New-York tribune., 1919-09-06
Army Wages
By Theodore M. Knappen

ment is ASKING congress TO raise the pay Of
officers before the army becomes ofhcerless.
All officers below the rank of brigadier gen.
eral favored for an increased Of $500
a year, brigadiers $1,000 and higher off,
GERS $500. Up to August 27 1,426 regular
army oFicers-one in every seven-had re-
signed this year and designations are CON-
ing in at an increasing rate.
SIN civil life" says memorandum Of the
plan division Of the General Staff re-
latng to officers morale, affected By the
high cost Of living, "the increased cost os
living has been met by strikes or threats Of
strikes by organized labor which have re-
suited in increases of wages. Such CO.
operative action is not legitimate In the
army However, the cumulative importance
of the designations of their commissions bv
1856 now 1926 officers as individuals has
similar significance, for instead of under
taking the task of securing increase Of
pay they have simply left the service
entirely. Those who DO this are obviously
the most self-reliant, vigorous and valuable
type"
Distressing reports are heard in Wash
ington of the actual poverty in which army
officers are living-of the physical impossi-
bility of making the limited pay go around,
of endless borrowing that can never be
made good. The demotion Of thousands OF
officers, consequent upon demobilization, is
resulting in distressing domestic tragedies.
The increase of pay that came with tenn
porary higher rank was scarcely enough to
offset the increased cost of living that ad-
vanced more rapidly than the officers did 10
grade; but to be set back from that COM
parativc ease to the pay of 1908, has
happened to some of the denoted ones in
wolves a serious compression Of living ex-
penditure.
There has been no increase IN base pay
in the army since 1908 Practically all the
officers now in the regular establishment.
who were in it then have higher nerrna.
nent rank, but almost all of them will hava
a lower rank than they enjoyed during the
war, often Of several grades, when the army
reaches its peace footing on October 30. For
none of them will the increase in pay that
goes with advance in rank Offset the III
creased cost of living since 1908.
In support Of the memorandum above
mentioned some actual records of hardship
have been set down anonymously, TO show
what problem the officers are wrestling
with and how it must inevitably affect their
morale A captain has a wife and child.
His pay including cash commutation Of
quarters, fuel and light allowance, is s266.s7
month. His monthly expenditures ara
s265. so. and an explanatory note reads:
"Wife does all the housework and takes caro-
Of the child. She never goes 10 the theatre.
No social obligations are fulfilled. Ths
budget does not permit the officer to carry
any insurance, nor he able 20 purchase
any Liberty bonds" Another officers
budget illustrates how much faster living
expenses have increased than pay has
gained with higher rank In May. 1917, his
pay was $33274 and his expenses We're
s241.46; in 1919 they were S5l9Ss and
s4S696, respectively. Now set this officer
back grade and he is headed straight Tor
bankruptcy.
A colonel in the army drawing about SO
a day was confronted with S51 plumbing
repair bill. Investigating its composition. ha
found that the common laborer who worked
on the job got $3.50 day, the plumber who
did the work SIG day and the master
plumber who bossed the job $40 day.
The cost of the army ration Is the best
price index in America, as it covers COM
close buying in large quantities, thus escap-
ing any exceptional local protiteering. The
ration at Washington barracks cost .476l
cents in June, .5514 in July and .6173 in
August. In other words, dollar in August
bought no more than 70 cents in June. In
the same ninety days the average cost Of
tailored uniforms at the supply depot
has increased from 1925 10 $4l.93. But
these increases in the last ninety days are
superimposed on mountainous increase IN
prices from June, 1908, to June, 1919. In
the former month the army ration at Wash
ington barracks cost less than 20 cents
day. Now it is nearly 50 cents day.
Of course the ration Is only available to
the private soldier, and its price doesn't
worry him, because he gets IT, no matter
what happens to prices-he serves for so
much pay and keep" But the increase in
the cost of the ration is reliable measure
Of the general increase in the cost Of food
The army officer, however, knows from con-
sulting comm issary price lists exactly how
much more he is paying for everything he
obtains from the commissary stores than
he was at any time in the past. OF course
retail prices, but they reflecg with general
accuracy the relative increase in prices in
recent years
The actual prices charged and collected
on fifteen articles of food a the army
stores, with no retail pro6teering involved,
show an average increase of go per cent IN
eleven years: