Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-05-28
Postage Rate,
PdyIncrease
Bill Signed

creases ever voted by Congress
and q 10-per-cent pay raise for
postal employees have been
signed into law by President
Eisenhower.
The Chief Executive late yes
terday signed a bill that in
creases first-class letter rates
from 3 10 4 cents, requires 7
cents instead Of 6 for an air.
mail stamp and increases post
card rates from 2 10 3 cents.
The new rates go into effect
August /.
The pay increase for postal
workers. also the biggest ever
approved. is retroactive 10 last
January /.
The bill was not exactly what
the President wanted but he
signed It anyway. The adj
ministration favored higher
rates than Congress voted and
not so large a pay increase.
Cites Need for Rise
But at his press conference
today the President said that,
while this approval of pay
raises for Government workers
is partially contradictory TO his
advice TO business and labor
TO hold the line against price
and wage increases, he does not
believe 1t can be helped.
He explained that Govern
ment workers had failed 10 get
raises during the last few years
while pay elsewhere and prices
we're going up. He said he
thought a ~ per cent increase
in Government pay was all
right to meet cost-of-living
rises. He did not like the 10
per cent raise in the postal pay
bill, but thought advantages Of
the bin outweighed its bad
points.
In a message, after the sigma
ture. Mr.. Eisenhower had this
to say:
Although the bill adopts the
policy that postal revenues
shall be approximately equal
to postal expenditures other
than those incurred in per-
forming certain public services.
the rate adjustments provided
therein fail by several hundred
million dollars to bring the
postal account into balance"
The legislation will mean
about 5000 in back pay to the
average postal worker. There
are $50 900 Post Once Depart
ment employees over the Nation,
about 10000 of them in the
Washington area. Other Fed
eral workers in the classified
and white-collar status-1,-
032 900 of them--are up for q
similar 10 per cent pay increase
in Congress. The House Rules
Committee is expected to act
on the bill today.
The Senate has passed a ~
per cent pay raise for the civil
service workers and the House
Civil Service Committee has re-
ported a 10 per cent increase.
Several Objections
President Eisenhower had
several objections causing him
grave concern" about postal
policy as set up by the law he
signed yesterday. One of hi:
complaints was that while the
law provides liberal increases
for nonsupervisory employees, il
greatly distorts the pay struc-
ture by giving proportionately
lower benefits to the high-level
poStmasters, supervisors and
technical and professional per-
sonnet.
He said he would have seri-
ously considered Vetoing the
legislation If the wage pro-
visions had been separate
However, he explained that he
approved the measure because
it was clear its provisions in
the public interest outweigh
the Objectionable features.
The Post Office Department
chemically operates at a def
icit. Mr.. Eisenhower had asked
$700 million more in revenue q
year. He got $3.50 million. He
had asked a 6 per cent wage
increase that would cost about
$3.50 million a year. The 10 pei
cent increase in pay voted by
Congress will cost $265 million
a year.
The President declared the
result would be to charge OF
about 500 million to the tax
payers which logically ano
equitably" should be paid by
the users of the mails.
Mr.. Eisenhower said he was
pleased to note the bill ex.
presses approval Of the depart
ment's badly needed" mod.
ernization program. But he ex-
pressed regret that Congress.
did not provide additional rev.
enues as the administration
requested to finance the pro-
gram.
He said he hoped Congress
would reconsider that matter
so that the modernization pro.
gram can go forward.