Evening star., 1932-04-11
Furloughs and Wage Cuts.

Furloughs and Wage Cuts.
The administration suggestion for a
hve-day week for per diem employees and
a system of staggering the work OF
other employees through legislative au-
thorization to heads of departments,
permitting them to enforce furloughs
without pay. does not alter the fact
that, as in the case of pay cuts. the
sacrifice thus demanded would be made
by those least able to bear 1t. five
day week for per diem employees means
the surrender of 50 days wages, and
wages that are already small. Enforced
furloughs would hit hardest the army
of 89I .S63 Federal employees, counting
both military and civil groups whose
annual pay is below $2,500 a year.
This small-salaried group constitutes
approximately 81 per cent of the total
number of Federal employees, including
the military. and 80 per cent, excluding
ali but civilians.
Something of the same principle ap-
plies in the case of the savings that
would be effected through retirement
of superannuated employees. These.
small group to begin with, are for the
most part men and women whose value
to the Government has led to their
retention. To cut them off now for the
estimated saving of 100000 in a bud
get of more than two billion would be
cutting of the nose to spite the face.
More harm than good would come of
1t. Value to the service is what counts.
and arbitrarily to assume that those
beyond a fixed age limit are no longer
needed, when the fact is that their
extraordinary value has led to their re-
tention, is not economy and is not
logical.
The saving grace of the scheme TO
flrlough some workers and put others
on a five-day week would lie in its
careful application as an employment
saving measure This, it might seem,
Is what the administration officials who
proposed it had in mind. "The re-
duction of appropriations by the Con-
gress will result in the discharge Of
many employees" the White House
statement said, unless some provision
Is made to prevent this contingency.
This (the furlough plan) would permit
the retention of trained and qualified
employees and provide somewhat re-
duced income to some Of the Federal
STAFF in lieu of diScharging those who
cannot be retained on full time. The
application of this principle into other
services will produce effective econ
omies"
But If the scheme is employed to ef-
feet saving Of an estimated $45,00o,-
O00 1t would not be an employment
aiding measure, spreading work among
a large number who otherwise would
be stricken of, but a salary cut under
another name. Most aSsuredly, If the
work of the various departments and
bureaus is to be restricted by cuts in
appropriations, the heads of depart
ments should be given authority to
spread" the work remaining by sys-
tenn of furloughs The Government
employees themselves would welcome
such proposal. and it would have the
decided advantage Of retaining salary
scales at the present level instead Of
lowering them to a point that will re-
main long after the depression is ended.
should not be placed within the cate
CORY of proposals TO save money. They
should be considered only as methods
to save jobs.
Budget balancing is a grim task that
deals with realities and not with senti-
ment The less emotional the budget
balancerS become the better it will be
for the Nation. 1t is granted that many
employees must lose their jobs in any
large curtailment of governmental ap-
propriations. But the curtallment should
proceed without adding to the vicious
circle of attempting to right one wrong
NY W dIpblIcI, tlAlS Will NC
the inevitable result of any of the vari-
Gus moves, under any disguise, to cut
down the already small pay of the Fed
eral employe. Such moves are backed
by the highly emotional theory that be-
cause the Federal employe is Govern
ment worker and has a job, while mil
lions Of others. including the farmer,
are not Federal workers and have no
Jobs, the Federal employe should be
made to suffer. 1t is not An intelligent
theory in the first place, and as shown
over and over again the so-called say
ings" to the Federal Government are
not only small, but are to be effected
at the cost of dealing another harsh
blow TO millions Of small-salaried work.
ers throughout the Nation whose en-
ployers will follow the lead Of the Fed
eral Government.
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