Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-01-14
Little People 10 Bear
Costs Of Pay Raises
Proposed for Officials
Plan Seen Giving Trumon
An Income Equivalent to
$240, 900 Before Tuxes
By David Laurence

little fellows"-the one, it will be
recalled, that the little people"
everywhere elected last November.
And yet about the first thing the
Democrats are doing in the new
session OF Congress is to vote on a
proposal to raise the pay of Presi-
dent Truman to an income equiv
alent to about $4,000 before taxes.
Various devices are suggested to
give MIR. Truman $4,000 expense
money which he would not have to
account for to anybody and which
would be free from taxation, and,
in addition, raise in salary.
There Is a general move on to
raise salaries in the Government
and the principal reason cited for
it is that it is hard to attract execu-
tives of ability into the Government
service at present salary rates. But
1t would appear that there are plenty
of men with executive ability-some
Of them even in Congress-who would
be glad to serve as President at the
present salary rate of $4,000 a year
and only $4,000 instead of $4,000
for expenses. Some of them are
Democrats, too, and they are not
at all men of independent means.
Perhaps 1t would be embarrassing to
mention them but sometime between
now and the national conventions of
1852 their names doubtless will be
revealed to the public.
His Signature Required.
The idea of raising the Presi-
dents pay is presumably something
which Mr.. Truman himself didht1
start. A commission headed by
Herbert Hoover has been studying
Government salaries and has recon-
mended more pay for the President,
the Vice President, the Speaker of
the House, cabinet members and so
on. All this is unquestionably due
to the devaluation of the purchasing
power Of the dollar.
But it has been supposed for
years that men who entered the
public service did not do so for
materialistic reasons. Only people
influenced by the profit motive in
business were presumed to be ma
terialistic in their attitudes.
Mr.. Truman may feel that this
II something from which he can
remain aloof. But his signature will
be required to make the bill into a
law. BY approving the measure he
will be raising his own pay in
almost the first legislative act since
he was elected.
1t would not appear in such bad
taste if it were not for the fact Mr.
Truman is announcing that he
wants everybody in America with
an income over $1,000 a year to pay
increased taxes. The theory that
certain citizens In effect shall be
tax exempt and others shall bear
the added costs of Government i'm
plies that only few shall be privi-
legged to pay these higher taxes.
There was a time when the Amer
lean theory of good citizenship in
cluded the right of every citizen
to be permitted to share in the
obligations of Government. Ger
tainly 1t would be odd If all labor
unions, for example, decided to ex-
empt from the payment of dues
those who earned less than a Ger
tain amount per week. The idea
always has been that those who
share the benefits should always pay
part Of the cost. !
Mandate Questioned
Mr.. Truman is asking that an ad-
ditional $4,000 100000 in taxes be
imposed on both business and
individual incomes, and that a.
$4,000 100000 increase in social Sc
curity taxes be deducted from pay
rolls each week.
1t might be questioned by the
voters-including many vino voted
for a Democratic Congress, as did
this Observation-Disclosures the
people gave a mandate" to increase
taxes for everybody over $4,000 and
to exempt everybody else from the
increase, and whether the people
voted to give more pay to the off,
Gals OF Government, at least in
such sums as are being mentioned
If the budget has to be balanced.
the first step is to reduce expenses.
II it remains unbalanced even then,
the next step is to spread the bur-
dens Of taxes equitably so that all
citizens pay fair share of the
cost of maintaining Government, a
fair share of the expense of feeding
Europe and the money needed to
prepare the Army, Navy and Air
Forces to give America military
security. Certainly many citizens
on reflection will want to pay some
thing more at least toward the ad-
ditional costs of armament. 1t
doesn't look. moreover, as if this
Is the time to raise by huge sums
the pay of those officials who went
up and down the country denounc-
ing the Republicans as men who
would enrich themselves at the ex-
pense of the Government. The
little fellows may not like it.