Evening star., 1918-06-26
Profteering in Labor.

11UAtCCl1AS IL AGSoA.
After constantly scolding and menac-
ing the people Ct the District af Co
1umbia for alleged profiteering upon
che new-coming government clerks,
needed for war services in this city,
Congress is about to put through-if
st has not at this writing alasady done
so-a bit of proftecring WHICH puts to
blush the petty enterprise of the few
Washingtonians who have sought to
batten oft the necessities of the de-
partmcnt workers. Granting a paltry
salary bonus of $40 a month to those
Who receive 50 800 year and less in
consideration of the higher cost of Ev-
ing, the government, through congress
sional action, is planning to exact
nearly 141la per cent more work from
them. The pay bonus is about 10 per
eena for the empIoy'e Of average salary,
ranch 1eys for those Of the higher range
o4pan q little more for those Of the
lower grades. In only a very few fn-
stances does it amount to as high 3
percentage as that of the hours In
crease.
Inasmueh as the bonus is a coutin9a-
ton froFa the now closing fiscal year,
the added hour is net gain to the gov
crnment Of about 141a per cent in
labor.
II this we're bargain struck with
the employees it would be very
5hrewd bit OF work on the part Of the
government. IF every business man
could make an arrangement like tAat
he would reap big profits. But the
employees of the government have not
been consulted. They went to Con-
gress and asked that the pay scale,
fixed during more than half century
Of constantly rising cost of living and
accompanying Increases in the pay
scales af ell other enployments, be ad>
vanced Last year Congress granted
a meager bonus, not as an addition to
he scale, but as q temporary measure
of relief" It was expected that this
year, In simple 5nstice, the even higher
costs faced by everybody would result
in larger honus But the grant was
no greater, though in somewhat differ
ent terms and extended to cover a
wider range OF personnel It was still
stated as an annual concession, not as
a. fixed addition to the scale. And. as
Il to exact the last penny Of return
for this grudging grant, the legisla-
ture has declared Cor an extension Of
the working hours, contrary TO the
principls that has prevailed In the
labor world for years
The criticism has been leveled at the
people Of Washington frequently In
Congress during the past months that
the course of a few property owners
here, not representative of the com
munity, was causing the government
serious difficulty in manning the new
war Offices. New clerks, it has been
alleged, were leaving the city by the
hundreds because they could not find
accommodations within their means
Yet the people of the city have been
housing them in their own homes,
gladly doing whatever was possible to
help them and the government, put
ting themselves to inconvenience and
often to loss in order to aid. The gov
ernment itself, early urged to provide
emergency quarters for its own forces,
went to the matter slowly, adding thus
to the burden laid upon the shoulders
of the citizens.
# it has been difficult during the
past year to secure the services of
sufficient clerks for its war admins
tration needs with poor pay scale
and with congested conditions in Wash
iagton, the government will surely find
it more difficult during the next twelve
months to get and keep workers, on
the same pay scale and with the work
ing day heightened. Verify, the gov
ernment has added to its own troubles,
when it had the chance to lessen them
by an act Of justice to the depart
mental force. Let no more be heard of
profteering here in the light Of this
performance,