Evening star., 1953-09-28

e number of job cuts during the
Post Office. Commerce. and In
terror Departments.
y 4 y
HOOVER GROUP-The new
Hoover Commission holds its
first meeting in the White House.
Headed by former President Her.
bert Hoover. the group will in
veStigate all phases Of Federal
activities. including civil serv-
ice. with a scope much wider
than it had under the old Hoover
Commission.
Meanwhile. the Citizens Com
mittee for the Hoover Commis-
sion has announced that it will
resume active operations soon
and work very closely with the
Hoover group.
y
STORY-The resignation of
Craig Sheaffer as Assistant Sec
retary of Commerce recalls the
story that Mr.. Sheaffer told COL
leagues after his involvement in
the controversy regarding the
attempted firing of DR.. Allen v.
AStin, Director of the Bureau of
Standards.
Mr.. Shaeffer, president of the
fountain pen company bearing
his name, said he wrote his as
sociateS in the firm: We've de-
veloped a pen that writes under
water. Now let's get busy and
develop a pen that will write in
hot water"
RETIREMENT-The Congress
sional-appointed committee that
is conducting a widespread study
If retirement benefits for Govern
ment workers discloses it hopes
to present most of its recommen-
dations to Congress by March.
Meanwhile, Eliot Kaplan, the
New York attorney and civil serv-
ice expert who is chairman of
the committee, discloses that his
group is exploring possibilities
of providing Federal workers
with the best benefits of both
social security and civil service
retirement.
Mr.. Kaplan emphasized hat
he is opposed to any plans to
merge the civil service retirement
system with social security.
eve need not fear that social
security benefits will supersede
Federal pensions" he told a re-
cent meeting of the Organization
Of Professional Employees of the
Department of Agriculture
What I am concerned about and
am hopeful I can persuade the
committee to agree with me on
is possible coordination of the
social security and pension sys-
TENS so as to assure at least the
minimum benefit provided by So
cial security and then to super
impose on that minimum such
pensions as the public jurisdic-
ton chooses to grant"
Where civil service retirement
lags behind social security bene-
fits is in surviyorship insurance.
The families of younger men
covered by the civil service re-
tirement system receive far less
protection than do the families
of men covered by social security.
It's been pointed out that the
families of men under social
security can get up to $168 a
month in the event of the wage
earner's death. In contrast, the
family of the employe covered
by civil service retirement re-
ceives no benefits unless the
breadwinner has been employed
for at least five years. And even
after five years, up to a dozen
years or so, the survivorship in
surance benefits are only about
$50 to $75 a month for the
families.
It's true that civil service re-
tirement provides the most gen.
erous annuity benefits to en-
ployes who retire after long Gov
ernment service at the retire.
ment age. But the family pro-
lection benefits are far less than
those provided by social security.
Federal employe leaders feel
that these benefits should be at
least equal to social security,
particularly since career work.
ers pay 6 per cent of their salary
for these benefits, compared to
IA per cent contributed by those
under social security.
The Kaplan committee also
is studying ways of eventually
bringing Federal indefinite work.
ers under civil service retire.
ment. These employees, now
under social security, could thus
also receive the best benefits of
both systems.