Askov American., 1942-02-19

ment issued by the -
Retirement Division of the u. S.
Civil Service commission.
1t has been loosely charged by COL
umnists, radio commentators and edi-
torial writers that it is a pension and
the cost of the action taken would
aggregate Is or 80 million dollars
annually. Nothing is further from
the truth. The benefits it confers are
to be bought and paid for at a cost
of $500 yearly until the beneficiary
reaches the age of 81 years. Accord
ing to the Civil Service commissions
statement the estimated cost is ap-
proximately 100000 per annum,
whereas if all 531 members of Con-
gress elect to come under the pro-
visions of the Retirement act they
will have to pay into the fund $500
each or $265,0O0 annually, as their
proportionate share of the cost
The other day the President was
quoted as having said that he would
draw $4,000 annually in retirement
pay in the event that he elected to
come under the Retirement law. The
fact is that upon retirement, the
President would draw $4,000 per
year providing he paid $4,000 into
the retirement fund.
An important factor that has been
overlooked is the length of service of
members. In order to qualify, one
must have served at least five years
and reached the age of g.. A Statis-
teal survey of length of service of
House members made from 1889
through 1888, by the Legislative Ref
erence Service of the library of Con-
gress discloses that 8,005 persons have
served in the House. Of these 38
per cent served one term; 27 per cent
served two terms; 13 per cent three
terms; seven per cent four terms;
four per cent five terms; three per
cent six terms; and two per cent
seven terms. From these figures it
will be seen that if this retirement
plan had been in effect since the be-
ginning of the Republic, only 35 per
cent of the total could have qualified
for the retirement and due to age
of those who have had a greater
length of service, it is only fair to
assume that a considerable portion
of them would have died before re-
firing. That important factor has
contributed very materially to build
! ing up the $756,0O0,OOO retirement
fund that is now in the Treasury.
will be glad to send to anyone
interested, the statement of the Civil
Service commission. - The commits
sion informs me that I would have
to pay into the fund $9,979.71, plus
$500 per year hereafter if 1 would
enjoy maximum benefits.
In the action taken, Congress mere
ly applied to itself the same condi-
tions that have applied to all others
who are employed by the government.
1t is but an annuity, not a pension
because it will have to be purchased
and paid for at the rate of $500 per
year, and the provisions of the Act
do not become applicable until one
has reached the age of 81 and has
had at least five years of service.
With five years of service, the an
nuity would be approximately $500
per year or $50 per month, with bene-
fits increasing with longer service
AS matter of fact, something like
this should have been done years ago
| and / say that because I believe it
will result in creating, at least in
part, the tendency in Congress to fol-
low sound and conscientious personal
judgment rather than hysterical clam
or when it-comes to formulating and
voting on legislation, because in the
final analysis a member of Congress
is only human and usually keeps at
least one eye on the political aspects
of the problems that come before him.
The demand for the repeal of this
legislation has assumed almost hyster-
ical proportions and the indications
are that it will be repealed because
the people usually have their way.
National Drawings.
In order to raise a considerable
part of the 5000 million dollars in ad-
ditional taxes that the President
has asked for, due to necessities of
war, have introduced a bill to set
up plan for national drawings that
it is estimated will raise 1,500 mil
lions, or more, annually for national
defense without increasing taxes.
Under my plan tickets would be sold
for monthly drawings, each to cost
81 or 81 for " ticket, and the al 1853
monthly cash prizes that would be
distributed as result of the draw
ings would aggregate Is million dol
lars for each 100 million dollars of
tickets sold. Drawings would be
supervised by the Treasury depart
ment and the tickets sold through post
offices. Monthly prizes would con-
siSt of:
| l grand prize -----$100,0O 900
| 4 prizes each to pay $4,000
8 prizes each to pay $4,000
so prizes each to pay 10000
100 prizes each to pay 5000