The Washington herald., 1918-06-17
CLERK is PAID
CHICAGO WAGE
OF STOCKYARD
Federal Employees on Par
With Handlers of
Cattle.
PETITION SENT AROUND
Union Asks by Circular
That Increases Be
Made General
SENT AROUND

Paupers In the Chicago stoekyard
district cannot live on the average
salary of the Federal employees, ac-
cording to the June Federal Employe.
a magazine for government workers.
Petitions are therefore being sent to
the heads of departments asking that
new employees receive the same in
creases in salary as those employed
before July, 1917. will receive.
Inasmuch as the bill providing for
the 1913 increases in wages for the
government clerks provides that those
who are in new bureaus and who
have been appointed since July l, 1917.
and those who have received or will
receive increases of more than 500
during 1918 and 1919 shall not be en-
titled to the $40 increase. there Is
being circulated in all departments of
the government by the National Fed
Grafton of Federal Employees a peti-
| ton to be forwarded to the heads Of
the various departments showing why
there should be no distinction made
between these people and those who
will receive the s120 increase auto
matically.
Recommendation Noted.
The bill provides That the employees
excluded from the $50 increase may
receive this increase upon certinca-
tion by the heads Of their departments
and the petition that Is being circu-
lated Is intended to bring about this
! recommendation.
Figures are furnished by the June
Federal Employe in support OF the
! petition.
"The average average basic salary
paid by the United States government
! to its employees In the classified civil
service approximates closely to the
budget of the United Charities OF
| Chicago for the yearly maintenance
Of destitute family, in the stock
yards district of that city," says the
! Federal Einploye.
"Incredible-sensatio II you will
! as this statement may seem, 1t is
literally correct"
! The figures on which the Federal
Employe bases its statements follow
| The yearly budget OF the United
| Charities, Chicago. for a destitute
! family OF FIVE in the stockyards dis
! trict Is $l,106.S2. The average salary
of Federal employees is H.1SS The
authority for this statement is the
report Of the United States Efficiency
! Bureau, May, 1918. The figures are
| for July /, 1915, selected as a normal
I time, and the average includes the
bureau chiefs and others drawing
relatively high salaries. 1t does not
/ take in the present bonus" OF five
and ten per cent. The average salary
OF q woman Federal employe on the
some authority is 1929.
stockyard Men Get Increase.
"The average yearly wage of g
| packing house laborer in Chicago IL
$780," says William z. Foster. sec
rotary of the Chicago Stockyard'
Labor Council. before the recent
substantial wage increase was Sc
cured.'
i The amount required for the bare
existence of the 1aborer's family fol
year in the stockyards district 4:
! $1,177.95. according to w. Jet
War Labor Board. The statistic:
reau of Applied Economics.
anu ldSI Dul
to the Federal Employe. the amount
necessary for the maintenance Of q
family in health and reasonabl,
comfort, according to the United
! States Department of Labor, aver
aged for twenty-four cities is ST.
| $4,000. This does not include the
increase in the cost of such things
as amusements, charities. insurance
taxes, books. newspapers. or eN'
penses incident to sickness ant
death.
For Washington. d. c., six pei
| cent should be added to the $1.65t
average for the other twenty-foul
cities.
These hard cold facts. presented
on unimpeachable data. are so con-
vincing," says the Federal Employe
that comment Is almost superflu
Gus.
1T may not be amiss to suggest
however, that a very large proper
ton Of government employees are com
PEELED to live-it is disgraceful tha
they are not able to live-on a scale
measurably above that unfortunatel,
prevailing in the stockyards district
a section of one Of our great cities
which has long outraged the sense
of humanity and decency of all who
| are concerned with the we1l-being o.
their fellow-men.
Living Wage Platform.
I'VE do not as yet realize what g
deadly blow has been dealt to oul
i great fetish Supply and Demand.
by the President of the United States
The moment he adopted the princi
pies laid down by the National Wal
Labor Board he made them the la
Dor platform of the government Il
the extent Of the executive power.
THE platform includes a straight
out living-wage plank. This is moth
ing short Of revolutionary. 1t mean!
the substitution Of the health ant
comfort line as the base line Of oul
wage system for the starvation lin,
fixed by unrestrained and ruthless
| competition. Necessarily the Who'll,
system must grade upward from tn,
new base. and organized labor mus
see that the front-line trench jus
\ established by the President is helC
at all hazards