Evening star., 1946-07-19
Nicely Attributes
Pay Raise Bills
To Price Survey
Checked Personally
On Costs Before
Urging $500 Boost

Urging $500 Boost
Representative Nicely, Democrat,
OF West Virginia introduced his leg
islation for fiat $500 pay raise for
virtually all Federal employees after
a personal investigation Of rising
prices among the necessities Of
life" in Washington, he explained
today.
Two bills were dropped. in the
House hopper yesterday afternoon
by the legislator with the avowed
intention. written into the meas-
ures. Of helping Government work.
ers meet the rising cost OF living
occasioned by the cessation Of Fed
eral price controls
Nobody asked me to introduce
these bills he told The Star. Il
did it on my own. Congress is re-
sponsible for these skyrocketins
prices by falling to continue price
control. Therefore Congress should
be responsible for. its own employees
and make good the losses they suf-
fer from higher prices because Of
our own inaetion."
Supplement- Other Rises.
The $500 fiat raise, he emphasized,
is intended to be added to the salary
increases recently provided by Con-
gress, which became effective July /.
Postal workers received a raise Of
$400 a year and other Government
workers received pay raises based on
sliding scale. .. ~
Mr.. Nicely went to several stores
in Washington, he said, to buy things
and find out for himself how the
average Government employe could
get along under the rising cost Of
living. Mr.. Neely said he made the
investigation because Republican
sources were claiming there was not
much of an increase in the cost OF
living.
He found. for instance, he ex-
plained, that butter on June 80,
when OPA died, was selling for about
81 or So cents pound. This week
ne found some stores were getting
78 cents a pound.
Recognizing that part of this in
crease is due to the end of the Gov
ernment subsidy, Mr.. Neely empha-
sized the average Government work.
er was not helping to pay the sub
sidy in the first place, and now he
Is loaded with that extra 81 or "a
cents extra on pound of butter.
Finds Cheese Higher.
A box of cheese, he said, which
before OPA died cost about So cents,
had risen only S cents in one store,
but had skyrocketed up to SO cents
in another store.
Many other articles were priced at
various stores here, he said, particu-
larry the necessities of life
As result of his Investigation
among the shops, Mr.. Neely said he
was convinced the prices paid by an
ordinary family in Washington had
risen as much as rs per cent, maybe
a per cent.
Rising prices already may have
wiped out the increases in pay
granted by Congress, he said. He
/ predicted that unless price control
were restored to more of the necessi-
ties Of life, the average American
family would be "up against it,"
Some Federal workers get less than
81 900 year, he said.
People Just can't live on that
kind Of salary" he declared.
Although rents are still under
control in the Capital, Mr.. Nicely
said the end of OPA rent control
elsewhere had caused landlords to
make immediate increases in rent
ais. He knew personally. he said.
OF several rents which had gone
up II or l8 per cent and of one
that had doubled Without rent
control, he estimated landlords
throughout the country would be
charging an average of 80 to 50 per
cent more than under OPA.
The Nicely proposal for raises was
incorporated into two measures.
One Of the bills for Federal work.
fers, except in the postal service,
was referred to the House Civil
Service Committee The other, for
postmasters and other postal en-
ployes, went to the House Com
mittee on Post Ofices and Post
Roads
To take care of those not on
an annual salary. the legislation
provides that any such employe
paid on an hourly or part-ti
basis shall receive an additional
20 cents an hour and that post
masters at fourth-elass post ofices
shall receive 20 per cent raise.
The increase would not apply to
those receiving more than $4,000
year.