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station in Salt Lake City, the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Mines recommend the passage of this measure. Copy of the report from the Secretary of the Interior is attached hereto and made a part hereof.

Hon. JOE L. SMITH,

THE SECRETARY OF THE Interior,
Washington, March 10, 1937.

Chairman, Committee on Mines and Mining,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR MR. SMITH: In reply to your letter of February 20 requesting a report on H. R. 3029, a bill to provide for the construction and equipment of a building for the experiment station of the Bureau of Mines at Salt Lake City, Utah:

The Bureau of Mines has long recognized the desirability of providing a suitable plant for major investigations of broad general interest to the nonferrous metals industries that are beyond the capacity of facilities at the existing small stations, devoted largely to local problems. Such a station would make possible service to metal-mining interests of the west comparable to that given the coal and steel industries by the Bureau of Mines Experiment Station at Pittsburgh. Because of

its central location with respect to the Western metal-mining States, Salt Lake City offers a suitable site for such a station.

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am informed that the Legislature of the State of Utah has authorized the board of regents of the University of Utah to convey by deed to the Federal Government a tract of land now owned by the university and located near the principal university buildings. This action of the legislature opened the way for the erection of a proper building to house the Bureau's experiment station on property owned by the Federal Government contiguous to the university and available to its students through cooperative investigations. In correspondence with Governor Blood, the Department has already expressed its general approval of this project. However, I have been informed by the Acting Director of the Bureau of the Budget with reference to an identical bill, S. 628, that enactment at this time would not be in accord with the President's program.

Sincerely yours,

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RECLASSIFICATION OF SALARIES OF WATCHMEN, MESSENGERS, AND LABORERS IN THE POSTAL SERVICE

MAY 4, 1937.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. RoмJUE, from the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 6383]

The Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, having had under consideration the bill (H. R. 6383) to reclassify the salaries of watchmen, messengers, and laborers in the Postal Service, and to prescribe the time credits for service as substitute watchmen, messengers, and laborers, and for other purposes, report the same back to the House with the following amendments and, so amended, recommend that the bill do pass.

Page 2, line 4, strike out "four" and insert "three" in lieu thereof. Page 2, line 6, strike out "$1,700; fourth grade, salary $1,800" and insert "$1,700." in lieu thereof.

Page 2, line 9, strike out "fourth" and insert "third" in lieu thereof. Page 2, in lines 11 to 15, inclusive, strike out "Effective at the beginning of the first quarter following the date of enactment of this amendatory section, all watchmen, messengers, and laborers who have served in such positions for three or more years shall be promoted to grade 4."

This bill, as amended, will provide a third salary grade, at $1,700, which is $100 above their present top grade, for watchmen, messengers, and laborers in the Postal Service. It will also permit these employees to receive credit, upon appointment to a permanent position, for their substitute service and be appointed to the grade to which they would have progressed had their original appointment as substitute been to grade 1.

Following is the Post Office Department's report on the bill as it was originally introduced:

Hon. JAMES M. MEAD,

OFFICE OF THE POSTMASTER GENERAL,
Washington, D. C., April 14, 1937.

Chairman, Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads,

House of Representatives.

MY DEAR MR. MEAD: The receipt is acknowledged of your letter of the 13th instant, requesting a report upon H. R. 3150, a bill to reclassify the salaries of watchmen, messengers, and laborers in first-class post offices and the Railway Mail Service.

The bill provides that all watchmen, messengers, and laborers who have been in the service for a period of 3 years or more shall be advanced to the $1,800 grade effective at the beginning of the quarter following the passage of this bill. We cannot definitely determine how many of these employees have had 3 years' service. However, for the purpose of this report, it is assumed that all employees in the $1,600 grade will be eligible for advancement to the $1,800 grade provided by the law, an increase of $200 each per annum. If this legislation is enacted prior to July 1, 1937, the additional cost for laborer service in post offices during the fiscal year 1938 as the result of the increases provided in the bill is estimated to be $903,000.

This bill would place laborers above the first grade for clerks in post offices and enable them to receive more pay than substitute clerks earn in the Railway Mail Service.

