Evening star., 1934-02-21

The Senate this afternoon approved
without debate the Appropriations
Committee amendment to the inde-
pendent Offices bill providing for i'm
mediate restoration of 5 per cent OF
the Government pay cut and at least
another per cent for July l. How
ever, there was a fight still to come
later in the day on the motion to
require return Of the entire is per
cent on July l.
AS soon as the pay section was
reached, Senator McCarran, Demo-
crat, of Nevada, called attention to
his amendment to require full restora-
tion on July /, but it was decided that
the proper parliamentary procedure
would be to act first on the COM
mittee amendment and vote later on
the full restoration amendment
The bill passed the House without
making any change in Government
pay for the rest of this fiscal year
and provided for the return of only
S per cent Of the cut July l. The
Senate Committee struck out this Ian
guage and put in a section restoring
per cent as of February / and an
other per cent July l, leaving the
President to decide whether price
levels at that time justify return Of
the remaining 5 per cent.
Although the Senate is expected to
complete the pay question today, final
passage of the bill may take several
more days because of the veterans
amendments.
Senator James F. Byrnes, Demo-
crat, of South Carolina, in charge of
the bill, returned to his desk after
an illness of several days, and this
cleared the way for action on the
Government salary issue.
N. r. A. Hours Asked.
A proposal that all per diem work.
ers in the Government service be
placed on the same work week laid
down in various N. r. A. codes for
similar work in private industry was
advanced by Senator Shipstead,
Farmer -Laborite, Of Minnesota, as an
amendment to the Independent offices
bill
Since this amendment applies par
ticularly to the Government Printing
Office, the Bureau of Engraving and
Printing, the Treasury Department
and the navy yards, it affects thou
sands of Federal employees IN Wash
ington.
While requiring these per diem
employees to be placed on the same
work week called for in the various
codes, the Shipstead amendment spe-
rif1pa 11Xy YNrnpidac that ", eI,
the regular hours of labor of these
groups exceed 40 per week and in
no event shall the full weekly earn
ings of such employees be reduced on
account of any shortening of the regu-
lar hours per week.
Newspaper Hours.
In the case of the Government
Printing Office, the hours would be
based on the code for the daily news
paper publishing business, and in
the case of all other per diem en-
ployes. the codes for the similar trades
and occupations.
The amendment makes it plain
that this action, if taken by Congress,
could not be construed as placing
any OF these agencies or employees
under any of the codes of fair COM
petition, or as affecting in any way
the Saturday half-holiday law.
Before taking up the pay issue the
Senate quickly approved the Nc
Kellar amendment, adding S46,816
to the fund of the Civil Service Com
mission to meet the cost of holding
certain examinations. This made the
commission item in the bill 81 ,467 ,816.
1t was recommended by the Budget
Bureau, and Senator Byrnes accepted
1t.
The Senate then took up the fight
over how much to allow the Interstate
Commerce Commission for railroad
valuation work. The Senate commit
tee cut In half the House item Of ap-
proximately S1,000,000.
The Senate, however, rejected the
committee amendment after Sena-
tor Byrnes had produced a letter
from Joseph B. Eastman, co-ordinator
OF transportation, saying that with
such cut the valuation division
might as well be abolished"