Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-11-28
CLERKS PAID MORE
ONCE UPON A TIME
Salaries Were Increased in
Order to Meet High Cost
of Living.
BUT THAT WAS LONG AGO

eminent clerk in Washington and
every government official on duty at
the National Capital whose salary is
less tina $3,500.
The sum of 100000 given to the Sec
retary of the Treasury by Congress. to
be distributed to the clerks of his own
department. as he saw fit. in lieu of
specific raises.
Thus runs the record of legislation
for higher pay to government clerks in
the two years following the close of
the civil war, when prices were high,
land when there was just such a clamor
as there is now against the inadequate
salaries paid to civil service employees
| in the light of the high prices of food.
Action by Two Congresses.
| These steps were taken in the Thirty
eighth and Thirty-ninth Congresses.
The sum of $4,000 was given to the
Secretary of the Treasury by special
paragraphs in appropriation bills. The
20 per cent horizontal raise was grant
ed by special and separate act OF Con-
gress, approved February Is, 1861. and
was effective for one year.
! Will there be any legislation for the
benefit of government clerks in the com
| ing session? There seems TO be no rea-
son why there cannot be. and every rea-
son why there can and should be. Prob
ably never before in history have the
civil service employees of any government
been SO we'll organized and so ably rep
! resented before the committees which
have the subject in hand. There is a
mass of data before the appropriations
committee, the labor committee and the
committee on reform in the civil service.
all tending to show that civil war sala-
ries still being paid and that the cost
of living is mounting upward every day.
No Evidence of Hearings.
In the case of the two odd legislative
provisions to meet the cost of living in
1866 and 1867 there is no evidence of
hearings before the committees; nothing
but a common understanding that the
salaries were inadequate and that there
was a special condition to be met To-
day, probably, there would be an attempt
to make more scientific adjustment
than is seen in either of the two pro-
visions mentioned. but present-day legis-
.ators would do well to study the Con-
gressional Globe for the Thirty-eighth
and Thirty-n ninth Congresses to see how
easily such legislation passed
A study of the debate in both Senate
and House shows a striking lack of
ing; only twice is this ugly monster
called by name. But running through II
all there is distinct undercurrent of
an understanding that the years after
the war found enormous prices and a
deprecated currency. There were. how
ever. one or two references to the in
ability of government clerks to live
on their salaries owing to prevailing
prices, SO that students of the question
need not fear there is nothing definite
on which to base their present day
arguments for higher pay.
/ Had Garfeld's Support.
| The bill was prepared after the mat
| ter had been talked of in the cloak
| rooms of the House. There does not
seem to be any record Of n written re-
| port on the measure. and the first men
| ton of it in the Globe is the paragraph
| relating that Representative Thaddeus
Stevens introduced the bill December
II. 1866.
Representative Garfield, afterward
| President, presented favora BILE re-
-verbally-January g. 1867, and
tried to take il up for discussion Janu-
airy 6, but Representative Washburne
of Illinois objected. Three days later
Representative Garfield got the floor
and explained the necessity for the
measure. His main reason was: THE
extra VACANT cost OF HVlng mere and
the depreciation of the currency have
SO reduced the purchasing power of
the money they government clerks)
receive to make it scarcely possible
to live within their salaries"
In the discussion which followed
there We're several references to the
strange act of the previous year. where
by s410,000 had been given to the Sec
retary of the Treasury to distribute
according to his own views as to the
necessities among his own clerks. No
other department clerks thus
benefited. ard. according to some Of
the members of the House. and also of
the Senate, there was a howl at the
time that this money was distributed
along purely political grounds.
The big question then was the es-
arrangement between President johnson
and his Congress. and the departmen ntal
politics were tinged with this murky
political trouble. 4 member of the
House named Schenck took occasion
in the January debate TO lambaste
what he called the 'bread-and- d-butter
party.
creatures who had crawled into Office
I in the preceding year or two. and sup
ported the President as against Congress.
| Politics in Departments.
! There was an organization then known
as The johnson Departmental Club"
out strongly in the public prints with
! praise and acclaim for President Johnson.
but with epithets and stern accusations
against Congress. They belonged to the
! bread and butter party" said Schenck
| because they got their appointments from
the President or his cabinet and would
| take any political turn to keep their jobs
The debate was enlivened by accuSa-
tion and recriminations along this line
! hut nowhere in the entire debate can
: there be found any of the impa ssioned
pleas for economy at the expense of the
! Government clerk which have featured
| latter attempts to better the work
ers' condition. Nor did any self-consti-
| There was a question or two raised as
to whether female clerks" should be
pra nted the 20 per cent. and eventually
answered in the affirmative. but a sur
prising lack of demagoguery-and what
| a chance there was, The inference is
that the Thirty ninth Congress knew ex-
i actly what the situation was and feared
only that the raise would not be broad
! enough
| The matter went to the Senate in Feb
| ruary and at night session. February
IN. was presented for discussion.
| This debate is also remarkable for the
mention of the necessity for the rails:
| deyoting itself almost exclusively to
| discussion of various amendments Of
| fered to alter the bill in several small
| particulars.
Need Taken for Granted.