Evening star., 1933-01-07
The Proposed New Economies.


The long-awaited recommendations
from the Senate Appropriations Com
nnittee's Subcommittee on Economy, now
made after weeks of close study, are
distinctly disappointing. To the country
ct large they are disappointing in that
they continue to concern themselves
with relatively picayune savings. If all
Of the steps suggested were enacted into
law the serious business of budget
balancing would have received slight
assistance. To the employees Of the
Federal Government the recommenda-
lions are disappointing for two reasons:
First, the tendency continues TO exact
from the underpaid wage earners in
Federal employ a disproportionately
large amount of governmental savings.
Practically every step recommended will
operate to the disadvantage of Federal
workers through loss of pay or through
loss Of hard-won privileges. Second, the
pronounced inequities of the economy
act, which 1t was assumed would by this
time have been corrected, receive little,
If any, attention. The inequitable pro-
visions Of the economy act are con-
tinued, and to them are added further
tnequities.
It is to be doubted if the proposal to
cut Federal salaries an additional one
and two-thirds per cent, taken alone,
would arouse any great storm of pro-
test from Federal employees. There are
worse things in this world than total
salary cut Of ten per cent, and Federal
employees know it as well as anybody
else. The morally hurtful part of the
salary -slashing business is the recog-
milton by Federal workers that, mad
equately paid to begin with, they are
called upon to render tribute in the
form of this high tax on their incomes
while other and larger holes through
which the Federal revenue seeps are
permitted to go unplugged. And the
same reasoning applies generally to the
economy act as a whole. If as much
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directions as are applied in making the
mwieldy and cumbersome act workable,
there would be larger and more con-
structive economies.
While the Senate committees recon-
fnendation TO lift the ban on the So
called automatic increases In salary or
promotions is comlnendable and will
benefit large number of employees in
some departments, it serves to accentu-
ate the unfairness Of continuing at the
same time the ban on other classes of
promotions where promotions are op-
tional rather than mandatory. The
great mass Of Government workers In
Washington will receive no benefit.
The recommendations of the Senate
committee enlarging the powers of the
President to effect governmental re-
organization are more far-reaching
than at first glance they might appear.
The President is given power to abolish
bureaus and agencies by executive
order, as well as to combine bureaus
and agencies by executive order, and 1t
Is made more difficult for Congress to
exercise its power of veto. AS it is
now, the Presidents reorganization
orders may be nulli1ed by a resolution
passed by either house within sixty
days OF their PRONUNCIATION The SEN
ate committee would require that a
congressional veto be expressed by pas
sage of a concurrent resolution, which
means that both houses would have 10
act. A few administration Senators
could prevent Senate action indefi-
nitely, thus making certain that the
Presidents executive orders become
effective. The President is thus given
significant and broad powers. With a
friendly Congress, he would be able to
exercise them without much difficulty.