Evening star., 1928-04-06
FEAR WEIGH BILL
HASBEEN DOOMED
House Members Doubt Meas.
ure Win Pass in Its Pres.
ent Form.
By WILL r. KENNEDY.

The WEIGH bill, providing increase:
IN the salaries OF Government employees
is doomed in its present form, 1t wa
reiterated ey members of the House to-
cay
The administration and adminiStra'
ton leaders do not intend to let il
come up for . vote, even If the civi
service committee should report it IA
vorahly. and in spite of the tact thai
considerably more than majority ol
House members are urging its passage
Word has gone out from the White
House to party leaders that the Dill
should not be passed, and it is stated
that President Coolidge is willing to
take his share of the responsibility.
The House leader is the party agent
depended upon to prevent passage oi
the measure. and his is an unenviaois
roS{tion. as IL is believed that the Oil
would so throueh with acclaim II II
were allowed TO come up for vote
Tilson,s Reported Attitude.
House Leader Tilson'S attitude is re-
rorted 10 be that the National Feoera-
tion of Federal Employees is trying TO
bully Congress into enacung TINS meas
ure. taking advantage of the SITUATION
instead of allowing il to be nFought
forward il regular course. he Is ouots0
as saying that everybody Is sym
l,sthetic toward the Government en-
yloves and wants to see them taken
care Of properly. but there are many
other financial obligations on the Gov
ernment that have to be considered on
their relative merit" His contention
Is said 70 be that the employees would
have Jared better by taking the party
leaders into their confidence, and plan
ming with them, rather than having q
general roundup OF members oennRho-
Ing passage of the measure.
Chairman Lehlbach Of the civil SerV-
ice committee is expected 10 delay action
on both the retirement bill and the
Welch bill as long as possible. This Is
the upper milestone and the neither
r1iIistone is that more than half the
members of the House, and pFeeaeiy
u1.4 iority of his own committee, are de-
vaanaing that he hurry up ana report
out the bill, so it can have a lair
CHARGE In the House, insisting thst ms
must be done soon in order that the
Senate may have time also to act.
In snite of the encouragement given
Ay individual members that they VIII
continue TO fight for passage II the
Weleh Oil at this session, the egiSia-
tive representatives Of the employees
know that the powers that be IN 'Ggis-
lative control are under orders TO do all
they can to prevent vote at the EreS-
ent session. The fight viii continue
and is being directed principally against
fhose who control the legislative pro-
gram to prevent the viii Of the ma
jority of the membership from being
fhwarted.
Woodrum Urges Substitute.
Realizing this situation. Representa-
tive Woodrum, Democrat, Of virginia
members of the civil service committee,
made vigorous speech IN the House
urging action on his own SUBSTITUTE
bill. which would give nat increase
IN salary 70 all Government employees.
both n the District Of Columbia and
the entire field service. with the exeep-
ton of the postal service ana certain
kkiIled trades In navy yards.
Mr.. Woodrum pointed out that the
WEIGH bill is complicated and there
have BEEN wide variations IN the esti-
mates Of cost, running from SIS, 600 900
bv the Employees Federation 70 $6S, ,O0o.-
600 By the Bureau Of Efficiency and
SEQ 900 900 by the Budget Bureau He
voiced a sentiment In harmony With
that Of Chairman Lehlbach when he
said. - do not believe il Is necessary
to establish a minimum wage to provide
q living wage" He said the WEIGH
bill increases the salaries Of those In
the higher ranges rather than those
receiving the lowest salaries
Mr. Wo0drIm declared his intention
az yTresging his bill at the next meeting
OF ihH civil service committee.