The journal. (Caldwell, Ohio) 1934-1961, 1952-02-07

| Ilot compare with our own, but
these great percentage raises
were made possible indirectly, if
| not directly, by the billions this
country has poured in to Europe.
Certainly no one can deny our
own forces that raise in pay
which a majority of this Con-
gress has made possible in other
allied countries.
In the third place, in fairness
this bill should become a law
because of the treatment ac-
corded those in private industry
and the precedents set by this
Congress.
In the last two years steel
workers have been granted aver
age wage increases of sixteen
cents an hour. In the same period
coal miners received wage in
creases of more than twenty
eight cents an hour and General
Motors employees received
tWenty-four cents an hour
through cost of living adjust
ments and annual productivity
raises. Since the Korean war
General Electric has increased
wages seventeen per cent. These
are samples of a general trend
toward higher wages in private
industry.
Last October 10 this House
adopted a conference report rails
ing the pay of postal workers
from four hundred dollars to
eight hundred dollars per year
to meet the higher cost of living.
Only seven in this House voted
against this increase.
On the same day the House
voted for a conference report to
raise the pay of other govern
ment workers. Only twenty-six
members voted against this in
crease.
Like nearly every member of
this House I thought those in
creaSes were justified and, if
they were, there is even more
justification for a raise to those
in our Armed Forces whose lives
have been disrupted and who
can not take advantage of the
security of government position
or the benefit of higher indust-
rial wages.
Even if this raise is enacted in
to law the pay, subsistence and
quarters allowance of our
Armed Forces will be less than
twenty per cent of next years
military budget. According to a
survey of Fortune Magazine the
initial equipment of full
strength division in World War
II cost less than twenty million
dollars. Today it will cost over
eighty million dollars. The net
profit, after taxes, of corpora
tions, many of which are en-
gagged in producing war equip
ment, was far more in 1851 than
the total paid to all the members
of the Armed Forces.
This year our nation plans to
send forty million tons of coal
to Europe, all at the expense of
the American taxpayer. The cost
of this coal will be eighty million
dollars more than the cost of this
pay raise. The cost of this pay
raise is only a drop in the
bucket compared to what we
have given away in the world in
the last six years.
know that many would like
to see a dollar limit to the ten
per cent raise, but we can not
get it and l do not think we
should penalize over three mil
lion enlisted men just because
we can not squeeze four hundred
thousand dollars out of a hand
full of admirals and generals.
The Committee on Armed Ser
vices, composed of many of the
finest men in any Congress, has
voted solidly for this bill. This
bill has the full endorsement of
the Fleet Reserve Association,
the Reserve Officers Association
and the American Legion.
The National Commander of
the American Legion in a tele-
gram today to all members of
the House says that a ten per
cent pay increase to officers and
enlisted personnel of the Armed
Forces is equitable and warrant
ed. With him l heartily agree
and hope that House Resolution
57l5 will pass. There are many
of us who believe in rigid econ
omy, but there are a hundred
places we can achieve it without
taking it out on the members of !
our Armed Forces or the veter-
ans of our wars. We can not go |
wrong if we look after our own |
country and our own people |