Evening star., 1942-01-20

laboring so diligently and 30 de-
vctedly In the Federal civil service.
For those problems are not theirs
alone. They are, on the contrary,
our mutual problems; for each
American citizen is directly and
vitally affected by the day-to-day
functioning of the Federal depart
ments and agencies.
The Government of the United
States, my friends, is not some cold,
impersonal thing, set of by itself
and apart from the people. Our
Government truly Is Government
Of the people-and the functions of
the Government are carried on by
men and women drawn form among
the people of the 48 States. Federal
employees are not q group. separate
and distinct, enjoying rare privi-
leges and high salaries.
Federal employees are our friends
and neighbors who are serving your
Government in many immensely
important ways. And they are doing
so often at great sacrifice to them
selves, for, contrary to an opinion
widely held, Federal employees are
not well paid; their jobs are not
sinecures, and their hours of en-
ployment are not short and un-
worried.
Loyal and Jealous.
find on every hand, in Washing
ton and in the field throughout the
country, direct and unassailable
evidence of the loyalty. zeal and
devotion of the men and women of
the Federal service.
I know from personal experience.
going back over a long period of
years, that there is in the United
States no gAup of workers giving
Itre Of themselves In return for
50 little material reward
They work on quietly and EN-
GENTLY. doing the things which must
be done, by day and by night, to
keep our Nation on an even keel
I know OF no group which does its
work more unobtrusively. I know
Of no group which does its work
more effectively. I know of no
group upon which you and I and
all of us here in America are more
dependent for those essential serv-
ices which make both our industrial
lives and our national lives flow
more smoothly and more safely.
In thousand ways the work of
these employees touches us construc-
lively. They guard our health, they
inspect the food we are to eat, they
deliver our mail, they help the
farmer and the city dweller, they
keep our essential records, they pro-
tect and enhance our national re-
sources. In these and in countless
other activities they work for us.
Working Harder, Longer.
And now in this time of trial and
crisis they are doing even more
than ever before. There is scarcely
Federal employe in this broad land
who is not working many hours of
overtime each week. Hundreds of
thousands of these hours are unpaid
for by our Government either in
compensatory time or in overtime
But let me hasten to add that I
have heard no grumbling. On the
contrary. I have heard only express
sions which heighten my admiration
for the 3oyalty and patriotic devo-
ton to duty Of these men and
women.
And this In the face of the fact
that, because Of the rapid rise in the
cost Of living, Federal salaries. al
ways woefulIy meager. are proving
to be completely inadequate.
Let there be no mistake about
this: Federal employees are suffer-
ing hardships, very real hardships,
as a result Of the great and con-
stantly growing disparity between
their small salaries, rigidly fixed by
law. and skyrocketing living costs.
Under present conditions it is sim
ply impossible for the great bulk
Of the employees of the Federal Gov
ernment to maintain even minimum
American standards of living.
Bear in mind that most Federal
employees are stationed in centers
where living costs are highest. !
am not referring only to Washing
ton, D. c., although in the National
Capital the situation Is typically
critical. The same is true at almost
every point where any substantial
number of Federal employees are
gathered; and there is no place, re-
gardleSs of location, where living
costs have not risen beyond the
capacity of Federal employees to
meet the demand.
It is a truisn that in times such
as these 1t is the men and women
who are employed at fixed salaries
who are hit the hardest by chang
ing economic conditions. Livine
costs keep on going skyward, but
their incomes remain the same
Living standards suffer, and when
living standards suffer no phase OF
our national life is immune from the
unhappy social and economic con.
sequences.
l Would Mean Basic Things.
| Let us suppose, now, that step.
are taken to provide an adjustment
Of Federal salaries in some relation
to living costs. Will that NEAR
that Federal employees will be ahle
to buy any more luxuries than they
did two years ago? VIII it enable
them to go any more places and d.
any more things than they did two
years ago? VIII it enable them II
save any more money, buy any more
insurance?
It will mean none Of these things
"A salary adjustment will not Civ,
the wife of q Federal employe, le
us say, money to buy furs and per
. fume. But she win, I hope, be en-