The Washington times., 1911-01-25
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that this is one of the most important
questions which confronts us.
1.-THE payroll of the civil service en-
ployes of the Government is about
two millions of dollars a year. larger
than the military or the naval serv-
ice. and yet nothing has been done
for that service. either for entrance
into it or for salaries in it, except on
the regular appropriation bills. for
about thirty years
There is great agitation, as we
all know, all over the country. and
in all the world. about old-age PEN
sions. There is constant agitation
in this House about salaries of en-
ployes when they come up. of which
we had vivid illustration this after
noon when the question of rural free
delivery service came up. So 1 think
important, and it challenges properly
our attention.
Deducted From Salaries.
1.-THE bill which the committee re-
ported. is not a pension bill, in one
sense. vet in another sense it is. What
that bill provides is that each en-
plOye of the Government shall have
deducted from his monthly salary a
certain percentage, figured out by in
surance tables. which. when he be-
comes seventy years of age, will be
sufficient to give him an annuity of
1lh per cent of his salary for each
year of his service. The way we came
to that conclusion OF the percentage
was this: We saiG that If a man has
been in the service and devoted his
whole life to it, for instance, he goes
In as clerk at twenty years of age
and stays until he is seventy years of
age, he certainly is entitled from that
age on to have an annuity of three
quarters of his annual salary. OF
course, theoretically he ought not to
take that out of the Government.
Theoretically. l think we will all ad-
NIT. every man ought to be thrifty
enough, and every employe ought to
be generous enough, so that man
from his annual income to provide for
his old age.
Few Are Able to Save.
THAT is the ideal condition both in
private and in Government service.
But we all know equally well that
human nature is so constituted that
very small percentage of us are
thrifty enough or farsighted enough,
or are so exempt from the ills and
misfortunes of life. particularly the
clerks and employees of the Govern
ment at small salaries. that we can
carry out what they admit is the
ideal. and let each man save for him
self. and unless the Government steps
in and in some way, either by a pen
sion or by compulsory saving law,
compels a saving by each man, most
OF them. when they get to seventy
years of age will not have any ac-
emulation.
And what is the result of that?
Why, We see it in the departments to-
day. We see there a great number of
men from seventy years up who are not
competent to fairly perform the work in
the office, and yet are kept there be-
cause either their employer is not hard
hearted enough to turn them out in the
world or because they have some Con-
greSSional friend who keeps them, or
for some other reason: and they stay
there and clog the department.
Il know that ! dropped into Gov
ernment office this summer, and / was
asking the man in charge of it about
his employees. He said he kept record
OF them, and he informed me that there
was a man there over eighty years old.
] asked him if he did competent work,
and he told me that he was really of
no use to the Government, but said that
he would not turn him out. He had
previously told me that he kept a record
of all the employees, and ] asked him If
he would let me see his report on that
individual
Work Had to Be Done Over.
Il was rather amused. and l fancy
this is Illustrative of the whole service,
20 read his official report of this man.
which said that he was faithful and
willing, but owing to the infirmities of
age his work had to be largely super
Vised.' asked him, Confidentially,
what he meant by that-it would read
very well if you simply read the record,
and he might be called an efficient en-
ploye-and he said, 1t means that his
work has to be all done over again
Yet that official was kept there be
cause he would not as most of US would
not, | fancy, turn him out. 1t was not
costing him anything 10 keep him; K
was only costing the Government; and
a. result of that feeling l suspect all
through the departments there are kept
many men who are not efficient and
who ought 10 be discharged. Therefore,
we can face this fact at once, that If
we do contribute something. if the Gov
crnment contributes something, TO rid
the departments of the suDernumeraries
and the suDeranEuated who are now
there, it will not be an entire loss.
Will Gain Efficiency.
I'VE are going TO gain something, be-
cause in the place of these men who are
rot competent to do a full days work
and yet who are mostly drawing high
salaries, having been there many years,
We will get young men who probably
will do twice as much. Many of these
men are not doing probably half days
work: some of them undoubtedly are
not doing full days work.
We have found it impossible to get
a department official to admit that he
has in his employment men who are to-
tally incapaCitated, because you know
We passed a law some years ago say
ing that no department shall keep any
nody who was incapacitated. Conse-
Quently, even if they knew it they
would conceal the facts.
"Onc of the officials stated that he
thought men above seventy years here
in Washington had probably averaged
three-fourths work If that is true
there is now paid in Washington to
men that are doing three-fourths work,
$1,000, 900 in salaries. This is to men over
seventy years of age. Now, if they
do three-fourths work, then one-fourth
remains of the $1.20O0gO Of wastage.
That is 100000 is wasted, and at that
rate, One-fOurth as many in Washing
ton as there are in the remainder of
the United States. there is $l,2O0,0OO a
year that is paid for services that are
not performed on account of superan-
0W.aN