Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-14
COMPLICATED TASK AWAITS
COMMITTEE IN SALARY STUDY
Members Approach Problem With Open
Minds and Will Seek to Hear All
Sides of Question.

standard Of living required of him which
is beyond his means"
Unless something, such as saving for
the education of his children, is greatly
reduced or done without" he continues,
the present system of sending an off,
Ger on civilian details, so often requiring
large expenditures for the upkeep of two
separate wardrobes, one civilian and the
other military, completely SwampS an
officer. On my last civilian detail at
Harvard University was forced to go
into my pay to the extent of about $40
per month because the rental allowance
was not enough. Consequently saving,
amusement, recreation, education, etc,
had to go by the board"
Another Army officer calls attention
to the fact that as result of the
Welsh bill, increasing the civilian en-
ployeS of the Government, the pay of
the Army is distinctly out of line"
Assistants Get More Than Chiefs.
For example," he says, Gin the Dis
trtct Building at Washington, D. c., the
officer assistants to the Engineer Com
missioner are getting $500 and $4,000,
being the pay as majors or captains in
the Army. The assistants of these off,
GERS, that is, the men under them, were
getting before the Welsh bill as high as
work done by these officers, though i'm
portant, is not much more SO than being
done by other majors in the Army"
"I resigned q position in civil life"
writes another officer, (which was pay
ing me $500 a month with reasonable
prospects of advancement, so I was
not one of those who are alleged to have
been starving when they entered the
Army. My pay, including ration allow
Do kAA1 ASr-14k 1aAA
which is an apparent raise OF So in the
time have been in the Army. But as
a matter of fact, my pay Of $3.50 as a
captain when I entered the service was
reduced by the act of 1922 to $246, and
1t was not until last July that received
the pay expected when accepted my
commission"
A chief pay clerk in the Navy writes
that he has had many opportunities Of
discussing the pay situation with officers
and that he became especially interested
in the cases of two second lieutenants
who were serving in Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii, when he was there. One was a
young graduate of the Naval Academy.
This young man had to go into debt
for the purchase of his uniforms" says
the chief pay clerk, land also for his
equipment, something to the tune Of
$500. Shortly after graduation he mar
T1eQ ana 1aCeT WUSu DdDy was DOTH 1IS
went further into debt. Then it became
necessary for his wife to undergo an OPP
Grafton which placed him still further
back financially, so that at the time he
arrived at Honolulu he informed me his
debts amounted to $4,000, and that, try
as he could by living in the plaineSt
style, he could not manage to reduce the
amount to any great extent. Once he
told me that Christmas did not mean
anything to him, because he hadn't g
cent to buy his wife and baby present.
I helped him to get loan on his Gov
eminent insurance from the Veterans
Bureau and the money arrived Just two
days before Christmas"
wife Forced to Work.
This chief pay clerk tells of young
second lieutenant in the Marine Corps
whom he knew at Honolulu and whose
wife went to work in store in Homo
lulu to help her husband get out Of debt.
I'm my capacity as chief pay clerk
have listened time and time again." he
writes, ''to the worries and money
troubles of many officers and know that
IL Their pay was increased it would re-
lieve the continued strain under which
they are at present living"
Hundreds of letters similar to this are
being received at the War, Navy, Com
merce and Treasury Departments from
officers in the six services included in
the joint service pay act.