Evening star., 1932-04-29
Confusing the Personnel Issue.

Confusing the Personnel Issue.
1t is of little consequence to the man
who has Just been saved from a fall
over a precipice whether the fellow
who saved him was acting after mature
delioeration Or was acting on impulse o.
whether the rescue was the result Of
an accident. pure and simple The big
thing is that he has been saved and
he is grateful.
The Government employe on a salary
of s2,500 or less is not for the moment
concerned over the manner of his rescue
from an II per cent pay cut, an
enforced furlough and the loss of his
Saturday half-holiday. The big thing
is that revolving House of Representa-
tives in Committee of the Whole has
saved him and the rescue may be duly
attested by the House proper.
The fact remains, however, that the
Government employee SO lately rescued
from one fate must yet make his way
back to safer ground before he can
receive all the congratulations that are
due. If for the moment he has been
thrust back from the brink of the
precipice, he remains on treacherous
ground and the dangers of a landslide
have not been averted.
The action of the House on the pay
cut has been of vast benefit in empha-
sizing the nature of the Swings that
were contemplated, through this expedi-
ent, by the Economy Committee. A
straight cut of II per cent in salaries
above 81 600 would have "saved"-after
the Economy C-mmittee's manner of
speaking-a total of $67 100000. But
by raising the exemption from 81 900 to
$4,000 the savings have been cut from
$67,000,000 to possible SIS 100000
The demonstration here is that the chief
benefits in savings to be derived from
the ill-conceived pay cut plan would
come frcm slashing the pay of men and
women whose annual compensation is
less than $4,000 year. In other words
no savings worth considering can come
from a pay cut plan that does not reach
down and ransack the slim pockets of
the vast army of low-Salaried Federal
workers. The demagogues picture Of
the Federal empoye is a public servant
grown fat and lazy at the expense of
the taxpayer. The action of the House
so far has shown clearly enough that
no substantial savings to the Govern
ment can be obtained through salary
slashing unless the Federal Government
Is to sandbag the low-salaried men and
women who constitute the vast majority
of Federal employees The House has
saved from the salary slash, in raising
exemptions by $500, approximately
89l 1868 employees out of a total Of
1,023373, counting both civil and mill
tary. Counting only the civil employees
the original 81 900 exemption would have
left untouched l24,678 employees. BY
increasing the exemption to $2,500 the
number left unaffected in the civil
establishment has been increased to
6l9,7ll. The number who now would
be affected by the salary slash has been
reduced in the civil establishment from
607,7 1872 to 1858.
But by retaining the modicum OF the
salary-slash plan, and by defeating the
Presidents furlough plan and the
elimination of Saturday half holidays,
the House leaves the issue confused.
II the SenateS 10 per cent cut policy
on appropriation bills is allowed TO
stand-this policy already having been
approved on the Interior Department
bill-the Presidents furlough plan, or
some modification thereof, is the only
safeguard against a drastic reduction
IN Government personnel, which means
the outright discharge of tens OF
thousands of employees. And it is proba-
bic that most OF them would be those
who were saved" from a salary cut
The Senate committee is marking
time on the Treasury-Post ONCE bill,
obviously holding up action on that
measure to watch the fate of the
economy bill in the House. The fate
OF that bill depends now on the formal
action of the House in passing-through
record votes-on the amendments and
changes made in Committee of the
Whole The uncertainty Of what these
record votes may show is illustrated by
the manner in which the Committee
of the Whole apparently reversed itself
yesterday on the Presidents furlough
plan, first approving it, on standing
vote, then defeating it overwhelmingly
when tellers were asked
The policy on treatment of Federal
personnel in the economy program is
far from being clarified by the last
two days of consideration in the House.