SALARIES AND EXPENSES Mr. WOODRUM: The first item is: For three Commissioners and other personal services in the District of Columbia, including not to exceed $1,000 for temporary experts and assistants in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, to be paid at a rate not exceeding $8 per day, and for personal services in the field, for furniture and other equipment and repairs thereto; law books, books of reference, periodicals; stationery and supplies; traveling expenses; fees and mileage of witnesses; contract stenographic reporting services; rent at the seat of government and elsewhere; and miscellaneous items; $464,000. Your estimate for salaries and administrative expenses is increased from $361,510 to $464,000. Will you explain that, Mr. McCauley? Mr. MCCAULEY. That is due in part, of course, to the elimination from the estimates of the legislative reduction in salaries. Mr. WOODRUM. How much does that increase it? Mr. MCCAULEY. That amounts to $19,925. Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. That is the restoration? ADDITIONAL EMPLOYEES REQUESTED Mr. WOODRUM. What is the rest of it? Mr. MCCAULEY. Then we have provided for an increase of 26 positions in the departmental service, new positions in the Commission's permanent organization. I might state at this point that the administrative staff whose duties are in connection with the compensation laws applying to the C. W. A. and the C. C. C. is provided in a separate estimate. Mr. WOODRUM. How many additional employees are you asking for in each class, and what is the character of their duties, and the necessity for them? Mr. MCCAULEY. The estimate provides for an assistant to myself. I have none at the present time, and have not had. We have also provided for 6 additional compensation-claim examiners in grade CAF-6 and 1 field investigator in the same grade. We have also provided for 2 additional medical-claim examiners in grade CAF-5, 3 additional clerks in CAF-3, 6 additional stenographers in CAF 2. and 3 clerk-typists in CAF-1. INCREASE IN WORK OF COMMISSION In explanation of the necessity for this increase, I might state that the work of the Commission in handling cases reported from the regular establishments of the Government has increased to such s point that we can no longer keep the work current with our presen staff. A fair indication of that, I think, is the increase in the carryover from month to month of the number of pending cases. ÖJune 30, 1931, we had 1,958 cases in that classification. That is cases in which final action has not been taken; or in which we hav not made a final award of compensation, or which are awaiting investigation or information of one kind or another. In 1932 we ha reduced these cases to 978, and in 1933 to 545. Beginning abou: April or May 1933, we first began to notice an increase in the number of new cases reported, and on June 30, 1934, we had 4,524 cases in that classification that are awaiting action. Mr. WOODRUM. How do you account for that? Mr. MCCAULEY. We have been able to dispose of about 2,000 cases a month with our regular staff. Recently, cases have been coming in at the rate of over 3,000 a month, and the cumulative effect of that is reflected in the figure I have given. Mr. WOODRUM. How do you account for that increase in the number of cases? Mr. MCCAULEY. There has been a very material expansion in our Government activities. A number of new agencies have been created. The Tennessee Valley Authority is probably employing in the neighborhood between 6,000 and 10,000 men at this time. Allotments have been made to the regular Government establishments from emergency funds with which they have expanded their activities. I have some figures here showing a comparison of the injuries reported for the first half of the calendar year. We will take the War Department, for example. The number of injuries reported from the Engineer Department of the Army for the first 6 months of 1932 was 1.780; in 1933, 1,801; in 1934, 2,480. The Post Office Department shows a slight increase from 4,500 in 1932 and 4,000 in 1933 to 4,848 in 1934. The Interior Department shows an increase from 508 in 1932 and 482 in 1933 to 1,041 in 1934. The Department of Agriculture reported 958 in 1932, 1,095 in 1933, and 3,177 in 1934. So the increase has been spread generally throughout the service. Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Do the figures given include the P. W. A., the C. W. A., and the C. C. C.? Mr. MCCAULEY. They would include persons employed by the Department with money advanced from those appropriations, but not employees of the C. W. A. or enrollees in the C. C. C. Mr. WOODRUM. It does not include the Civilian Conservation Corps? Mr. MCCAULEY. No, sir; the Civilian Conservation Corps only reported 4,000 injuries during that 6-month period. ADDITIONAL EMLPOYEES REQUESTED Mr. WOODRUM. All right. You were telling us about the increases in personnel. What is the total increase in personnel? Mr. MCCAULEY. It amounts to approximately $62,000 a year. Mr. WOODRUM. And in number of positions? Mr. MCCAULEY. There are 29 all told, 26 in the departmental service and 3 in the field. Mr. WOODRUM. Are they all in the classified service? Mr. MCCAULEY They are all in the classified service; yes, sir. Of corse, the three positions in the field are not classified, but we put them in the same category. Mr. WOODRUM. Did you take those from civil-service registers? Mr. MCCAULEY. Yes, sir; all our permanent personnel are taken from civil-service registers. We did have a few, and do have now, a few employees appointed with the permission of the Civil Service Commission who are not civil service, but that was because a register was not available from which we might draw the required personnel. Mr. WOODRUM. What is the character of those positions? Mr. MCCAULEY. Examining positions. We also have a staff on temporary duty who were appointed on a Civil Works project at the time we first undertook to administer the informal compensation program that the Civil Works Administration adopted prior to February 15, 1934. ALLOTMENT OF FUNDS FROM CIVIL WORKS ADMINISTRATION AND CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS Mr. WOODRUM. Have you gotten any funds from any of these emergency organizations transferred to you? Mr. MCCAULEY. From the Civil Works. Mr. WOODRUM. How much? Mr. MCCAULEY. Do you mean exclusive of the special fund created for that purpose? Mr. WOODRUM. I mean in addition to your regular appropriation. Mr. MCCAULEY. Under the act of February 15, 1934, extending the compensation to Civil Works employees, we were required to estimate the amount of money that would be required to cover that entire project, and with the approval of the Director of the Budget $25,000,000 was set aside for that purpose. That is available after the present fiscal year only in such amounts as Congress may provide for in the annual appropriation act. Mr. WOODRUM. Does that cover administrative expenses as well as payments to beneficiaries? Mr. MCCAULEY. Yes, sir. Mr. WOODRUM. It is not reflected in this appropriation at all? Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Did you say there were other funds in addition to that $25,000,000? Mr. MCCAULEY. Yes, sir. The cost of compensation benefits for enrollees in the Civilian Conservation Corps is paid from a separate fund set aside from the appropriation for emergency conservation work, and the total of that fund is $5,550,000. That likewise must be made available annually by the Congress. Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. Aside from that, there are no additional funds from any emergency source? Mr. MCCAULEY. That is the only source. Mr. WOODRUM. Do the two items of personnel and salary restoration account for the difference in your appropriation? Mr. MCCAULEY. For personal services; yes, sir. Then there is an increase, you will notice, of about $7,000 in the item for miscellaneous expenses carried in that appropriation. That includes $4,000 for travel and $2,000 for stenographic reporting service. Mr. WIGGLESWORTH. These are the figures you submitted to the Budget? Mr. MCCAULEY. Yes, sir. PRINTING AND BINDING Mr. WOODRUM. The next item is: For all printing and binding for the Employees' Compensation Commission, There is an increase of $1,000 there. Mr. MCCAULEY. That is to cover the printing of additional forms, due to the larger number of employees subject to the act, and the increase in the number of injuries. EMPLOYEES' COMPENSATION FUND Mr. WOODRUM. The next item is: Employees' compensation fund: For the payment of compensation provided by "An act to provide compensation for employees of the United States suffering juries while in the performance of their duties, and for other purposes", approved September 7, 1916 (U. S. C., title 5, sec. 785), including medical examinations traveling and other expenses, and loss of wages payable to employees under sec*ions 21 and 22; all services, appliances, and supplies provided by section 9 as amended, including payments to Army and Navy hospitals; the transportation and burial expenses provided by sections 9 and 11; and advancement of costs for the enforcement of recoveries provided in sections 26 and 27 where necessary, accruing during the fiscal year 1936 or in prior fiscal years, $4,250,000. There is a slight increase in your estimate for the compensation fund. Mr. MCCAULEY. The fund for this fiscal year-that is, for the fiscal year 1935-may be in excess of our requirements, because we were able to carry over from the 1934 appropriation $280,000. We feel that we will probably be able to carry over a similar amount at the