The Connecticut labor press. (New Haven, Conn.) 191?-1921, 1920-01-31
men
ARE VICTIMS OF
VERY Low WAGES
Congressional Commission Shown
That They Had to Even Neglect
Children's Education.
HOPE TO GET MORE
Commissions Report, Expected
by March, May Recommend
Considerable Increases.

The post office employees are very
much interested in the action of Con-
gress on the appropriation bill for the
year ending June 80, 1921.
The bill was passed with little change
and the present scale of compensation
will be in effect for the next fiscal year
unless the commission appointed by
Congress to revise post office salaries
up to date makes its report and has ii
adopted.
There is every indication now that the
commission will report about March
and from that time on the postal service
news from Washington. They have been
contending for years that they as sal
aried employees have suffered more by
the abnormal prices than should be ex-
pected of them.
The statistics all tended to show that
they could not live decently on the sal
aries paid and yet they were forced to
do so. The many instances of hardship
and privation brought to the attention
of the commission are believed to have
resulted in decided effort by the COM
mission to report much higher grade
of salaries than now paid to the post
office employees. The railway mail
clerks, the rural carriers, the letter car
riers, the clerks and supervisory en-
ployes all felt the grind of the war
prices and the lack of aexibility in the
salary scales. The value of the dollars
paid was so reduced that many we're
forced to give up plans for the educa-
ton of children and resort to many
petty economies in order to maintain
senblance of the orderly living condi-
tons expected of them.
he
ing paid under a salary schedule passed
by Congress in 1889. it is expected that
in their cases, in order to get them out
of the way for the. automatic grades of
clerk and carrier to have full play the
salaries will need to be practically
doubled, in which event they would be
on comparatively equal basis to the
salaries paid for similar work in other
occupations at the present time. Some
Of -aiae southern post Office men con-
vinced the commission that even the
maximum under the old schedule was
not being paid in many instances to the
supervisory employees.
In the near future it is expected that
the civil service retirement bill will be-
come a law This feature of proposed
legislation has been hanging fire for
over IS years until at present the United
States is practically the only country in
the world that does not provide for the
superannuated or disabled emp1oye.
Information at hand from the repre-
sentatives in Congress just now indi-
cate that the bill will undoubtedly be
enacted April 1. There seems to be
little opposition to it although many of
the features are crude and sure to have
attention in the near future in order
to introduce a more human element.
1t is understood by all parties that the
most important phase is to get law
on the subject and afterwards have it
changed to suit conditions. The bill
under consideration proposes to retire
all employees of the post Office at 62
years of age unless upon examination
an employe may convince the examin-
ing physician he can do his work for
two year periods beyond that age. After
the bill is in effect 10 years it shall be
mandatory to retire at 62 with only two
year extensions. At an annual allow
ance for those who have served 80
years of $40 per annum. All retire
ment allowances are based upon no
higher than $1,000 per annum. This
is considered as too low limit espe-
cial1y at this time when the maximum
salary of a post office emp1oye runs to
$3 100 in the New Haven post Office and
ST 500 for a clerk or carrier. However
the general impression among the en-
p1oyes is that great step forward will
have been taken when the. bill becomes
a law. There will be deduction from
all salaries of 21A per cent.