JUN 18'40 PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS-No. 5 THURSDAY, MAY 16, 1940 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS, Washington, D. C. The committee met at 10 a. m., Hon. Fritz G. Lanham (chairman), presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order. We have met this morning for the purpose of considering the bill, H. R. 9116, which was introduced by me on March 27. The bill is before you, and it will be printed in the record at this point. (The bill referred to is as follows:) [H. R. 9116, 76th Cong., 3d sess.] A BILL Designating building guards employed in buildings under the jurisdiction of the Federal Works Agency as United States Building Police, and for other purposes Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the building guards providing service in any buildings in the District of Columbia, under the jurisdiction of the Federal Works Agency, shall hereafter be known as United States Building Police and shall have the same powers and shall perform the same kind of duties as the United States Park Police and the Metropolitan Police of the District of Columbia: Provided, That the jurisdiction and policing power of such United States Building Police shall be restricted to the public buildings, grounds, and other areas under the control of the Federal Works Agency. The United States Building Police shall be under the direction of a separate division of the Public Buildings Administration of the Federal Works Agency and this division shall be directly responsible to the Commissioner of Public Buildings. The annual salaries of the United States Building Police, without reference to the Classification Act of March 4, 1923, as amended, shall be as follows: Chief inspector: $3,500 for the first year, with an increase of $100 for each following year of satisfactory service until a maximum of $4,000 per annum has been attained. Inspector: $2,700 for the first year, with an increase of $100 for each following year of satisfactory service until a maximum of $3,100 per annum has been attained. Fire marshal: $2,800 for the first year with an increase of $100 for each following year of satisfactory service until a maximum of $3,200 per annum has been attained. Assistant fire marshal: $2,300 for the first year, with an increase of $100 for each following year of satisfactory service until a maximum of $2,700 per annum has been attained. Captain: $2,300 for the first year, with an increase of $100 for each following year of satisfactory service until a maximum of $2,700 per annum has been attained. Lieutenant: $1,900 for the first year, with an increase of $100 for each following year of satisfactory service until a maximum of $2,300 per annum has been attained. Sergeant: $1,700 for the first year, with an increase of $100 for each following year of satisfactory service until a maximum of $2,100 per annum has been attained. Private: $1,500 for the first year, with an increase of $100 for each following year of satisfactory service until a maximum of $1,900 per annum has been attained. No private shall be promoted to a higher grade unless he shall have served satisfactorily for a period of at least one year. The members of the United States Building Police force shall be instructed in their duties through appropriate training courses and furnished with complete uniforms and such other equipment as may be necessary for the proper performance of their duties, including badges, arms, ammunition, masks, and so forth. This equipment shall be handled by a property clerk for the force, who shall be responsible for the issuance, upkeep, and distribution thereof. The Administrator of the Federal Works Agency is authorized and directed to make, modify, and enforce necessary rules and regulations for the proper government, conduct, discipline, and good name of the said United States Building Police force. No person shall be removed from the said United States Building Police force except upon written charges preferred against him in the name of the officer in charge of the Protection Division or his duly authorized representative, to a trial board or boards which shall be established to hear such cases by the Administrator of the Federal Works Agency, said board or boards to be similar to the trial board provided by law for the Metropolitan Police of the District of Columbia. Nothing herein contained shall operate to deprive the members of the United States Building Police force from any benefits arising from the Act of May 22, 1920, as amended, entitled "An Act for the retirement of employees in the classified civil service, and for other purposes." The application of this Act shall not result in the demotion in salary or grade of any employee, nor shall the application of these provisions be permitted to cause the dismissal of any employee from the service without just cause. That to provide for the increased salaries and compensation of the United States Building Police, so much as is necessary, is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to supplement the amounts which have heretofore been appropriated for the payment of the salaries of the building guards in the buildings in the District of Columbia under the jurisdiction of the Federal Works Agency. All Acts or parts of Acts in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed. The CHAIRMAN. The purpose of this bill is to designate building guards employed in buildings under the jurisdiction of the Federal Works Agency as United States Building Police, and so forth. I am asking Mr. Stengle to make the initial statement with reference to the bill and its purposes. STATEMENT OF HON. CHARLES I. STENGLE, REPRESENTING THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES Mr. STENGLE. