Evening star., 1950-06-23
Truman Vetoes Promotion Bill
Giving Recent Postal Employees
Credit for Military Duty in War
PIon for GRANTING
Pay Raises Called
Indirect Bonus
By Joseph A. Fox

legislation that would have given
promotion benefits to approx
mately 100000 veterans who en-
tered the postal service after
World War II. The bill would have
allowed them to count their time
in uniform for credits toward pay
raises.
The President called the meas
ure IAN indirect bonus" and said
it represented "a far-reaching
step in an undesirable direction.
The President said there were
-four basic weaknesses" in the
measure.
His first objection was the fact
that the legislation "is based on
the bad principle of allowing
credit for service in no way re-
lated to a civil career"
Called Discriminatory.
Secondly, the President said it
was discriminatory" because sit
is limited to a small fraction of
the veterans in the employ of the
Federal government and to one
group of employees in the Post
Office Department-namely. those
in field service, such as carriers.
Departmental employer were ex-
cluded.
The President said that thirdly
at provides special benefit to
special group of veterans without
preference to a real and dis
tinctive need"
The fourth presidential objec-
ton was that the measure would
require large additional budget
expenditures at time when
postal service throughout the Ma
tion is being curtailed in an eff
fort to reduce a postal deficit
which currently exceeds half
billion dollars year."
The President rejected the
measure in the face of powerful
pressure by postal unions for its
approval. 1t had been estimated
that individuals would benefit
from about 1925 to $3.50 annually.
Cites Cost of Measure.
The President in objecting to
the expense, said that the meas
ure. said that the measure would
cost nearly $24 million in the next
fiscal year and that the total out
lay would exceed $163 million.
He said that his objection on
this particular point lis based
partially upon the absence of any
provision for increasing postal
revenues to reduce the postal
deficit"
Under the measure, all World
War II veterans who entered the
service prior to July /, 1850, would
receive pay increases of $100-one
pay grade-for each year of mill
tary service on a pro rata basis.
In declaring that the measure
would give credit for service in
no way related to a civilian career,
the President said that ''it would
thus violate the long established
principle of granting promotions
or increases in pay on the basis
Of satisfactory performance"
He added that there Is a "big
difference" between the principle
of this bill and the principle now
embodied in the law, for granting
credit for military service to those
Government workers whose career
was interrupted by service in the
armed forces.
Intention to Enter Service
He afnplified:
There is good basis for pre-
suming that civilian employees who
were called into the armed forces
and who performed creditable
service in military jobs would have
performed with equal merit if
they had stayed on their civilian
jobs. The records of their pro-
motion since the war, both in
the postal service and in other
brances of the Civil Service have
demonstrated the soundness of the
presumption under which they
have gained credit.
BY the same token there is
also a sound basis for the granting
Of credit for service in the armed
forces to those who were on reg
listers of eligibles awaiting ap-
pointment to the postal service
when they were called to duty in
the Armed Forces"
To the contrary. the President