Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-01-14
CLERKS LOSE RAISE
UNLESS HOUSE AIDS
Senate Subcommittee's Action
on Employees Pay Likely to
Get Senate's Support.
CONFERENCE ONLY HOPE

Now that the Senate subcommittee
has stricken the proposed horizontal
increase for government clerks from
the legislative. executive and judicial
appropriation bill. and it seems likely
the Senate will support this action. the
House will simply have to insist upon
its original position or the proposed
increases will be lost. That is the view
as expressed privately yesterday aft
ernoon by members of the House COM
mittee on appropriations.
The House first proposed the increase
and attempted to make the and 10 per
cent raise the consistent policy for
every appropriation bill carrying
clerks salaries.
The horizontal raise. however. did
not become a part of the District BILL
Little Chance for Campaign.
have very little chance to conduct
campaign for the benefit of the and
10 per cent raises. The democratic
caucus in the Senate has determined
to support the appropriations commit
tee in any economies it desires to ef-
feet. and now that the first economy
seems to be placed on the shoulders
of the government clerks, it is possible
the Senate will pass the pending appro-
priation bills without the horizontal
raise.
Then the bills will go to conference.
the Senate conferees primed to sup
port the Senate bills and the House
eonferees primed to support the House
bills. If the Senate has placed in the
bills items of permanent increase, then
the House conferees may insist that
some of those permanent increases be
dropped and the one-year horizontal
raise for clerks be put back. If the
House conferees see that the Senate is
making an actual and genuine effort
to effect economies there will be small
if the present temper of the House is
sustained
Net Increase SIS, 1000.
1t was learned last night that the
Senate subcommittee has cut down
many Of the items in the House bill
other than salary increases, and has
increased others. and that the net in
crease in the bill as 1t will be reported
to the full committee tomorrow is only
about $4,000.
In the case of the District bill Chair
man Page and his associates were not
permitted to retain the and. 10 per
cent horizontal raise In the bill In the
House. They may have q chance to
say something about Il. however. II the |
Senate makes permansAesihesseses In
II do not believe In the rivers and
harbors bill nor the public buildings
bill at this session." said Representa-
tive Page yesterday. II believe that II
economies are to be effected they
should be genuine. I do not believe
Congress should knock out the pro-
posed clerks increase and then go
ahead with great appropriations like
those proposed"
Get Rivers-Harbors Bill.
II is perhaps a coincidence that al
most at the hour the Senate committee
decided to prune the raises from the
clerks salaries. the rivers and harbors
appropriation bill was introduced in
the House.
The senators who are supporting a
raise for the federal employees receiv-
ing low salaries are planning to make
further fight to prevent all increases
for these employees being stricken from
the legislative. executive and judicial
appropriation bill when that measure
is reported to the Senate appropriations
committee by the subcommittee in
charge tomorrow morning.
While IL was admitted last night that
the friends of the increase in pay did
not have much hope of having the hori-
zontal and 10 per cent increases of
the House restored to the bill. 1t was
said that there is still hope of a COM
promise plan whereby those employees
receiving $1,000 or less may receive a
raise in pay.
Expect seDate to Approve.
Democratic members of the Senate
appropriations committee, whether
members of the subcommittee or not.
pretty generally expressed their belief
last night that the action of the sub
committee in striking these House SAL
ary increases from the bill would be
sustained by the full committee and
by the Senate.
On the jther hand. 1t was admitted
that some of the democrats not mem
bers of tie committee did not feel
themselves bound by the resolution
adopted by the democratic caucus last
Monday. which pledged the democrats
TO support the appropriations commit
tee in all steps 1t took looking to
economy. to the extent of voting
against all salary increases. II suf-
fcient number of these democratic
senator's join with the republicans in
support of salary increases for some
of the employees. some increases may
yet be obtained.
Smoot Leads Clerks Fight.