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Congress. This is substantially in harmony with the policy approved by Congress in 1912, which authorized the payment of compensation to our employees on the canal of 25 per cent higher than compensation paid for similar work in the United States. The normal cost to the Government of this bill will be less than the normal cost of the Lehlbach bill as applied to the Government employees in the United States; although it is somewhat larger than the normal cost of the Lehlbach bill when applied to the Government employees on the Canal Zone. This is due to the fact that this bill only provides retirement for those employees of the Canal Zone who receive high compensation, generally speaking. In other words, the low-paid employees of the Canal Zone are nearly all West Indian colored laborers, none of whom are included within the provisions of this bill; so the bill only applies to the more highly paid employees of the Canal Zone, which makes a material difference in the percentage of pay roll that reflects the normal cost of the bill. It must, of course, be noted that the employees to whom the bill applies will contribute 5 per cent of their basic pay or compensation, as compared with 31⁄2 per cent contributed by employees under the Lehlbach bill. The following is a short statement of the cost of this bill as compared with the cost to the Government of H. R. 12640, which this bill replaced, and the cost to the Government of the Lehlbach bill:

Table showing the annual cost to the Government of (1) H. R. 12759 (containing the principles of the civil service retirement law as amended and approved May 29, 1930, with an increase of 25 per cent in annuities; (2) H. R. 12640; and (3) the civil service retirement act, with amendments approved May 29, 1930, as applied to employees covered under H. R. 12759 and H. R 12640

[Figures based upon the pay roll as of June 30, 1928, i. e.. 2,814 employees receiving total annual salaries of $7,924,770]

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The total cost of H R 12759 is about 12 per cent less than the total cost of H. R. 12640, and about 35 per cent higher than the total cost of the civil service retirement plan as amended and approved May 29, 1930.

Accompanying this statement of costs was a letter from Herbert D. Brown, Chief of the Bureau of Efficiency, from which the following is quoted:

In compliance with your informal request, I have estimated the cost of the proposed retirement legislation (H. R. 12759) covering employees of the Panama Canal and the Panama Railroad Co. on the Isthmus of Panama, who are citizens of the United States. These estimates, compared with the corresponding cost estimates of the plan as contained in H. R. 12640 and the general civil service retirement law as approved by the President May 29, 1930, are presented in the table attached hereto.

The total cost of H. R. 12759 is about 35 per cent greater than the cost of the civil service retirement law, as recently amended. This increase in cost would be only about 25 per cent if it were not for the extra benefit of $36 per

year of service rendered during the construction period between May 4, 1904, and April 1, 1914. There are about 1,100 employees who served during the construction period. The average number of years of construction service rendered by these 1,100 employees was about 4.9 years, which would increase the annuities of those who retire by an average amount of about $176 per annum. The total cost to the Government of allowing this extra benefit would be approximately $27,000 per annum.

Very truly yours,

HERBERT D. BROWN, Chief.

This legislation is urged by the American Federation of Labor, by the Government employees on the Isthmus of Panama, and by the Governor of the Panama Canal, who is also president of the board of directors of the Panama Railroad Co. The committee recommends that the bill be passed. 으

EXTENDING THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE BUREAU OF EFFICIENCY TO THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE INSULAR POSSESSIONS

JUNE 12, 1930.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. JOHNSON of Washington, from the Committee on the Territories, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 11851]

The Committee on the Territories, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 11851) to extend the duties and powers of the Bureau of Efficiency to include the governments of the insular and Territorial possessions of the United States, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon and recommends that the bill do pass with the following amendments:

In the second line of the title, after the word "insular", strike out the words "and Territorial".

In line 7, after the word "insular", strike out the words "and Territorial".

The object of the original bill was to definitely authorize the Bureau of Efficiency to assist the officials charged with the administration of the affairs of our insular and Territorial possessions by making studies of the administrative organizations, methods of business and procedure, and such other phases of the activities as may be desired either by the administrative officials concerned or by committees of Congress.

The Bureau of Efficiency is performing work of this character for the various departments and independent establishments of the Government in continental United States, including the municipal government of the District of Columbia. During the past year the bureau was requested by the Naval Subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations to make a comprehensive survey of the political, social, and economic conditions in the Virgin Islands. The result of this study was desired by the committee for its use in determining the appropriation needs of these islands for which annual appropriations have been made by the Federal Government since the islands were acquired in 1917. Governor Roosevelt of Porto Rico is anxious to obtain the services of the Bureau of Efficiency to assist

him with Porto Rican problems in the same way that the bureau is serving the various administrative officials of the Government in charge of departments and independent establishments which are supported in whole or in part by Federal appropriation. It is doubtful that the bureau could use that part of its appropriation required to comply with Governor Roosevelt's request without more specific legislative sanction, because Porto Rico is sustained by its own revenues and no Federal appropriations are being made except the appropriation for relief necessary on account of the hurricane of 1928.

Mr. Houston, Delegate from Hawaii, and Mr. Davila, Resident Commissioner from Porto Rico, appeared before the committee. Attention was called to the fact that Hawaii and Alaska are incorporated Territories and as such occupy a status decidedly different from that of the departments and independent establishments. Mr. Houston expressed the view that the Bureau of Efficiency's former status as a unit of the Civil Service Commission extends its activities to the Territories in view of the laws governing the work of the Civil Service Commission there. The committee concurs in this view and has amended the bill accordingly.

The passage of this bill will enable Governor Roosevelt and the other officials charged with the administration of the affairs of our insular possessions to have the benefit of the services of the Bureau of Efficiency in the way that bureau is now serving the committees of Congress and the departments and independent establishments in continental United States. It will make clear the intent of Congress that the bureau's appropriations shall be available for work in the insular possessions when desired by the administrative officials.

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