Evening star., 1942-05-01
Service Pay Increase
Bill Goes 10 House;
MayCome Up tuesday
Legislation Providing for
Dependents Expected to
Be Taken Up Later
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
Viewed by many as a forerunner
to the induction into the armed
services Of men with dependents
and Government payments to their
families, bill increasing the pay
of lower paid servicemen was sent
to the House today by its Military
Affairs Committee.
AS approved by the committee
late yesterday, the measure would
double the pay of buck privates and
apprentice seamen, give service
nurses substantial increases and
boost the base pay of officers and
non-coms from corporals up to and
including second lieutenants and
ensigns. A buck private would get
s42 a month and a second lieu
tenants base pay would be boosted
from 81 500 to 81 300 a year.
Would Increase Allowance.
While the bill grants no base pay
rises for higher grade officers. it
would increase their total COM
pensation by upward adjustments
of subsistence and rental allowances
and notifications of longevity pay
regulations.
The total estimated cost to the
Government, based on January l.
1912, figures, would be 1882 2,412 ,221
annually.
With one substantial change, the
bill followed the general pattern
recently approved by the Senate.
The alteration. made on motion of
Representative Faddis. Democrat. of
Pennsylvania, inserted ban against
the issuance of commissions to un-
trained civilians.
Commissions would be issued only
to those who have completed sat-
isfactory training course at West
Point or Annapolis or recognized
military science school, or who have
passed an officers training course.
In time of war, Army commissions
also could be granted to National
Guard officers or members of the
Officers Reserve Corps.
Bill May Come Up Tuesday.
Passage of the bill, some commit
tee members predicted, would be
followed by legislation to provide
for Federal payments to dependents
of drafted men and possibly by a
relaxation of the policy against the
induction of men with families, de-
pendent on future needs.
Chairman May said he would
seek House consideration of the bill
probably next Tuesday. Affecting
primarily the Army and the Navy,
the legislation applies also to the
Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, the
Public Health Service and the Coast
and Geodetic Survey.
If approved by Congress, the pro-
hibition against commissioning di-
rect from civilian life would 60 in
effect the first day of the month
following enactment of the bill,
which probably would be June /.
The War Department said, how
ever, that it had been following the
procedure of requiring men seeking
commissions from civilian life to
take the basic training course and
60 through officer candidate schools,
with the exception of specialists, who
have been qualified to go immedi-
ately into an Army job. This would
bar that exception.
No figures on the number of COM
missions granted from civilian life
were available, it was explained,
because many civilians had entered
the Reserve Corps as officers short
ly before the war broke out.
No Objection From Army.
Representative Faddis said the
War Department had interposed no
objection so far to his proposal al
though some members of the House
Committee, while not opposed to
the purpose of the amendment, OBJ
jected to its being included in the
pay bill.
Declaring he had asked the amend
ment because of 'indiscriminate
commissioning, Representative Fad
dis said he was sure that If the
Army made proper use of the quail
ifications of the men already in
the service and about to be in
Quoted, it would find all the Of
ficer material it needed.
There is no reason" he asserted.
"why some civilians should be picked
out and given commissions while
others have TO go through the basic
training course and officer candi-
date school and may never be given
q chance to get commission"
The provision, he said, would not
be retroactive and as now worded
would not apply to the Navy De-
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