Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-16
BY WILL r. KENNEDY.

service retirement fund. strict bust
ness-like individual records so that
the liabilities of the fund could h
regularly determined: new legisla
ton tn give greater measure oi
Justice to employees who have contri
iustment of wide variations in retire
ment ages are recommended by the
board of sctuaries in their annual re
port to Congress.
This report. as submitted to the
Speaker of the House late yesterday
through Secretly Work Of the Interior
Department and Winfield Scott. com
missioner of pensions. Is signed by
George b. Buck. consulting acttary
of New York; Joseph s. Mccoy. Gov
eminent actuary connected with the
Treasury Department. and Herbert d.
Brown. chief of the Burea of FL
fciency. who constitutes the board of
actuaries of the Civil Service retire
ment and disab ility fund.
1 SupplementinS the report is a let
ter from Mr.. Buck which states that
If the Government should make an
nual appropriations equivalent to ~
per cent Of the total pay roll, the
amount based on the pay roll of June
30, 1926 (the close of the last fiscal
year,, would he s19. 426. 05s."
AlUU,443.t6 Is NeNOeO.
However, a balance sheet of the
assets and liza bilities of the fund as
of June 30. 1925. shows that the cash
In hand is s5462a,00s. with the con-
trihutions of those eligible for retire
ment totaline $326.297 .565. and the
! liabilities amounting to 1891 81 ,737-
so that appropriations required from
the Government to square the &C.
count would amount to $500. AS. 161.
Two of the four recommended tons
| of the board of actuaries are for i'm
provement in business practice under
the existing law and two are for con-
| sidera ton when further amendme nts
to the law are made. The first recon-
mendation. under existing law, is:
la Appropria tons to be made an
nually by the Government to cover
the amount of the liability under the
! which Ia not covered by members
| contributions, and to cover the in
terest. and gradually to amortize the
| principal of the liability which has
accrued to date and which has not
been covered by contributions from
either the members or the Govern
| ment."
Promise of President.
This recommendation has the sup
port Of President Coolidge as shown
in his budget message TO Congress. in
which he promised TO submit an esti-
mate OF the amount sufficient to set
up the pay-as.you-eo system just as
soon as the actuarial valuation was
completed.
The President said:
Neither the estimate of expenai-
ture. nor the estimate of appropria-
tons contained in the Federal budget
include any amount for meeting the
accrued liability of the Government to
the civil service retirement and dis
ability fund. The payAsyou-go policy
should apply to this fund ana an ap-
preparation be made to meet the
accrued liability of the Government.
The act of Congress, approved July 3,
1925, provides for the annual submis.
sion of a budget estimate of ap.
preparation for this purpose. Such an
estimate, however, requires an actu.
arial valuation of the fund under the
new law. This valuation Is under
way, but 10 not vet completed. When
completed, | shall submit to the Con.
gress an estimate Of the amount re
quired for the fiscal year for this
purpose"
The second recommendation then
follows:
"(b). The Government should i'm.
mediately establish In the controller
generals ONCE, as authorized by the
new law, system of records to show
for individual members of the fund the
amount which they have contributed,
together with information as to age,
length Of service, and such data az are
necessary for an actuarial valuation.
| The liabilities of the fund can then be
definitely aecertained from time TO
time. Furthermore these records will
| furnish basis upon which claims Of
members may be properly audited
| before payment"
Further Recommendation
The second two recommends tons,
| for amendments to the law, are:
"(c) The benefits should be graded
| so that employees with longer periods
of service and longer periods of con-
tributioR receive greater benefits
than those with less service who will
| have contributed less.
! "(d) The ages of retirement should
| be adjusted so that the wide varia-
ton which now exists will he reduced
to only such differences as may be
justified by actual differences i'm the
service requirements and the length
of life of employees of the various
occupational groups"
/ Legislation pending before Congress
is discussed by the board Of actuaries.
A measure has been introduced at this
session of Congress to provide for the
retirement of employees on demand
on the completion of 80 years of
service, regardless of age on all al.
lowance of threequarters pay In a
previous report of the board of actu-
aries figures were presented to show
the enormous cost of such measure.
Under the plan as il operated in the
past, when no contributions were
made by the Government, and the
balance in the fund appeared az a
surplus, inasmuch as no liabilities
against IL were taken into account,
employees could not be convinced of
the very valid financial reasons of the
Government against adopting any
such policy as that of retirement after
80 years regardless of age.
Question OF Inequality.
"If the Government makes appro
priations to pay accruing cost" the
board of actuaries says, ut Is reason
able to- suppose that before any such
amendment receives consideration ca l.
culations will be made to determine
the amount of the increase in sppro
| pria ton Of the Government which
would be required should the amend
ment be adopted. After the employees
obtain these figures, either from THEN
own advisers or from the Govern
ment they will appreciate the mag
nitude of their deman ds. The very
fact that employees will he required ia
analyze their own proposals in the
matter of cost may tend 10 make THEN
recomme nds'ions of a nature de
Car Stolen, Dismant