Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-27
Congressional and Clerical Pay.

Congress has increased its own pay by
~ per cent. Every consideration oil justice
demands that it should simultaneously IN
crease the pay of the government clerks
whose work has grown heavier and whose
living expenses are larger than ever before.
Propositions to that effect are now pending
before the houses, based upon careful
survey of the field and aimed at an equi-
table reimbursement of the departmental
salaries to accord with the prevailing ten
denotes and necessities. In another part or
The Sunday Star will be found compre-
hensive account of their provisions and the
arguments advanced for their adoption.
Some one of these measures should be en-
acted into law at this session.
Practically every skilled and unslkilled
trade has enjoyed an increase OF wages
during the past ten years. Bricklayers.
trcnworkcrs craftsmen of all classes ana
grades of experiences have secured better
CONDENSATION and shorter hours. In TINS
community at least the government clerks
alone have remained stationary. While their
hours Of labor have been heightened Now
Congress has Joined the ranks of the better
paid and 1t is called upon in the name OF
fairness to extend the same equitable treat
ment to the departmental employees, who
cannot legislate for themselves or form
unions TO secure more liberal remuneration.
The government pay roll stands today
practically as II has stood for many years
\ few places In the higher grades are bet
ter paid than formerly. but the great mass
of the public-service workers are CLASSIFIED
at present as they were decades ago. The
average of pay is low. being variously cal
cuiated at $500 and 81 .07O, according as GER
tain classes are excluded or included That
average has probably fallen in the course
OF years instead of rising. and meanwhile
the cost of living has steadily mounted.
The result is that the average department
employe is not as we'll off today as he was
dozen or twenty years ago.
The increase in the cost OF living ia not
peculiar to Washington. Other cities have
felt 1t. The residents of the rural districts
have also felt it. 1t is the result of high
wages. of better times. of steadier employ
meut. of greater demand for the COM
mndtics II is useless to attempt to define
precisely the relationship between expense
and income as to cause and effect. The
fact is Sufficiently plain that the man who
earns fixed amount from his regular en-
ployment. who has no chance to make
money on the side, whose prospect for pro-
motion is slight. or has passed, is poorer
today than he was a few years ago, with
the same income.
7. II the policy of Congress to close its
eyes absolutely to all considerations of
equity in dealing with the clerks. to ignore
their relative financial position, to insist
rgidly upon the old false declaration that
the government employees paid more
than any similar body of subordlnates in
this country? If that is the settled princi-
Pile there g nothing more to say. But it
is difficult to believe that this can be true,
that Congress-especially now that It has
applied the cost-of-living argument to its
own case and for its own material benefit
will refuse to regard the claims OF the
clerks for a general proportionate increase
as reasonable To look at the matter from
the single viewpoint OF enlightened selfish
ness for moment il might be suggested
that the salaryraising record of Congress
will De much more easily explained to the
country when the reckoning Is demanded If
the clerks are included in the same cat
egory as the members OF the two houses.
as deserving of more pay because they
need 1t To make both ends meet.
TIE vote 10 raise the legislative salary to
81 500 was proper. The responsibilities OF
a congressman are heavier than ever be-
fore ard his opportunities for legitimate
money making outside of his duties are
rather narrower than otherwise. Ii costs
more for congressman to live now than
il did when the 5000 rate was fixed but SO
does it cost more FOR the government clerk
10 IKE than when the present scale was
adopted. II Congress adjourns without en-
tending the same principle to the depart
ments that il has applied TO its own case
1t wi" stand before the country In the in
dcfensible position of refusing to its de
pcEdents the justice which 1t has demanded
and admin. stered TO itself