The Washington times., 1935-01-21
CITES TER
IN ANSWER
To GREEN
Senate Deficiency Committee
Considers McCarran Plan
For Restoration Jan. |

President Roosevelt implied in a
letter to William Green, head of
the American Federation of Labor,
that the White House is not ad-
verse to Congress restoring full
" Government salaries retroactive to
January /, William C. flushing,
legislative representative of the A.
F. of L., told the Senate Deficiency
and Appropriations subcommittee
today.
Mr.. flushing made his state.
ments as the subcommittee con-
Sidered the proposal Of Senator
Pat McCarran CD of Nevada for
elimination of the 5 per cent pay
cut retroactive to January l, 1895.
AS the hearing opened, Subcom-
mittee members questioned the
jurisdiction of the committee over
the McCarran proposal as an
amendment to pending de-
ficiency appropriation measure
which the subcommittee has be-
fore it.
Relevancy Disputed
Members also suggested posi-
'bility that the McCarran measure
may not be germane to the de-
ficiency bill.
However, the germaneneSS Of
. the restoration proposal was left
to be decided later by the sub
committee, which will meet this
:. afternoon or tomorrow to vote
on the proposition.
e.. Mr.. flushing told the Subcom-
mittee that continuance of the
pay cut is "out of harmony with
the recovery program" as many
employers are grasping it as a
basis for keeping wages down.
He then declared that Presi.
dent Roosevelt, in response to a
letter from Mr.. Green, pointed
out that under the law he is pro-
hihited from recommending i'm
mediate restoration.
Mr.. flushing added, however,
that the President implied in the
. letter that he is not averse to
January l restoration. A portion
Of the Presidents letter follows:
Il am in a full agreement
with your contention that EN-
, plOycS of the Federal Govern
ment should not be debarred
from enjoying the increase in
purchasing power and the i'm
prOvements in the living stand
ards that result from the ex-
panSiOn of productive eff
cheney.
CITIES LIVING COST
Il think that you will agree
with me that the market de-
cline in the price level and the
consequent decrease in the cost
of living between 1928 and 1888
were not in any sense to be at
tributed to that source. / be-
lieve that you will further agree
that every portion of the Ameri-
can public suffered a decline in
income during this period of
falling prices.
II am fully conscious of the
fact that the past year and a
half has witnessed a substantial
increase in the price of certain
commodities. This has been
particularly true of retail food
prices, which have advanced by
1876 per cent from their low
level of June, 1888. Appreciable
increases have also occurred in
the prices of other commodities.
However, when all of the i'm
pOrtant items that enter into
the cost Of living of the average
American family are weighed
in accordance with their i'm
I pOrtance in family expenditures,
the net increase in total family
living costs from June, 1888, to
November, 1884, aggregate 8.3
per cent. This increase COM
pares with a decline of 25 per
cent which occurred between
the first six months of 1928
and the first six months of
1888.
PLEAD CAUSE
"The cost Of living for the
average family in the United
States was 1871 per cent lower
during the last half of 1894 than
during the base period specified
In the economy act. The cost of
living for the average Federal
emplOye living in Washington
e was 13 per cent lower. The
salaries of Government en-
plOyes, in contrast, are at a level
5 per cent below that which
prevailed during the first half
= Of 1928"
Representatives of various Gov
ernment employe organizations
< appeared to plead the cause of
pay restoration as of January l..
a Nnn0 ~