The Connecticut labor press., 1919-10-04
WHILE CONGRESS
 DALLIES POSTAL
 EMPLOYEES WAIT
Salaries Paid at Present So Low That Good Help Is
 Scarce,
SERVICE SUFFERS
Reported That Senate Sub Com mittee Has About Decided on
 a Graduated Schedule.

The post office employees, letter car r1ers, railway mail clerks and 1aborers freceived news from Washington durins the week that the subcommittee of tn,
 United States Senate which has beer considering the increase in pay matter has about decided on a schedule. Ii
 was reported that the committee ha: agreed to report back to the full com mlttee an increase of $250 a year for all employees whose anua1 compensa- ton is S1, 200 or less $2OO for all whose compensation is 5000 or less and $1OC for all whose annual compensation is over 5000.
 Those who sent out the report and claim to be i'll position to know the reason for the change in the sub-con- mittee plan from the 5 per cert. in- crease for all postal employees assert that 1t was due to the conditions in re- gard to the lower classes, whereby about 10 per cent.~have resigned in the past year, and the claim recently made by department officials that most of the resignati0ns from the postal service were in the lower grades. It seems to have been argued from this fact that it would only be necessary to raise the Day Ill liIC IOwCI so thar LQeY would prove attractive
 It is of course well known that the salaries paid at present and the oppor- tt1nity for advancement do not attract nor retain young men. The substitute that i'll order to get out the work and move the mails extra help of a tempor- ary hand-to-mouth character has been employed without the formality of a civil service examination. It was stated today at the post office that at this time at least 20 of the uncertihed clerks were engaged in the New Haven post office. This causes a great waste of effort all around for the instruction and training given to these boys has to be repeated on others when the new lists of eligib1es from the civil service ex- arlinations are appointed. It is asserted that in Detroit, the situation is so acute that boys direct from the house of cor rection get jobs in the post office until better opportunities are offered.
 Notwithstanding this phase of the situation, men from all the postal or ganizations regard 1t as most unfor- tunate that there is any chance Of the pssage of the graduated plan of in creases in place of the general percent age increase all around. An active of1ic- ia1 of the organization stated: "In my opinion this graduated plan will be a bad one for the service. If the con- gress does not treat all alike the morale of the service will be dealt another blow on top of the many already struck. The days are gone by when anything can be class in the postal service. The high sa1aried man and the low salaried man, who makes the postal business his life work are in the same boat and if an in- jury is done to one 1t will surely react on all. We have had expressions from President Wilson, ex-President Roose- ve1t and even Asquith in England that the great war with its horrors was bound to bring a new era for the man who works for a living"
 A prominent New York city daily paper states that "While the American congress has been fddling, the British post war parliament has a record of accomplishment that is amazing. It has passed the following measures: The transport bill, quickening every kind of, commercial transportation setting up a ministry of health; appropr1at;ng state money for housing projects and to aid he working classes i'll meeting their ent; measure to aid disabled soldiers o get work; appropriating millions to ,rirg food from across the seas; es- ablishing machinery for airing police grievances; the coal industry conmis- ion bill; established a tribunal to deal with profiteers restoration of pre-war ractices bill involving labor conditions.
 While these things have been done broad the conditions affecting the sal ried men in this country have been dis ussed and admitted, the abnormal share f the war burden borne by them has cen recognized, yet when 1t comes to djusting the salaries there seems all i 5ays to be the flora and fauna in Hawaii or the precise shade of yellow eril involved in the Shantung shindy | 3 absorb congressional attention" A clipping from a religious publica- | on posted in the post office this week 1 aused a good deal of comment and | xDreseed the individual opinion of | umber of clerks. It contained an ex erpt from a sermon of a chaplain of | 1e house of representatives, as fol- | 0ws: Let the self annointed who | ave the power to enact laws stop talk- | lg and do things worth while and teach ! 1eir neighbors by example, fair play, 1 ven ,I0nded justice and righteousness nd thus lead us out of the terrific | angle in which we find ourselves, to | and peace"
 Since the Lords Day Alliance woil | or the postal men the strict enforce lent of the Sunday closing laws tn. -e as been q warm feeling of friendship | nd sympathy between the associations.