The Washington times., 1922-06-22
The Bonus
10 Continue
By BILL PRICE.

vTHAT was fair, square and COM
mendable work Of the House
u yesterday afternoon in de-
cisively rejecting the proposal Of
Chairman Madden, of the, House
Appropriations Committee, to re-
| duce the bonus Of workers for the
Federal Government in the next
fiscal year. Any other action would
have been manifestly unjust.
Congressman Lehlbach, who led
the fight on the Madden PROPOSE
ton, has shown himself true and
courageous defender of thousands
Of men and women who have for
years been footballed through the
halls of Congress, maligned and
abused as no other class of workers
are, almost wholly, too, because
they lacked the political punch to
settle scores with those who. as
sailed them, knowing them to be
helpless. So.
There might have been slight jus
tification for reducing the bonus
If the workers for Uncle Sam had
received fair and just compensation
for their services prior to the world
war. "a, ..y g -
1t should be remembered that
the basic pay of employees of the
United States Government is To-
DAY JUST THE SAME AS SEW
ENTY YEARS AGO. That is in
disputable. If there were any in
creases they were always in the
pay envelopes Of the men "higher
up" having political pull. The
rank and file of the workers, clerks,
messengers, are paid statutory sal
aries now that their predecessors
were paid over seventy years ago.
These salaries might have been
"princely" salaries in those days,
when house rent, clothes and food
were really cheap; when a single
man or woman could get the best
board to be had at from SIS to $40
per month.
For years prior to the world war
the cost Of living increased steadily,
mounting upward and upward as
wages in industries and business
increased. Congress gave no in.
| .creases in pay to Uncle Sam 8
earnest and loyal workers as their
difficulties doubled and trebled in
making salaries meet expenses.
With the world war, and the ter
rifle upward swing Of the cost of
living, Congress first gave a bonus
of $120 per year. That was so
utterly lacking in fairness the
amount was increased to $24O.
Thousands of hard-working en-
/ ployes of the Government, with
basic salaries below $1,000, suf-
fered untold hardships, even with
the bonus added. Large numbers
of them worked extra at night for
| private employers to supplement
their measley salaries. There is no
longer. opportunity for this extra
work, and men and women of fam
lilies find the struggle hard.
In Washington there has been a
4 decrease in the cost of living, but
that decrease has been in food,
clothing and household supplies.
Rents have not come down and
nobody knows when they will re-
turn to pre-war days, if ever. The
unanimous agreement of real estate
authorities is that house rents in
Washington will never again ap-
proach the prices of other years.
The situation is about the same in
other cities where the Government 8
pay roll is large.
Whether the cost of living is to
decrease from the present levels is
also a matter of grave doubt. In
many of the necessaries of life there
have lately been perceptible in
creases.
That Congress which proposes to
make high tariff rates to protect
4 American manufacturers, mechanics
and laborers against cheap products
i from Europe and elsewhere ought
II to be just as careful not to put
II itself on record as cheapening the
salaries paid its own employees and
II putting them in position of having
Il to lower the standards Of living.
\ Can Uncle Sam afford to set the
H example Of putting his own workers