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The provisions of existing law directly applicable to this bill are:

(1) Revised Statues 1254, which requires that officers be retired upon the actual rank held by them at the date of retirement.

(2) 45 Statutes 735, emergency officers' retirement act, which authorizes certain disabled former officers of the Army of the United States to be placed upon a retired list with the rank held by them upon discharge from military service.

(3) Section 125, national defense act, which authorizes persons who served in time of war, if honorably discharged, to wear, upon occasions of ceremony, the uniform of the highest grade held.

(4) Section 37, national defense act, which permits all persons who served as officers during the World War, or who served in the Regular Army at any time, to be appointed in the Officers' Reserve Corps in the highest grade held.

I am constrained to bring to your attention also certain proposed legislation now pending before the Congress, which is of such a nature as to justify consideration by you in connection with this bill, to wit:

S. 414, which provides for nomination and appointment, subject to confirmation, of retired officers, except those retired under section 24b, national defense act, to their highest war-time rank, provided their war service was creditable. Section 8 of S. 4, which is similar to S. 414, except that officers retired under section 24b, national defense act, are not specifically included.

H. R. 2759, which would cause commissioned officers below the grade of brigadier general, and warrant officers, who served in the war with Spain, the Philippine insurrection, the Boxer rebellion, or the war against Germany, to have on the retired list a rank one grade above that held at time of retirement. The effect of the bill, S. 465, if enacted into law, would be as follows:

(1) About 611 officers now on the retired list would be advanced, without increase in retired pay, to the rank of the highest grade held by them during the World War. In the great majority of cases the officer would be advanced one grade and in only eight cases would any officer be advanced more than two grades. Included would be a few officers retired prior to the war but who returned to active duty in higher grades during the war.

(2) A few officers now on the active list would, upon retirement, be similarly advanced in rank. The number can not, of course, be stated. That it would be small is evidenced by the fact that most officers now on the active list have already attained, or should soon attain by promotion, at least the highest grade held by them during the war.

(3) About 26 officers now on the retired list in a grade lower than the highest grade held by them during the World War would be excluded from advancement to their war-time rank. These are officers retired under provisions of section 24b, national defense act, their classification not having been due to neglect, misconduct, or avoidable habits.

(4) All persons who held temporary commissions as officers of the Army during the World War who have been or may hereafter be honorably discharged from the military service, would be legally authorized to bear the title of the highest grade held during the war. The existing authorization for such persons to wear the uniform upon occasions of ceremony would be reenacted. Also the existing authorization making such persons eligible for appointment as reserve officers would be reenacted, but with a condition that they be placed upon an inactive list of the Officers' Reserve Corps which would have to be created for this purpose. (5) Some officers who served with credit during the war under regular commissions, who never held temporary commissions, and who later resigned, would be denied the privileges of bearing the title and wearing the uniform accorded to persons who served under temporary commissions.

In general, I am in full accord with the purposes of this bill, the War Department has repeatedly advocated the enactment of legislation which would accord to persons who have served in our armed forces during war suitable recognition of their service. It is believed the principle might well be applied to enlisted men as well as officers, should your committee see fit to do so.

For Regular Army personnel, it is believed that to insure to them upon retirement from active service the highest rank attained by them during their active service is a well-merited recognition of the service they have rendered and of their professional accomplishments.

Similarly, those former officers and enlisted men whose military service was terminated honorably should as a recognition of their valued service, and without regard to the kind of commission they held, have conferred upon them the right to bear the title and upon appropriate occasions, to wear the uniform of the highest grade attained during their war service.

The proposed advancement in the rank of deceased officers would be a source of satisfaction to their families to which they are fully entitled.

My approval of the principle of this bill is based upon a desire for the accomplishment of a recognition for service that has been already too long delayed. It is the result that is desired; the method by which the result is attained is a secondary consideration. Other bills to which I have referred would make advancement upon the retired list contingent upon creditability of service and upon nomination and confirmation. This bill would exclude only class B officers from advancement and would not require nomination and confirmation. While there are advantages and disadvantages to both such methods, it is believed that the number of officers whose service would be considered other than creditable would be so negligible that the practical result under either method would be the same. Either method that Congress sees fit to prescribe will be entirely agreeable to the War Department.

