The Washington times., 1921-04-26
SALARY BILLS
. IN COMMITTEE
Federal Employees Federation
Favors Sterling Wage Scale.
Report Expected in Month.

Speedy action on Redistribution
is now assured in the Senate.
Senator Sterling's signal victory
over the august appropriations
committee in the Senate yesterday
means the end Of further delay on
this question Of vital import to
Federal employees, for the Civil
Service committee will bring in a
report on both the Sterling and
Smoot bills at the earliest possible
hour.
EARLY REPORT EXPECTED.
Ostensibly a compromise" between
Senators Smoot and Sterling. the
agreement reached in the Senate yes
terday was in reality an overwhelm-
ing victory for the latter. and re-
grets were expressed that the chair
man of the Civil Service committee
threw such a sop to Cereberus as to
allow the Appropriations Committee
any share in the drawing of the two
bills. There seemed to be little doubt
that Senator Sterling had'a clean
cut majority of the Senate with him
IL the issue between the two COM
mittees had been allowed to come to
a vote.
Senator Sterling and his associ-
ates OF the Civil Service committee
will get to work Immediately on the
two rehabilitation measures. There
Is no doubt that they will favorably
report the Sterling bill and unfavor-
ably report that devised by the Sem
are laid before the Senate, the meas
ures will be referred to the Appro-
priations Committee, but with this
important restriction:
The only questions that the appro-
priations committee will be permit
ted to pass It's judgment upon are
those relating to salaries, and even
upon these its judgment Will not be
nnal
TERMS OF AGREEMENT.
1t will not be permitted to pass
upon the questions involved in the
rehabilitation problem. for this S
exclusively in the jurisdiction OF the
civil service committee.
The agreement drawn up ty Sem
ator Lenroot. and accepted by both
Senators Sterling and Smoot. ex-
pressly provides that neither COM
mittee shall resort to the outworn
method OF killing bills by failing to
make a report upon them. In other
works. neither the civil service nor
the appropriations committee, shall
make a report to the Senate upon
one measure and fail to make a re-
port on the other.
How CALLING this agreement must
have been to Senator Smoot can be
appraised only by those who have
seen the drastic and relentless quail
ity with which he has fought the
Jones, Lehlbach and Sterling reclas-
silica ton measures. He has not con-
fined his opposition to the salary
features, but has gone into the
technical questions of reclassification
in great detail.
EMPLOYEES FAVOR STERLING
BILL.
IT has not been determined whether
the civil service committee will hold
hearings on the bills. 1t is doubtful
whether the Federation of Federal
Employees will make any request for
hearings, because IL is taken for
granted that the Sterling bill will
be reported favorably, although per-
haps with few amendments. This
measure Is acceptable to the union
ICED employees. The sponsors OF the
Smoot bill probably will ignore
the civil service committee and al
lew their case to go by default
before IT. in view of the well,
known point of view of the com
mittee.
1t Is probable that the reports
from the civ1 service committee
will be placed before the Senate in
four weeks more, and the battle Will
then be on in earnest.
hn uynnld 1ik q
to conduct the hearing on the reclassi-
flea ton bill next week IL possible. He
declared he is making inquiries into
the feasibility of the House and Sem
ate Civil Service Committees sitting
Jointly in the delibera lions.