Evening star., 1933-10-21
W|GG|N ''RETA|NER"
DWARFS U. S. PAY
Pension to Bank Executive
Impresses "Cheapness"
of Federal Service. &
BY CHARLES +. SPEARE.

NEW YORK, October 21.-The meas
ure Of the money worth of a man to q
corporation is an intangible thing. Per-
haps public opinion should not be the
determining factor in fixing executive
salaries. That it is, however, becom-
ing the regulating and equalizfng force
that will more and more decide what
the president of q bank, the head Of q
railroad or insurance company or a
great captain Of industry" shall re-
ceive In annual compensation for the
work of his brain, Is each day becom-
ing more apparent.
Disclosure Of the salary and bonus
payments to A. H. Wiggin Of the Chase
National Bank, and particularly the
500 900 per annum retainer" voted
retirement, has aroused much Of the
feeling that was created when the
Senate committee dug into the affairs
OF the National City Bank and dis
covered that its former head had been
drawing down over 81 100000 a year,
although he had committed his insti-
tuition and its subsidiary to business
engagements from which they suffered
tremendous losses.
Compensation $250,0OO.
Mr.. Wiggin. in 1891 and 1882, after
his bank had begun to charge off re-
serves against losses that. to July 81
last, were stated by Ferdinand Pecora
pensation from the bank ranging from
$250,000 to 100000.
1t has not been forgotten that in
the annual reports of his institution
IN those years when his own salary was
being advanced to $3.50 900, Mr.. Wiggin
was emphatic in his demand for a
general deflation in wages of labor as
an essential to business recovery.
Ihe biS1uS payments to the president
OF the American Tobacco Co. and to
the chief executive of the Bethlehem
Steel Corporation Rave been the SUBJ
lect OF discussion and litigation for some
years. They were in excess of those
paid to Mr.. Mitchell or Mr.. Wiggin, but
a dlfference exists in that they were
made with respects Of. and in ratio to
proflts and not in season of rapidly
diminishing returns. This does not
cnange the social aspect Of the trans
action, though it may seem more fully
to justify it in the business world.
Many honeSt-mined persons believe that
what they pay or are paid is nobody's
affair but their own and deeply resent
any interference with an ARRANGEMENT
they consider to be of private nature.
Ihls may be true when it relates to a
partnership and where no stockholders
are involved. In a stock company the
responsibilities of officers and directors
are OF different kind. 1t is the stock
holding body, or its representatives, who
do the kicking when they come across
evidence Of inflated salaries or bonuses.
100000 Maximum Set.
Co-ordinator Eastman did not attempt
to measure in dollars the worth of the
railroad presidents who appeared in the
high-s2lary brackets. He only indicated
that those who had been getting from
$100, 900 to s150,000 year were over
paid and that the maximum he was
willing to allow them was $4,000 when
economies were essential to soIvency.
That would be a small payment to the
head of metropolitan bank even in
these times. 1t is from one-third to
one-hah the salaries of presidents of
large life insurance companies and
In about the same proportion to
those of industrial leaders. 1t may even.
tually be found to be the Government s
measure OF what man Is worth in
money to any corporation over which a
degree of Federal regulation may be
eXerted
The implication of the high corpora
ton salary disclosures and the inQuisi-
tiveness of the administration concern
ing what men high in the business
world receive for their services are sig
niflcant in rejecting a new social
philosophy. They should be appraised
in this light. In the leveling-of process
of the new social order business profits
and the wages Of labor are to come
closer together. The disparity now ex-
isting between the minimum wage and
the maximum salary is to be narrowed
And it must not be forgotten that re-
Gently there have been significant COM
parsons between the salaries of cor
poration officials and employees of the
Government which would make it ap-
pear that the latter were giving their
services to their country too cheaply.
fCopvrioht