Evening star., 1949-05-25
Service Pay Increase
| Defeat in House Laid
To EXCL Uprising
HY me Asse<iossd Press

~ sH W SssSsss
Dr. me A,sseisssd Press
A bill aimed mainly at raisins
the pay Of high-ranking military
men was stranded on q committee
shelf todat-tossed there in sur
prise uprising Of former CTS in
the House.
The House suddenly decided
late yesterday to return to COM
mittee an Administration-backed
bill to revise present military pay
scales That killed 1t. ut least for
the present.
The moral" said one freshman
Democrat afterward. is. be kind
to an enlisted man: someday me
may be elected to Congress
The measure would have grant,
ed pay boosts ranging from 3 per
cent for the next to lowest en-
listed rank up TO almost so per
cent for generals and admirals.
The measures hackers explained
that high-ranking officers hadn't
received a general raise in years.
Cites Generals Allowances,
Representative Sutton. Demo-
crat. Of Tennessee. a former Navy
enlisted man and ofiicer. led tho
attack on the measure. I'm for
a pay raise" he told the House.
but I'm for an equitable pay
raise. Too long has the brass
had all the breaks"
He also pointed out that gen.
erals and admirals get allowances
in addition to their salaries.
Il used to be q chauffeur for
q Navy captain" he said. land
there Is something else these ofii-
GERS get which probably should be
investigated. That is the con-
tingency fund. Some officers use
this fund even to send flowers to
their girl friends"
The team spearheaded by Mr..
Sutton lost all its battles, but won
the wAr. After failing repeatedly
to whittle down the benefits for
top officers, it finally succeeded In
getting the House to send the bill
back to the Armed Services Com
mittee for study" The vote was
227 to 1888.
vinson to Call Session.
Voting to send the bill back to
were 121 Democrats.
los Republicans and Representa-
tive Marcantonio. American Labor.
of New York. Against the move
were 100 Democrats and 43 Re-
publicans. 4
Chairman vinson Of the Armed
Services Committee said he would
call the group into session next
week to consider whether to at
tempt to Write another pay bill
this year. However. Representa-
tive Kilday. Democrat, Of Texas
who led the floor fight for the
said after the smoke had
cleared that the bill. which had
been in the works for more than
lS months, was dead for several
years to come"
He said q number Of factors
caused its defeat. o'' =" q a..., ',''-,
First there was the economy
crowd. Then there were the
young veterans who wanted to
get something's off their chests.
And finally the liberal element
always has opposed anything for
the military. ~ @
: Attack Started Slowly.
As yesterdays debate opened.
Mr.. Kilday read the House letter
from President Truman approving
the plan. which would have revised
pay generally for the first
time since 1908.
The bill would have added more
than $4O0, ,000, 900 to the annual
sum the country is spending now
on military pay.
It's passage was considered
fairly certain. A bill having
committee support,
such as the pay bill did, seldom
is sent back to that committee by
the House. Also, no organized
was evident during
three days Of debate.
But on the final day the At
tack started-slowly. Mr.. Sutton
teamed up with Representative
Boiling, Democrat, Of Missouri, q
veteran Of four years service in
the Pacific, In an unsuccessful
effort to trim sharply the In
creases proposed for the ranks
of major and lieutenant COM
mander on up.
Boosts Averaged 14T.
Also defeated were attempts by
other young veterans in the House.
Representatives Furcolo,
Democrat, of Massachusetts, and
Ford, Republican, Of Michigan to
reduce extra-hazard bonuses for
officers or equalize the hazard pay
Of officers and enlisted men.
The measure would have boost
ed all military pay an average Of
II per cent. It also would have
cut flight and submarine bonuses
for high-ranking officers. while
them q little for Junior
officers. and 1t would have revised
the disability retirement system.
kAAArN @R II