The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-04-14
FULL WAR PAY
 PLAN OPPOSED
 BY EMPLOYERS
Group Wants Government to Help Bear Salary
 Burden.

New York, April .14-Efforts have
 been begun in this city by some of the leading manufacturers of the country it was learned yesterday, to work Ou system for the payment of salaries to employees who enlist, on a basis that will be fair both to the employ CT and to those dependent upon the men at the front. The movement has been begun, it is understood, in the hope of enlisting the Government aid and preventing the spread of the full pay offers which have already been made by many large concerns.
 The manufacturers contend that the full-pay system, if allowed to become general, would prove a tremendous burden upon the country'ss industries and one, which they might be unable to bear if the war should continue for any great length of time. They have reached this conclusion after gathering together and studying the results of the operation of similar sys- tems in England and Canada, where, according to the manufacturers, some thing like ruinous confusion and chaos threatened many of the important in- dustries. +
 It was said that definite effort would be made to urge the Govern ment to provide 'tsubsistence allow ances'' in the United States to 1depen- dent families of men who enlist, on a basis similar to that adopted by the Governments of Great Britain and Canada, and the operation of a nation al patriotic fund will be urged, to be handled by the American Red Cross, assisted byi the Charity Organization Society and local commercial organi- zations, in the matter of necessary in- vestigation.
 An enormous fund would have to be raised in this country, it is said. Even if only 100000 families should be involved, it would mean 20,00o,000 a month, or $240,000,000 a year, for "separation allowances" alone most of which, it is calculated, would be an additional tax on American business. It is understood everybody would be asked to contribute to this fund. tE
 Information obtained from authori- tative sources in Great Britain and Canada as to how the problem was handled there disclosed what are de- scribed by the manufacturers as the "most staggering kind of experiences. It appeared that because the war was sudden, prominent firms and corpo- rations in a burst of patriotism, pub licly announced that they would give full pay during the war to every man who bore arms. This was intended, 1t was explained to encourage enlist ment. It is maintained, however, by he American manufacturers that these offers made at the beginning of the war set pace which public sentiment fostered and encouraged, but which business was unable to stand. The result has been, the investigation showed, that undertakings made by heads of firms throughout the indus cancelled, and the entire method of dealing with the problem in Great Britain and Canada has had to be re- adjusted.
 Among Canada's chief difficulties was the system by which individual firms permitted their employees to go to the front on full or part pay. Ca nadian. employers. concluded that a condition where men fought Side by side with a different ratio of remune- ration for their patriotism naturally bred discontent, and, in their opinion was morally wrong. Enlistments. moreover, were encouraged without regarad to skilled or unskilled labor. with. the result that production was severely Handicapped
 Employers who had promised their to give them back their own jobs found it impossible to fulfill their promises, Many came back maimed and injured, and after two years of war vast army of tempo rary help had been created in the fac tories. The problem of getting rid of this temporary help on the return of the soldiers proved a difficult one.
 The employers in Great Britain and Canada would first of all, it was ex- plained to the manufacturers provide for "selective conscription," taking young unmarried men, and even from this first draft send back to the factories every man who was a skill ed workman. The British and Ca nadian Governments have decided, the American manufacturers have been H s ' E
 to pay Subsistence allow ance" to each dependent family, rep resenting a figure sufficient for food and rent alone. That has been fig ured out to be $51,68 a month for a family of two adults and three chill dren, paid by the Government direct to the dependent family.
 Then there is the separation allow ance" of $40 month per family, for moderate comforts, clothes, etc., and the compassionate allowance" made at the discretion of a central agency distributing the fund in exceptional cases.
 These separate and "compassion- atet" allowances are not paid out of a. national patriotic fund raised by voluntary public subscriptions and dis tributed through some central agency
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