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The provisions in lines 14-17, page 2, of S. 465, "and such persons may, upon their own applications, be appointed reserve officers and placed on. a list to be known as the inactive list of the Officers' Reserve Corps," I believe should be eliminated from the bill. Congress has wisely provided in the national defense act for an Officers' Reserve Corps to provide "a reserve of officers available for military service when needed.' Former officers are now eligible for appointment therein and many thousands have been so appointed and trained. The War Department has endeavored to keep the Reserve Corps the live and virile reserve that Congress intended, and in this it has been fully supported by the reserve officers themselves. To now create an inactive list for the sole purpose of listing persons who would already have been given honorary titles would in reality add nothing to such titles, would be inconsistent with the purposes for which the reserve is maintained, and would, I believe, be objectionable to most of the officers who now constitute the Officers' Reserve Corps.

The bill would be without additional cost to the Government except possibly in those few cases of retired officers performing acting duty under the advanced rank conferred by the bill. As the last proviso of section 1 applies only to increases of retired pay, such officers would not be excluded from receiving the active pay of such rank.

In order that the bill may not be discriminatory by conferring pecuniary benefits upon a few individuals, and in order that it may be without cost, it is recommended that the last proviso of section 1 be so amended as to prescribe that the bill cause no increases of either active or retired pay.

Subject to the conditions hereinbefore stated, I recommend and urge the enactment of this bill, or of any similar bill that will promptly accomplish the purposes in view.

I shall be pleased to furnish any additional information from the War Department that may be desired. Should hearings be held upon the proposed legislation, suitable witnesses will be designated to appear.

Sincerely yours,

JAMES W. GOOD, Secretary of War.

O

LOCOMOTIVE BOILER INSPECTION ACT

JUNE 4, 1930.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. COOPER of Ohio, from the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany S. 3845]

The Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, to whom was referred the bill (S. 3845) to amend an act entitled "An act to promote the safety of employees and travelers upon railroads by compelling common carriers engaged in interstate commerce to equip their locomotives with safe and suitable boilers and appurtenances thereto," approved February 17, 1911, as amended March 4, 1915, June 26, 1918, and June 7, 1924, having considered and amended the same, report thereon with a recommendation that it pass.

The bill is similar to H. R. 9889, which has the approval of the Interstate Commerce Commission, as will appear by the letter attached.

Amend the bill as follows:

Page 2, line 2, strike out all after "amended" down through line. 3; line 7, strike out the quotation marks and "Sec. 4." and insert in lieu thereof "Sec. 2.", and after "Act" insert a comma and "as amended,"; line 9, strike out the quotation marks.

Hon. JAMES S. PARKER,

INTERSTATE COMMERCE COMMISSION,
Washington, March 4, 1930.

Chairman Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce,
House of Representatives.

MY DEAR CHAIRMAN: The commission has given consideration to H. R. 9889, upon which you requested a report, and I am authorized to make the following statement in its behalf:

This bill would make the salary of the chief inspector of our bureau of locomotive inspection $7,500 per year, the salary of each assistant chief inspector $6,000, and the salary of each district inspector $4,200. On July 2, 1928, the commission recommended to the Personnel Classification Board that the chief inspector be classified in grade CAF-14, the salary range of which is from $6,500 to $7,500. It also recommended the grade of CAF-13 for the two assistant

chie:s, with a salary range of from $5,600 to $6,400, and the grade of CAF-11 for the district inspectors, with a salary range of from $3,800 to $4,400. It will be noted that the salaries which would be established by H. R. 9889 are in each case within the range of the grades which were recommended by the commission. The Personnel Classification Board did not approve these recommendations, but the commission has not changed its views as to their propriety. This being so, H. R. 9889 has the approval of the commission, except in one particular. The following provision appears in Public, No. 778, Seventieth Congress, making appropriations for the year ending June 30, 1930:

"In expending appropriations or portions of appropriations contained in this act for the payment of personal services in the District of Columbia in accordance with the classification act of 1923, as amended, the average of the salaries of the total number of persons under any grade in any bureau, office, or other appropriation unit shall not at any time exceed the average of the compensation rates specified for the grade by such act, as amended, and in grades in which only one person is allocated, the salary of such position shall not exceed the average of the compensation rates for the grade except that in unusually meritorious cases of one position in a grade advances may be made to rates higher than the average of the compensation rates of the grade but not more often than once in any fiscal year and then only to the next higher rate."

