Evening star., 1933-07-22
Will Uncle Sam "Sign Up"i

while there have been other instances
Of the same sort in Washington, none
Of them has been quite SO ironical as
the transaction of Government business
recorded yesterday on two floors Of the
Department Of Commerce. On one
floor. Gen. Hugh s. johnson, admin
istrator Of the National Industrial Re-
covefy Administration, launched the
great campaign for increased purchas-
ing power by voluntary agreements on
the part Of private employers to raise
wages. On the hoor below messengers
were distributing slips to employees Of
the commodity and statistical divisions
of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic
Commerce, notifying them of q plan to
reduce costs In the bureau BY arbitrary
transfers to lower salary grades which
mean reductions Of annual salary rang
ing from 5000 to $1,000 year.
It may be said in defense Of this
extraordinary move that the alternative
might be an outright discharge Of per-
10 those affected than q salary reduc-
ton. The appropriation allotments hav-
ing been reduced, the heads Of the
agencies affected must by some means
keep within the money available for
salaries. But Of course every private
employer who has reduced salaries can
say substantially the same thing. In
practically all cases the reductions Of
salaries in private employment repre-
scented the only expedient available in
prevention of discharges of personnel.
The point Is that the greatest en-
ployer In the country, the National
Government. cannot for long pursue the
inconsistent course Of ruthless pay cut
ting-and the adjective is used advisedly
and at the same time undertake
publicity campaign Of wartime propor-
tions appealing to the patriotism and
emotion Of everybody outside the Gov
ernment to raise wages. The employees
In the Bureau Of Foreign and Domestic
Commerce have. with other Government
employees, suffered . nat fifteen per
cent reduction IN salary, plus . series
Of fifteen-dAy administrative frrloughs
and are now facing another arbitrary
reduction on topeof these two previous
cutx. bssed; on D reallocasion of grades
-allocation to grades having been de-
termdned In the past BY efficiency and
value Of service performed. What has
happened to them has, by other devices,
happened to other employees in the Gov
eminent. Yet, they were advised at the
time Of the fifteen per cent reduction
IN pay that the extent Of this reduction
had been based on . statistical reduc-
ton in the cost Of living II the fifteen
per cent cut In pay was equal to the
reduction IN the cost Of living, reduc-
tions in pay over and above that
amount are outrageous and inexcusable.
The trouble has been, Of course, that
without much regard for uniformity or
determination Of effect, Congress and
the administration set themselves to
save certain proportion of the budget
by cutting down the Government estab-
hshment. The theory here was that the
way out Of the depression for the
Government lay in defation and
readjustment to 1898 levels. But out
side the Government service, the
method chosen for recovery has been
to stop further adjustment to present
levels and begin a movement designed
to lift the country back to some pre-
vious level Of prosperity. The Govern
ment cannot consistently practice defla-
ton itself and demand a general policy
Of relation" everywhere else.
These unfair salary cuts may, as Gen.
johnson put It the other day in speak
ing of the discharge Of workers in
textile mill as the result of the adoption
Of the new textile code, represent broken
eggs meant for the omelette. They may
be temporary hardships along the gen.
eral road to recovery. But it would be
helpful to the morale Of Government
workers to be told that this Is the case;
to understand that among the members
Of the IN. r. A." deserving of public
support for increasing purchasing power
Is Uncle Sam himself