Evening star., 1920-11-17
FLAT PAY RAISES i
URGED FOR CLERKS
Government Officials Now
Specially Concerned for
the Technical Glasses.

With fat increases in the salaries
of clerical workers. constituting the
greater part of the employees OF the
government in Washington. sure to
engage the attention OF Congress
during the coming session. with
good possibility that such increases
will be authorized, officials OF the
various government departments arc
concentrating their efforts on obtain
ing specific increases for the tech
nical workers in the departments, II
was learned today.
| Three separate propositions, all
embracing the same general subject
! that of higher pay for the great
mass of government employes-will
be presented to Congress shortly
/ is the plan for reclassification Of gov
ernment employees. with upward re-
vision of salaries all along the line,
presented by the reclassihcation
comm ission at the last session OF Con-
gress. The second is a plan put for
of the bureau of efficiency. provid-
ing practically the same schedule of
! increases, and the third is q separate
plan adopted by the Federal En-
ployes' Union along the same gen
eral lines as the two others.
One Plan Already Decketed.
The first plan that Of the. reclas-
SlllCdllOu conn Is Oh ku0 ooS-
ket of unfinished business Of Con-
! gress and as such will be taken up
before the other two propositions can
be considered. However. some scheme
Of joint consideration of the three
PROPOSITIONS to adopt the best parts
of each may be evolved whom Con-
gress begins consideration OF federal
pay raises.
While all three Of these PROPOSE
! tions interlock and take up specific
i'm fnr fho onlr nd Of
| government employees, It Is felt in
| most of the departments that they
do not sufficiently consider increased
compensation for the highly trained
|! technical workers who are employed
by every department.
To the end that these employees may
receive such increased compensation
and to prevent almost entire dis0r-
ganization OF the technical stA6 of
several of the government bureaus, it
partments have Incorporated in their
1921 estimates specific appropriations
for these workers.
Commerce Department Hard Hit.
The Department Of Commerce has
been particularly hard hit by resigna-
| tions, most Of which have occurred
because Of the relatively ANAL sal
aries paid by the government. The
bureau of standards and the bureau
of fisheries have practically been de-
pleted of their best technical experts.
Faced with q great increase in living
| costs in the last three years. these
men. according to officials. have, for
! self protection. been forced to take
jobs outside the government employ
| nent which would bring them in suf-
| ficient money to meet rising expenses
The problem at the bureau Of fish-
cries also has been particularly acute
state fishery commissions and private
{ firms sometimes doubling the depart
| mental salary paid fish expertA A
! similar problem has confronted the
bureau of standards.
Secretary Payne of the Department Of
| the Interior refused today to discuss the
1921 estimates Of the department. but.
| it was learned, that in specific cases the
estimates provide for increased salaries
for technical workers. Tho turnover in
! the technical branches Of the dsoart-
ment has been as high as SO per cent
in the last year and q half. It was said.
In all these cases it requires Q consid-
cradle period to train the man who hlls
the vacancy.
In Department Of LahoP.
While there have been relatively few
recommendations made for specific in
creases in the 1891 estimates of the De-
partment of labor 1t is known that
for some of the expert stAtisticians OF
the bureau of labor statistics increases
have been asked.
Government officials feel that out OF
the three definite proposals for general
pay increases there must come some
general scheme for fiat pay raises Their
problem at present appears to b to
hold their highly trained technical men
against the much highe- wages paid In
private industry and by the states and
that this end may be attained they are
asking for specific appropriations for
these workers.