INDEFINITE LEAVES OF ABSENCE TO SUPERANNUATED EMPLOYEES OF THE POSTAL SERVICE

SUPPLEMENT TO HEARINGS

BEFORE

SUBCOMMITTEE NO. 8 OF THE

COMMITTEE ON THE POST OFFICE AND POST ROADS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ON

H. R. 6915

APRIL 7 AND 8, 1916

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

INDEFINITE LEAVES OF ABSENCE TO SUPERANNUATED EMPLOYEES OF THE POSTAL SERVICE.

STATEMENT OF HON. GEORGE F. O'SHAUNESSY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND, BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON THE POST OFFICE AND POST ROADS.

Mr. O'SHAUNESSY. I was here the other morning to say that I was in favor of the Griffin bill. I had to go away very hurriedly, as I had some engagements, and was unable at that time to say what I wanted to in connection with the subject of retirement.

I favor this Tague bill or any other bill that will start us upon the road to pensioning the employees of the Postal Service, and after that the other civil employees of the Government.

Now, the question has been asked here as to why there should be a pension for these men in the Government service, it being alleged that they are better paid than men in other occupations. In the beginning of their service they may have a slight advantage over the employee in the business world. After that they are at a disadvantage.

I am very glad that the preceding speaker dwelt upon the one fact that men and women in other walks of life outside of the Government service have a larger field for their enterprise. They can go much further in life. They can reach executive positions which are absolutely unattainable in the Government service. You take the average man in the Government service, and you will find that he has his head against a stone wall; he gets just so far and can go no farther.

I can see the difference between the Government service and service in the broader walks of life in my own case. I was a postal employee in the city of New York away back in the year of 1884. I did not enter the postal employ because I wanted to be a postal employee. I needed the money. I happened to need the money that the Postal Department was willing to pay me for my services, which was $40 a month. It would have been a much better thing for me to remain outside and work for the $4 a week that I had been getting, with a chance of going ahead in the world, but I could not afford to work for $4 a week and had to go to work in the Postal Service for $40 a month. The Government gave me at that very point in my life more than an employer on the outside was willing to give me. I will illustrate the difference between the Government service and the outside service by telling you about my own experience in the Government service and that of a chum of mine. His family was better off in this world's goods than mine. My family needed the money, needed the