Evening star., 1948-03-21
Congress 10 GET
Board Of Trade
Sales Tax Views
Cuin of Joint Group
Says D. c. Teachers
Must Wuit for Ruise
By Don S. Warren

py IOV ,. VoTfSN
Joint House-Senate hearings or
District revenue proposals will be
resumed tomorrow with a report oi
the findings and recommendation
of the Board of Trade. 1t is sup
porting a general sales tax.
Also to be heard is a delegation oi
Baltimore business interests protest
ing features Of the per cent fran
chise tax on nonresident firms sell.
ing goods here.
Chairman Cain OF the Fiscal sub
committee of the Senate District
Committee yesterday told Washing.
ton teachers to expect no pay raise
until Congress grants an increase
to Government workers generally.
And if this is done, he warned
teacher group spokesmen at hear
ing, enactment of additional taxes
beyond the proposed per cent sales
levy would be needed to cover the
deficit.
DdtCS 1S INUt CSCuts
Chairman Bates of the House Dis
tricts Fiscal Subcommittee stayed
away from the teacher hearing. He
previously had announced fiat op-
position to a raise for teachers this
yearTon the grounds that last year, S
act more than covered the subse-
queut rise in living costs.
Slbcommittees of the House and
Senate Post Office and Civil Service
Committees have held hearings on
billa calling for higher pay for Gov
eernnent workers There has been
no committee action as yet.
Senator Cain took the position 1t
would be unwise to consider a
teacher pay bill until Congress has
settled the question of a general
Government wage bill. Therefore,
he said. no serious immediate con-
sideration would be given to the
teacher bills.
DR.. Hobart M. Corning, school
superintendent, asked to be heard
later since the Board of Education
has not yet acted on proposals to
cure "irtequities" under the 1947 act.
Raise for All Sought.
The board is asking, he said, that
any cost of Living raise granted Fed
eral workers be passed along to all
school employees since some school
workers are not under the classi-
fication system and would not bene-
At from raise for CLASSIFIED Gov
eminent workers.
DR.. Corning also urged the grant
ing OF sick leave to teachers and
promised to submit later a rec
ommendation for placement of
teachers having masters degrees in
their $1,000 to s4,500 scale.
DIR. Regis Boyle. president of the
District Education Association,
urging a teachers raise, offered
comparative figures to- show that
other cities had granted much larger
raises, by percentage, than Wash
ington teachers got last year.
Washington classroom teachers,
she said, rank 25th in average sal
arv for this fiscal year among 80
citiesof over 100000 population. The
percentage of increase in the aver
age salary of District teachers for
last December over the previous ifs
cal year was said to be IA per cent.
Washington, she continued. ranks
66th among the 80 cities in the per-
centage of increase granted for this
year.
Further Comparison Made.
Teachers holding bachelor degrees
in 26 cities, she continued, can ad-
vance as much as 81 ,l25 higher than
the $4,000 District maximum. Teach
ers with masters degrees, In II
cities can advance as much as 1925
higher than the Washington top OF
$4,500.
Miss Selma Borchardt. represent
ing the American Federation OF
Teachers, spoke for the bill intro
duced early this year by Senator
McCarran, Democrat, of Nevada for
a raise of $1,000.
Eber Jeffery. for the High School
Teachers Association. indorsed the
$500 bill of Representative Beall, Re-
publican, of Maryland. He said
there were a half dozen inequities
that should be considered but with
held arguments because Of the de-
lay asked by Dr. Corning Likewise
Robert Botkin. for the joint legisla-
tive council of school groups, de-
ferred his testimony.
Increases in pay and correction of
inequities were urged by Miss Helen
Samuels. president of the Junior
High School Teachers Association:
Agnes Motyka. of Local g. of the
AFL teacher union: James w. Tay-
lor. for the Elementary Teachers
Association, and DR.. Paul Cooke and
Don B. Goodloe for Local q of the
teachers union.