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, for the purpose of the record, my name is Charles I. Stengle, representing the American Federation of Government Employees, which body is affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. Before I begin, Mr. Chairman, I would like to call attention to the fact that on page 2 of the bill, at line 23, there seems to have been an entire paragraph omitted. I have in my hand a copy of the original print. After line 23, on page 2, a new paragraph should be inserted, reading as follows: Investigators: $2,300 for the first year, with an increase of $100 for each following year of satisfactory service until a maximum of $2,700 per annum has been attained. It may I ask permission to insert the paragraph I have read at that point. The CHAIRMAN. I do not know why that was left out. have been an error in the drafting of the bill. Do th of Ci Mr. STENGLE. Yes, sir. This is the original draft. It was due to an error either in the drafting or printing. However, that is immaterial if you will have that paragraph inserted now. I want to ask this question before I begin my statement: Will it be possible to include in this bill the guards now employed in the Smithsonian Institution, the United States Treasury, the Government Printing Office, and the Library of Congress? The CHAIRMAN. I will say, in reference to that, that while all of these guards may be performing equal service, they are not under the supervision of the Federal Works Agency, and I doubt if that would be germane to this particular bill. Another bill of a similar nature applying to them, of course, might be in order, but the supervision being different, and since this bill is seeking to look after those under the supervision of the Federal Works Agency, it seems to me that they could not well be included in this particular bill. Mr. STENGLE. That was my reaction, but I wanted to get it definitely settled by the chairman of this committee. Now, Mr. Chairman, I shall speak in general terms, because the witnesses who will follow me will go into the details. This bill seeks to bring to the guard force under the Federal Works Agency a sufficient compensation for the duties they perform, and to give them a title that is in keeping with their duties. They are not guards, although they are called guards. If their duties were simply to stand at the doors of public buildings and guard the entrances, it might be satisfactory to term them as guards, but before these hearings are over, and when the duties of these so-called guards are enumerated, this committee will be amazed to think that all these multitudinous and multifarious duties are placed on men who carry the title simply of guard. Their responsibilities are particularly heavy in times like these, because of the danger of fires and sabotage. We have among us, as you doubtless know, people in this country who are not good Americans, and yet they are enjoying all the benefits that are to be derived by Americans living under a democracy. So that these guards, in addition to watching the doors and directing visitors where to find the various offices, have a greater and more responsible dutya duty that certainly does not call for the miserable salaries that they now receive. The CHAIRMAN. May I inquire if there is any certain training required of them, from the standpoint of efficiency? Mr. STENGLE. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Will you elaborate a little on what that is? Mr. SCHAFER. Are not their jobs more comparable to the job of a watchman in an industrial plant than to the job of a metropolitan policeman? Can you put in the record at this point a statement of the Civil Service Commission examination requirements for this guard position, for which, I understand, they have many thousands of applications? Mr. STENGLE. For simply the position of guard? Mr. SCHAFER. Yes. They are appointed to the position of guard, or the position of watchman, and I want to know what the qualificaThey are appointed to the position of guard from the Civil Service eligible list. tions are. Mr. STENGLE. That may be true, Mr. Schafer, but after they are appointed, they assume duties and responsibilities different from those set out in the Civil Service requirements. It is the object of this bill to meet that situation. Mr. SCHAFER. Do you want to make them a part of the police department? Mr. STENGLE. No, sir; I do not. Mr. SCHAFER. Police work would require special qualifications. Are you proposing to pay these guards the same salaries which the policemen receive? Now, is it the purpose of this bill to cover these guards or watchman automatically into that higher grade, and put them on the same basis as the members of the Metropolitan Police force? Mr. STENGLE. This places them in a location or an allocation that fits the duties they perform, and if those duties they should perform are not being performed by this so-called guard force, then it is up to the department heads to dismiss them, and get somebody who can perform those duties. It would be up to them to secure satisfactory men to perform all the duties now laid down for these men under this title. The CHAIRMAN. I wonder if it would not be better to ask the questions after we get more information. Mr. STENGLE. Now, the purpose of this bill is to reclassify them. They have been classified, as has been stated, as guards, which title, to my mind, is a misnomer, considering the duties they perform. This bill provides for the correction of that title, giving them a classification to fit the duties they perform under their new title. In substance, that is the entire effort we are making, and the witnesses I will produce here will doubtless prove to your satisfaction that it is a reasonable request. I now ask that you hear Inspector Elmer C. Duncan, of this guard force. The CHAIRMAN. We will be glad to hear you, Inspector Duncan. STATEMENT OF ELMER C. DUNCAN, INSPECTOR OF GUARDS Mr. STENGLE. Inspector Duncan, will you briefly outline the duties of the so-called guard force under your supervision? The CHAIRMAN. First, Inspector, give your full name and position to the reporter. Mr. DUNCAN. Elmer C. Duncan, inspector of guards. The CHAIRMAN. Inspector of guards in buildings under the Federal Works Agency? Mr. DUNCAN. Yes, sir; under the Federal Works Agency. Mr. CROWE. This force is not under the Metropolitan Police, is it? The CHAIRMAN. No; this has reference to guards employed in the Government buildings, under the direction of the Federal Works Agency. Mr. SCHAFER. Watchmen, if you please. Mr. DUNCAN. You call it a guard force, but, in addition to being guards, we are policemen in our buildings, the same as the Metropolitan Police in the city. We are there to give information all the time, and to do everything that is to be done along that line in the buildings where we serve. We make our own arrests, call on the city |