Evening star., 1932-12-18
Economy Group Expected to
Reveal Findings-Three
Ways Open.
CONTINUANCE TALKED
FOR PRESENT FURLOUGHS
Substitution of Flat Percentage
Slash or Addition of Small Reduc-
ton to Old Plan Weighed.
BY ]. A. O'LEARY.


Definite developments of interest to
Government employees here and
throughout the country are looked for
at the Senate end of the Capitol early
this week on the question of salaries
and other phases of the economy law,
which have been undergoing the scru-
tiny of the Senate Economy Committee
for the last two weeks.
The economy group, it is believed.
will be ready within a day or two to
make known its conclusions. with in
terest centering chiefly in what they
will propose regarding the pay OF FED
eral workers for the next hscal year.
SpeculationS as to the ultimate rec
ommendation on the salary question
has revolved around three possible
courses of action. One would be to
90 along with the action already taken
by the House in the TreaSury-Post
Office appropriation bill of continuing
the present legislative furlough, which
represents an 8i3 per cent cut. An
other would be to substitute some nat
percentage cut for the furlough plan.
while still another alternative that mas
been discussed would involve retention
of the present furlough together with
a small percentage cut.
Linked to Short Week.
There has been some discussion OF
the possibility of working out TINS las.
alternative in a way that Woulo leao
to the fve-day week WITH we" "
spreading employment.
Which of these paths the commlttee
,,;II follow is rot eXDected to be known
until a report is ready for the Appro-
priations Committee, some tune tiiS
week. At the last session the senate
economy group favored nat III pc!
cent cut, but Congress flnally aoop'eu
the 8ls per cent fur!ough pan; o-,,,+s
The furlough provision, "hlch iesui.s Ios
in cut of 8l3 per cent on ,enPloyes
generally. is known as the "leglslatise
frIrlough." But the economy law also
contains the administrative furiough,
which was designed to enable oeparts.
ment heads to keep WITHIN reouceo
annronriat ons without dismissing en-
rIoveS outright. The Economy COM
mittee in recent weeks has olScuSseo
the operation of this clause OF tne
economy law. and mas calleu e.ieS,nhe lon itSu
as to the number Of such burroughs
that have been administered. some
members of the committee have mol
Gated that they would not favor grant
ing such authority in permanent prac-
tice. but it is not known Whetner any
change in it will be proposed for the
coming year.
Promotions Studied.
There are a number OF other 1ea-
t,lres in the existing economy law w
which the committee has given atIen-
tion with view to the possible correc-
tion of INEQUALITIES. Only one decision
has been made known thus tar now.
ever and that related to the tate OF
interest to be allowed in settIng cidlili,
against the Government that oaled
back prior to the passage OF tne ecoii
omy act. ,s hold
Another executive session was heio
Yesterday, at which there was some ols-
cussion of the possibility OF ot;n,s Ieniotn,s
the ban against automatic pronlolioilo
within GRADES under the classlfcatlon
law It developed at recent hearing
that. while the economy act TINS year
prevents these salary step-upS WITHIN
grades it does not prohibit the reaiio-
cation of employees to higher grades.
Nothing definite was determined yester-
day. however, on the question OF pro-
motions within grades. 1t IS prooaole
one or more sessions OF the commlttee
will be held before report Is SUD-
mitted.
Meanwhile, the regular Treasury
Post Office Subcommittee OF the sen,
ate Appropriations Committee, heaoeu
by Senator Oddie OF nevada, WIN ineet
Tomorrow morning to go over that por-
tion of the Treasury-Post Office bill re-
lating to the money allowance Tor the
various branches Of those departments
While this bill is expected to settle the
general policy for all the bills on the
Salary question and possible modlflca-
tions in the economy law, the recon-
mendations on these general questions
will come from the economy group
headed by Senator Bingham OF con-
necticut.