The Administrative Career of Dr. W. W. Stockberger

• Author: Eldon L. Johnson
• Published date: 01 June 1988
• Date: 01 June 1988
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/009102608801700201
• Subject Matter: Article

The

Administrative

Career

of

Dr. W. W.

Stockberger

by

Eldon

L.

Johnson

The

following

article is reprinted

from

Volume I, no. 1,

llie

Autumn 1940 issue of

Public

Administration

Review,

rh/s article is reproduced

to commemorate f/ie accomplisiiments of Dr.

Warner

W. Stocl a pioneer and leader in f/ie

field

of federal personnel administration.

Readers

may recognize Dr. Stocklierger as the individual for whom

IPMA's

highest honor award is named, and as the

first

director of

personnel for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Among his many other accomplishments, Dr. Stockberger served as the

first

president of

the Society for Personnel Administration. This article was

written

by Eldon L.

Johnson,

formerly

editor

of

Public

Administration

Review,

and

administrator of the Graduate School of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. We thank him for allowing us to

reprint

this

article as a

tribute

to the achievements of Dr. Stockberger.

I

n

the

history

of

personnel administration

in the

federal government,

no

name

is

more important than that

of

Dr. Warner

W.

Stockberger, former Director

of

Per-

sonnel

of

the United States Department of Agriculture. When President Roosevelt

issued

his

Executive Order

of

June

24, 1938,

requiring that

all

federal departments

and certain independent agencies establish personnel divisions, headed

by

personnel

directors.

Dr.

Stockberger

had

already completed thirteen years

of

service

in

such

a

position.

The

example

set by his

years

of

pioneering effort undoubtedly

had

much

to

do both with

the

issuance

and

with

the

effectuation

of the

order.

In

making

its

personnel recommendations,

the

President's Committee

on

Administrative Manage-

ment

had

given special attention

to the

personnel organization

and

program

in the

Department of Agriculture.

In

carrying

out the

terms of the Order, many departments

and agencies found

the

Office

of

Personnel

of

Agriculture

a

valuable depository

of

personnel information

and

experience.

In

examining applicants

for the new

positions

of Director

and

Assistant Director

of

Personnel,

the

Civil Service Commission sought

the advice

of

Dr. Stockberger

and

later appointed

him a

member

of

the oral-interview

board.

Dr.

Stockberger enjoys

the

distinction

of

being

the

first important figure

in the

federal personnel field.

For

approximately

two

decades

he has

directed

the

personnel

program

or

assisted

in

formulating

the

personnel policies

of

one

of

the largest federal

departments.

To

those

who

know

him

professionally,

he is an

extraordinary public

servant.

To

those

who

know

him

personally,

he is

also

an

admirable individual

and

a kindly philosopher.

In

personnel circles

in

Washington

he is

often referred

to as

the "dean

of

personnel administrators." When

the

Society

for

Personnel Adminstra-

tion

was

organized

in 1937, he was

unanimously elected charter president; when

he

retired from

the

position,

he was

unanimously elected president emeritus

in

recog-

nition

of his

"distinguished service

and

inspiring leadership." Students

of

public

administration invariably cite

his

career

as a

brilliant example

of the

specialist,

the

Public

Personnel Management

Vol.

17,

No. 2

(Summer

1988) 91

scientist in this case, who succeeded as an administrator in a genered staff capacity.

An examination of his career will throw some light on the reeisons for that successful

transformation; but first it is necessary to understand the setting in which the trans-

formation took place.

THE

BACKGROUND

Like many other auxiliary services, personnel functions in the federal government

were until recently dealt with as an undifferentiated part of management. The Civil

Service Act of 1883 and the Retirement Act of 1920 established a central personnel

agency and made it responsible for taking hold of the personnel problem from both

ends,

initial employment and final retirement; but the vast and significant gap be-

tween was still left to the operating departments, not so much by design as by default.

The most significant phase of personnel administration, that which involves human

relations, morale, and the maximum utilization of human resources after recruit-

ment, was left untouched. It was, nevertheless, an inescapable part of departmental

management. It could receive special attention by special persons or it could be dealt

with in the normal course of managerial events, largely according to the pressure of

circumstances. Most of the old-line departments did not establish personnel offices,

except for record-keeping purposes, until required to do so by the Executive Order of

June 24, 1938. The most notable exception was the Department of Agriculture.

Until 1923 the history of personnel administration in the Department of Agricul-

ture was substantially the same as in all other federal departments. There was a

time when all appointments and salary adjustments received the personal attention

of the Secretary. As the Department grew, this function became too burdensome. The

organic act of 1889 provided for a chief clerk with genersd supervision over the clerical

personnel. Two years later, in 1891, an appointment clerk was named to keep essen-

tial personnel records. This was the first "personnel officer" in the Department and

the beginning of the first over-all department treatment of personnel, except through

the Secretary personally. Soon after the turn of the century another personnel agency

was created—a committee on personnel. Probably because it was primarily concerned

with important disciplinary cases, it was headed by the Solicitor. With the existence

of the chief clerk, the appointment clerk, and the disciplinary committee, personnel

administration was diffused among three agencies soon after Warner W. Stockberger

entered the Department in 1903 as a young scientist.

For 32 years, from 1891 to 1923, the appointment clerk was the center of all de-

partmental personnel functions. Toward the end of the period he assumed the more

imposing title of Chief Personnel Officer, and his office came to be known as the

Office of Personnel. The function did not change, however, except in quantity, until

the passage of the Retirement Act of 1920, which made the determination of the

length of service and the rates of pay of each employee of primary importance in the

calculation of retirement annuities. Not until the passage of the Classification Act

of 1923 was there a major move in the direction of expanding the personnel functions

or strengthening central responsibility for them.

92 Public Personnel Management

Vol.

17, No. 2

(Summer

1988)