Evening star., 1932-08-10
The 194th Decision.

One OF the nneSt tulhss oD0"' 0A-
economy bill is that Congress placed
no limit upon the number of inter-
pretations of its meaning that could
he given by the controller general. The
fact that no such limit was placed re-
mains a tribute to the statesmanllke
manner in which this gem among gems
of legislative handiwork was written.
When a mere fifty decisions over the
meaning OF the bill were handed down
there was grave doubt in the minds
of keen observers whether the supply
of decisions had not been exhausted,
but when the number was almost i'm
mediately run up to an even hunoreo
everybody realized that here, right in
our midst, history was being written.
That, everybody might have thought,
would be the end. The controller gen.
erals reply to such beliefs was to run
the number up to 1874. And now a
brand-new field has been opened. If
necessary the controller generals office
may begin reversing former decisions.
Nobody knows what new records may
be hung up in the matter before snow
flies.
The decisions yesterday settled three
controversial points. First amcng them
in Importance, perhaps, is that the
legislative and administrative furloughs
that is, the furloughs ordered by Con-
gress in lieu of pay cut, and the fur
loughs ordered by departmental heads
TO keep within appropriations-may
run concurrently. Before the controller
generals first decision on this point the
employees Of some Government agencies,
the Bureau Of Standards, for instance,
we're taking furloughs amounting to a
Is per cent reduction in salary and an
ticipating a further reduction about
January /. In some Government agen-
cies the doctrine of take it or leave it
already has been accepted, employees
knowing that they could either take the
furlough ordered by hard-pressed ad-
ministrativc heads, or lose their jobs.
Mr.. McCarl's first decision, that the
two furloughs could not run concur
rently, threatened complications. These
have been removed by reversal of that
decision.
Another part of yesterdays decision
was that the so-called legislative fur
Tough must be applied, whether the en-
ploye is on a duty or non-duty status.
This means that such agencies as the
Farm Board, for instance, which have
ordered numbers of employees on in
definite furloughs in order TO keep
within appropriations, must return, for
impounding in the Treasury, one
months pay for each Of the employees
indefinitely furloughed. II an en-
ploye is furloughed for one year, to keep
within appropriations, one months
salary must be impounded for the
Treasury and only eleven months OF
the salary can be saved" to spread
work among others.
The third point in the controller gen
erals decision Is that when an estab-
lishment decides to invoke the legisla-
tive furlough by applying the flve-day
week principle, the pay cut must be
one-eleventh, instead Of one-twelfth
This will mean that an employe whose
salary is 81 $50 would lose So cents
month more under the five-day week
plan than under other plans, and this
employe whose salary is $500 would
give up about $3.50 a month more un-
der the fve-day week plan. For any
convenience that is attached 10 tn'
ive-day week principle, the view OF th'
controller general is that a penalt!
must be attached. This, ne believes
at any rate, was the way Congress
wrote the act.
The Department Of Labor intends tt
retain the five-day week. The Clvl
Service Commission will leave 1t to
vote by the employees. Certainly th'
employees and no one else should have
ths right to decide. 1t is their pocket
books that are affected, much more
than vhims of the bosses.