end of this year, although that is not certain, because we do not know how much compensation will be involved in the increasing number of new cases to which reference has been made. So the estimate for this year is substantially the same as the amount we expect to spend during the current year. Whether or not it will be adequate we have no way of knowing at this time. Mr. WOODRUM. That amount, $4,250,000, is for payment of compensation for claims? Mr. MCCAULEY. It is limited exclusively to that. Mr. WOODRUM. There are no administrative expenses or anything ke that? Mr. MCCAULEY. None whatever; and, of course, the amount reired for compensation depends entirely on the number of claims. So be paid. I might state that compensation is being paid in some 2,000 peranent or long-continuing disability cases and in 2,387 fatal cases. ose figures are as of June 30, 1934. There is a cumulative increase the number of that type of cases from year to year because comsation is payable for life in the case of permanent disability, and tally during the life of the widow in the case of death. EMPLOYEES' COMPENSATION FUND, CIVIL WORKS Mr. WOODRUM. The next item is: For administrative expenses and payment of compensation in connection with the ministration of the benefits for employees of the Civil Works Administra*ion accordance with the provisions of the Act entitled "An Act making an additonal appropriation to carry out the purposes of the Federal Emergency Relief Act of 1933, for continuation of the Civil Works program, and for other rposes", approved February 15, 1934 (48 Stat., p. 352), $2,081,000 of the Decial fund set up on the books of the Treasury pursuant to the provisions of aid Act shall be available for expenditure during the fiscal year 1936. Tell us about that. Mr. MCCAULEY. That is to be made available out of the special fund of $25,000,000 to which I referred a moment ago. The Commission, as the chairman stated, has received nearly 163,000 reports of injuries from the Civil Works Administration. Not all of those, of course, are compensable, but in a very large percentage of them some payment will be made on account of medical treatment or hospitalization. It is not possible at the present time to furnish an accurate statement as to the number of cases in which compensation will ultimately be paid. At present we are paying compensation in about 2,500 nonfatal cases, and there are about 4,000 cases pending in which final action has not been taken. Compensation is also being paid in 254 fatal cases, in which there were 677 dependents. The average monthly award in these fatal cases is $21.53. That is about half of the award in cases adjudicated under the act of September 7, 1916. The average award in the latter cases in 1933 was $54.38 per month. The average cost per case in fatal cases arising out of Civil Works employment is $3,083. Of course, as you know, in extending the benefits of the act of September 7, 1916, to the Civil Works employment, a limitation of $3,500 per case was established, and the maximum compensation is limited to $25 a month. So the cost per case from that employment will not be great. Mr. WOODRUM. You have taken some reduction in personnel in that? Mr. MCCAULEY. Yes, sir; we contemplate a reduction there There will be no further increases in number of cases reported from that employment, and it is a diminishing proposition. It is just a question of cleaning up what we have on hand. EMPLOYEES' COMPENSATION FUND, EMERGENCY CONSERVATION WORK Mr. WOODRUM. The next item is: For administrative expenses and payment of compensation in connection with the administration of the benefits for enrollees of the Civilian Conservation Corps in accordance with the provisions of the Act entitled "Emergency Appro priation Act, fiscal year 1935", approved June 19, 1934 (48 Stat., p. 1057 $1,056,000 of the special fund set up on the books of the Treasury pursuant t the provisions of said Act shall be available for expenditure during the fiscs year 1936. You have estimated $1,056,000 for that? Mr. MCCAULEY. Yes, sir. That is based on the present wor program of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Mr. WOODRUM. How many claims have been filed under that? Mr. MCCAULEY. A total of 10,556 cases was reported to Octobe 31, 1934. That does not represent the total number of injuries enrollees in the corps, because we only require reports to be made cases of disability with a duration of 15 days, cases which might i volve permanent disability, and all fatal cases. It does not includ therefore, short-term temporary disability cases, which far outnumb the other types of injuries. We have received reports of 941 fatal cases. About 41 percent those cases, however, were due to disease, and are automatically e cluded from the benefits of the compensation law, which defines th |