The Washington times., 1920-12-03
BILL HITS PAY
HARD
lehlbach Measure Would Sound
Death knelI to Average
Workers Hopes.

The little which Government en-
ployes hoped to gain under reclassi-
fication has been reduced to still less
under the Lehlbach bill, made pup
lie yesterday, which is a redraft oi
the Jones measure.
WON'T BENEFIT ONE CENT.
In respect TO salaries. the one phase
of reclassification in which everyone
was most vitality interested, lars"
percentage of employees will not benc-
fit to the extent OF one cent eNe,l II
the Lahlbach bill should be enacted
into law.
This redrafted bill aims at an abso-
lutte minimum-a minimum which the
bureau of labor statistics has held TO
be below a decent living family bud
get; "A minimum which the recldssiii-
cation commission itself decalrcd 10
be too low; n minimum which CON
Gressman Lehlbach. AS chairman OF
the House Committee on Reforms IN
the civil service, admits Its still Some
what below comfortable living stan
dards and the standards OF the most
progressive employers and local gov
ernments."
The bill provides that those en-
mum shall not have their salaries
changed. In other words, II means
this-if. for example. the minimum
for one grade is $1,000 and the maxi
mum Sl,S00. and an employe an
amount within this range he Will not
receive a cent increase. Only II he
receives less than 81. 200 will be be
increased to that amount.
THOUSANDS In RANGE.
The range of salaries for the vari-
Gus grades generally have about
a S400 range, thus meaning that al
ready thousands of employees fall
somewhere within the minimum and
maximum.
A large percentage OF government
employees came nearer to the min
imum than the maximum and these
who under the Jones bill. expected TO
be raised to the maximum OF their
grade will now be disappointed
Only the lowest paid employees OF
the government service will get any
real financial benefit out of the LAM
bach bill. and this benefit Will be
negligible. In addition to this class
of federal workers the bill was care
full In providing some relief for the
highest technical and administrative
positions which group has long since
been threatened with anuihilation
and is now in a state of utter de-
moralization because of the low
salaries.
DISSATISFACTION APPARENT.
Dissatisfaction at the Lahlbach bill
was expressed on every side in the
government departments this morn
ing, there being a unanimous opinion
that only the Lowest and the high
est" have been taken care OF. while
the biggest group of federal en-
ployes is the middle class.
Employees received another jolt in
the fact that the Lahbach bill confines
itself exclusively with salary sched-
ules, ratings and efficiency methods.
and completely ignores those features
of the Jones bill and the recommends
tiors OF the reclaSsflcat commits
sion which tended to better the work
ing conditions of the employees.
LACKS Personal WORK.
That the Lehlbach bill fails to pro-
vide for personnel committees in the
de part mentS is viewed with the ut
most disappointment. Such commit
tees which were TO hear grievances
have been strongly urged by en-
ployes for some years and it was
hoped that employees might be more
fairly dealt with.
4 preamble to the Lahlbach bill
after declaring that the Jones bill
is too comprehensive" says that
the act creating the joint commits
sion authorized the commission TO
prepare a plan OF uniform and cuui-
table pay, but not general plan FOR
the reorganization of The Civil Ser
vice and the welfare of the employees
In addition to providing for re-
classification of positIons--placins
each employe in a job according to
his duties-and the setting of eff
cheney ratings. the larger part of the
Government employees in Washington
this morning feel that they gain
nothing through the Lahlbach bi,l.
That il will be difficult to get
favorable action by Congress on even
the much modified Lchlbach bill is a
doubt expressed in many quarters.