While substitute railway postal clerks are paid at the rate of $1,850 for service actually performed, they seldom get full-time employment, and therefore their average pay might be less than the salary proposed in this bill for laborers.

As the duties prescribed for laborers and the civil service examination they must pass do not compare with clerical work and the railway postal clerk examination, there should be a considerable difference in the salaries paid. The present salary of laborers compares favorably with the salaries provided by law for clerks in the Railway Mail Service. There is no difficulty in obtaining the best of laborers at the salaries now paid. Most of the laborers now in the Railway Mail Service would be immediately advanced to the $1,800 grade under this bill as they have been on the rolls the required length of time for that grade.

The estimated annual increase in cost for this proposed legislation in the Railway Mail Service is $140,000 per annum.

For the foregoing reasons this Department could not recommend the enactment of this measure.

It has been ascertained from the Bureau of the Budget that this report is in accord with the program of the President.

Very truly yours,

(Signed) JAMES A. FARLEY,

Postmaster General.

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with paragraph 2a of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, changes in the law made by the bill H. R. 6383 are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets; new matter is printed in italics; existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman):

Section 5, as amended, of the act entitled "An act reclassifying the salaries of postmasters and employees of the Postal Service, readjusting their salaries and compensation on an equitable basis, increasing postal rates to provide for such readjustment, and for other purposes' approved February 28, 1925 (U. S. C., 1934 ed., title 39, sec. 101; Supp. II, title 39, sec. 101):

[Messengers, watchmen, and laborers] Watchmen, messengers, and laborers in first- and second-class post offices, the United States Stamped Envelope Agency, and the Railway Mail Service, shall be divided into [two] three grades, as follows: First grade, salary $1,500; second grade, salary $1,600; third grade, salary $1,700. [Provided, That watchmen, messengers, and laborers shall be promoted to the second grade after one year's satisfactory service in grade 1:1] Such watchmen,

messengers, and laborers shall be promoted successively after one year's satisfactory service in each grade until they reach the third grade. All promotions shall be made at the beginning of the quarter following one year's satisfactory service in the grade. [Provided further, That] The pay of substitute watchmen, messengers, and laborers in such post offices, agency, and service shall be at the rate of 55 cents per hour. Whenever any substitute laborer, watchman, or messenger is appointed to a permanent position as laborer, watchman, or messenger, the substitute service performed by such laborer, watchman, or messenger shall be computed in determining the eligibility of such person for promotion to grade 2 on the basis of three hundred and six days of eight hours constituting a year's service. Effective at the beginning of the first quarter following approval of this Act, all laborers, watchmen, and messengers who have not progressed to grade 2 shall be promoted to that grade, provided they have the necessary credit of three hundred and six days of eight hours each constituting a year's service.] Whenever any substitute watchman, messenger, or laborer is appointed to a permanent position as watchman, messenger, or laborer, he shall receive credit for actual time served as a substitute, on a basis of one year for each two hundred and fifty-four days of eight hours served as a substitute, and shall be appointed to the grade to which he would have progressed had his original appointment as substitute been to grade 1. Any fractional part of a year's service as a substitute watchman, messenger, or laborer shall be included with service as a watchman, messenger, or laborer in any such post office, agency, or service in determining eligibility for promotion to the next higher grade following appointment to a regular position.

The following provisions of law are repealed:

UNITED STATES CODE, 1934 EDITION, TITLE 39, SECTIONS 606 AND 607 [Laborers in the Railway Mail Service shall be divided into two grades with annual salaries as follows: Grade 1, salary $1,500; grade 2, $1,600.

Laborers shall be promoted to grade 2 after one year's satisfactory service in grade 1: Provided, That in the readjustment of the service to conform to the grades herein provided for laborers, grade 1 shall include laborers in present grade 1, and grade 2 shall include laborers in present grade 2.

Substitute laborers in the Railway Mail Service shall be paid for services actually performed at the rate of 55 cents per hour, and when appointed to the position of regular laborer the substitute service performed shall be included in eligibility for promotion to grade 2 on the basis of three hundred and six days of eight hours constituting a year's service.]

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