Evening star., 1926-04-19
Fair Play Demands
Annuity Increases.

| To the Editor of The star:
In view of the fact that numerous
bills have been exploited In Con-
| gress, besides the makeshift that
was passed in 1920. looking like
pensions" for Government employees,
| the nature Of a compulsory saving
account, 1t seems that with the
ample statistics that we have about
| the 1859 who are already upon the
] retirement" list. who are drawing
| an average annuity Of only s544.G4
| (based upon the maximum of $720),
| and with surplus fund of some
! $50, 900, 900 on hand (per Secretary
| Works statemenO. with 368,622 con-
tributors, which Is being constantly
| augmented, there should be no
| serious objection 10 the increase to
a ma ximum amount of 81 200 payable
| to all irrespective of the ten years
average. the reason being that all
of the employees with the exception
OF the departmental clerks have been
receiving salaries warranting the
! 500 average, the departmental
averaging anywhere near the $1,000
| basis.
| When the $240 bonus was allowed
| (which does not count in the ten
| years allotment average) 1t was
gobbled UP by the landlords and has
never been relinquished. The higher
cost of living without compensating
| increases in salaries to the major
| number of clerks works hardship
upon these required to pay even the
| 2h per cent that is now assessed,
| especially upon those who have be-
come "old" in the service. Much
stress is laid upon getting young
| blood in the service after using up
"our young blood" in the past!
! Retiring those who become 20
| years Of age, after from 80 to 50
| years of constant toll. upon small
! pension provided by themselves. Il
! not very heroic. And the impres
| sion prevails in the minds of the
| ma jority Of the citizens of the United
| States that the Government Is 10
pay and does pay this annuity. Per
| haps II will some day in the remote
| future-but House of Representa-
! tives report No. 76S plainly states:
AT present the inflow of assets
is about double the outflow of
| liza abilities, and. without Government
appropriation whatsoever. the con-
| tributions will exceed the payments
for the next Is years
Why not be fair and pension al
those who have served from 80 years
| and upward with the maximum of
$1,000? This feature is not proposed
in the Lehlbach bill. which has the
! approval of all of the contributors.
remembering that this is not "at
the expense of the Government ot
the taxpayer" outright. and should
be reward for faithful service.
Statistics will show that aftel
reaching the age of 20 the pen
sioners" only average about two years
life thereafter. To be accurate.
will recite the case of the Illinoi:
Central Railroad Pension System
The record is 2.22 years after re
tirement on the age limit. and 49,
years under the incapa acitated class
Not much leeway
! Trusting that Congress and on
officials will give this matter righ
j thought ard immediate attention ant
not help to reduce our already small
salaries by deductions not warranted
by the facts. ! want to say that yer.
few of those eligible for retiremen
at 20 years OF age are 'inefiicien
and incompetent"-but they surel!
cannot get n job on the outside, ever
! with Henry Ford.
WILLIAM S. WAUDBY.