Evening star., 1926-05-05
RETIREMENT FIGHT
SETTLED; ANNUITY
LIMITED TO S1,01l
Both Plans Modified Under
Agreement of Coolidge and
Congress Leaders.
MEASURE is EXPECTED
TO BE PASSED QUICKLY
Divisor of As Will Be Used in Com
putting Pensions-Cost to Be
Little More Than Now.
BY J. RUSSELL YOUNG.

An agreement has been reached by
President Coolidge and advocates in
the House and Senate of legislation
TO liberalize the retirement act for
Federal employees. This is interpreted
to indicate that this legislation can
be put through Congress without any
difficulty during the remainder of this
session.
This agreement has been reached
through a compromise made by those
who have been proposing plans for
a more liberal retirement act, and
the feeling at the White House today
is that this legislation, practically
along the lines as originally approved
by the President, will be enacted, in
asmuch as the White House and those
Senators and Representatives who
have been sponsoring liberalization
legislation are now known to be in
accord regarding the terms. Inas.
much as this is the first time since
the movement for more liberal re
tirement measure was started that
the administration and congressional
advocates have struck happy agree
ment. apparently satisfactory to all
concerned, it is believed that the
chances for enactment have been
greatly enhanced.
Lord Plan Modified.
1t is thought now that the matter
Is merely one of getting action on the
floor of the Senate and House.
This legislation was the subject of
talks which the President had at the
W hlte House today, first with Brig.
Ien- Lord. director of the budget, who
recently prepared a complete plan for
along the lines suggest
ed oy the President, and then with
Senator Stanfield of Oregon, sponsor
OF the liberalization legislation in the
Senate. and lastly with Representative
Lehlbach of New Jersey, chairman of
the House civil service committee.
1t was learned afterward from an
authoritative source that, at the sug-
gestion OF President Coolidge, Gen.
Lord has modified his plan so as to
embody diyisor of As instead of as
to be used in computing annuities.
Under this modified plan the cost to
the Government would be almost ex-
actly the same as under the present
law, which is S17 500 900: in fact, there
is g. possibility of its being trife
in excess of this amount.
Annuity Cut to $1,000.
Other compromises included an
agreement on the part of Mr.. Lehl-
bach to modify his bill, which recently
was reported to the House by the
civil service committee, so as to re-
duce the maximum annuity from
$1,000, as provided in his bill, to 1000
as proposed in Gen. Lord 8 plan. He
also will use the divisor As for com
putting annuities instead Of 40, as
originally provided in his bill, and will
eliminate certain features Of that sec.
ton of his bill providing for voluntary
retirement. so as to conform as nearly
as possible to the wishes Of the Presi.
dent
Senator Stanfield. whose bill is
practically the same as Mr.. Lehl.
bach's. was informed by the Presi.
dent that the plan for amending the
law proposed by Gen. Lord will be
submitted TO Congress with his ap-
proval when the time comes for the
Senate to consider amending the re-
tirement act.
Stanf1eld Likes Plan.
Senator Stanfield stated that the
new administration plan would come
more nearly within the ideas held
by members of his committee as to
what should be done in the matter of
liberalizing the act. He declined.
however. to say whether he would
accept the Lord proposal in it's en-
t1rety or in part and embody the
ideas in his bill, until he has made
a more complete study of the matter.
1t was explained by Mr.. Lehlbach
that while the Lord plan for liberali-
zatlon IS not quite as liberal as the
employees of the Government would
like it to be, and is lower than he
personally believes it should be. he
is of the opinion that it would be
Infinitely better to obtain liberaliza-
ton to this extent at this time rather
than none at all. His attitude was
that he was ready to accept the ad.
viewpoint rather than
see the whole proposition defeated.
The annuities to be paid employees
receiving salaries under 81 GOO would,
under the Lord plan as it has been
changed at the suggestion Of the
President, be increased about 6 per
cent over the IS divisor plan, while
those receiving a salary Of 81 800 and
over would receive the same annuity
as under the 4S divisor schedule.
Original Plan Cheaper.
1t was explained that the principal
reason for this change is that the
figures compiled by the Government
actuaries estimating the cost on the
plan submitted by Gen. Lord have
revealed that that proposal would cost
the Government about 100000 less
annually than is the cost under the
present law, which administration
leaders realize would make 1t diff
cult to convince employees that they
were getting any liberalization under
this plan.
The amended administration plan
would set the maximum salary on
which annuity computations could be
made ut $500 instead of the orig
inal $1,600. This would make 1t pos
sible for an employe who had been
receiving $1,500 annually and had
served in the Government service for
80 years to receive the $1,000 max.
imum annuity, while under the 4S
divisor he would only have received
about S940.
Senator Stanfield was of the opin-
ion that there will be no great diff
Guilty experienced when the retire.
ment legislation comes before the
Senate for discussion and he felt very
sure that some form of retirement
liberalization will be passed. Mr..
Lehlbach, while very hopeful OF the
outcome, did not express himself
quite SO optimistically.