New-York tribune., 1920-09-19
Swami, Requests
Increases for
80 Assistants
District Attorney Declares
Court Attendants Are Re.
ceivirB Higher Pay Than
His Professional Aids
Wants $743, 924 i'm 1921
Bronx Zoo Director De.
rnands Raise for Workers; ;
Brooklyn Seeks I 5 Million

torney Edward swarm asks for sub
stant;al increases for the thirty-nine
deputy assistant district attorneys on
his staff. declaring that their compen-
sAtio" is wholly inadequate.
We nov have situation in the
Criminal Courts BuildnE," said the
District Attorney, "whcre some of the
court attendants are receiving higher
saiarles than some of the District A.
torney professional assistants. There
are eleven deputy assistant district at
torneys at $4,000 each, who are rS8siv-
ing less compensation than the secre-
taries to the judges before whom these
assistants daily appear and try cases.
IN the proposed schedule the most
numerous grade and the lowest grade
Is of the $1,000 grade, in which there
would be fifteen deputy assistants.
Many OF these men are now receiving
only $1,000, some of them $3.50. It
would seem to require no argument to
convince any one that lawyer who il
o member OF the District Attor,ev's
professional staff should, under nregent
eondlt'ons, receive at least $4,000. 1t
VIII be noted that this is the minimum
salary paid to the professional staff in
the Corporation Counsel's office.
Highest Grade Fixed at $1,000
1T IS proposed that the highest
grade among the deputy assistants
shall be the $1,000 grade. In that
grade shall be placed eleven OF the men
whose compensation now is between
$4,000 and $4,000. These deputy as
slstants are performing duties similar
10 those performed by the statutory
assistants, and | strongly urge the
adoption of the salaries scheduled
above" o'eo
he salaries of the deputy assist
ants are fixed arbitrarily by the Board
OF Estimate. There are fourteen stat
utory assistants, 80 called beca"sc
their number and compensation has
oeen txed by the Legislature. The
law fixes the pay of the first statutory
assistant at $l2 coo, seen Of the
others at $4,000 each, and six Al
$500; The District Attorney points
out that the salaries and grades o.
the deputy assistants have been prac
tIcally unchanged for twenty wears.
There are tifty~three assistants. ali
told, on the stat.
District Attorney Swami reouests q
total of S743,o24 for the operation Of
hls department for the coming year,
Ot this amount S649 o2A is for ncr.
sonal service. For this year he was
allowed $5S4,821.
zoo Director Asks Increase
In presenting his estimate for 1921
Or, W. T. Hornaday Director of the
bronx Geological Park, uses some plain
language. lie requests d dcpartmen,ai
sotai OF 1881 BOG, as against S237, $50
allowed this year.
OF the Board of Estimate" avs. Dr.
Hornaday, ito try and realize that there
Is no educational or recreational jnsti-
,utlon IN the entire list Of sue cstab
l'shmcnts so difficult OF so burdcnsomc
70 care tor from day to day as a large
geological park. The demands of ,ivmg
animals are constant and inexorabi..
IN presenting this budget, two facts
stand forth with painful distinctncss;
elrst' we positively must have an in
crease of $2l,245 for the purchase Of
1ood, fuel and general supr,;es. T1r
several years this necessity has been
showed aside by US for the purpose of
securing more waueS for our tinanciallv
burdened and harassed working people
NOW, our Increase in animals to be fed
and the enormous increase in the cost
of food, fuel, iron, steel, wood and
paint, render an increase of 1,245 alb
solutely imperative.
Says Officials Are Handicapped
Second, the other condition to be
met Is the equalization OF the pay of
our officers and men with the pay of
men employees in equivalent rccupa-
Three times have addressed the board
and its budget committee on this sub
Ject. On August 9, 1920, Curator Dit
mars, with the approval of the society.
appeared before YOU and stated the case
or the park officers. Up to date everv
horizontal increase has left our men
fully 20 per cent behind the procession
and still handicapped and irrtated by
that lack of even-handed justice and
equity.
ain view of all that we have done Yor
New York City over and above our
routine duty; in view of what we have
accomplished, and in view Of the maxi
mum wear and tear on the human ma
chine, why should we any longer be
psnalized by the lowest wage and why
should | any longer be kept lighting
TO maintain the old spirit and the old
esprit de corps in the Geological Park
force under fearful handicap?
why should the curasors and SINH
lar officers in the parks be kept down
to $3,25O year, when curators in the
Two museums receive from $4,000 to
S6,oOo a year? AS an academic query,
why should the director Of the Zoolog-
lcal Park be paid $4,000 o year while
another director, with q far easier Job,
aeceives $4,000? For the fourth time
we ask for an increase in our salary
allowance, sufficient to satisfactorily
equallze our officers and men with
other city employees occupying similar
positions. The amount necessary to do
this is $45.ol5."
bEookiyn Wants $1B,0oO,oOo
the Department Of Packs, Bronx, re-
Gsests total OF sl.G76,l5l, OF which
ssoS."S3 is for personal service. This
yea: the department received total
W 3o5%,al6, Of which $521,4Ss was for
personal service,
1nc Department Parks, Queens.
requests totsl Tor ihe coming wear of
:.,co ,o"2. OF which $4S5,oSs IS for mar
sSSi sSnai service, y large proportion Of
the total appropriation requested is
Ter tnc Improvement OF the park sya.
TEN in the borough. The total allow
snee this year was s3l@,A65.
More thu slb,000,0o0 is requested
Tor l92l BY Borough President Edward
limo