The Washington times., 1911-11-07
WHAT THEGovERNMENT EN-.
PLoYES NEED.

of such reorganization of the civil
service as will make it possible to i'm
prove the conditions both of the service
and of the individual employees therein.
He has recognized that the Govern
ment business suffers and the employees
are not fairly treated under the
present system.
Especial interest must, therefore, at
tach to the Secretary's declaration
that if the employees are to get any
improvement of their circumstances
they must agree what they want. This
is the very imminent and pressing diff.
fculty in the situation. The Times,
considering that the coming session of
Congress is the right time to make the
most effective campaign for better con-
ditions, has repeatedly urged that steps
be taken to formulate q program and
to unity sentiment in the service in
favor of one set of proposals.
There are, of course, unavoidable
differences of view. These will persist.
Pensions for civil employees are not
popular with Congress, and they are
not popular, either, with the great
majority of civil service people. Con-
gress does not want to establish civil
pension roll; the employees do not
want to have pensions promised to
them when they are sixty five or seven
ty years old, if in order to get the pen.
sions at that age they must meantime
continue working for inadequate sala-
ries. The vast majority of them would
rather do without pensions or the
promise of pensions if only they could
be assured of a substantial increase of
compensation right now, when they
need the money, when the costs of liv-
ing are excessive, and when the dis
parity between wages and necessities
is more marked than it has ever been
before.
Would it not be we'll to drop, for the
present, all consideration of pensions
and retirement plans, and devote en-.
ergies to a straight-out fight to, con-
vince Congress that salaries ought to
be very generally increased? Has any.
body taken the trouble to make up a
body of data for Congressional con-
sideration in favor of such a campaign
as this? The material certainly is not
difficult of access. The exact facts as
to the increases in wages and salaries
in other occupations, say, during the
last sixty years, can be compiled from
various statistical sources. The data
showing that the Government service
is just about the only occupation il
which this increase has been unknown
is readily available. Studies of tn,
detailed cost of necessaries of life a.
various periods are to be had fo
purposes of demonstrating that livinl
costs more and more, while wages re
main stationary.
Let the civil service establishment
of States and cities be analyzed witt
reference to this question of wages. l
will be shown that in a given set o
positions the city of New York ha
repeatedly increased salaries an
wages, while there have been no ad
vances in the compensations of civi
. service employees in Washington an
! elsewhere throughout the Government
, service. The State of New York wi
make like showing.
f So will any other great city or STATE
l.. All these things, carefully brough
y together and set before Congress, car
f not but make a powerful impression
8 The one immediate, urgent necessit
:. is MORE WAGES for people who mus
. support families from Government en-
{ ployment. AS to retirement, pensio
d funds, etc, Congress will be very eel
l. tain to go into those aspects once tn
a general question is opened up.
;. This is a time when Uncle Sam
J. employees will be perfectly justified
y playing practical politics. There al
enough of them to be an important fa
h tor in the next election. Withol
,e threats or extreme utterances they al
ia their friends should make it perfect
10 clear that they intend to look aft,
lie their own interests, to seek just al
is fair treatment, exactly as other bus
m ness interests concern themselves wit
politics and the framing of polite
issues.
And the time to get somethir
started that will effectively impre
Congress is RIGHT NOW.
H. Does anybody suspect seriously tn
ne Republican Senate will kill measu
lg of justice along these lines passed
O. Democratic House, on the verge of
re Presidential election?
as Or that a reasonable, defensible, ia
nd measure once passed by the Repub
es can Senate would be rejected by t
a Democratic House?
Politics is too acute. The polite
l.