Under this provision, if the grades recommended by the commission had been approved by the Personnel Classification Board, a salary of $7,500 per annum could have been paid ultimately to the chief inspector, and salaries of $6,000 per annum to the assistant chief inspectors. The latter salary is precisely the average for grade CAF-13. The salary of $7,500 is above the average for grade CAF-14, but inasmuch as there would have been, under our recommendations, only one position in the bureau in that grade, it would have been possible to promote the chief inspector to that salary, even though he would not have received it initially.

However, in the case of grade CAF-11, which was recommended for the district inspectors, the salaries are $3,800, $4,000, $4,200, and $4,400. The average of these is $4,100. But since that amount does not correspond with any of the salaries named, it would follow, under a ruling of the Comptroller General, that we could not have paid the district inspectors salaries averaging more than $4,000 if our recommendation had been approved. Under the circumstances, and to avoid preference of these employees in comparison with employees of other bureaus who are in grade CAF-11, it is the opinion of the commission that the salary fixed for the district inspectors in H. R. 9889 should be $4,000 per annum rather than $4,200.

Respectfully yours,

Hon. JAMES S. PARKER,

JOSEPH B. EASTMAN, Chairman Legislative Committee.

PERSONNEL CLASSIFICATION BOARD,
Washington, May 12, 1930.

Chairman Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce,

Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR MR. PARKER: The board wishes to acknowledge receipt of your letter of May 6 asking for an expression of our opinion concerning the merits of H. R. 9889, which is a bill to increase the salaries of the chief inspector of locomotive boilers, the 2 assistant chief inspectors of locomotive boilers and the 65 district inspectors of locomotive boilers found in the organization of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

It should be remarked in passing that although the titles used above are the official titles, the work of this staff extends to all parts of locomotives and their tenders, as well as to locomotive boilers. (Act of November 4, 1915, 38 Stat. 1193.) For the assistance of the committee the following tabulation is given in order that the history of salary legislation affecting these positions may be seen at a glance:

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The Personnel Classification Board, as you know, has jurisdiction only over the classification of positions in the departmental service. There has been no legislation extending its jurisdiction to the Field Service, although it is now making a field survey for the information of Congress in this respect.

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With regard to the position of chief inspector of locomotives and the two positions of assistant chief inspector of locomotives, the board desires to state that if the salaries carried in H. R. 9889 should become law the three positions would, in its opinion, be paid salaries which are out of line when compared to those paid for positions of equal importance, difficulty, responsibility, and value, established by the classification act of 1923, as amended. The proposed salary of $7,500 for the chief inspector of locomotives is the maximum of grade CAF-14. This grade is described in the classification act of 1923, as amended, to include “all classes of positions the duties of which are * to act as head of a major bureau." A similar description is carried in Grade 7 of the P. and S. service, which carries the same salary range, $6,500 to $7,500. Grade CAF-13, carrying a salary range of from $5,600 to $6,400, includes "all classes of positions the duties of which * to act as head of a small bureau." Grade CAF-15, which carries a salary range of from $8,000 to $9,000, includes "all classes of positions the duties of which are to act as the head of one of the largest and most important bureaus." A distinction must, therefore, be made between a "small" bureau, a "major" bureau, and "one of the largest and most important" bureaus. The board believes that the bureau of locomotive inspection, in accordance with the relative standards the board is following for these grades, falls under the description of a "small" bureau rather than that of a "major" bureau, and, therefore, that its administrative and technical head should be allocated to CAF-13, carrying a salary range of from $5,600 to $6,400, and that the two assistant heads should be allocated to grade CAF-12, carrying a salary range of from $4,600 to $5,200. This is the present situation.

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In order that the committee may obtain an idea of the type of bureau the head of which is allocated to CAF-14 or P-7, carrying a salary range of from $6,500 to $7,500, attention is invited to the following brief list in which are shown data covering the approximate number of regular employees in 1929, the appropriation for 1930, and the Budget estimate for 1931 for the Steamboat Inspection Service of the Department of Commerce, and the Plant Quarantine and Control Administration, and the Food and Drug Administration of the Department of Agriculture, in comparison with similar data covering the Locomotive Inspection Service. It will be observed that the three bureaus, other than the Locomotive Inspection Service, named in the table, exceed that service in number of employees and in total appropriation. This comparison indicates the respective sizes of the organizations concerned.

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