The Washington herald., 1921-01-15
BONUS in DISTRICT
OR NONE AT ALL,
BLANTON'S EDICT
Raises Point of Order in
House Against Any
Discrimination.

The S24O bonus for all govern
ment employees was knocked out IN
the House yesterday on a point of
order.
Because the $4,000, 900 bonus pro-
vision did not include District fire.
men and policemen, Representative
Blanton, Of texas, made a point of
order eliminating the payment Of
any bonus. Blanton's action, he
said. was taken both in the In
terests of economy and to remove
Determinations. He paid a high
tribute to fremen and policemen Of
Washington.
IF the committee had seen fit to
treat all Of the government. en-
ployes alike in this respect. with
out discrimination, their action
probably would be less inexcusabIe."
he said
Take, for instance, the police
men and f1remen OF this District.
They are not included in this bill,
and that is one Of the very reasons
why I am objectipg to it," said
Blanton. We have taken the strike
privilege away, from the. firemen
and policemen of the District, and
after we have prevented them from
belonging to strike organizations, 1
am not a member of Congress VINO
will stand here on the floor and take
advantage of them. "- .a--..
ExtoIs CIty's Guardians.
During a night like last night,
with snow and sleet and rain and
cold. with freezing weather, and a
wet. cold day like today, you find
the policemen and the trafic cops
on their beats braveIy attending to
their duties, suffering hardships. al
most every moment of the time that
they are on duty, and daily risking
their lives in our defense and the
defense of our property.
We find the firemen almost every
day taking chances with respect to
their lives. and it has not been
more. than a couple of weeks since
several of them risked their lives
in saving the lives of others in this
District, and they did it bravely
and successfully.
Yet after we rob them of their
strike privilege We take advantage
of them in this bill by discriminat-
ing against them. l am not going
to permit it in silence.
Now, this bonus matter was a
war question. 1t arose during the
exigencies of the war by reason of
war hardships and the high price
of all commodities.
Getting Back to Normal.
But I want to say now that, we
are getting back to normal times,
and think the time has come when
we ought to quit paying a war
bonus to civilian. employees when
you deny it not only to the police
and firemen, but also to our brave
soldiers who saved this republic
from the encroachment of the Hun.
In view of the discrimination
that has been shown in this bill
against the deserving ff~emsn and
policemen, than whom there are no
more deserving employees of the
government. intend TO make a
point of order against 1t and force
1t out of the biIl.""- (
The bonus provision probably will
be re-inserted when the bill reaches
the Senate, where IL also NAV he
made to include District policemen
and hremen. After adoption by the
Senate the provision would no
longer be, subject to a point of or
der in the House.
Unions to Appeal to- Senate, >. :
T. The National Federation of Fed.
eral Employees, at whose urginRsthe
S24O bonus has previously beer,
granted by Congress as a stop-ean,
pending recIassifieation of Salaries.
VIII appeal to the Senate to restore
the bonus section until the neces-
ssry reclsssificatfon law can be
passed, officials said yesterday.
a flat reduction of s24o a year in
the present inadequate pay of the
government employees is 'unthink-
ably unjust, said Luther. c. Stew.
ard. president Of the National Feds
Grafton Of Federal Employees, last,
night. I'VE believe the Senate wifi
correct it, especially in view Of the
fact that the House had no chance
to vote on the question and a point
OF order does not necessarily rem
resent the opinion of more than one
member among 3the 435 in the
House. The situation Illustrates
again very forcibly the pressing
need of, reclassifcation of the Fed
eral Civil Service and the substitu-
ton Of permanent revised wage