921 to approximately $6,925,000, compared with $6,885,000 during the current fiscal year. Statement showing proposed changes in the statutory rolls of the Department of Agriculture for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1921. New places.. 80 $113,390 Increase in salary of 1 laboratory aid, Division of Publications, to correct typographicl error in agricultural appropriation act for 1920. 450 +$113, 840 Places dropped 1.. Actual increase.. 36 27,660 86,182 Transfers from lump funds, with corresponding reduction... Apparent increase. 387 450,780 536,960 Not including 1,402 places, aggregating $1,673,540, transferred to a special lump-fund item under the Forest Service for the employment of forest supervisors, deputy supervisors, rangers, and guards. NOTE-On Oct. 31, 1919, there was a total of 21,364 employees in the Department of Agriculture, of whom 5,490 were carried on statutory rolls and 15,871 on lump funds. Statement showing proposed changes in lump fund appropriations of the Department of Agriculture for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1921. (110) Forage crop investigations..... (109) Purchase and distribution of new and rare seeds. 18,500 18,500 1,200 NOTE.-Numbers in parentheses refer to items in the committee print of the estimates. Statement showing proposed changes in lump fund appropriations of the Department of Agriculture for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1921-Continued. 1 A new lump fund item of $1,673,540 is recommended to provide for the employment of forest supervisors deputy supervisors, rangers, and guards, transferred from the statutory roll, without increase in the total amount. 2 Transferred from "Miscellaneous" section of the bill. * Includes $41,509 to be transferred from the sundry civil act. |