Page:LewisMeriam-TheProblemOfIndianAdministration.djvu/190

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Personnel Administration
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of the quarters and to the service required in connection with their occupancy.

The fact is, of course, that there is wide variation in the value of the quarters and other allowances furnished the same class of employees in the different jurisdictions. If the gross salaries are the same and the deductions for quarters and allowances uniform, without reference to their real value, one employee obviously gets more than another, and this difference is not based on their efficiency or their merits. It would seem that the gross salary scale should be uniform and that the deducations for allowances should take into consideration both their value and the extra service which must be rendered in connection with the occupancy of quarters.

To arrive at the value of quarters and other allowances would of course require a thorough-going study of all employees’ quarters, probably through the use of a carefully drafted schedule similar to those used in housing studies. Such a schedule could be filled in by the employee, checked and reviewed by the school or reservation superintendent, and submitted to the Washington office for uniform consideration. These reports would not only serve as a basis for a fair evaluation of allowances but as a device for locating those which are below a reasonable standard and bringing them up. It is unquestionbly true that superintendents differ very much with respect to where they put their emphasis in recommending appropriations or allotments for their reservations or schools. Some give serious consideration to the upkeep and improvement of all buildings, including employees’ quarters; others are interested in a single new big building project, such as a dormitory, gymnasium, or dining hall; still others are apparently little concerned with physical equipment. The result is fairly wide variation. Studies of employees’ quarters, dormitory facilities, and so on, directed from the central office, would improve this situation.

Extra Duties in Connection with Quarters. In those cases where quarters are located in dormitories, hospitals or other similar places and the occupants are subject to night duty, it hardly seems as if any deduction should be made for quarters. Anyone who has spent several nights in an Indian school dormitory, not in a quiet guest room but in an employee’s room near the main sleeping halls, learns that it is not the same as a room in the employees’ quarters