Evening star., 1927-04-05
CARR AND CONWAY
EXPLAIN SERVICES
Lighthouse and Foreign AC-
tivitieS Have Retired
Pay Problems.
RY WILL p. KENNEDY.

ARMY NAVY AlcilltkE 0bi Eog NOeAob
Guard, Public Health Service and the
Coast and Geodetic Survey must be
considered by the joint congressional
commission which the incoming Con-
gress is expected to appoint to make
g. thorough study of the operation or
the Civil Service retirement system
is emphasized in testimony today by
Wilbur j. Carr, Assistant Secretary OF
State, and J. S. Conway, acting COM
missioner of lighthouses.
To do full justice TO all Govern
ment employees in the Civil Service re-
tirement system there must be
comparative study of the Foreign
Service and lighthouse retirement
systems; and to do full justice to the
veteran workers in the Foreign SerV-
ice and Lighthouse Service there
must be a comparative study of the
naval retirement system and similar
groups in field work in which condi-
tions are somewhat analogous.
This is the third in q series of ar
ticles in The Star. designed to act as
an open forum for discussion of all
problems affecting the retirement on
annuity Of all Government employees
who have given long and faithful
service, so that the joint commission
which the next Congress Is expected
to appoint may conduct its study on
a broad scale and thereby be enabled
to recommend to Congress legislation
that viii establish a well cO-ordlnated
retirement system that will be abso-
lutely fair and just to all branches of
the Federal service and most econ
nomically efficient for the Government
ltself.
Carr Offers Explanation.
Assistant Secretary Carr, who came
lIp through the grades in the State
Department from a Civil Service
clerkship, and who was the executive
officer who worked with the commit
tees of Congress is putting through
the Rogers reorganization act for the
Foreign Service, which contains the
retirement provisions, thinks that
some statements made in the retire
ment article in the editorial section
of last Sundays Star are apt 10
give a false impression.
one paragraph read: This Foreign
Service retirement law has pro-
vision in it by which minister
or ambassador of this country could
be placed on the Foreign Service re-
tired list. In fact, under certain cir
cum stances an Assistant Secretary OF
state, even the Secretary hlmseh'
might also be placed on the same
list
Mr.. Carr explains that section IS
{oY of that act merely seeks to pro-
4ect anv diplomatic secretary or con-
gular officer, who, prior to the date or
the act, had been promoted from the
classified service to the grade OF Am
bassador or Minister, or promoted to
a position in the Department of State,
or any Foreign Service officer, who,
after the act became effective, should
be SO promoted, from losing such
rights to retirement pay as they had
ACQUIRED by virtue of their class11ed
service status.
To Prevent Forfeiture of Right.
He noints out that Secretary of
State. or an Assistant Secretary OF
State. could be placed on the retired
list with an annuity only in the event
that he had been promoted from the
classified service to the position Oh
Secretary or Assistant Secretary OF
State. These provisions were written
into the bill in the Committee on
Foreign affairs Of the House OF Rep
resentatiyes for the express purpose
Of preventing the forfeiture by an
officer in the classified service to right
to retirement pay when promoted out
of the classified service to position
of greater responsibility.
The classified service, it must be
understood, covers all classes Of
Foreign Service officers up to but not
Including the grade of Minister. !.
Mr., Carr also discusses another
1aragraph in the article in Sundays S
Star which read:
"Under the Civil Service retirement
law the deduction which is made from
the salary of each employe is 312
per cent per year. In the Foreign
Service that deduction is 5 per cent
per year. In the latter service they
retire at 65 years of age after Is
years of service. They can be con-
finued beyond that age"
MAY Be Retained Five Years.
'eThe fact is" said Mr.. Carr, "that
the law requires that a foreign service
officer, when he has reached the age
of Go and has rendered at least 10 years
of service, be retired; but the Presi-
dent may in his discretion retain any
such officer on active duty for not ex-
ceeding five years, If he should deem
that to be for the interests of the
United States. In the two and half
wears since the Rogers Act became
effective two persons only, out Of some
&c persons retired, have been retained
in the service beyond the age of Co
in both cases in the interest solely of
the United States and not of the lndl-
Vidual One of these two still remains
in the service; the other was retired
when the circumstances making his
retention necessary had ceased to
exist"
Commenting on the statement that
''the foreign service law says that if
an employe has had 80 years Of serv-
ice to his credit he receives so per cent
OF his pay whatever it might be-" Mr..
Carr says this is open to misinterpre-
Tation. The fact is, he explains, that
an employe who has had 80 years of
service 10 his credit upon retirement
receives co per cent Of his average
annual basic salary for the 10 years
next preceding the date OF retirement,
which salary amount may not in any
event be in excess Of $4,000 per
annum.
The only significance to be attached
TO the fact that the reports on the
operation Of the retirement provisions