Arizona republican., 1911-12-18
And Probably They Will Get it But They Will Not Have Quite Such a Pic nic as They Have Had in the Past.
THAT IS VIEW
 OF COMMITTEE
Question of Salaries for Government Employes Will be Thoroughly In vestigated by Congres- sional Action.

Advocates of increased pay for gov ernment clerks will be given every opportunity to state their case at spe- cial hearings before the appropria- tions committee of the house this winter. it is understood, but they will not be in friendly territory, if the temper of the committee can be gauged by expressions from some of it's members At least, these advo- cates will be placed on the positive side of the show me" situation.
 Representative Swager Sherley. of Kentucky, chairman of the sub-cOm mittee which considers the big sundry civil appropriation bill already is lay ing plans for the reception of higher pay advocates
 gWhen the question comes up for hearing" said MT. Sherley recently. T am going to call all these district merchants and employers who have been industriously signing petitions for higher pay for government clerks and ask them a few questions about their own pay rolls. 1 want to find out just what they pay for just what class of service and for just what hours. I'll show the committee that Uncle sam pays more money for less service and shorter hours than very large majority of the private employ CTS of Washington.
 -'I am in favor of higher pay for government clerks; yes. certainly: but. coincident with the increase in pay there must be an increase in service and corresponding decrease in the size and of the force l am in favor of increasing the salaries of govern ment clerks by one-third. and decreas- ing the number of such employees by one-half. There is too much dead timber in the government service. How many of these in the classified service do you believe are doing a full days work each day? Very few. you can rest assured of that.
 As for the increased cost of living which necessitates this increased pay. why not remedy the evil instead of devising a means to live with it at the expense of the government?
 II know it is true that living costs from 25 to 40 per cent. more in Wash ington than in many other places. pay that much more here for living quarters and that much more here for food than in my home city in Louis vile, Ky. Why not strike at the root of the evil?
 This condition can be remedied largely through changes in the meth ods of taxation. belisve the plan of Representative Henry George. of New York. tO impose heavier burdens of taxation on unimproved property and lessen the burdens on personal prop erty would help much, if congress could be induced to agree to such leg islation. That would enforce the low ering of rentals in many cases. because it would enforce the inn provement of property. or impose higher taxation for failure to improve It would make land speculation. which has been the curse of the district. less profitable and more hazardous to the speculator
 - But big factor in the assessment problem is the lack of uniformness in levies on personal property Of this have positive Knowledge. In levying on personal effects. there is almost no attempt to make equitable assess ments. Take the homes of the many wealthy residents of Washington. Il could name off twenty in which I have been where personal effects are not assessed at One-tenth their real value. Take, on the other hand. the smaller. less pretentious homes There the opportunity for evading the per sonal tax assessments is not offered. and the homes of the poor in con sequence bear the heaviest part of the burden. Levy taxes equally and the amounts of the assessments will diminish. Tightening the burden where 1t falls heaviest. This would be more effective way of fighting the high cost of living than throwing the burden on Uncle Sam's shoulders"