The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-02-24

zf I7l ! paid tribute to President Kelly, Of the Clerks association. whom he hoped would secure the postmasterShip of Brooklyn. He said that the banquet looked more like national than a state affair. He spoke of the retire ment act as ~ something that must come because if the government sis to retain dts employees some form of re tirenent law must be enacted. He expressed regret that the national president could not speak and launch ed into the causes which had made dissention in the ranks of the postal clerks, attrIbIting it in a great meas ure to- the action. of the American Federation Of Labor; ..T can hardly reconci1e,' ' said the speaker sthe at- titude of tfe Federation of Labor when dealing with the clerks a-sso- citation and letter carriers associa- ton.
 sswe have no quarrel with the Fed eration Of Labor, but the; federation in granting cha rters to; bodies of postal clerks have taken different attitude towards our organization from that taken with the letter carriers The federation is in the post office service branch in San Francisco has small branch in Chicago and has .branches in a few other offices in the coun- try with a total membership of 1, 400. Now at our last annual convention the question of aff1liating was brought up and we adopted a resolution that the post office association would take a referendum vote upon the question to affiliate with the American Feeder ation of Labor provided first the exec utive counsel would agree to abide by the result of the referendum vote 90 we would cancel the charter and remove support from those few fed era,ted bodies of postal clerks now in existence. Following out instructions our executive committee in December addressed communication to the ex-6 ecutive council of the Federation or Labor asking them to take that maj ter up at meeting A letter ad- dressed to Secretary Morrison has re- ceived no reply. We feel that the atti- tlpdeaof the federation towards OUT or gani zation is entirely inconsistent and unfair because when a few disgrsITl- tied letter carriers in the city of Des Moines, Iowa. wished to have a char ter granted them the federation re-. piled they did not desire to create dis 1rIption or 1issension in the ranks of the letter carriers and that if they de- sired to affiliate they should take the nratter before the national body of letter carriers and come over as 3 whole rather than dndivfdIlal bodies. .
 Andrew ". Mckee. president of the National Association of Civil Service Ernployes, conveyed I1ds message as the .representative of over 100000 civil service empdoyes in the federal gcv- give expression to their views upon the question of proposed eompensa- tion for civil service employees
 Besfnrling with the Tart adminis stratton when he said legislative relief had been prayed for he said: E It is
 
 ef1ciency due to superannuation an n1aIly costs the government $1, POO, 0oo It is rea5onalbIe to assume that the irlcreasing loss through superannua- ton since the last figures were conn- puted undouhted1y bring the figures bill introduced by Rep. James H. Harnmill, of New Jersey. Ut is re- 11ar4zab1e, he said that the United States is the only government that does not provide means for the lib eratsoTl of old and disabled men and women by some system for thsia' re- tirernent- Germany has had it for over a. century and other continental nations for g to 90 years. Corpora tions are urduly criticised, but they have been the pioneers in the lplift- ing and betterment of the working classes They have today in operation systems for the reIievefnent of those
 
 DO NOT TAKE CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE SALARIES FOR THE PURPOSE The predonnfnating prin- cfpaI is business eeifHency and econ o7ny not .hq11narfi arfal1isn. George W Perkins has proclaimed publicly. ests has produced continuity Of ser vice, increased efficiency business economy, and brought greater, profits to business interests The day the federal government adopts such a sys- tenn tIaH day will they begin to save g, ooosoo0 a1lnualIy and they might profit immeaslMnbly by taking lessons from the corporations upon this sub ject-
 ssIt is not generally known that there were 91 OH resignations from the government service from 1902 to 1909 and from 1905 to 1912 there were 132,- BOA, or half the total number of civil service employees have resigned from the service. No public or private ser vice can hope for the best results from ever changing of forces.
 stCoDservatism is practised in for estry with no notice to more essential consegvati isna-hunam Iife-but be- Meve that we are near the eonsum- nation of the ideal in this respect, judging from my recent conversation with President Wilson, followed by an audieuce with the sponsor Of our bill and discussion of the matter in the Cabinet and a later public S1ecIar- ation that he believed and was in hearty accord and sympathy with the proposition to retire supreamnuated civiI service employees and some pro vision was to be made for them
 Mayor Clifford B. Wilson who ar rived from another banquet before the close of the speaking welcomed the guests heartily, spoke of their orderly conduct during the day and expressed the hope that they would soon fbe seen in this city again
 Charles E. McGregor, chief clerk in the railYoad mail service. from New Haven, made a. witty speech upon the subject Of retir rement and the best way to keep discomfort from, the ranks of