Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-21
LEHLBACH TO TAKE
RETIREMENT BILL
OFF OF CALENDAR

Continued From First Page)
stantial relief to many thousands of
employees now OH the retirement roll
! and to those who are to be retired in
the near future"
Our principal objections to this new
idea Cthe Lehlbach billy are the tontine
feature and forfeitures," he stated.
The tontine feature or the setting
| aside of 81 per month by each and
every employe to the fund is no little
item. This item alone which the en-
ploye forfeits amounts to something like
$4,OOO,0O0 annually, but while shall
not attempt to go into details of the
Dill do wish to call attention to sec
ton OF the bill, beginning on line
81. page 9, and closing at line 10 on
page 10:
That the total annuity paid shall
in no case be less than an amount
equal TO the average annual basic sal
airy, pay or compensationS, not to ex-
coed 81 800 per annum, received by the
employe during any five consecutive
years OF allowable service at the option
OF the employe, multiplied by the num-
Der Of years of service, not exceeding
80 years, and divided by 40: And, pro-
vided further, that an employee at the
time of his retirement may elect to re-
| ceive, IN lieu of the life annuity herein
described, reduced annuity of euuiva-
lent value which shall carry with it a
proviso for the return of the unpaid
principal upon the annuitant's death.
For the purpose Of this act all periods
of service shall be computed in accord
ance with section hereof, and the an
nuity shall be fixed at the nearest null
! tiple Of ~
Idea Called Undesirable.
This idea is to our minds quite OBJ
jectionable, that is, the forfeiture OPP
ton therein. In the first place we will
say an employe retires having, say,
| $4,000 to his credit, or some like
! amount, and when the employe reaches
retirement age as provided in this sec
ton of the bill, and decides to take the
full annuity on retirement instead of
the lesser amount, what happens? This
Is what happens and what would hap
pen in many caSeS-the employee goes
on retirement and inside Of six months
he dies. All of his contribution with
interest is forfeited to the fund, instead
of being returned to his family or
estate as is now provided by law. There
have been some tables presented with
reference TO the amount which would
be provided, which is known as the re-
duced annuity, but so far as / know,
the amount of that reduced annuity
can only be Appropriated at this time,
and when the matter is finally deter
mined it may be far less than any esti-
mates submitted. There are other
phases of the bill which shall not go
into as there are others who desire to
be heard, but do wish to call attention
to the benefits and protection OF the
employees under the present law and as
proposed in the Dale-Lehlbach bill
that is to say, employees are fully pro-
tected with regard to their contribu-
tons, which are returned to them, or
to their estate in case of death, with
interest ompounded-and to my mind
this Is q very important phase OF tn 2
law, and thousands OF employees LOOK
upon this as q Neutrality-suspicious. in
the form of a nest egg or saving IS It
might be called-even though they may
never receive other benefits from the
law. Many die q short time after re-
firing, and If they have elected TO take
the full annuity all their deductions
with interest are forfeited under the
new bill"
John M. Kline, president. and George
c. Hoover, secretary of the National
Association of Retired Federal En-
of 1000 retired employees to report
the Dale bill. The retired employees are
most interested in immediate relief,
Kline said, adding that his organisa-
ton felt that increased annuities might
better be had under the Dale bill.
Letters Read Into Record.
Hoover, who also is editor Of the
associations publication, the Annuitant,
read into the record letters from several
retired employees, in which they de-
scribed impoverished conditions Of liv-
ing. Some of the writer's advised him
they were being paid $40, $22.60 and
SGT a month by the Government, and
complained that while they could buy
food and pay rent, they were unable
to provide clothing or shoes.
Commenting on the condition OF
gh-salaried employees, and referring
to one witness before the committee,
a young man in the biological research
division of the Agriculture Department,
who testified earlier in the week that
he received IS 800 a year, Hoover told
the committee that at the present rate
of relief to the retired the grandchildren
of the high-salaried employees would
be establishing banks before the desti-
tute men and women could buy shoes.
BILL he said, was that it would tend
now to muddy the legislative waters"
when we read that the House could
adjourn in a month II 1t were not for
the tariff" he said, at is beyond our
finite minds to understand how the
Congress would consider q controversial
measure such as this when it would
take a month to have the committee
prints studied and acted on, not to
mention getting the two Houses to-
gether on the bill"
Mrs. Margaret Hopkins Worrell, presi-
dent of the League of the American
Civil Service, whose membership is
made up of employees in the lower and
middle grade salary groups, also urged
the committee to report the Dale bill.
Obscure Wording Claimed.
"Three bills have been introduced in
Congress" said Mrs. Worrell. "They
are the Dale bill, the La Guardia bill
and the Lehlbach bill. The provisions
of the Dale bill and the La Guardia
bill need no explanation, as they fol-
low the policy laid down by the Govern
ment and provide benefits TO be reaped
at once The Lehlbach bill is an in
surance bill instead of q retirement bill.
It's wording Is obscure and its interpre-
tation is susceptible of intrigue, while
its benefits are largely for future gen.
erations and high-salaried employees"
MRS. Worrell said that II it is the de
sire of Congress and our President to
liheraliZe the retirement act, as Mr..
Lehlbach says 1t is" then Congress
should enact the La Guardia bill, which
provides a minimum annuity of 1865
and maximum Of $1,000, with OPP
tional retirement at so years of age